Whole Foods Market Inc 2005 - Case Study Example

Considering that customers insist on green products or products that pose no threat to the environment, they are more aware of eating food that has no side effects to their bodies. Most foods have been blamed for causing different ailments and for their low nutritional value, which has resulted in increased awareness among consumers on the need to stay healthy by watching what they eat. Whole Foods Markets Inc. is a company that takes care of these worries from consumers. The company offers natural healthy foods that are valuable in a market crowded with canned inorganic foods.

Whole Foods in its provision of natural foods makes a wide range of natural food available to its consumers. The company is currently the only firm operating in a waterfront seafood facility after acquiring Pigeon Cove (Hitt, Ireland & Hoskisson 334). The company enjoys a monopoly in production of fresh seafood, which is a delicacy for many fish lovers. The other sustainable competency that makes Whole Foods competitive in the market is its operating conditions. The company ranks among the 100 best companies to work in globally, a ranking that attracts highly skilled expertise to the business across the globe.

Today’s employee is sophisticated and is highly motivated by working in a versatile environment that recognizes and adapts to their needs and not the traditional fixed working environments. These strengths are sustainable in that today more people are concerned about their eating lifestyles. This is a boost to companies such as Whole Foods Market, which pioneered offering fresh and healthy foods for those requiring special diets and the general population in the business. The company has a strong market niche that guarantees increased growth and a huge customer base into the future.

Q2 Since Whole Foods pioneered the sale of natural and fresh perishable goods in the market, there have been tremendous changes in the industry. One of the significant changes have been sensitizing people and creating awareness on the need for people to use natural foods and not processed foods. Over the time, most people used processed foods, which has been blamed for increased diabetic cases among other complications. Whole Foods in pioneering to deal with natural fresh foods enlightened many consumers on the need to use natural foods for the betterment of their health, which explains the drastic growth of the natural food industry today.

Another development has been an increase in the number of companies offering such foods. Due to the high numbers of consumers seeking to consume natural food, more entrepreneurs and food-based companies started offering natural foods to their clients as the market for natural foods broadened. For instance, Wal-Mart began selling freshly prepared foods to its customers in encouraging a one stop shopping experience among its clients. The need arose from an increasingly busy life, where some couples worked for long hours, lacking enough time to prepare meals at home.

The increased demand for natural food led Whole Foods to open numerous stores in major metropolitan areas, where the company sold its products at relatively lower prices than their competitors. Essentially, as the need for fresh and organic products increased, there was a shortage of such products in the market as more stores searched for suppliers of different produce to satisfy the customers’ changing tastes and preferences. Moreover, companies such as Whole Foods sensitized producers on the need to observe organic farming, making organic farming a treasured practice across their market areas.

Whole Foods had a strict code of practice to be followed by all its suppliers. This included the need for a supplier to outline the entire production process in animals and other