...Analysis Assignment #2 Whole Foods Market Strayer University BUS599016VA016-1116-001 Strategic Management July 17, 2011 Abstract This paper examines the business strategy of Whole Foods Market. The paper will also examine the competitive environment and significant threats to Whole Foods Market’s competitive advantage. The company’s competitive strategy and the impact of the trends in organic foods will also be discussed. Competitive Forces and SWOT Analysis Assignment #2 Whole Foods Market In 1980 Whole Foods Market started out as one small store in Austin, Texas. Today there are more than three hundred stores in North America and the United Kingdom. Whole Foods Market is a mission oriented company (http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/company/). They speak of their mission in terms of Whole Foods-Whole People-Whole Planet. Whole Foods they search for the finest natural and organic foods available. Their mission is to find the highest quality, least processed natural foods. They search for foods without artificial additives, sweeteners, colorings, and preservatives. Whole People they are a people company. They are passionate about healthy good and a healthy planet. They create a respectful workplace where people are treated fairly and are motivated to succeed. Whole Planet they are committed to take care of the world. They support organic farming and sustainable agriculture to protect the planet. They also support food banks, sponsor neighborhood...
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...Organic food has become very popular. But navigating the maze of organic food labels, benefits, and claims can be confusing. Is organic food really healthier? Do GMOs and pesticides cause cancer and other diseases? What do all the labels mean? This guide can help you make better choices about which organic foods are healthier for you and better for the environment, and how you can afford to incorporate more organic food into your diet. ------------------------------------------------- What is organic food? Making a commitment to healthy eating is a great start towards a healthier life. Beyond eating more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and good fats, however, there is the question of food safety, nutrition, and sustainability. How foods are grown or raised can impact both your health and the environment. This brings up the questions: What is the difference between organic foods and conventionally grown foods? Is “organic” always best? Are GMOs safe? What about locally grown foods? What does “organic” mean? The term “organic” refers to the way agricultural products are grown and processed. Specific requirements must be met and maintained in order for products to be labeled as "organic." Organic crops must be grown in safe soil, have no modifications, and must remain separate from conventional products. Farmers are not allowed to use synthetic pesticides, bioengineered genes (GMOs), petroleum-based fertilizers, and sewage sludge-based fertilizers. Organic livestock must...
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...Whole Foods Strategic Audit Robert Harper Andrew Pequinot Taylor Tisdale Renee Werner MBA 8820 Professor Denis Grégoire April 18, 2006 Executive Summary – Whole Foods Strategic Audit Whole Foods Market competes successfully within the organic/natural foods industry, having enjoyed close to 19% growth over the past five years. As a point of comparison, Kroger – a traditional supermarket operator – only grew 4%. On a larger scale, the organic food retail industry in the U.S. has fared well in the last decade. Reported sales grew 23.4%, which is much more than the 3.3% growth of the overall food industry during the same time period. However, a recent announcement from a Whole Foods competitor recently sparked considerable buzz in the industry and put a mild dent in Whole Foods Market stock price. The announcement came from the industry giant Wal-Mart who unveiled its plan to more than double its organic offerings and begin marketing to more upscale clientele, many of who currently shop at Whole Foods. Wal-Mart is well known for squeezing supplier margins to bring “everyday low prices” to consumers. As the industry leader in several retail categories, including traditional grocery sales, Wal-Mart has the size and influence to significantly impact the organic food landscape if it dedicates itself to the market. Although Wal-Mart’s impact on the natural niche remains to be seen, it’s critical that Whole Foods review its strategy in light of Wal-Mart’s entry. Whole Foods’...
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...ORGANIC FOOD IN GROCERY SHOP Final Report On Organic Food in Grocery Shop Course name: Business Communication Course code: MBA 310 Sec-02 Submitted To: Nafees Ahmed Imtiazuddin Senior Lecturer University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB) Submitted By: Date of Submission: 22/12/2014 Letter of Transmittal 22 December, 2014 Nafees Ahmed Imtiazuddin Senior Lecturer University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh Subject: Submission of final report on “Organic Food in Grocery Shop.” Dear Sir, Here is the final report on “Organic Food in Grocery Shop” that you asked us to prepare as a part of our study (course MBA 310) The preparation of the final report was a real exciting one and I enjoyed every moment of it. I tried to follow the instruction you have given and fulfil all the requirements necessary. I have tried my best to gather all necessary information relevant to the areas of my chosen project. There may be some mistakes or lack of relevant information. But I hope that this report will provide the necessary information on the chosen topics. If there is any mistake or lack of information in this report, I hope you will consider that and inform me about the mistake. If you should need any assistance in interpretation this report, please call on me. I will be grateful to you if you help me overcome the lacking and to know more about this final report. Sincerely, …………………………………………………… Name: ID: ULAB Acknowledgement At first we desire to express our deepest sense of...
