Whole Foods Market Strategy Elements

The chief elements of strategy being pursued by Whole Foods Market (WFM) began with setting the direction in which the company wanted to focus it 's attention and developing the core values upon which they would base their operations. According to the case study from our text, WFM clearly chose to specialize in a particular market: natural and organic foods (Thompson, Jr. et al. 2010, p. C-2). Once they successfully established themselves as a local market, the company focused their resources on growth. They began to open additional stores and within 12 years of it 's inception, WFM became a public company (Thompson, Jr. et al. 2010, p. C-6). In doing so, the company displayed their ability to be flexible in their strategy while remaining focused on the bigger picture: establishing and maintaining a competitive edge. In this effort, they acquired a number of organic/natural markets in the United States, Great Britain, and Canada. Not only did these acquisitions give WFM a competitive edge, it afforded them the ability to exercise more bargaining power with their suppliers, and greatly reduced administrative costs (Thompson, Jr. et al. 2010, p. C-9). WFM 's strategy is well matched to recent development and conditions in the natural and organic foods segment of the food retailing industry. By viewing WFM 's Statement of Operations as listed in our text book one can clearly see how the company 's strategy proves successful (Thompson, Jr. et al. 2010, p. C-23). Net income for WFM rose steadily at a compound average rate of 17.6% during the years of 2003 through 2007, while retail food market sales rose 4.6% during the same time period (Food Market Industry, 2010). An astounding growth rate for any business, let alone a specialty-product business. According to the Organic Trade Association (OTA), 2010 sales of organic food and beverages was $26.7 billion, up 7.7% from 2009 sales. Natural retailers held 39% of the market share, while mass market