Whole Foods Company Description
Whole Foods is the leading retailer of natural organic products. They emphasize community relationships
and environmental responsibility. Employee retention rates at the company are well above the industry
average.
Target Customer Persona
Nuclear Family with Two Kids - Wife Speaking (mid-40’s)
We are the type of family that shops at HEB due to price and tradition. However, frequently we find
ourselves buying more and more items from the two isles that are the organic section.
We’d be attracted to the fun activities and social stuff happening at Whole Foods but we don’t know
anybody who goes there. Moreover, most people we know think Whole Foods is elitist and expensive.
I’ve been once and that wasn’t the case. It was kind of expensive, though I did notice that the quality was
much higher and the free samples were fabulous!
The HEB I frequent is cheap but there’s nothing nice there. I went to Sprouts once but the selection
wasn’t as nice as Whole Foods. You know I know someone from church who goes to the Farmers
market but that’s too much work figuring out the time and place on a Saturday morning. My kids are nonstop on the go.
My husband thinks we spend too much on groceries. But honestly I’m very concerned about our family’s
health and well-being. Plus, he thinks Whole Foods is for hippies. Since he rarely if ever assists me with
the grocery shopping, he doesn’t understand or appreciate the importance of quality food.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths
Weaknesses
- Strong Brand Awareness, Quality Standards, and
Employee Relations
-Leading Retailer of natural and organic foods
-Well respected by local farmers for whom they provide
sales channels
-Holds all products sold to extremely high standards.
Each item is evaluated for “freshness, safety, taste,
nutritive value, and appearance”
- They are “buying agents for customers and not the
selling agents for manufacturers,”
-WF values continuous retail innovation -Perceived as
socially responsible as evidenced by the “Whole Planet
Foundation,” and “Whole Kids Foundation.”
-Employee satisfaction, compensation and retention.
-Whole foods is not a “one stop shop” as are many
other competing grocery stores.
- Whole Paycheck Perception = Expensive
- PRICE
Opportunities
Threats
- By reaching out and engaging with community
organizations, WF is more likely to draw in new
customers because people want to support a company
that is supporting them.
-The Whole Foods brand is built on wellness, business
transparency, social and environmental responsibility.
All of these are converging into a very popular emerging
social trend.
-The quality of the product makes it easy to appeal to
new demographics.
-People are becoming more health conscious in
general.
-Global outreach and building relationships with
international help and health organizations
-The negative perception towards the Whole Foods
pricing has begun to reverse.
- The happy Whole Food customers are a strong
advocates for the brand.
- Rise in Farmer’s Markets competition
- Traditional Food Chains Incorporating Organic Food
(ie:HEB)
- Upswing of Smaller Grocery Stores (ie: Sprouts)
- The undermining of the importance and validity of an
organic label.
-The Whole Foods CEO was criticized by their
constituency for not supporting the Obama health care
plan.
-Bad word of mouth and social media publicity
-”Whole Foods Parking Lot,” “Disgruntled Employee
Letter,” social colloquialism of “Whole Paycheck.”
-Whole Foods was initially formed around a liberal
progressive base. As the company grows, this has
become a limiting factor in terms of reaching more
conservative demographics.
Creative Brief -
CLIENT
Who are we representing? What are we selling?
PROBLEM
What will we solve? How can we improve our client’s
business?
AUDIENCE
Who are we talking to? Who else are we trying to reach?
MARKET CONTEXT
Who is the competition? Where does the brand sit
amongst competitors? What is unique about this brand?
Whole Foods
Whole Foods is based upon the ideals and values of “Whole Foods” (high-quality food, best taste, most
nutritious)
-”Whole People” (passionate people, positive and
supportive work environment)
-”Whole Environment” (respect and repair planet,
support local organizations and farmers, donate to
green/beneficial causes and organizations)
“Whole Paycheck” and Exclusive
Community Perception
Whole Foods carries the stigma of being prohibitively
expensive, causing customers to spend their whole
paycheck on their pricey but delicious food. It is also
perceived as exclusive to a specific type of shopper.
Current: wealthy, health-conscious, food snobs
Desired: broader range of customers...everyday
people who can afford to shop at Whole Foods and
value healthy food, but may not necessarily know
about it
Competition: Trader Joe’s, HEB Healthy Section,
Sprouts, increase in popularity of Farmers’ Markets,
numerous other similar organic/health-focused
grocery stores
Position: Leading retailer of natural and organic
foods
Unique Factor: Whole Foods only sells items of
the highest quality, each product sold is carefully
evaluated in regards to ingredients, freshness, safety,
taste, nutrition and appearance. Some items and
certain brands are ONLY available at Whole Foods.
MOST IMPORTANT THING
What is the most critical point we need to communicate to
consumers?
HOW
What will we do to deliver our message to our target
audience? What are the most effective means to reach
them?
You get what you pay for: At Whole Foods
you can trust you are getting a phenomenal product
that is as pure and nutritious as is available.
Acknowledge the price point of the product and own it.
Justify it by highlighting the importance of health and
the quality of food you put in your body. Good food is
an investment in yourself.
-Radio: In continuance with Whole Foods’
conservative advertising strategy, this medium can be
used to stay in touch with the more traditional Whole
Foods shopper. NPR (and similar) customer and
farmer testimonials.
-Television: Use television to reach untapped and
new demographics.
-Out of Home: Billboards emphasizing the
freshness, quality and purity of Whole Foods’
products (both raw and prepared foods as WF is a
popular lunch spot)
-Interactive:
-Increase in “healthy living” demonstrations in-store
and online. This can include stuff that WF doesn’t
even sell (ie. yoga, gardening, detox).
-In-house Groupon-style daily deal initiative
-Coupons (online and print), mailers,
incentives/deals
-Give aways of promotional products (“swag”):
reusable shopping bags, water bottles, t-shirts, etc.
-Customer rewards card