Whole Foods Is Getting Killed By Aldi. Is A Millennial Grocery Chain The Fix?

When the first 365 by Whole Foods Market opened near me in Los Angeles, I went immediately, curious to see how millennials shop for food. Do they just take photos of it? Do they look for items with their own names on them? Do they even buy groceries? Don’t they just smash buttons on their iPhones until a cooked meal appears at their door? Market researcher Mintel reported last year that 40 percent of them don’t even eat cereal because it requires cleaning up afterward.

The 365 concept is Whole Foods’ response to three quarters of sales declines at stores open at least a year. The parent store’s focus on organic and local has been copied elsewhere, cheaper. It’s getting killed by Trader Joe’s and Aldi, because they offer lower prices; smaller, easy-to-navigate stores; and an ever-rotating selection of inventive items covered in chocolate or Sriracha. Whole Foods is a victim of its own success: It got shoppers to buy fresh groceries instead of stuffing their freezers. But that meant they were going to the store more often, so they wanted to get out faster, without having to choose among 100 olive oils. And if you’re going to get them to drive somewhere, the destination has to feel like an “experience” they can’t get online. Instacart and AmazonFresh have the competitive advantage there, among folks who want to stay on the couch, snacking on something other than cereal.

To read the rest of the story, please go to: Bloomberg