While scrolling through other blogs, I came across Valendina de Bonis’s blog post, which instantly piqued my interest. It discusses the healthy and organic grocery store, Whole Foods, and their high price points.

Valendina noted that in order to make up for the costs of organic and locally sourced produce, Whole Food’s must raise the prices, making the store more costly than standard grocery stores.  Despite being more expensive, Whole Foods is thriving in Vancouver and shows no signs of stopping.  Why is this the case?  The answer lies in Whole Food’s strategically planned target market, the people of Vancouver.  Seeing businesses like Lululemon thrive proves that Vancouverites value their health, which explains why they are willing to pay inflated prices for their groceries.  It is clear that having locally sourced and organic food is more important to Vancouverites than saving a couple of bucks.

It would be fair to conclude that Whole Foods would not be as successful in areas that do not share Vancouver’s values.

This case shows that it is necessary to invest in extensive research to identify a businesses target market in order for businesses to be successful.