Whole foods market Vs Freshdirect.com

Success of whole foods market

It sells Healthy, gourmet products such as

organic vegetables, Free-range poultry, foods without artificial ingredients or hydrogenated fats and many environmentalfriendly products such as non polluting detergents. The company is consistently ranked among the most socially responsible businesses and placed second on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's list of Top 25 Green Power Partners.

During the Late 1990s the company was

able to tap the American market as their desire for healthy living and gourmet cooking increased. The company educates consumers about foods, provides recipes and arranges trips for customers to meet up with the local fisherman.

Reasons to purchase. Whole Foods is a key supermarket in the US and is

ready to challenge supermarkets in the UK, Asia and rest of the world. With their unique approach to food retailing and ability to respond to and set trends it is essential to understand this new and radically different player in the international market. Understand how a supermarket can be organic and profitable at the same time. merchandising concept has implications for food manufacturers in terms of the way product is presented and delivered. Increasingly stringent quality standards that must be met are also essential to understand as part of the development of food

The organic lifestyle is firmly in the mainstream.

Whole Foods revolutionary store design and

Catering to customers Extraordinary customer service Educating their customers Meaningful ValueThey offer value to customers by providing them with high quality products, extraordinary service and a competitive price. they are constantly challenged to improve the value proposition to our customers.

Retail Innovation Inviting store environments

Marketing concepts of whole foods marketWhole Foods doesn't rely on traditional

marketing to spread their message. Instead, they rely on WOM (word of mouth) and the creation of a food "experience" for their shoppers. Deliverables of in-shop experience to customers WFM understands the power of a knowledgeable, caring, and passionate workforce in creating highly satisfied customers. Theyve created a company culture which connects with their team

Success of Freshdirect.com

Freshdirect.com is an online grocer

operating in New York that delivers Fresh & processed foods and other perishable & non perishable groceries. FreshDirect custom-prepares groceries and meals for its customers, a manufacturing practice called Just In Time that reduces waste and improves quality and freshness. Prices are cheaper than whole foods. And served at your doorstep.

Marketing concepts & Operations of FreshDirect.com FreshDirect uses SAP AG software to process thousands orders

placed on its website every night. Orders are dispatched to the kitchen as well as fresh storage rooms, production areas within the company's refrigerated facility. All order components are customcut, packaged, weighed and priced. In the case of dry goods or frozen foods, items are picked from storage before being placed inside bins that travel along conveyors to the sorting area. There, products in a customer's order are scanned and gathered in corrugated fiberboard boxes. The boxes are labeled, recorded and loaded into refrigerated delivery trucks. Other factors negatively infuencing consumers' decisions to purchase groceries or other goods online include shipping costs, credit card security, the need or want for immediate delivery of products, and the social aspects of the shopping experience. The company takes mostly internet feedback from customers They concentrated on B 2 B marketing. FreshDirect leverages vertical integration in its operations to provide unique value propositions to its commodity suppliers. NetTracker Analysis Program

Challenges that both the companies faced as theyThe biggest disadvantage for FreshDirect is expanding outside of New York. NYC is a perfect location for their company, as it is densely packed with both wealthy and busy people, a perfect audience for them. If they where to expand outside of New York they will become less efficient as their resources will be spread out. They will also likely face competition from well established companies, such as Peapod, and will have difficulty attracting customers committed to their competitors because of switching costs. In most areas, they will have already lost the first movers advantage. Just like Netflix has been more successful than Blockbuster Online because of its loyal customer base, the same will apply if FreshDirect tries to expand.

The biggest challenge facing Whole Foods continued success is its ability, or inability, to open stores. In 2006, they opened only 13 new stores. The most new stores WFM has ever opened in a 12-month time period is probably 15 new locations. Thats not enough. The company needs to open more stores. Yes, sales at existing WFM locations will be slightly cannibalized when more new stores open. But the customer pie increases with every new store Whole Foods opens it will take Whole Foods at least six years to open the 90 stores it has in its development pipeline today. And by the time Whole Foods opens those 90 stores, they will probably have 120 more stores in its development pipeline. So why doesnt the input match the output? Its my contention that decentralization hampers the ability of Whole Foods Market to open new stores.

By , Kaushik Vikkey Mohanakrishnan

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