WF Sales Declining w/Organics Going Mainstream

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>>8572818
>"Many of our stores where people used to drive long distances on the weekends and do big shops, we're seeing a little bit of a decline on that," Whole Foods CEO John Mackey said. Kroger started expanding its private-label Simple Truth organic food brand several years ago, and it now devotes multiple aisles in its stores to organic and natural foods.

>Walmart also now devotes a section of its fresh-produce department to featuring organic and locally sourced products. It has been rapidly growing its Neighborhood Markets stores, as well, which are much smaller than its Supercenters and focus solely on groceries and pharmacy.

>The German chain Aldi, which is even cheaper than Walmart, invested heavily in organic food last year by expanding organic food brands, removing some artificial ingredients from its products, and adding more gluten-free items. This year, Aldi is spending $1.6 billion to redesign 1,300 of its US stores to feature softer lighting and bigger produce sections.

>The new stores look a lot like Whole Foods' new chain of stores, called 365 by Whole Foods Market, which the company launched last year to better compete with the increasingly crowded market for low-cost organic goods. The stores are cheaper to build than Whole Foods' traditional stores, so it has more flexibility in pricing.

On the one hand I'm glad that higher quality produce is becoming less of a luxury, but on the other I'm not exactly sure what WF should do to stop the bleeding if I were in their position. Do they have a nice selection of deli subs/salads like Publix?

>>8572821
There's some little things they could do to draw people in so they then buy other stuff? Like sell bananas that are ready to eat today, instead of mandating they be taken off the floor as soon as they have a single brown spot? In parts of the U.S., that would make them the only place to buy ripe bananas besides scary brown people stores.

>>8572835
What if they hired bi-weekly or monthly culinary instructors to come teach a cooking class in-store on weekends with free admission at the door using your WF grocery receipt as a ticket?

It could be part education/part product demo using items off their stock shelves. Same kind of setup could with arranging a registered dietitian to give talks and answer Q&A as well.

>>8572821
>I'm not exactly sure what WF should do to stop the bleeding

Nothing. The only reason I go to WF is for their buffet breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and bakery. Their meat and poultry prices are sky high - 3-4+ times the price of the "toxin infused" garbage at the other grocery stores. No way I'm buying it.

Some of their non-organic produce is the same at the other stores, but I'm not going to go there just for that. I can get everything I need (meat & produce) at Kroger or the cheaper stores.

>Do they have a nice selection of deli subs/salads like Publix?

Salads, yes. Subs, probably okay. I haven't tried them, but they can make them for you. They also are crowded as fuck during lunch, and don't have self-service checkouts so you stand in line a long time.

The salads, subs, and ready-made hot food is very expensive though - about $8.99/lb. $11.99/lb for bakery goods like cookies. Not a good deal. But I love the hot breakfast, lunch, and dinner there. You can eat a small amount of a lot of stuff, which is what I like to do. But breakfast easily ends up costing $9 for one biscuit with gravy, one pancake, one french toast, one and a half scrambled eggs, and one turkey sausage.

>>8572821
>On the one hand I'm glad that higher quality produce is becoming less of a luxury, but on the other I'm not exactly sure what WF should do to stop the bleeding if I were in their position. Do they have a nice selection of deli subs/salads like Publix?

It should be obvious, but they need to lower their prices. Or focus on shit that will draw people in like Costco does with samples. Just give people hipster shit as samples and you will have tons of customers.

>>8572844
Would just cost money, and no one would show up. They could just release YouTube videos if they want to do that, but it wouldn't help much.

>>8572818

I don't shop whole paycheck for the very reason it gained that nickname. There's also the fact that down here in so cal if you don't look like a yuppy or wear leggings or yoga pants people are going to spend more time staring at you than shopping.

Fuck wholefoods.

It's true.

Went to get some tomato sauce at Walmart.

There was an organic line. Shorter list of ingredients and it was cheaper.

No brained really, and it's kinda good. Its weird.

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>>8573126
I generally ignore organic product lines because the premiums they carry over conventional ingredients is more than I could bear. However, Walmart has enough buyer's clout over it's suppliers and the volume to really start driving down the extra cost associated organic agricultural production. If the price gap starts to narrow as a result it could mark a major inflection point for the industry. I actually would be willing to pay a "little" extra for organic produce that has thin skins

Agree with others: the problem is the price. There are wealthy areas where that's not a problem, but I'm in Ann Arbor, Michigan, a basically middle class college town, and we've got three Whole Foods. WF's current approach is to try and get existing customers to buy more items, but the thing is, they're already the second-stop grocer for cost-conscious people I know - a place to go when you need something specific, but you don't buy things there's a decent alternative to at your usual grocer.

WF is better than other area grocers for many things (produce, cheese, meats, deli, bakery, etc.), and if money were not a concern, they'd be my main grocer. But it is a concern, and it is for a lot of people. They're going to have to face that problem and cut costs somewhere. It will mean fewer options, worse service, worse layout, whatever, but something has to give to lower costs if they want to grow in middle class markets.

the font on the boxes resembles hand written so thats how it know it's safe for my kids!