In general, it is exhibited that Whole Foods Market expends less on marketing plan than other supermarkets in the natural foods industry. The company relies more on verbal recommendations and testaments made by their customers. For the past ten years, the Whole Foods Market has been spending less than 0.5% of their annual sales revenue (Bells, n.p). Basically, the supermarket chain focuses on engaging their customers by offering unique and additional products and services. However, this does not mean that the company does not connect with the target consumers using internet and social media. As a matter of fact, Whole Foods Market connects with its target market through its website, social media and e-newsletters. On the other hand, the company uses brand campaign to create brand recognition in both local and international markets. For example, back in 2014, Whole Foods Market invested more than $15 million in their first brand campaign by the name “Values Matter” (Whole Foods Market, n.p).  The objective of the company’s campaign was to restore its customer’s trust with regard to the values, ethics and prices of its products and services. The campaign highlighted sustainability standards, importance of healthy diets and animal welfare which indicated that Whole Foods Market was not only concerned in maximizing profits but also in its corporate social responsibility to the society. It is noteworthy that, Whole Foods Market implements the 7Ps of marketing mix as an approach of keeping up with the current market trends that enhance its competitiveness.

1)      Product        

It is undeniable that the product line of the company is imperative in the overall success of the enterprise. Therefore, introducing new products in the market is one of the effective approaches that promote differentiation and retail identity which is vital in the retail market. However, regardless of the fact that the purchasing habit of the customers is determined by the quality and prices of the products, it is recommendable for a company to give its customers variety of products to select. In this case, Whole Foods Market has embraced product innovation towards attracting and retaining their customers. The product line of the company is composed of meat, bakery, pastries, coffee, seafood, beer, tea, bakery products, pet foods, body care products, and nutritional supplements (Whole Foods Market, n.p). Through these products, Whole Foods Market benefits from bulky buying because they subject their customers to hard purchasing decision for the variety products. In order to ensure that the products have satisfied the demands and preferences of the customers, the supermarket chain has a consumer response team that is readily available for the customers (Whole Foods Market, n.p). The success of Whole Foods Market is based mainly on its products as a retail company. The wide variety of products by the supermarket determines the competitive advantage of the organization.

2)      Price     

The market pricing strategy is implemented as an approach for market environment improvement with an objective of increasing or decreasing the supplies to the market. There are several motivations that obligate the companies to adopt pricing approach as one of the marketing strategies. One of the major reasons includes the increasing costs of offering customers services together with production. Instead of making unproductive sales calls to the target customers, companies are forced to believe that establishing long-term relationships with the consumers is the more effective than sales calls. It is factual that though customers demand for high quality products, they expect low manufacturing costs which will lower the market prices. Therefore, the company ought to outsource activities and practices that increase production and distribution costs in order to meet these customer demands. Whole Foods Market’s pricing is valued with regard to the quality of the product (Whole Foods Market, n.p). The clients of the supermarket are aware that this pricing strategy focuses on offering products with the best quality equivalent to their prices. Generally, provided that the company maintains the prices of their products, it is guaranteed that quality and durability is maintained. It is noteworthy that Whole Foods Market does not use lower prices in their pricing model (Whole Foods Market, n.p). Instead, the company focuses on offering healthy and high quality products at the prices are worthy for them.

3)      Place                  

Factors that determine channels of distribution come from both the interior and exterior of the organization. These factors tend to decide how the organization should operate. For example, it is perceptible that small-scale firms have insufficient resources to venture in foreign markets. Firms with low break-even level of their volumes operate in low cost channels. On the other hand, the size of the market is one of the external factors that determine channels of distribution by the firm. The customer base that the organization is targeting determines the choice of places of distribution. In the contemporary world of business, place elements have changed significantly thus impacting business marketing operations. Organizations are obligated to make their products available for their customers efficiently and conveniently. The aspect of marketing strategy that ensures availability of products to the customers is known as distribution strategy. Under this strategy, the company ensures that it uses the most effective channels and convenient location that are accessible by the target customers. In this case, Whole Foods Market different channels of distribution to the target markets which include air transport, road, and railway transport. On the other hand, the stores of the supermarket are conveniently located in all markets served. In the first fifteen years of operation, Whole Foods Market focused on extending their operations to Canada and United Kingdom (Whole Foods Market, n.p). After expanding overseas, the company returned back to local markets and started expanding to East and West Coast. In present, the supermarket chain is continuing with their expansion in local markets where in May 2016, made a total of 19 leases of new 365 by Whole Foods Market outlets (Whole Foods Market, n.p). The company is expecting to open more stores in future where one of the recent stores expected to occupy 44,000 square feet is anticipated to be opened by 2018 (Whole Foods Market, 10).

4)      Promotion           

 It is factual that effective communication with the target consumers is very imperative for the overall success of the enterprise. Therefore, advertising is one of the most effective programs under company’s communication with its customers. The major objectives of promotion include informing, persuading and educating customers of the products or services offered. In this case, a company tries to create a positive image of the product which gives customers positive perception thus persuading them to purchase the products. Different types of promotions that companies in the contemporary market use include advertising, sales promotion and personal selling among others. Whole Foods Market uses these promotion activities with regard to the season and market conditions (Whole Foods Market, n.p). Some of the types of promotions implemented by the supermarket chain include advertising, sales promotions and public relations. Most of the advertisements made by Whole Foods Market are typically regional apart from using internet and social media. However, the company also uses national campaigns such as “Values Matter” to advertise their products in national markets. Under advertisement, Whole Foods Market uses its company website and social media channels such as Faceook, Twitter and Google+ to connect with the customers and inform about their products (Whole Foods Market, n.p). Additionally, the supermarket uses television and magazine advertising to give presentation of the features and quality of its products. However, Whole Foods Market does not prioritize advertising so much like other companies in the natural foods and retail industry (Whole Foods Market, n.p). The supermarket chain is also involved in different public relation activities with the society including donations to nonprofit organizations and campaigns.       

5)      Publicity

The difference between promotion and publicity is based on the fact that publicity focuses on credibility and recognition of the brand name whereas promotion focuses on recognition of the products and services. As a result, most organizations tend to combine publicity with public relations to create awareness in the market. Some forms of publicity embraced by companies include interviews with bloggers/journalists, self-authored stories on websites or prints, and speaking engagements among others. Therefore, in this case, apart from campaigns in the national market, Whole Foods Market has engaged in interviews, talks and stories about the supermarket chain which are printed in magazines, newspapers and in the websites (Whole Foods Market, n.p). This is what keeps the customers of Whole Foods Market flowing to their stores despite recent company’s products quality concerns that were raised by FDA.

6)      Packaging       

Prior to distributing their products, Whole Foods Market ensures that their products have achieved the packaging guidelines (Whole Foods Market, n.p). The packaging materials used for the products are easily recycled and can be reused in every level of business in the company. Therefore, they use this strategy to prove their corporate social responsibility especially in conserving the environment.

7)      Partnership  

The company has made partners with companies in the same industry since 1890s which has significantly contributed to its immense development. Some of the companies that Whole Foods Market has partnered with include wellspring Grocery, Bread & Circus, Mrs. Gooch’s, Amrion, Bread of Life, Allegro Coffee, Merchant of Vino, and Food for Thought (Whole Foods Market, n.p). The partnership has helped Whole Foods Market reach a wider customer base and satisfy market demands.