Trader Joe’s owns 344 food stores in throughout the United States, and is strong example of how to gain the competitive advantage in a large market by embracing their unique approach. In 1967 Trader Joe’s opened their very first store in Southern California. [4] They had started as a convenience store chain called Pronto Markets back in 1958. In 1967 the original founder changed the company’s name to “Trader Joe’s” and opened its doors for the very first time in Pasadena, California. The company holds the upmost pride in the way they service their customers, as well as how they’ve always worked on bringing unusual goods to their wide variety of different customers.
Approximately 80% of their products are private label because they are bought directly from food producers. Instead of offering multiple brands for each product, Trader Joe’s typically offers one house brand or untraditional local brand. Thirdly, full-time employees make $48,000 per year, and store managers make six figures annually. The main competitors are Whole Foods and Sprouts, followed by all traditional grocery stores. Trader Joe’s has the advantage of everyday low pricing (which is achievable by their private labels) which Whole Foods, Sprouts, and other specialty grocery stores struggle to
Considering using more technology inside Trader Joe’s would also speed up business inside Trader Joe’s. 5 – Conclusion This paper has revealed the most powerful and weak spots of Trader Joe’s. Supermarket industry is currently alive and competition between firms are very contentious.
Trader Joe’s is a small, American grocery store chain that would benefit from expanding internationally into the Canadian market. As we have seen in recent months, Target Corp. just pulled all of their locations out of Canada, but this is largely due to the fact that their international strategy did not fit well with the Canadian market. This paper will outline why Trader Joe’s is a good retailer for international expansion, why Canada mixes well with their business strategy as a country to expand to, the strategic plan Trader Joes should engage in during expansion, and five strategic recommendations that lead to Trader Joe’s advantages in
Most of the food sold in stores are brand indifferent, meaning that customers care about the product, not the brand name. Think of milk, eggs, meat. Nobody asks for a certain type of milk, they just want milk. Any large grocery store chain which does not have in-house product of basic food items is operating inefficiently. Compare Trader Joe's to other large grocery store chains such as Ralphs or Vons, they do not have any in-house products.
First looking at Trader Joe’s promotional strategy, it is unique and different. The company approaches this strategy very different their other grocers. It is very uncommon you will see Trader Joe’s television commercials or billboards, this believes the best way to promote is word-of-mouth. Trader Joe’s wants the consumer to experience something special when entering their store and they think the best way to pass that experience along is for the consumer to tell their story. The story is more personal coming from a person than being shown on a television commercial.
Tim Horton’s is the leading provider of coffee and donuts in Canada due to a smaller market compared to India, China and the U.S. Tim Horton’s has very few major direct competitors in the breakfast and coffee industry being Coffee time, Country Style, McDonalds and Starbucks. Indirect competition to Tim Hortons includes Producers of K-cups mostly sold at grocery stores. In recent studies research shows that 79 percent of the coffee consumed at home was sold at grocery stores. Among its competition, Tim Horton’s has a market share of 62 percent of the coffee market and 76 percent for baked goods in the Canadian market. Tim Horton’s has great future prospects especially in India, China, the US market and some of the Middle East.
Trader Joe’s Case Analysis Introduction This case analysis studies the Trader Joe’s retail chain that operates in the U.S domestic market. It identifies the current competitive strategies being employed by the company, the key issues it faces and proposes a number of improvements that are considered useful for the growth of the company in the future. Trader Joe’s is a privately held company that was founded in 1967 by Joe’s Coulombe and it is presently owned by the Albrecht family trust. Since its establishment, the Company carries out its business using the concept of Fresh & Easy Stores and targets the overeducated and poorly paid customers, who were believed to be sophisticated and interested in finding good bargains (Ager & Roberto,
Almost everyone has heard of the membership warehouse retailer, Costco Wholesale, whether or not you actually choose to shop there. You can find one of their warehouses in over 400 locations around the United States, as well as an additional 200 warehouses in Canada, Mexico, Australia, the United Kingdom, and parts of Asia. Although they are not quite as instantly recognizable as their main competitor, Sam’s Club of Wal-Mart Inc., Costco has attracted somewhat of a cult following due to their unusual business operations. In many financial comparisons, Costco seems to beat out all of their industry competitors. Even in the recent economic downtown, Costco still posted growth in their stock, as well as higher than industry average profits.
There are around 474 stores in all over United States where Trader Joe’s sell the products that they manufacture under their brand name. About 80% of the products are produced by Trader Joe’s themselves ensuring great quality and cheaper cost because no third-party vendors are involved to charge more price. i) Problems faced by Business Owner Since Trader Joe’s have more than 400 stores in all over United States, they do not have web portal or mobile application where their customers’ can buy grocery online. So, with mobile application and web portal, owner will be able to display all their products in proper category. Also, the back-up will be done periodically which ensures that no data will be lost.
Another company is Sysco, a food-service distributor in the U.S. Porter demonstrates that “It led the move to introduce private-label distributor brands with specifications tailored to the food-service market, moderating supplier power. Sysco emphasized value-added services to buyers such as credit, menu planting, and inventory management to shift” (Porter, 2008, p. 90). Like Paccar, Sysco knows how to make them different from their competitors in the high competitive industry. In food industry, customers is very sensitive with price because they have many options for substitute, so companies must have a competitive prices. However, Sysco decides that they should add values to their products and improve connection with their suppliers.
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.
Competition is coming at them in many directions from many multinational sources. Everyone wants their product on the shelf at supermarkets. Maintaining customer loyalty and good relationships with retailers has been tough due to the competitiveness of other brands. The leadership staff at Frito-Lay
Specifically, Ralph’s (similar stores are Vons and Albertson’s) and Whole Foods (similar stores are Gelson’s and Trader Joes) are two firms that utilize cost leadership and differentiation. On one hand, we have Ralph’s using cost differentiation by providing a broad range of merchandise at a decent price. On the other hand, we have Whole Foods that has implemented a differentiation strategy by marketing their merchandise as healthier (organic). The trade of for both companies is that they are attracting less consumers by just marketing to a specific crowed. For instance, if Whole Foods had lowered their price and still sold premium merchandise, soon Ralph’s would be in trouble.
For the business-level, Trader Joe’s adopted a differentiation focus strategy. According to our textbook with this strategy, Trader Joe’s seeks to differentiate in its target market. They rely on providing better service than broad-based competitors. Specifically, they focus on the special needs of the buyer in other segments (Dess, Page 159). Joe’s differentiates its self from other grocers by providing a unique shopping experience fortified with their private label goods and great service from their crew members.
