2015.09.30 怎么了，全食超市？

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BUSINESS
What's the Matter, Whole Foods?
The upscale grocery store chain is laying off 1,500 employees as competition mounts and consumers demand lower prices.

By Adam Chandler

Mike Blake / Reuters
SEPTEMBER 30, 2015
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Earlier this week, Whole Foods announced it would lay off 1,500 employees as the upscale grocery chain aims to save money and lower its prices. On the same day as the announcement, Whole Foods co-CEO Walter Robb told the crowd at a Fortune conference the entire food industry is in the midst of a “tectonic shift” as organic food goes mainstream.

That’s a pretty breezy explanation from the co-head of a company whose shares have fallen about 38 percent this year. It’s true that Whole Foods’s storied growth has been undercut by all the grocers muscling in on the company’s turf. As Helaine Olen noted in Slate:

Once an upstart, Whole Foods is now so successful that it’s spawned its own competitors. A decade ago, organic and other food like gluten-free items were considered specialty products. Whole Foods could charge high prices, because many of their customers were choosing between Whole Foods and … Whole Foods. Now Walmart carries the organic Wild Oats line of food.

But as the market for organic food has grown, there are other reasons why ever-loyal consumers have become less apt to walk down the aisle in search of powdered vinegar. Items like vegan teethers, ornamental kale,  and the short-lived asparagus water—infamously, a $6 bottle of water with three stalks of asparagus inside—have buoyed the troubling “Whole Foods-Whole Paycheck” reputation.


And even if you are among the lucky many who don’t blink at the prices or perhaps buy into some dubious aisle-side huckstering, it certainly doesn’t help that the company has been repeatedly brought to task for overcharging customers.

In 2014, California regulators fined Whole Foods $800,000 following a year-long investigation into its pricing. More recently, the company was accused of “systemic overcharging for pre-packaged foods” with hundreds of violations logged in its New York City stores. Inspectors from the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs called it “the worst case of mislabeling they have seen in their careers.”

For a company whose noble ethics are baked into its marketing materials, this is particularly bad news. But, despite having lost part of its footing in a market that it pioneered, Whole Foods is both still growing and finally taking action that goes beyond laying off 1.6 percent of its workforce.

To combat the “whole paycheck” perception, the company is angling to lower prices as well as launch a chain of ostensibly Millennial-friendly stores with cheaper “curated” selections. It also has invested in technology and apps to streamline the shopping experience.


It’s also trying new ways to market itself. As we noted in June, Whole Foods recently introduced a new food-rating system called “Responsibly Grown” in its stores. The classification system is controversial because it undercuts the organic designation, but it also highlights less pricy, non-organic offerings.

One way it can truly win is by continuing to do what it does especially well: Providing solid-paying work and above-average benefits to its employees. Even if that ultimately means laying some off, presenting relatively generous severance packages is a good thing, too.

Adam Chandler is a former staff writer at The Atlantic. He is the author of Drive-Thru Dreams: A Journey Through the Heart of America's Fast-Food Kingdom.





业务
怎么了，全食超市？
由于竞争加剧，消费者要求降低价格，这家高档连锁杂货店正在裁员1500人。

亚当-钱德勒报道

迈克-布莱克/路透社
2015年9月30日

本周早些时候，全食超市宣布将裁减1500名员工，因为这家高档杂货连锁店旨在节省开支和降低价格。在宣布这一消息的同一天，全食超市联合首席执行官沃尔特-罗伯在一个财富会议上告诉大家，随着有机食品成为主流，整个食品行业正处于 "构造性转变 "之中。

作为一家今年股价已经下跌了约38%的公司的联合负责人，这样的解释相当轻松。诚然，全食超市的传奇式增长已经被所有挤进该公司地盘的杂货商所削弱。正如海伦-奥伦(Helaine Olen)在《Slate》中指出的那样。

全食超市曾经是一个后起之秀，现在它是如此成功，以至于催生了自己的竞争对手。十年前，有机食品和其他食品，如无麸质食品被认为是特殊产品。全食超市可以收取高价，因为他们的许多顾客在全食超市和......全食超市之间进行选择。现在，沃尔玛销售有机野燕麦系列食品。

但是，随着有机食品市场的增长，还有其他一些原因，使得一直忠诚的消费者变得不那么愿意走到过道上寻找醋粉。像素食牙刷、观赏甘蓝和昙花一现的芦笋水--著名的是，一瓶6美元的水里面有三根芦笋--已经助长了令人不安的 "全食超市-全额工资 "的声誉。


即使你是那些对价格不眨眼的幸运儿，或者对一些可疑的过道边的欺骗行为深信不疑，但该公司多次因向顾客多收费而被追究责任，这当然没有帮助。

2014年，加州监管机构在对全食超市的定价进行了长达一年的调查后，对其罚款80万美元。最近，该公司被指控 "系统性多收预包装食品的费用"，在纽约市的商店中记录了数百起违规行为。纽约市消费者事务部的检查员称这是他们职业生涯中看到的 "最糟糕的标签错误案例"。

对于一家将高尚的道德规范融入其营销材料的公司来说，这是一个特别糟糕的消息。但是，尽管在其开创的市场中失去了部分立足点，全食超市既仍在成长，又终于采取了超越裁员1.6%的行动。

为了应对 "全额工资 "的看法，该公司正在努力降低价格，并推出表面上对千禧一代友好的连锁店，提供更便宜的 "精心挑选 "的产品。它还投资于技术和应用程序，以简化购物体验。


它也在尝试新的方式来推销自己。正如我们在6月份所指出的，全食超市最近在其店内推出了一个新的食品评级系统，名为 "负责任地种植"。这个分类系统是有争议的，因为它削弱了有机产品的称号，但它也突出了价格较低的非有机产品。

它能够真正获胜的一种方式是继续做它特别擅长的事情。为其员工提供报酬丰厚的工作和高于平均水平的福利。即使这最终意味着要解雇一些人，提供相对慷慨的遣散费也是一件好事。

亚当-钱德勒(Adam Chandler)曾是《大西洋月刊》(The Atlantic)的员工作家。他是《Drive-Thru Dreams》的作者。A Journey Through the Heart of America's Fast-Food Kingdom.