US organic food retailer Whole Foods Market is planning a fresh push into healthy eating in a bid to appeal again to consumers looking for natural and organic products.
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The company, which yesterday (4 August) said its performance was improving despite quartely sales again falling, will move from being “foodie to foodist” next year, chairman and CEO John Mackey said.
Mackey, who co-founded Whole Foods in 1980, told analysts that the retailer would test the initiative in selected stores in the first quarter of its fiscal 2010 year, which runs this autumn.
“Whole Foods, in 2010, is going to be initiating a very strong movement towards what we call healthy-eating education,” Mackey said. “We are going to make a relative shift from being foodies to being foodist, health instead of foodist pleasure.”
Mackey added: “I’m not going to give a whole lot of details on it now but I’m telling you it’s coming, it’s going to be a big deal, and we’re pretty excited about it internally.”
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By GlobalDataWhole Foods, which has suffered as demand for organic food has slowed during the downturn, posted a 2.5% fall in comparable-store sales for the three months to 5 July. Identical-store sales were down 3.8%.
However, group turnover was up 2% to US$1.9bn, while net income rose from $33.9m a year earlier to $34.9m.
The last quarter was the sixth in a row in which Whole Foods’ comparable-store sales had fallen. Mackey admitted that statistic was “rather depressing” but insisted the retailer was “ecstatic” to see an improving performance. In Whole Foods’ second quarter, comparable-store sales were down 4.8%.
In the first four weeks of Whole Foods’ fiscal fourth quarter, comparable-store sales dipped 1.1%. However, Mackey remained cautious in his outlook for the business in the three months ahead.
“Further deflation and/or disinflation, as well as increased price investments, could negatively impact our sales. As it is difficult to get a clear read on the economy or where sales are going, we prefer to stay conservative in our outlook,” he said.
Whole Foods has suffered as demand for organic food has slowed during the downturn but COO Walter Robb said the company was starting to see “green shoots” that suggested signs the economy was improving.
“The most encouraging thing is across the board, the recovery in the traffic, the customer count, and also the sequential improvement in both basket and items per basket. So it’s green shoots, really,” Robb said.
“It’s signs of momentum, it’s signs of stability, but it’s too early to call where this is going. It’s just too unclear looking out there, based on all the noise that’s out there.”
Quotes from the conference call were taken from a transcript provided by Seeking Alpha. For the full transcript visit the Seeking Alpha website.
