Strategic Marketing Analysis of Whole Foods Market Inc.

This report provides a strategic marketing analysis of Whole Foods Market Inc. It identifies key challenges such as the company's limited market share in the grocery sector, negative price perception, and the need to develop a defensive strategy against lower-priced competitors. The report also examines the impact of short-term profit pressures, supply and pricing issues, and the influence of Amazon's acquisition. The analysis highlights the issues with the marketing of the organic food items and also provides an insight into the pressure from the Wall Street to match the rapid growth. Furthermore, the report references relevant literature to support its findings, offering a comprehensive overview of the company's current market position and strategic considerations for future growth.

Running Head: STRATEGIC MARKETING
STRATEGIC MARKETING

STRATEGIC MARKETING 2
Strategic Marketing Plan for Whole Foods Market Inc
It has been observed that in the recent times Whole Foods Market Inc is facing some of the
problems. One of the main problems that the company is facing at present is regarding
marketing or phenomena (Johnston & Szabo, 2011).
Throwing light on the above-mentioned statement it can be stated that almost all of the
organic food items are mainly sold via the mass market retailers by the Whole Foods Market
Inc. It is the trend that is regarded as quite problematic for the company. On the other hand,
in a figure it has been highlighted that the Whole Foods Market only has 1.2% of share in the
entire grocery market of the U.S.
The company has single focus on the high-end produce has alienated a much more price-
conscious shoppers and they are also having a lot of issues with the negative price perception.
The company is also struggling for developing to develop a working defensive strategy
against the lower-priced competition. It is quite vital for mentioning that some of the choices
that have been made by the company in terms of their strategy, have forced the firm for
making the trade-offs which have been one of the biggest contributors to some of the
problems that is faced by the company in the recent times (Turner, Wang & Soper, 2017).
Another problem is that when the firm tends to file for an IPO, the short-term profits more or
less takes precedence over the long-term value building. There is also some of the supply and
pricing related to the company (Falguera, Aliguer & Falguera, 2012). The company is also

STRATEGIC MARKETING 3
under a huge amount of pressure from the Wall Street for matching the rapid growth that is
quite new, lower-cost entrants into the organic segment have achieved in the recent times.
The relationship of the firm with the Amazon will also be quite problematic as Amazon tends
to control a lot of retail market share to a great extent (Sun‐Waterhouse, 2011).

STRATEGIC MARKETING 4
References
Falguera, V., Aliguer, N., & Falguera, M. (2012). An integrated approach to current trends in
food consumption: Moving toward functional and organic products?. Food
Control, 26(2), 274-281.
Johnston, J., & Szabo, M. (2011). Reflexivity and the Whole Foods Market consumer: the
lived experience of shopping for change. Agriculture and Human Values, 28(3), 303-
319.
Sun‐Waterhouse, D. (2011). The development of fruit‐based functional foods targeting the
health and wellness market: a review. International Journal of Food Science &
Technology, 46(5), 899-920.
Turner, N., Wang, S., & Soper, S. (2017). Amazon to Acquire Whole Foods for $13.7
Billion. Bloomberg Technology.