Unlike conventional supermarkets, Whole Foods Market and Trader Joe’s are destinations: places consumers seek out and travel to over long distances. The two chains’ retail strengths echo similar market strategies as they seek to capitalize on growing consumer interest in natural and organic products, according to “Whole Foods and the Natural Food Channel” and “Trader Joe’s and the Natural Food Channel,” companion Packaged Facts’ reports focused on retailing in the natural and organic food and beverage market segment.
In many ways, Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s have similar—and actually often the same—customers. Many consumers shop at both Whole Foods Market and Trader Joe’s, or would, if both stores were in the same trading area, notes David Sprinkle, Packaged Facts research director. The report reveals that consumers who are likely to shop at both chains have a higher-than-average education; are more conscious of labels, ingredients, nutrition and eating healthfully than the average consumer; are more interested in natural/organic products (and not just food); are more interested in gourmet foods, foreign foods, and the way food is presented; and are more concerned about environmental issues.
Yet, for all the similarities, it’s the striking differences between the two chains that keep the same consumers shopping at both.
Whole Foods is America’s first national “Certified Organic” grocer and is the leading retailer of natural and organic foods with $13 billion in fiscal 2013 sales. Whole Foods focuses on premium quality and huge selection. Though also offering value-priced items, the chain presents an image of luxury, with case stacks of expensive olive oil as common as displays of its value-focused Everyday 365 store brand.
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Meanwhile, Trader Joe’s focus is renowned for its quirky personality and unique products. The chain is a sharply edited assortment of great products at great prices. It has much smaller selections and not quite as much variety to offer when it comes to fresh produce, meats, seafood and prepared foods.
There also is a vast difference in the chains’ marketing thrusts. Whole Foods’ marketing intent is to promote sustainability, responsible sourcing and the concept that, by buying products at its stores, consumers are supporting not just organic foods but a production model that benefits local farmers, people in third-world countries and the environment. In contrast, the marketing thrust of Trader Joe’s, with its whimsical atmosphere and newsletters, is that it is here to make shopping fun but it also just so happens to have these great products that it searched the world to find just for its customers, at prices that are a steal.
Date: April 7, 2014