Whole Foods Market
Case Study: Whole Foods Market 2006: Mission, Core Values and Strategy
1. What are the chief elements of the strategy that Whole Foods Market is pursuing?
Founder John Mackey strongly believed in Whole Foods’ mission to be very selective about store inventory, sticking to the company’s core values and ensuring that customers had an enjoyable and interactive shopping experience, while keeping with planned strategies that have set them apart from their competitors. Store Development and Growth Strategy: Prior to 2002, Whole Foods’ strategy for expansion meant the acquisition of smaller, similar chains. The obstacle here was that acquisitions proved to be very limiting in square footage as well as location. Since 2002, Whole Foods has sought to develop and build individual stores to avoid these limitations, allowing the company to operate stores as large as 50,000 square feet.
Inventory: Whole Foods also seeks to stock the highest quality and most varieties of fresh foods available, regionally and globally. This is done through careful selection of food suppliers who are in keeping with the highest standards of food production while maintaining a certain degree of environmental and social responsibility in the process.
Shopping/Merchandising: Each Whole Foods store maintains a special environment for their customers, such as ambient lighting, natural displays, and educational demonstrations, to encourage the shopper to be a repeat customer and even share their experience with friends and family.
Store Operations/Incentives: From an internal perspective, Whole Foods uses a team-based strategy of operations. Employees are part of a democratic process of selecting new hirees, implementing new ideas and encouraging individual creative thinking, while still maintaining accountability for successes and failures as a whole. In addition, employees are given many options with regards to their work schedules, benefits and company profit sharing.
1. What are the chief elements of the strategy that Whole Foods Market is pursuing?
Founder John Mackey strongly believed in Whole Foods’ mission to be very selective about store inventory, sticking to the company’s core values and ensuring that customers had an enjoyable and interactive shopping experience, while keeping with planned strategies that have set them apart from their competitors. Store Development and Growth Strategy: Prior to 2002, Whole Foods’ strategy for expansion meant the acquisition of smaller, similar chains. The obstacle here was that acquisitions proved to be very limiting in square footage as well as location. Since 2002, Whole Foods has sought to develop and build individual stores to avoid these limitations, allowing the company to operate stores as large as 50,000 square feet.
Inventory: Whole Foods also seeks to stock the highest quality and most varieties of fresh foods available, regionally and globally. This is done through careful selection of food suppliers who are in keeping with the highest standards of food production while maintaining a certain degree of environmental and social responsibility in the process.
Shopping/Merchandising: Each Whole Foods store maintains a special environment for their customers, such as ambient lighting, natural displays, and educational demonstrations, to encourage the shopper to be a repeat customer and even share their experience with friends and family.
Store Operations/Incentives: From an internal perspective, Whole Foods uses a team-based strategy of operations. Employees are part of a democratic process of selecting new hirees, implementing new ideas and encouraging individual creative thinking, while still maintaining accountability for successes and failures as a whole. In addition, employees are given many options with regards to their work schedules, benefits and company profit sharing.