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Whole Foods Marketing Plan: Culinary Meal Kits
Strategic Marketing – MRKT 5500
By: Joshua Neeper & Michael Brooks
February 9, 2017
Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Marketing Plan Introduction........................................................................................................2
Objective .........................................................................................................................................2
Target Market................................................................................................................................2
Overview, Defined Target Markets
Unique Selling Position..................................................................................................................5
Ingredients,Packaging & Delivery, Recipe Cards vs. Cooking Videos,Chefs, Cookware,Craft Beer
Value to Customers........................................................................................................................9
High Quality Ingredients, Seasonality,Sustainability,Locally Sourced,Convenience,Caring
SWOT Analysis ............................................................................................................................10
Strengths,Weaknesses, Opportunities,Threats
Competitor Analysis ....................................................................................................................13
Pricing Strategy............................................................................................................................15
Promotion Strategy......................................................................................................................16
In-Store, Digital, Direct Mail, Public Relations,Branded Gifts, Causes & Charity,Ground
Marketing Objectives ..................................................................................................................20
Brand Management, Charity & Foundation Support, Sales, Organic Awareness, Market Presence, Social
Media, Growth
Budget Evaluations ......................................................................................................................22
Marketing Budget,Enrollment Goals, Sale Forecasting
Metrics...........................................................................................................................................23
Digital,Website, All Others
Action Items / Timeline / Tactics ................................................................................................27
Necessary Events & Resources
Author Notes & Disclaimer.........................................................................................................29
Bibliography .................................................................................................................................30
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MARKETING PLAN INTRODUCTION
This marketing plan will outline various avenues of marketing and new product offerings
that Whole Foods Market will use to advertise their new, Culinary Meal Kits, while providing
insights and analyses into their three top competitors in this space, areas of opportunities and
ending with budgeting and sales.
Furthermore, this marketing plan will provide distinctive insight into this newly trending
market that is competing directly with traditional grocery stores and takeout joints, an
estimated food industry size of $1.3 trillion estimated back in 2015 (Dunn, 2015).
The meal kit industry might be relatively in its infant stage but this trendy, progressive
movement has established relevancy and has even received recognition from Technomic Inc,
food industry analyst, where they have estimated the United States’ meal kit industry could
grow by an estimated $5 billion over the next decade according to (Severson, 2016). This
marketing plan will provide insight and financial data that will establish certain metrics and
performance standards to be met in accordance with their current capital returns outlined in
their 2015 annual report.
Department: Marketing and Business Development
Name of Campaign Culinary Meal Kits
Campaign Manager Director of Marketing
Subject Matter Outlined Marketing Plan
OBJECTIVE
To start and incorporate a culinary meal kit service for Whole Foods Market and it’s
already established grocery delivery service in select progressive cities before expanding
nationally. In addition to the meal kits, this marketing plan will also incorporate differentiating
unique product and service offerings that will include cookware inspired by James Oliver,
weekly cooking videos from a list of celebrity chefs and a monthly craft beer subscription that
pairs recipes with the unique flavors of craft breweries and their seasonal brews.
TARGET MARKET
Overview
Whole Foods Market’s Culinary Meal Kits target market will consist of Whole Foods Market’s
current customers, potentially attracting customers from their top 3 competitors and gaining new
customers in the following segments: young singles, women and families between the ages of
25-65. These segments of customers are comprised of three different generations: millennials,
generation x and baby boomers. Characteristics between these three segments might vary but
they all share the following attributes listed below. Data is supported by (MRI+).
Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 3
Education
 Graduated college
 Holds post graduate degree
Occupation
 Business
 Financial
 Management
 Sales and Office
 Professional Services
Income
 $75,000 - $149,999
Interests (Magazines, Cable, Internet)
 Cooking, Food and Wine
 Health, Fitness and Sports
 Politics and Current Events
 Environment and Animals
 Home and Garden
 History and Culture
 Travel and Leisure
Below are common attributes specific to Whole Foods Market Brand:
 Interest in consuming only certified organic, locally sourced and natural foods.
 Prefer natural grocery stores to commercial supermarkets.
 Typically, college educated individuals that reside in affluent areas i.e. higher income,
and in a lot of instances live in progressive cities.
 Interest in the environment and sustainability.
 Enjoys socializing and cooking to the point where they partake in weekly and monthly
dinner clubs.
 Their ability to travel has allowed them to appreciate the culinary arts, experience new
cultures and cuisines, while enjoying adventure and learning new things.
Generally speaking, these segments of the target market have a favorable image of Whole Foods
Market which has increased their brand loyalty, proven by Whole Foods Market’s financial
reports with sales and growth experiencing a rate of 8-15% each year (Foods, 2017). This target
market has proven that consumers in these segments are willing to pay a little more to indulge in
higher quality ingredients that Whole Foods Market offers.
