Whole Foods was founded in 1980, and today, is the world's largest retail chain of natural and organic foods. They offer fresh, natural and organic foods and products with no preservatives or artificial ingredients. It is focused on high quality organic food, promoting healthier eating lifestyles to its customers, and increasing consumer knowledge of food safety. All of which complement its motto of "Whole Foods, Whole People, Whole Planet".
The strategy Whole Foods implemented worked brilliantly all these years, expanding its stores from 6 in 1992 to 276 in 2007 via a combination of opening new stores and acquiring smaller chains of similar stores. It was on track to meet its goal of 400 stores by the year 2010 and net sales of $12 billion. Starting in 2008, Whole Foods ran into some roadblock. In 2008 Whole foods had a very sluggish sales growth when compared to 2007. Rivals such as Trader Joe's started to take some of Whole Foods profits by offering good quality products at a lower price.
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) Analysis:.
The strengths of Whole Foods is that it has large and spacious stores, a huge product line (over 30,000 items), and a well trained staff. The staff at Whole Foods is equipped with specialized skills, community involvement, and social awareness. They also have a strong reputation; they are the world's number one retailer for organic and natural food. By providing job security to its workforce, independence at store level, considering employees as "lifeblood of the business" and installing within them a sense of purpose they are able to recruit quality employees. Recently they began offering a different shopping experience through the appliance of home delivery, cooking classes, and providing in-store chefs to help with recipes.
The weaknesses of Whole Foods marketing plan are their premium prices (up to 75% higher than some grocery stores).