Whole Foods Monopoly Analysis

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Definition of a Monopoly
According to Principles of Microeconomics, a monopoly occurs when a firm ends up being the only provider of a good/service where there are no rivals due to difficulty in entering that same business. Once this happens, the firm has more control on the prices for its goods/services available to the public. The firm then has monopoly power as a price setter (Rittenberg, 2012). However, does this term of a firm being a monopoly apply to the Whole Foods Inc?
Does Whole Foods Fit the Criteria? Whole foods sells a wide range of healthy foods and this specialized grocery chain has about 422 stores in the U.S. and United Kingdom (Whole Foods IP. L.P., n.d.). While the corporate owner's may claim to be the leading seller in …show more content…

Some conventional supermarket or supercenters will have a few organic items to pick from, but the top contenders the company needs to worry about are: Wild Oats Market, Sprouts Farmers Market, and Fairway Market. Wild Oats Market still has some business deals to close before it can fully take on Whole Foods. At one time Wild Oats Market branches off of Whole Foods, but due to some circumstances the giant health food chain had to sell the branch. As for Sprouts Farmers Market, although small this company can help promote local fair and gain more popularity in that regard compared to Whole Foods. Lastly, Fairway Market another small health food grocery chain rapidly growing proves to be a potential competitor along with the other two (Tuttle, 2013). There are plenty of other local and well known brands that provide more choices for consumers to pick from. But, the three mentioned above are companies worth keeping an eye out for in the future especially if what they have to offer is a better offer than Whole …show more content…

(2015). Whole Foods CEOs admit to charging customers too much - Yahoo Finance. Retrieved from http://finance.yahoo.com/news/whole-foods-ceos-admit-charging-205621561.html
Rittenberg, L. & Tregarthen, T. (2012). Principles of Microeconomics. San Francisco, CA: Flat World Knowledge, Inc.
Tuttle, B. (2013). The Next Whole Foods? Three Emerging Healthy Supermarket Challengers | TIME.com. Retrieved from http://business.time.com/2013/09/12/the-next-whole-foods-three-emerging-healthy-supermarket-challengers/

Whole Foods Market IP. L.P. (n.d.). Company Info | Whole Foods Market. Retrieved from

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