Whole Foods Strategy Discusses Strategy a Company.

Whole Foods Strategy

discusses Strategy a Company. Research a company identify key strategic elements business plan. Classify type Competitive Strategy Company. (Competitive Strategies defined Michael Porter) Discuss importance strategy, strategic planning explains company exemplifies key elements.

Porter's strategies: The competitive strategy of Whole Foods Markets

As indicated by its popular nickname 'Whole Paycheck' the Whole Foods supermarket chain is not known for deploying a conventional low-cost brand leadership strategy in the grocery marketplace. While many food stores advertise their rock-bottom prices and deals, Whole Foods tends to be much more expensive than the average supermarket in any given area. This is because it sells only organic, sustainably-raised foods, which tend to be more expensive than commercially-raised produce, dairy, and factory-farmed meats. Whole Foods thus deploys a differentiation strategy, offering what was once extremely unique -- and now is still relatively unique -- option to shop at a supermarket where consumers can feel assured that everything is 'ethically sourced.' Although some generic competitors like Wal-Mart pursue a price leadership strategy and still offer organic foods, the offerings are not as extensive as Whole Foods and also the consumer cannot be assured that all products are ethically-raised. The same is true for Trader Joe's and Wegmans, although these grocery stores are also poised as rivals to Whole Foods (Voight 2013). While other grocery stores may promote ethical products and have a reputation for treating their workers well, they do not offer exclusively organic products.

Whole Foods also deploys a niche marketing strategy by offering gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian, and unusual imported goods to customers, provided they meet its ethical standards. Although products catering to special diets have becoming increasingly available at conventional supermarkets as well as independent health food stores, Whole Foods offers greater variety and the attractions of one-stop shopping for these products. The wide array of different diets Whole Foods caters to and the different types of specialty eaters, spanning from persons with allergies and ideological vegans to adventurous foodies underlines how it is targeting a wide rather than generic market of consumers. Its rapid expansion across the U.S. into New Orleans and Detroit and internationally into London underlines the breadth of its strategy, despite the specificity of its positioning within that market (Bleeker 2012). It caters to dieters with many different obsessions and needs, rather than one type of eater exclusively, even though a consumer cannot purchase conventional, popular products like M&Ms and paper towels not made of biodegradable materials at Whole Foods.