According to their 2015 financial annual report, they stated that one of their strategic initiatives
was launching their first national brand campaign (Whole Foods Market, Inc, 2015). Whole
Foods Market’s financial performance has been relatively steady and is generating results for
their shareholders. Their national footprint is expanding year over year with the past two years,
opening 38 new store locations two years in a row (Whole Foods Market, Inc, 2015). However,
Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 4
there is upside potential that Whole Foods Market should capitalize on in respect to gaining
more market share, adjusting to relevant market place trends and reducing potential threats.
Defined Target Markets
Age Group: 25-65 comprised of single professionals, women, couples and families that already
shop at Whole Foods Market.
Geographic Locations:
 Austin, Texas
o 5 store locations (Whole Foods Market, 2017).
o Population: 931,830 per (census.gov, 2015).
 Denver, Colorado
o 4 store locations (Whole Foods Market, 2017).
o Population: 682,545 (census.gov, 2015).
 Seattle, Washington
o 3 store locations (Whole Foods Market, 2017).
o Population: 684,451 (census.gov, 2015).
These 3 cities were chosen based on similar attributes pertaining to political status, population,
number of stores, social aspects and their progressive nature.
UNIQUE SELLING POSITION
Whole Foods Market’s Culinary Meal Kits will adopt a similar business model as some
of its competitors but is differentiating by offering an elevated level of quality of ingredients,
sustainable packaging, ability to customize their service by number of people and days per
week, instructional chef recipe videos, one weekly celebrity chef instructional video allowing
the consumer/user to cook with their favorite celebrity chef, ability to buy Whole Foods
Market’s specific kitchen ware inspired and designed by Jamie Oliver, and a monthly craft beer
paring subscription allowing consumers/users to pair a wide array of year-round and seasonal
craft beers with their Culinary Meal Kits.
Ingredients
 Ingredients in these Culinary Meal Kits will consist of certified organic, locally sourced,
natural foods that the defined target market desires and which Whole Foods Market is
recognized for.
 Ingredients will be seasonal, adding the value, “eating with the seasons”.
 Addressing the target market’s interest in supporting sustainability, each box will include
short biographies of the farms where their ingredients were sourced from. An example of
this is follows on the next page. Derived from (Market, n.d.).
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Packaging & Delivery
 Packaging will be reusable. Culinary Meal Kits will be delivered in reusable cold chain
containers. These containers will be left out and picked up when the next week’s or
scheduled delivery is made; thereby eliminating unneeded waste and leading the way on
responsible supply chain management practices.
 Cold chain containers will be utilized to their fullest potential allowing room for the
Culinary Meal Kits, craft beer and other grocery items a consumer decides to purchase
for their week of grocery shopping. An example of cold chain container is listed below,
provided by (Images, n.d.).
 Delivery will be free.
 A new partnership with Jackson Kayak and its Orion cooler division will be explored
with the goal of Whole Foods Market switching current suppliers. They will collaborate
to create an eco-friendly, reusable cold chain container that will be made in America.
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Recipe Cards vs. Cooking Videos
 The competitor analysis section will show that all the top competitors are only using
recipe cards. To increase the user experience, Whole Foods Market’s Culinary Meal Kits
will allow consumers the “free” option to cook their recipes with the chefs that inspired
the recipe with an interactive cooking video that every recipe will have.
 Interactive cooking videos will be accessible via phone, tablet and computer; allowing
the consumer/user to pause and play the video at any time.
 Theses interactive cooking videos will be comprised of Whole Foods Market’s chefs with
the addition of one recipe per week and its instructional cooking video performed by a
celebrity chef.
Chefs
Whole Foods Market will collaborate with the following list of celebrity chefs that will choose
one recipe of their liking and provide the consumer/user with the instructional cooking video.
One celebrity chef will be showcased once a week.
Giada de Laurentiis Andrew Zimmerman
Rocco DiSpirito Jamie Oliver
Bobby Flay Padma Lakshki
Anthony Bourdain Robert Irvine
Andrew Zimmerman and the associated recipe for him will be showcased as the, “Bizarre
Culinary Meal Kit” representing his unique show for bizarre foods around the globe. This will
be monitored and structured as an entry level take on bizarre foods.
Each of these celebrity chefs bring a unique level of expertise, personality, experience, food
pallets, culture and most importantly, a long list of followers. These followers will be viewed as
a potential list of customers, allowing Whole Foods Market to gain insightful demographic
information on potentially new customers, shaping Whole Foods Market’s future marketing
strategies and plans.
The collaboration between Whole Foods Market and these celebrity chefs are mutually
beneficial as both parties will gain new followers, exposure and customers. This type of
endorsement would achieve a lot of recognition in the press and social media. Furthermore, this
new collaboration would allow Whole Foods Market to augment national attention to their three
foundations: Whole Planet, Whole Kids and Whole Cities. Rather than directly compensating
these celebrity chefs for their service, a portion of the profits from the particular meal in their
video demonstrations will be donated to one of three foundations created by Whole Foods
Market focusing on the planet, kids and cities.
