Whole Foods

Angelina Zhang
Situational Analysis
Industry Analysis
- The supermarket and grocery store industry in
the US earned $573.79 billion in 2014 and
grows at about 1.2% each year
- Major players take up approximately 31% of
the total market share and consists of three
firms
- There has been no big changes or disruptions
in 2014 that caused a financial impact on the
industry, however, the increase in competitors
have made the market even more fragmented
- Consumer trends such as those who want to
eat a healthier diet and a general rise in
discretionary income has caused revenue and
profits to increase as a whole in the industry
Competitive Landscape
- There has been an increase of new
competitors from local organic grocery
stores in the US and Canada such as Fresh
Street Market, City Market, and etc
- One of the key success factors that is
important for businesses in this industry is
proximity to key markets, meaning those
who have the best location are more likely to
have more customers
- The competition from both internal and
external firms are high and are likely to keep
increasing in the future due to the
homogenous nature of goods sold
Source: IBISWorld: Supermarkets & Grocery Stores in the US
 Executive Summary
Goal To increase market share by 20% in the US grocery store market by the end of 2016

How should they increase How can they reach new

Key Questions How should they retain
store traffic and transaction cutomers before their
current customers?
size of purchases? competitors?

Focus on promoting the ”highest quality

Partner with influencers on social media
natural and organic products available” by
Recommendations who already have a medium to large fan
having more free events for new
base and promotes healthy living
customers to try the products

Average customer Weekly sales Net sales growth from

3% market
Impact visits each week: per store: per year 2015-2016:
share
8.5 million 800,000 12%
Recommendations
Out of the 6 main company values, Whole Foods should focus on:
Offering the “highest quality of natural and oragnic products” to customers, specifically conscious shoppers

Recommendation 1: Influencers Recommendation 2: Free local events

Whole Foods should collaborate with healthy
living influencers on social media, such as
Instagram, who already have a fan base of 10k-50k
- This encourages new consumers such as high
school and college students to shop at Whole
Foods because their influencer also shops there
- iFurther collaborations can be made such as
cooking recepies using specfic ingrediants from
Whole Foods can attract the “Foodies” type of
customer
- Theis low-cost strategy would also work in
Canada as long as influencers from a variety of
locations sign up to partner with Whole Foods
These events are based around trying out Whole
Foods best quality products to retain existing
customers and encourage repeat purchases
- Events can include free samples in-store,
cooking workshops, wine and cheese night, etc
- Whole Foods can collaborate with new local
stakeholders such as gyms to host events such
as “Sunrise yoga with Whole Foods fruit bowl”
- Partner with farmers to offer fruit/vegetable
picking experiences for families to allow
cutomers to see exactly where their food is
coming from and the quality of the products
Financials: Sub-goals
AVERAGE WEEKLY SALES CUSTOMER VISITS EACH
PER STORE (USD) WEEK (MILLIONS)
Average weekly sales per store (USD) Customer visits each week (millions)

1000000 9
711000 722000 760000 800000
636000 682000 8.5
588000
500000 8
7.5
0 7
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2014 2015 2016

NET SALES (BILLIONS USD)

Net sales (billions USD)
20
15
10
5
0
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Financials: Final goal
PERCENTAGE MARKET SHARE OF GROCERY
STORES IN THE US
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Percentage market share of grocery stores in the US

Market share increases from 2.5% in 2014 to 3% in 2016, making it a 20% increase overall