Whole Foods Planning Streamlined Stores for 2016 with Lower Prices for Targeted at Millennials

... #ad▼

Whole Foods is planning to open a new chain of stores with lower prices that aims to attract millennial shoppers. Whole Foods has faced increasing competition from stores such as Mariano’s, Jewel-Osco, and Aldi’s who have increased their promotion of organic and natural products. While hard core Whole Foods shoppers are unlikely to stray to “cheap imitators” there is a market out there among people who don’t want to pay Whole Foods prices — the “Whole Paycheck” at the Whole Foods cash register.

Whole Foods said Wednesday it’s building a corporate team to focus exclusively on the new yet unnamed concept and that it’s already negotiating leases. Stores are expected to start opening in 2016 with a “fairly rapid expansion,” according to Whole Foods. More details from the Austin-based headquarters of Whole Foods will be shared before Labor Day.

Walter Robb, co-CEO of Whole Foods, said the new stores will also appeal to younger customers with a “modern, streamlined design, innovative technology and a curated selection.”

Whole Foods – which has more than 400 locations – has seen its sales growth slow as organic and natural foods become increasingly mainstream. That is pressuring the company to draw a sharper distinction between itself and competitors.

The new chain tailored toward younger consumers could also pressure margins, given its focus on lower prices. But during a conference call, Whole Foods co-founder and co-CEO John Mackey said it will broaden the company’s reach with a new generation of people interested in natural foods. Mackey doesn’t believe the new store would cannibalize sales at existing Whole Foods stores. He claims he still thinks Whole Foods can triple its number of locations in the U.S. Some experts in the industry see the move as a possible way to reinvent the company — using technology to make up for the lower profit margin in the new lower cost stores. Other companies have two lines of stores — Aldi and Trader Joe’s, and Meijer and Fresh Thyme Farmers Market.

Whole Foods reported it will not need a new distribution network for the new concept store.

For the three months ended April 12, 2015 Whole Foods said sales at established locations rose 3.6 percent, or 3.1 percent when excluding the benefit of the timing of Easter this year. The figure fell short of the 5.3 percent increase analysts expected, according to FactSet — a multinational financial data and software company for investment professionals. For the current quarter, the sales at established Whole Foods locations are up 2.8 percent.

 GLUTEN- & LACTOSE-FREE COMPETITION … 





Get updates from The Cardinal ALL NEWS FEEDS on Facebook. Just ‘LIKE’ the ‘Arlington Cardinal Page (become a fan of our page). The updates cover all posts and sub-category posts from The Cardinal — Arlingtoncardinal.com. You can also limit feeds to specific categories. See all of The Cardinal Facebook fan pages at Arlingtoncardinal.com/about/facebook …

Search Amazon …

Search for products sold on Amazon:

Arlingtoncardinal.com is an Amazon Associate website, which means that a small percentage of your purchases gets paid to Arlingtoncardinal.com at no extra cost to you. When you use the search boxes above, any Amazon banner ad, or any product associated with an Amazon banner on this website, you help pay expenses related to maintaining Arlingtoncardinal.com and creating new services and ideas for a resourceful website. See more info at Arlingtoncardinal.com/AdDisclosure