Whole Foods Analysis
Analysis of Whole Foods Market Strategies
The company had many strategies which lead to their enormous growth and success. Whole Foods Market had an efficient and effective strategy and built a competitive advantage by focusing on better serving a niche market’s needs. However when the economic conditions changed the company had to modify its strategy. The new plan included strategies for growth, store location, product line, pricing, controlling expenses and merchandising.
The growth strategy previously included several acquisitions of companies by Whole Foods Market which contributed greatly to their growth and expansion. It was discovered that before the company acquired Wild Oats, John Mackey posted on financial message boards under a pseudonym ‘Rahodeb’, making uncomplimentary remarks about their financial position; “no one would buy Wild Oats at its current price of $8 per share and Whole Foods had nothing to gain by buying Wild Oats”. (Thompson, 2010) When Mackey’s posts came into light it spurred calls for his resignation on the grounds that he breached his fiduciary responsibility which was damaging to the company’s ethical reputation.
The FTC was the first to discover these postings and used the documents in their case against the acquisition. In order to resolve the dispute with the FTC, after acquiring ‘Wild Oats’, Whole Foods Market had to sell many stores and leases and trademarks and intellectual property related to Wild Oats. This led to a complete change in strategy and the management stated that going forward they would focus mainly on opening new stores rather than making acquisitions.
The pricing strategy also had to be changed for cost saver buyers, and Whole Foods Market adopted an aggressive campaign to emphasise their value prices items and prices were trimmed on products considered ‘key’ items. The management negotiated deals with suppliers to get better deals in order to give better deals to their customers. There was also an
The company had many strategies which lead to their enormous growth and success. Whole Foods Market had an efficient and effective strategy and built a competitive advantage by focusing on better serving a niche market’s needs. However when the economic conditions changed the company had to modify its strategy. The new plan included strategies for growth, store location, product line, pricing, controlling expenses and merchandising.
The growth strategy previously included several acquisitions of companies by Whole Foods Market which contributed greatly to their growth and expansion. It was discovered that before the company acquired Wild Oats, John Mackey posted on financial message boards under a pseudonym ‘Rahodeb’, making uncomplimentary remarks about their financial position; “no one would buy Wild Oats at its current price of $8 per share and Whole Foods had nothing to gain by buying Wild Oats”. (Thompson, 2010) When Mackey’s posts came into light it spurred calls for his resignation on the grounds that he breached his fiduciary responsibility which was damaging to the company’s ethical reputation.
The FTC was the first to discover these postings and used the documents in their case against the acquisition. In order to resolve the dispute with the FTC, after acquiring ‘Wild Oats’, Whole Foods Market had to sell many stores and leases and trademarks and intellectual property related to Wild Oats. This led to a complete change in strategy and the management stated that going forward they would focus mainly on opening new stores rather than making acquisitions.
The pricing strategy also had to be changed for cost saver buyers, and Whole Foods Market adopted an aggressive campaign to emphasise their value prices items and prices were trimmed on products considered ‘key’ items. The management negotiated deals with suppliers to get better deals in order to give better deals to their customers. There was also an