AUSTIN, TX - For retailers everywhere, the pandemic served as a crucial time to readjust their growth strategies, setting in motion new plans to prime themselves for further expansion as the grocery market shifts. Whole Foods is one such company, recently releasing a new operational strategy to position the retailer for growth in the future.

“As we reflect on learnings from the pandemic, perhaps the most important takeaway for Whole Foods Market is that the past year fortified our core values and strengthened our purpose to nourish people and the planet,” Whole Foods said in a recent release. “More than ever, people needed safe and reliable access to high quality groceries, and we’re proud that we were able to quickly adapt and adjust our operations to meet the moment. As a result, we played a vital role in serving our communities, expanded to serve new ones, and continued to grow Whole Foods Market.”

The retailer went on to detail some of the changes and growth made by the company over the past year. Some of the major highlights include:

• Through its new store openings in 2020, the retailer reached about 1.4 million additional people within a 10-mile radius of its U.S. stores
• Currently, Whole Foods has nearly 40 new stores in the pipeline
• Online sales tripled between March and December 2020 as compared to the same timeframe in 2019
• The company introduced more than 950 new local brands and over 10,000 new local items in 2020

Additionally, Whole Foods now has more than 105,000 team members, having created over 10,000 new jobs through the last year. The retailer is actively hiring, with 10,000 open jobs currently posted throughout the company.

To continue to sustain its growth, Whole Foods also announced changes to its corporate Merchandising and Operations, Team Member Services, and Technology teams. According to the company’s statement, these changes will not impact any store or distribution center-based positions.

“These changes are designed to improve support for our stores and distribution centers as we remain committed to delivering an exceptional customer experience in stores and online,” the release explained “Evolving the structure and increasing the capabilities of these teams will enable us to enhance the customer experience, better support our stores, Team Members, and suppliers, and more effectively support Whole Foods Market’s continued growth.”

As part of the changes taking place, Whole Foods will be merging its global and regional Merchandising teams into a single team that will support purchasing across the entire company. The company will also be transitioning its Technology organization to focus more on skills required for software engineering and technical product and Program Manager roles, as well as realigning its Team Member Services organization.

To read the release in full and the letter sent by Whole Foods to its associates in regard to these changes, click here.

How will these company updates work to greater position Whole Foods for expansion? Keep reading AndNowUKnow to find out.

Whole Foods