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...Organic Foods With the development of agriculture, more environment issues appeared because of using too much chemical pesticides and fertilizers. So people are looking for other new agricultures to instead of the old model such as the organic agriculture or organic food. Natural farming is based on the observation of nature and allowing it to do what it naturally does best. (Fukuoka 284) What organic food means? According to the Organic.org website, organic produce and other ingredients are grown without the use of pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge, genetically modified organisms, or ionizing radiation. Animals that produce meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products do not take antibiotics or growth hormones (Organic.org). The chemical pesticides are the most of direct elements for which do harm to the environment. So organic food without these negative factors is benefit for environment. Then what does organic food effect environment? The first of all is organic food can prevent soil pollution. “Organic farms protect the environment by building soil organic matter and by mimicking natural systems rather than relying on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.” (Organic Food) The development of organic food is originated from the development of organic farming. It applies developed biotechnology to organic farming. Organic food is based on the relationship between land, animals, human, bio system and the healthy agricultural production system. The basis is maintaining...
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...Case Study: Whole Foods Market Professor: Russell Handlon BUS 599 October 20, 2011 Discuss the trends in retailing of organic foods and the impact of these trends on Whole Foods Market. The trends at Whole Food Markets were core values, growth strategy, store sizes and locations, product lines, store description and merchandising, marketing and customer service, store operations, compensation and incentives, purchasing and distribution, community citizenship and social activism which had a big impact on the company. Due to the fact that it had built a reputation throughout its history for being the leader in the natural and organic foods movement across the United States helping the industry gain acceptance among growing numbers of consumers concerned about the foods they ate (Thompson, Strickland, & Gamble, 2010). In such a hurry to produce more and more crops to please the growing demand, producers has had to resort to using a fatal cocktail of pesticides to control disease and insect attack which was excellent news for their bank balances. Maybe not good news for your health; this is why people need to be knowledgeable of the advantages of organic food. Did you know that if you ate an average apple you would be eating in excess of 30 pesticides, even after you’ve washed it? Organic food is well known to include 50% more minerals, nutrients and vitamins than produce that has been severely farmed (http://www.organicfoodinfo.net/). Whole Foods required offering...
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...SWOT Analysis Got organic? Concerns for healthier foods have led to consumers purchasing alternative foods. Consumers have found solace with organic foods. Organic foods are considered to be like natural foods. These foods do not contain any harmful processing agents or ingredients or chemicals and pesticides. Whole Foods Market is a producer and seller of organic foods. The trends associated with retailing of organic foods have impacted those of Whole Foods Market. Other supermarkets who are now selling organic foods have created a competitive environment in which Whole Foods Market must vie with. A SWOT analysis will reveal the key strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats Whole Foods Market must face. A further analysis of these will be useful in Whole Foods Market maintaining a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Organic Food Trends “According to the USDA, 2000 was the first year in which more organic food was sold in conventional U.S. supermarkets than in the nation’s 14,500 natural foods stores (Thompson 2009, Pg. C-4).” Supermarkets have stocked more organic foods over the last decade and have even setup sections that only have organic foods in those sections. As consumers are becoming more health conscious, worried about what is in their foods, and concerned about soil and water conservation, organic foods have been growing by leaps and bounds in terms of sales (See Exhibit “A”). “Only one segment has not kept pace—organic farms have struggled...
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...Whole Foods Market By Larry Davis Discuss the trends in the retailing of organic foods and the impact of these trends on Whole Foods Market. A growing appetite for Organic foods have been observed as a recent trend in the markets of United States in specific and the rest of the global market in general. This has been observed due to the change in the thinking process of the people in terms of remaining healthy and staying fit. The retailing of organic foods as traditional suppliers of organic foods faced competition from companies new to this sector (Plunkett, 2007). The organic foods are now not only sold in the natural product stores such as Whole Foods and food cooperatives but also in supermarkets such as big box stores like Wal-Mart, Costco and the like. These foods do not contain artificial flavors and harmful elements. The rise in the health consciousness has resulted in rise in the demand of such foods. These being healthier as compared to the in comparison to the other fast food this is the reason for the increasing demand and boom in this sector of the industry. However in the earlier times, the increase in demand was not aided by equal supply by the suppliers and thus it became necessary to adopt a proper strategy for supplying and fulfilling demand of the market. The organic handlers responsible for purchasing organic foods from the farmers can be held responsible for boosting and supplying to the retailers and made it available at supermarkets, formal retails...
