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Whole Foods Market Essay

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Whole Foods Market Essay
Report of Whole Foods Market and its business unit of grocery store locations

Date: October 26, 2013
To:
Subject: Whole Foods Market Inc.

Executive Summary
The scope of the project is a study of Whole Foods Market and its strategic alignment in the organic/natural food and beverage industry. The following report will explore challenges and opportunities this company faces and recommendation for growth.

The scope of our work to prepare this report includes:
Reading industry surveys
Reviewing wholefoodsmarket.com
Reviewing trade journals about this industry
Researching current articles about Whole Foods Market

Based on the case study and the research that we did, we conclude that:
1. Whole Foods Market must …show more content…
Its NAICS code is: 445110

Background
Founded in Austin, Texas, in 1980, Whole Foods Market pioneered the supermarket concept in natural and organic foods retailing. It is currently the world's #1 natural foods chain.
Whole Foods Market established its name through the term ‘whole foods’ which are foods that are unprocessed and unrefined, or processed and refined as little as possible, before being consumed. Whereas it now carries some 2400 items in four lives of private-label products and outsources locally for food and other items that are free of pesticides, preservatives, sweeteners, and animal cruelty.
Its retail network includes today more than 340 stores in North America (USA, Canada) and in the United Kingdom.
With over 72,000 employees worldwide it generated sales of over $11 billion in 2012.
Whole Foods had a 3.69 Net Profit Margin in 2012 which was well above the industry average of 1.44 and surpassing all of its main direct competitors (hoovers.com)

Core …show more content…
The retailer has been aggressively pursuing value-conscious shoppers, growing its store brands in the category under the 365 and 365 Organic private labels. “An important element to our value strategy is to continue to expand our private label offering,” said John Mackey, co-founder and co-CEO, Whole Foods Market, during a conference call with analysts discussing fourth quarter results. “We are very excited about our recent launch of 70 new 365 and Whole Foods Market exclusive brand frozen
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