Whole Foods Competitive Strategy

Whole foods market is well-known as one of the largest organic and natural food suppliers in all over the world. It was initially founded by John Mackey in 1980 with approximate 10,500 square feet store and 19 staffs. (Marquis, Beshrov, & Thomason, 2011) Mackey then expanded his business by acquiring other small competitors that offering similar products of natural and organic foods during the year of 1980. (Marquis, Beshrov, & Thomason, 2011) Many stores were opened after that period such as opening a whole foods store in Houston, Texas in 1984, acquiring Bluebonnet Natural Food Company in 1986, etc. (Marquis, Beshrov, & Thomason, 2011) Moreover, in February 2007, the Whole Foods strived to win over its primary competitor which was also known …show more content…
(Marquis, Beshrov, & Thomason, 2011) The first value was to sell diverse products with the highest quality. Whole Foods was likely to become a one-stop shop for health conscious customers; therefore, it would not be dogmatic about the products that the company was offering. (Marquis, Beshrov, & Thomason, 2011) Whole Foods was mainly focusing on the quality of the food itself. It also established a set of food quality standard in order to maintain the company’s mission of offering highest quality, healthiest food available. (Marquis, Beshrov, & Thomason, 2011) The quality standard included which ingredients should be and should not be added in the Whole Foods’ products such as sweetener, artificial flavoring, coloring, or trans-fat, etc. (Marquis, Beshrov, & Thomason, 2011) However, as the company grew, the market had become larger and competition had become fierce, many team members and customers found that Whole Foods’s products seemingly failed out of its quality standard and started stocking sugary products, beer, wine, or some specialty chocolates and cheeses. (Marquis, Beshrov, & Thomason, 2011) These items might have technically met the quality standards but not stayed true with the commitment. Also, by doing this, Whole Foods might be able to unveiled and more attractive to the rest of the market but it would face with a cost of losing a small group of loyalty team members and customers. (Marquis, Beshrov, & Thomason, 2011) The second value was to ensure all customers happy and satisfied with the products. Customers play a critical role to every business. No matter how well-established the business was, it could not be success without its loyalty customers. Also, customers would play as a motivator role which urges the company to keep developing and improving the products and services.