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Whole Foods Company Case Study

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Summary of the Facts: i) Whole Foods was founded in Austin and it owns and operates a chain of natural and organic foods supermarkets through several wholly owned subsidiaries. The company’s supermarkets are located in the US, Canada and the UK. ii) While the product and brand selections varied from store to store, Whole Foods’ product line included some 30,000 natural, organic, and gourmet food products and non food items. (page 10 of 31; Whole Foods Market in 2008) iii) Number of stores increased considerably from 10 in 1991 to 276 in 2007. iv) They are the undisputed $ 4.7 b organic supermarket industry leader.

Statement of the Problem:
Whole Foods is facing the problem of higher prices of its organic foods resulting in to decline of sales, customers being attracted to other local retailers for the organic food and this is also resulting into the hindering of the brand loyalty of Whole Foods.

Causes of the problem: 1) Whole Foods strategy is to give the best product to the customer and maintaining the quality of the organic foods resulting in the higher prices than conventional grocers. 2) Prices of organic foods are 25 – 75 % more costly to grow and market (page 12 of 31; Whole Foods Market in 2008). 3) Exotic offerings and product variety and assortments leading to higher prices. Example would be of Japanese egg plant, 40 different cheeses, and 20 different coffees.
Possible Solutions: 1) Lower prices to compete with grocery stores. 2) Expand Private label selection. 3) Personalize Service at Whole Foods. 4) Needs more of the advertising. 5) Offer catering to the local businesses and events.
Solution and its implementation:
The possible solution could be of lowering the prices of organic foods so as to compete with the grocery stores. The implementation would result into having a hold in the organic

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