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Whole Foods Market

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Whole Foods Market Case Study

I. History/Introduction

Whole Foods Market was founded 1980 in Austin, Texas by three businessmen who felt that the natural food industry was ready for a supermarket setup. Two separate individual companies, Safer Way Natural Foods and Clarksville Natural Grocery, formed Whole Foods Market. After 27 years of operation, the company has come a long way. Today Whole Foods Market is the leading retailer of natural and organic foods, with 194 stores/locations in the United States, Great Britain, and Canada (wholefoodsmarket.com). The company has been in the Fortune Magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work for" every year since the list was made up in 1998 (2007 ranked 5th). The cofounder and CEO, John …show more content…

The business wants to draw everyone's attention in their areas by offering the types of products the customers want to buy. Along the same lines the management uses a decentralized structure. This allows for store managers and employees to react quickly to the different needs and wants by customers, because they do not have to run it by their headquarters. Example: Offer products to customers that are vegans Satisfy and Delight customers are the most important core value of Whole Foods. Why is this so important? Reputation! One thing the company has over competitors is their reputation. All of the products in the store are guaranteed 100% satisfaction. This shows customers that their product is the best on the market. Customer Service goes a long way with reputation. For example when a customer wants to know where to find a product: Team members would take the customer to the product and on the way making conversation or answering questions. They are only one of the few store chains that provide natural and organic products, which makes their big name more recognizable. They offer a unique product that is demanded by the public.

Weakness

One thing that I noticed in my reading of the case is the lack of advertisement. Even though the company has a great reputation, they need to advertise in papers and other media channels. This will let future customers

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