Whole Foods is one of the largest organic grocery chains in the world, operating in the retail business of natural, specialty and organic foods. Founded by John Mackey in 1980, Whole Foods quickly became one of the world's best-known and most successful grocery chains, gaining a leading position in the international global market. Nowadays, the company is considered one of the most socially responsible organizations in managing a competitive strategy compared to its major competitors. Whole Foods' main strategy is to provide consumers with great quality food and offer a wide range of different products that everyone can enjoy. Based on the information provided about their strategy, we can point to the five primary values ​​of Whole Foods: “Provide only high-quality foods; Satisfy and delight customers; Promote team member happiness and excellence; Create wealth through profits and growth; Caring for communities and the environment; practice and promote responsible management of the environment; Create ongoing beneficial partnerships with your suppliers; Promote the health of its stakeholders through healthy food education. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The strengths of Whole Foods would be that they have one of the highest quality standards for a supermarket. As mentioned above, Whole Foods believes their high-quality standards are what sets them apart from other supermarkets. This allows them to attract and maintain a large base of loyal customers who will most likely return to them often. Its standards ban hundreds of ingredients commonly found in other supermarkets. These do not include artificial flavors, colors, sweeteners, hydrogenated fats or meat from animals raised with antibiotics. They also ban numerous amounts of production, farming, fishing, and many other food sources that do not meet their standards. Although other grocery stores offer cheaper products, the quality of these items is typically not as high as that of Whole Foods products. Whole Foods can offer higher quality products at higher prices because the company can attract customers who are willing to pay a premium for better quality food. Many of these customers tend to have a higher average income and are willing to pay a little extra. Whole Foods' weak point would be the customer's reception towards them. While Whole Foods certainly has a large fan base among higher-income, health-conscious consumers, there are also many people who think the company's prices are very high. The company also has a very popular nickname among many consumers, which is "Whole Paycheck", due to the perception that their products are quite high and can absorb a customer's "entire" paycheck. While the company's prices are, on average, higher than many of its competitors, the quality is also higher, so at least customers are getting a good result. However, it has been difficult for the company to disconnect this image from low- and middle-income families. As a result, many of these consumers have stayed away from them. Whole Foods has many opportunities to develop this company into something even better, such as lowering prices, expanding internationally, expanding its products and electronic retail. They launched stores called “365”, the aim of which was to provide a similar line of grocery products at lower prices that could help them attract low/middle income consumers. If they could leveragethe opportunity to expand into developed markets in countries such as Asia, Europe and the Middle East, could see increased sales coming their way. Even though they sell organic products and are quite limited in their products if they could continue to find new varieties of their organic products it would help them in the long run. Finally, many of these consumers could use technology to shop, so if they take advantage of online advertising, creating apps, and finding ways to deliver items to consumers' homes, they could benefit tremendously. The biggest threat Whole Foods faces is its strong competitors in its industry, including local, national and international supermarkets, health food stores, warehouse membership clubs, online retailers, farmers markets and even restaurants. Many of these companies are joining this market and are aggressively saturating the natural and organic foods market. Costco has expanded its organic department gifts and can offer them at prices quite lower than Whole Foods. Other competitors include Fresh Market, which also focuses on selling fresh, organic and natural produce, and Trader Joe's, a privately held company that has a reputation for offering inexpensive natural products. As large companies like Wal-Mart, Target and Amazon begin to offer more natural and organic products, at lower prices, this will only continue to add more pressure to Whole Foods' bottom line, particularly given its higher prices. One option Whole Foods needs to do is shed its high-price image before it's too late. Aside from negative publicity about the company's overpriced products, Whole Foods has also faced other challenges. Not long ago, Whole Foods was fined $500,000 by the city of New York for allegedly overcharging customers. (The Washington Post) While the company has taken steps to avoid overcharging customers in the future, including retraining some workers and pledging to give away products if customers find they've been overcharged, the result still hurt too many people's perception of the company. Any future mistakes in receiving bad publicity could prove even more costly to them. Whole Foods' dependence on the American market can be a huge disadvantage for them. This dependence on the US market makes it vulnerable to crises in its economy. International Expansion: A company like this would be a great benefit to them simply because the United States is by far one of the unhealthiest countries. Providing more whole foods in more European countries would be a smart plan for them. Given that the majority of Whole Foods' sales would likely come from the United States, I think the company has tremendous room for growth internationally. So far, the only other markets for the company are Canada and the United Kingdom, and there are very few locations in those countries. I assume the company continues to expand its store in Canada. This country has many similarities with the United States such as a growing percentage of its population interested in natural and organic products. The only downside to expanding into other countries is that it will cost a huge amount of expenses and they will be entering a slightly new type of market since it is in another country. For example, from 2005 to 2008, new headquarters development costs rose from $171 million to $339 million. The good thing is that they are expanding to new locations, which means there are more opportunities to make more money, but every good opportunity comes with big risks. The reports.