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...Whole Foods Market Strategic Management Table of Contents Introduction…………………………………………………………………….…….p. 3 Trends in the Organic Foods and the Impact on Whole Foods…………………........p. 3 Application of Porter’s 5 Forces Model………..…………………………….............p. 4 Most Significant Environmental Threat and Whole Foods Combat ………………...p. 6 SWOT Analysis….…………………………………………..………………........…p. 7 Sustaining Competitive Advantage...…………………………………...….………..p. 8 Summary….………………………………………………………….………..…….p. 8 References.…………………………………………………………..……………....p. 10 Whole Foods Market Introduction John Mackey cofounder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) founded Whole Foods in 1980 with the purpose of providing organic foods to the grocery shopping public. This started a movement over the next 30 years that has brought organic foods to the common shoppers in many markets around the U.S. that had only been previously serviced by smaller health food stores or by their local grocery chain. The success of Whole Foods moving forward will be how they can succeed and maintain their profitability when unemployment remains high and Americans have less disposable income. This essay will look at several factors of Whole Foods, including latest trends, the competitive environment in the grocery industry, environmental threats, SWOT analysis of the business operations and strengths that must be leveraged to maintain a competitive advantage. Trends in the Organic Foods and...
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...Whole Foods an Organic Food Mogul 1. Discuss the trends in retailing of organic foods and the impact of these trends on Whole Foods Market. There has been a major trend change in the retailing of organic foods. Those trends not only affect Whole Foods Market but the organic food industry as well. In an article written by the Good Food World Staff, they listed 14 trends that the organic industry and Whole Foods Market should lookout for. Listed are just a few that would have a serious impact on Whole Foods Market. • The Economy: with the economy slowing and the job market showing very little promise consumers are still wanting a healthier lifestyle. Low-income families have also joined in on a healthier lifestyle and learn to budget by saving money and using coupons. Although organics are here to stay consumers are wondering were the next dollar will come from. The natural /organic companies that can stay afloat will countinue to do well. • Social Networking: in the world of marketing word of mouth is one method of getting information out quickly. Internet tools such as Facebook and Twitter can help build social networks for the organic markets growth. They give insight on what other companies are selling and at what price. Social networking can also help with brading of certain products. • Organic and Climate Change: all to often society blames global warming for every thing. But there are many other factors that come into play like greenhouse gas emission. However...
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...Elile Awa 01/20/2012 Title: Whole Foods Market Assignment 2 John-Miguel Onkony Discuss the trends in retailing of organic foods and the impact of these trends on Whole Foods Market? Fresh produce was the most popular organic product on the market and biggest its sellers were lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, carrots, and apples. Meat, dairy, bread, and snack foods were among the increasing popular organic product categories too. The Supermarket chains like Wal-Mart and Safeway had created nonperishable organic and health food sections in most of their stores. Whole Foods struggled to find organic beef and chicken suppliers large enough to supply its entire store and several factors transformed organic foods retailing into the top-growing segment of U.S. food sales. First of all, the people were becoming better educated about foods, nutrition, and the eating became a healthy habits. Second, there was an increasing number of consumer concerns about the purity and safety of food due to the presence of pesticides, growth hormones, artificial ingredients, chemicals, and genetically engineered ingredients. Third, there was a health consciousness trend among people of various ethnic groups, and a belief that organic farming had positive environmental effects. The higher the price of organic products was in the primary barrier, the...
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...Discuss the trends in retailing of organic foods and the impact of these trends on Whole Foods Market. Whole Foods is the world’s largest supermarket retail chain of natural and organic foods. This supermarket wanted higher quality, less processed, more flavor and preserved natural products. As the leader in natural and organic foods, Whole Foods looked for consumers that were concerned about what they were eating, their eating patterns and their health and wellness. John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods has a vision that he doesn’t want to become just an international brand with natural and organic foods, but to be the best retailer in every community (Thompson, Strickland, & Gamble, 2010). Whole Foods company motto is “Whole Foods, Whole People, Whole Planet,” (Thompson, Strickland, & Gamble, 2010), this purpose is to help support health, well-being, and healing of both people-customers, team members, and business organizations and the plant. (Thompson, Strickland, & Gamble, 2010) The demand and trends for natural and organic is increasing with more people wanting to live longer, healthier, and more pleasurable lives. In 2000, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported more organic food was sold to supermarkets than the 14,500 natural food stores (Thompson, Strickland, & Gamble 2010). Congress passed the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) in 1990, to develop the standards and organically produced agricultural products to assure consumers...
