Whole Foods Addresses the Price Issue

With so many other stores offering organic, sustainable, environmentally friendly products, why spend the extra money at Whole Foods?

Whole Foods is known as an upscale, healthy grocery store, but also a store that’s struggling with its 'Whole Paycheck" image. In an attempt to tackle its high priced appearance, they recently announced they’ll be opening a separate chain of lower-priced stores aimed at Millennials.The new stores will focus on this generation of shoppers who want organic, natural, sustainable food products, but don't necessarily have the money for Whole Foods prices.  

The company has been losing traction lately as organic and fresh foods continue to become more popular at mainstream grocery chains, including stores like Walmart.

Whole Foods has always been ahead of the game when it comes to several aspects of the shopping experience. Take for example; their use of social media. From Twitter to Instagram, Whole Foods has been leading the way when it comes to keeping up with the modern shopper. Remember @The_Pizza_Series?  The Instagram handle started by Matt, the Whole Foods Market pizza chef to showcase “what I love doing for work — making pizza.". Whole Foods featured Matt on its Instagram account, which boasts more than 300,000 followers.  Whole Foods has also been leading the way on store layout, with clean floors and bold displays of bright, fresh produce it became an example to other grocery stores on enticing customers. 

But Whole Foods has always had a problem with price.  Shoppers, especially millennials, may love their social and ethical stance, but with so many other stores offering organic, sustainable, environmentally friendly products , why spend the extra money at Whole Foods? 

So now, finally, it seems that they are addressing the one area where they were falling behind. The new concept emulates retail giants like Walmart and Target, who have also been opening smaller, convenience-focused stores in urban areas and  heavily focused on fresh food and snacks.  Millennials want convenience but more importantly at a good price, and Whole Foods is finally taking that to heart.