WHOLE FOOD COMPANY

Whole Food Company

Whole Food Company

This paper is based on a case study that involves an organic food retailer firm called, Whole Foods. The company has enjoyed a formidable position in the organic food sector, being the leader, and committed to provide top quality organic food to its customers. Since its inception in 1980, the company has practiced its core values of providing standardized food to their customers not only locally but also on the global scale. This philosophy is particularly evident in the mission of the company, Whole Food, Whole People, and Whole Planet. In this paper, answers are given for a particular set of questions focusing on the marketing strategy and persisting trends in the market, which has seen a tremendous growth in contemporary times due to presence of potential competitors, striving to make their mark in the ever-growing industry.

Q1: Discuss the trends in retailing of organic foods and the impact of these trends on Whole Foods Market

Ans: The U.S. organic food market is in dispute over the European market due to its label "organic" (without direct equivalence with the EU regulation bio) is booming and now accounts for nearly 3.5% of U.S. food market. According to a recent report published by the Hartman Group, entitled "Beyond Organic and Natural 2010", three-quarters of U.S. consumers buy organic products. The unprecedented growth of the sector is creating real problems. It is estimated that organic food sales reached U.S. $ 15.7 billion in 2006. Although this sector is only 3% of total food sales, its growth rate is outrageous compared to an industry almost frozen. And continue to grow thanks to large retailers (Borch, 2006).

A rate of double-digit growth simply means that there are not enough organic farms and organically raised animals in the United States to meet demand. The result is a tremendous pressure to increase supply, which in many cases is leading to questionable practices.

Despite the confusion of the consumer and the economic downturn, health continues to influence food purchases by consumers in the U.S. However, taste is king for consumers regardless of the benefits of a health product. Food manufacturers can not compromise on taste when developing healthier versions of existing products or when they introduce new.

This pressure has forced the organic food retailing companies, such as Whole Foods to reconsider their options and get back to focus on the quality of the product. Organic foods with high fiber rate are becoming more popular these days. Thus Whole Foods should opt for a more suitable strategy to attract these health-conscious customers by introducing new range of fiber-rich products with low-calorie content.

More importantly, Whole Foods should be aware of the false marketing campaigns, which are now becoming a usual trend for the competitors to make money. Fashion for the "naturalness" has formed a global market of biological products as early as 1990, and today organic label on a product familiar to Americans. As for America, experts differ in their assessment of prospects of development of the ...