Capitalizing on Organic Food

Case 3.2 Capitalizing on Organic Food

Marketing Principles

Evan Stewart

        Whole Foods Market started off as a small market based out of Austin in 1980.  They offered organic alternatives to mainstream products.  This trend caught on with consumers becoming more educated about the dangers of conventional products such as pesticides, genetic modification and preservatives.  With organic foods rising in popularity Whole foods Market seemed to essentially explode in popularity overnight.  

Surviving the Competitive (Super)Market

        Whole Foods Market has been successful in today’s highly competitive supermarket industry due to a number of factors.  The textbook would have you believe it is because of their superior products, system of quality standards, quality customer service, and their environmentally friendly practices. (Pride & Ferrell, 2014)  Having worked for whole foods myself, I can accurately say that these factors are indeed true for the most part; however they are a bit romanticized in the text.  Whole Foods Market is a business, and as a business their first and really only concern is profit.  Everything else is a secondary or tertiary concern no matter how much they push that any one of these factors are their foremost concern.  That is however the point.  They are very good at marketing themselves as something that they really aren’t at their basest levels.                  

Economic Adjustments

        At its basest level, Whole Foods Market is a business interested in making profits, regardless of what they may outwardly portray.  This is obvious by their nickname “Whole Paycheck.”  Their high prices are often a deterrent for many people.  However, in true Whole Foods Market style, they have been able to turn that to their advantage.  When the recession hit recently, Whole Foods Market made changes to their marketing strategies to retain and garner more business.  They did this by lowering prices on some of their products/brands, as well as starting to offer “extreme value items”, namely their 365 brand of products. Their new marketing strategy paid off, and they have survived the recession and even to prosper in it.  (Pride & Ferrell, 2014)  From an inside perspective, they did and continue to execute successful marketing strategies, however they are having internal issues currently with unhappy employees that can and will undermine any strategies they may implement.  One of the most powerful methods of advertisement is word of mouth, as Trade Joe’s (Whole Foods Market’s biggest rival) has proven time and again.  If Whole Foods Market continues to along this path, the word of mouth advertising is going to be tainted with stories of employee mistreatment, behind the scenes truths about what they truly think about their customers, etc., which will negatively impact their public image and create doubts about their marketing strategies.