You could use the following questions as guidelines:
1. What are the key/valuable resources of Trader Joe?
Ans. Trader Joe’s is a private chain of grocery stores in the US, founded in 1958 by Joe Coulombe. In the year 1978, he sold it to a leading global discount supermarket chain. It has now expanded to over 450 stores nationally. The key reasons or resources why Trader Joe has been able to reach such heights are as follows:
a. Small stores and compact, comprehensive choices: Unlike its competitors, Trader Joe stores are smaller and offer limited but compact choices which the customers want. On an average, TJ 's stores sell about one tenth its total number of SKUs, but makes around twice the revenue per …show more content…
During this time of a massive shift in the culture of America because of globalization, Trader Joe’s has shown how staying true to one’s culture can help businesses to grow and carving a marketing niche at the root level can lead to viral consumer action. The non-conventional and culturally-tailored attitude acquired by TJ’s evident clearly in their product portfolio, store layout, graphics, packaging, and the way they treat their employees and consumers while maintaining a decentralized management are all proofs for the competitive advantage that they have acquired and it’s definitely going to be sustainable for years to come for theirs is a formula that’s true to its roots. There are a few core competencies that give Trader Joe its competitive …show more content…
What are the main threats to Trader Joe’s competitive advantage?
Ans. Despite the sustainable competitive advantage enjoyed by Trader Joe’s, there are certain threats that it faces in the retail environment. They can be stated as follows:
a. Ever changing consumer trends: One of the major challenges faced by Trader Joe’s in the future could be the dynamic trends due to evolving consumerism. So in order to be able to match the changing preferences, the company needs to consistently keep up with the changing dietary habits. Also in order to keep pace, they need to innovate and come up with new products and brand extensions leading to significant investment in research and development followed by launch and marketing. Any failure at any point may lead to a problem for the brand.
b. Large retailers as competitors: Presence of strong peers like Walmart, Safeway Inc. etc. is yet another threat for the company. They are constantly trying to catch up and trying to grab the maximum market share by extensively expanding their store network, offering better quality at same prices, global presence, wider range and bigger marketing expenditure thus causing a threat to Trader