fact that it is a story. Trader Joe’s doesn’t just tell you about their new product and to buy it. They tell a story about the new product to make it more personal. They want to strike almost an emotional response to the consumer reading their newsletter, making them feel informed and creating that need for the product. Therefore, they created a motive for the consumer.
Every industry is becoming more competitive year by year. The grocery store sector is one prime example of this trend. Kroger Inc. is currently experimenting with new product lines, refining their core business, utilizing technology to better serve their customers, and selling off segments of their corporation. The company realizes they need to innovate or die and that in order to retain and attract customers, selling groceries is not enough. Consumers will voice their opinions on their efforts by staying with Kroger or breaking off and giving their business to one of Kroger’s many competitors.
Trader Joe uses differentiation strategy to get a competitive advantage over the potential competitors. They make the products look different of those of competitors by incorporating customized features in packaging. With affordable prices, Trader Joes recognizes the optimal structure for its target market. For instance, Whole foods does not emphasize price but it does aim to offer organic and grass-fed foods. On the other hand, Trader Joes created a new style of grocery that could offer low prices of new and exotic food items.
Strolling into a Trader Joe's business sector is a tropical escape from consistent everyday shopping for food. The multi-billion dollar supermarket chain has accomplished a game changer by conveying shoddy, one of a kind, outlandish goodies and has successfully established itself as a respectable and desirable sustenance boutique loaded with culinary delights. The study inferred that the chain positioned first on atmosphere and fast checkouts, and second on cleanliness, courteous staff, merchandise selection and exact valuing (Anderson, 2013). Coulombe, Trader Joe's unique organizer, said he attempted from the start to make Trader Joe's a spot where individuals would appreciate coming to shop (Palmeri, 2008).
Competitor differences in long term objectives, strategy, and capabilities – The only factor that comes into play in this category is production facilities in other countries. WF was the only retailer that was specifically mentioned as going outside the U.S. to find better and more sustainable sources of goods. And, Trader Joes owns or is the sole customer for their suppliers. Other than that, all the major retailers appear to have similar long-term objectives and views of the future as specified in their mission statements. All major competitors have developed and understand the importance of value chain activities, and have thus structured their operations to maximize customer value.
Another choice for Whole Foods is to check what their main competitors are offering and offer something better than that. They should also implement similar strategies as their competitors. For example, the company can
After watching the video, I know about how Whole Food get the organic products and what problems they are facing. Everyone knows Whole Food is one of the biggest company in the U.S, even though it can be survived the recession but has seen steady growth since 2009, but I don't think that its business model can sustain in the longer term. In my opinion, first, competition is one of the biggest challenges; second, in order to adapt to the tendency of economic cannot without any change. As we know, Whole Food's headquarters located in Austin, Texas. Central Market, one of the competitors, located in Austin and offers natural, organic products as well; and it's a lot of cheaper than Whole Food.
Grocery stores are an important business in our lives that we fail to look further into, just like with everything else businesses provide for us. However, grocery stores provide for us in a different way than most normal businesses. They provide the necessities we need for our lives. When these necessities become even more important to us, consumers turn to selective grocery store outlets and look for the highest quality of foods to provide for themselves and their families. This is where Whole Foods Markets steps in and provides for these very people.
Trader Joe’s is known for their excellent in customer service as the company statement is “We tried it. We like it. If you don’t, bring it back for a refund or exchange — no hassles” (Anderson, Swaminathan and Mehta, 2013). In addition, unlike any other department stores where they have approximate 40,000 of products in stock, Trade Joe’s only carries about 4,000 products to serve “the demographic and psychographic profiles of its customers” (Anderson, Swaminathan and Mehta, 2013). Therefore, rather than focusing on a large consumer area, Trader Joe’s cares about the local consumers who have the easier and more frequent access to the store.
Based on the data presented in Exhibit three and four, from a strategic perspective it is clear that Whole Foods market is performing exceedingly well. Right now they have the competitive advantage over their other rivals. One reason Whole Foods has this competitive advantage is due to the fact that the sizes of their stores are bigger than their rivals. “Whole Food 180 stores average about 30,000 to 36,000 square feet, which is much larger than that of its nearest competitors” (Whole Foods Economy, 2017). This aids the company in offering a larger assortment of merchandise and gives them a larger inventory.
Purchasing items online has become a major threat to companies who have long been selling proucts in physical stores. However, online stores, including Amazon, were never a real threat to grocery markets. This is due to the same reason why Amazon decided to make the purchase in the first place, consumers have favored to shop for their grocery products in person. But thanks to the purchase of Whole Foods and Amazon’s lowering of prices for higher quality goods, Whole Foods/Amazon has become a major threat to grocery markets. In June of 2017, the six largest food retailers announced a combine lost of $12 billion in value after Amazon announced they were going to lower Whole Foods prices.
At present, there is no other chain supermarket that can compete with Wegmans. The interior of each Wegmans’ store is equivalent to 8-10 other supermarkets. According to Ferdman (2015), “The produce department by itself in Wegmans’ stores is twice as big as the total supermarket store volume of its average competitors in the U.S.” (para. 7). One thing that sets Wegmans apart from its average competitors is its 360-degree competition. For example, “Wegmans can compete with Whole Foods, because its produce is some of the freshest in the business; it can compete with Trader Joes, because its prices are some of the most reasonable; and it can complete with Wal-Mart” (Ferdman, 2015, para.
Whole Foods Market has differentiated from other retailers by their high quality of natural and organic foods which attracted many customers. However, little by little competition started to rise. Customers were able to find organic foods in supermarkets, grocery chains, and warehouses. For example, WFM major competitors include Kroger’s, Walmart, Costco Wholesale, Trader Joe’s, and Sprout. Competitors are strong because they have created their own organic private labels which have attracted many WFM customers.
Regarding to Nam (2012, p.3), “The shareholder approach” focuses on responsibility over profitability. The satisfaction among stakeholders, not only shareholders, will determine the success of company. Service industry such as Enterprise Rent-a-Car, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe's prove this approach in order to maintain a sustainable competitive advantage and get better return in a long run version. For the Whole Food Company (WFC), “fresh product” is the product categories that is most challenging to manage due to the limited product shelf life and high cost of spoilage (Nam, 2012, p.84). Whole Foods tries to solve this problem by get the supply for the fresh product which is sourcing locally and focus on short and flexible supply chains.
In all Trader Joe’s is one of the leading super markets in the U.S., but after careful analysis of their operations I believe there are opportunities that are currently being ignored by the company. The company doesn’t need to act on all the recommendations that I made, however it would be in their best interest to do so. Not only would the company grow at a faster pace, but it will make strides in areas that haven’t been occupied before. Despite these current pitfalls, Trader Joe’s still is a popular option in their