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...Company Analysis: Whole Foods Market Introduction Whole Foods Market is American supermarket chains headquartered in Austin, Texas. Today, the company is the world’s leader in selling natural and organic foods and has more than 360 stores in the North America and the United Kingdom (Whole Foods, Inc. 1). As a company, they seek the finest goods available, while maintaining the most faithful quality of natural and organic food items. In essence, they have an impeccable commitment to sustainable agriculture. Their motto is “Whole Foods, Whole People, Whole Planet” (Whole Foods Declaration). The company markets food products and dietary supplements along with body care items, articles of clothing, educational books and household items which include furniture, carpets, lighting, etc (Whole Foods, Inc 1). Some of their specialty items are meat, fish, cheeses, wine, vitamins, vegetables, fruits, prepared meals, animal nutrition products (Whole Foods, Inc 1). The company has an overall good reputation when it comes to customer’s health and diet. With the expansion of the Whole Foods Market, organic food is becoming more popular in families’ kitchens across the globe. One might wonder what contributes to Whole Food Markets nationwide success. As a whole, ethics, social responsibility, sustainability, competitive advantage, technology and innovation are some of the contributing factors to Whole Food Market’s success. Application of Chapter Concepts Ethics One of the factors that...
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...Whole Foods Market Whole Foods Market Discuss the trends in retailing of organic foods and the impact of these trends on Whole Foods Market Whole Foods Market was established in 1980 by three local Austin, Texas natural food store owners (Thompson, Strickland & Gamble, 2009, p. C-6). In 1991 Whole Foods Market started with ten stores in the U.S. The company’s success has enabled it to grow to a total of 276 stores in United States, Canada and Great Britain as of 2007 (Thompson, Strickland & Gamble, 2009, p. C-2). The growing trend of organic foods has continued to increase. Sales rose from $1.8 billion in 2000 to $6.5 billion in 2007 (Thompson, Strickland & Gamble, 2009, p. C-11). Trends that can negatively impact Whole Foods Market are “through a loss of sales, reduction in margin from competitive price changes, or greater operating costs such as marketing” (Annual Report, 2009). The major trend that affected Whole Foods Market was mainstream supermarkets, such as Safeway, Kroger and Publix, expanding its grocery selection to include organic products (Thompson, Strickland & Gamble, 2009, p. C-5). Prior to the introduction of organic foods, it was rare to shop at a local Safeway or Kroger to purchase these items. In addition, some stores have introduced their own private label of organic products. It is now not uncommon to walk into one of these supermarkets and find an aisle or section dedicated to organic products. The impact this could have...
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...Nature View Farms: • Yogurt manufacturer • Yogurt Package: Package Natural Food Store Price Supermarket Price 8 oz. cup $0.88 $0.74 32 oz. cup $3.19 $2.70 4 oz. cup multipack $3.35 $2.85 • Product available in Natural Food Stores • Good Brand Image in Natural Food Store channel • Current Revenue = $13 million • Target Revenue = $20 million in 2 years • Considering expanding into Supermarket channel and does not want to hurt loyal natural food store customers • Has three options to launch business into Supermarket channel Market Facts: • Yogurt is consumed by 40% of the US population • Among those 70% are women • Organic dairy products are bought by 74% of heavy organic buyers and 29% of light organic buyers • For natural food buyers, factors to see when buying yogurt are ingredients and whether it is organic or not • Factors to check when deciding which yogurt to purchase are package, size, price, flavor, freshness, ingredients and whether it was organic or not • Shoppers at Natural Food Stores are older, educated and have higher incomes • 46% of organic food consumers bought at supermarkets • 25% bought at a small health store • 29% at natural foods supermarket • 67% of US households said price was a barrier to their purchase of organic products • 58% said they will buy more organic products if price was less • 44% consumers said there was need for wider selection of organic products Option 1: • Expand SIX Stock Keeping Units (SKUs) of...
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