Foods Market Marketing Plan Whole Foods Market,

¶ … Foods Market Marketing Plan

Whole Foods Market, El Paso, Texas

Marketing Plan

The Whole Foods chain was founded in Austin, Texas during 1980, with just 19 employees and a single storefront. Today Whole Foods has grown to 310 stores throughout the United States and United Kingdom. The unique value proposition While Foods offers customers is the revolutionary concept of providing natural foods, locally grown and sourced from suppliers who can meet exacting requirements, free of artificial flavoring and preservatives. The mission of the company is summed up in the intersection of While Foods, Whole People and Whole Planet. The combining of these three elements is the cornerstone of the supply chain, sourcing, logistics, retailing and customer service success the company has achieved (Lewis, 2006). In defining the marketing plan for opening a While Foods Market in El Paso, Texas, the most critical success factors are to define the optimal product and services mix for the region, in addition to defining the pace that products will be sourced, marketed and sold. The mix of products, their specific product lifecycles, and the pricing of those products are all critical success factors in the launch of a new Whole Foods Market in El Paso, Texas.

Marketing Plan Product and Service Definition

A core component of Whole Food's unique value proposition is the sourcing of local fruits, vegetables and other inventory items that are considered perishable due to their relatively short shelf life (LaMotta, 2006). For While Foods to successfully launch into the El Paso marketplace, it will first need to select both non-perishable and perishable items that are indigenous to the area while also concentrating heavily on their supplier and sourcing quality management standards as well. All of these factors and the high level of sourcing quality guidelines the company ahs created all must be adhered to in order for the Whole Foods brand to consistently be supported as well (Lewis, 2006). Fruits, vegetables and many of Southwestern-oriented products that are produced in the region need to be researched and a conjoint analysis completed to see which are most and least of interest to the potential Whole Foods customer base in the areas. Conjoint analysis will provide the company with insights into how potential customers to the store rank-order the many different fruits, vegetables and other products as well. The attributes of these products however must be distinctly regional, capturing the uniqueness and value of the area's best produce and products. Whole Foods need to be selective not only from a produce standpoint but also from a time-to-market one as well. Studies of food retail supply chains show that the more coordinated the efforts in terms of sourcing locally to high standards, the less wasted produce is incurred as a loss (Beckeman, Olsson, 2011).

Perishable products move through product lifecycles extremely fast, and are fastest moving in retailing (Beckeman, Olsson, 2011). Whole Foods needs to create their store sourcing and supply chain process and strategies to reflect the exceptionally fast nature of product lifecycles in this area of the market. There is also a high level of seasonality in demand of produce across all of food retailing. When this aspect is considered at a store level, supply chain collaboration between Whole Foods and its primary suppliers become tantamount to their success.