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Cookware
Cookware is not just another opportunity to upsell but an avenue to generate interest and
increase conversions with existing customers and unique online visitors. Whole Foods Market’s
Culinary Meal Kits will utilize Jamie Oliver in this space. In his cooking television appearances,
he utilizes cast iron and stainless steel cookware along with wooden utensils. These products
appeal to the target market because they avoid toxic non-stick residues and are overall better in
quality. His creativity, personality, and the causes he supports, such as healthy children’s lunch
programs, will be reflected in the promotional strategy section in this marketing plan. This target
market possess the characteristics of caring where their food comes from and supporting causes
they care about.
Craft Beer
Consumers who shop at Whole Foods Market possess another unique characteristic but the
correlation must be carefully made with insightful understanding of their customer
demographics and buying habits, while capitalizing on industry trends that continue to increase
in progressive cities. Segmenting the different generations that shop at Whole Foods Market
tells us that trendy, progressive and local are attributes each of these segments are attracted to.
Blue Apron, a competitor that is examined in the competitor analysis section of this marketing
plan offers a unique selling position by offering a monthly wine subscription.
Whole Foods Market’s Culinary Meal Kits will allow customers to join a new monthly craft
beer subscription where the craft beers are locally paired with their Culinary Meal Kits.
Customers who shop at Whole Foods Market tend to have more disposable income. With this
being a characteristic, a typical Whole Foods Market customer will go to the liquor store to buy
preferred wines. Craft beer will allow this new service offering to increase sales, appeal to
existing and new customers, and differentiate themselves from their top competitors.
The craft beer industry has been increasing every year and is worth noting. In 2012, (Nichols,
2014) reported, “The Brewers Association, a trade group of small and craft brewers,
released a report last month celebrating the $33.9 billion contribution that the craft
brewing industry made to the United States’ economy in 2012 and ranked the top five
states by 2012 economic output.” The top 5 states and their economic impact included: 1)
California at $4.7 billion, 2) Texas at $2.3 billion, 3) New York at $2.2 billion, 4) Pennsylvania
at $2 billion and 5) Colorado at $1.6 billion (Nichols, 2014).
The most relevant and recent craft beer statistics into the states where the Culinary Meal Kits
will launch in the beginning are displayed on the following page, provided by (Brewers
Association, 2015).
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Colorado
Texas
Washington
These tables and graphs represent the progression of craft beer since 2011. There has been an
increase in demand, production and sales every year since 2011. By offering a monthly craft
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beer subscription, this will give Whole Foods Market a competitive edge and a unique selling
position to capitalize on this trend and increase customer’s online shopping cart.
VALUE TO CUSTOMERS
High Quality Ingredients
Whole Foods Market Culinary Meal Kits, customers will be provided with wholesome,
nutritious certified organic proteins and fresh produce in which competitors have not provided
on a national scale. Whole Foods Market’s economies of scale with organic offerings is a strong
value to customers as well as a competitive advantage.
Seasonality
“Eating with the seasons” will also be an added level of value. Seasonality appeals to Whole
Foods Market’s target market in terms of flavor, sustainability and creativity. Vegetables
allowed to ripen in their natural growing season tend to have a more developed and natural
flavor. Seasonal ingredients sourced from local farms decreases need for prolonged refrigeration
and less transportation, keeping money in local economies. Customers will be able to choose
recipes containing the ingredients they prefer. Although, some produce will be available year-
round, the ones contained in the chart will be highlighted by the season. Proteins such as
poultry, beef, pork and fish will be available year-round.
- Summer -
Heirloom tomatoes
Eggplant
Peppers
Cucumbers
Melons
- Fall -
Squashes
Pumpkin
Brussels sprouts
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Sweet Potatoes
- Winter -
Potatoes
Onions
Carrots
Beets
Artichokes
- Spring -
Asparagus
Green onions
Spinach
Collard Greens
Snow Peas
Sustainability
In addition to supporting sustainable farming practices, an added level of sustainability will be
provided in our delivery and packaging. All Culinary Meal Kits and groceries will be packed
and delivered in reusable cold chain packaging containers; ensuring freshness while eliminating
waste. Cold chain packaging containers will be picked up the following week or when the
customer’s next delivery is made.
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Locally sourced
 Ingredients will be sourced from the region for the specific market. Short biographies on
small postcards will be in the boxes that highlight the farmers that grew and raised the
food and who their purchases are supporting.
 Locally sourced ingredients are nothing foreign to Whole Foods Market as they
maximize their efforts in every region they operate in.
Convenience
 Flexibility
o Consumers will be allowed to incorporate their Culinary Meal Kits with their
weekly online grocery delivery service with the ability to cancel and/or suspend
their service anytime; allowing for flexibility with their weekly schedules as well
as vacations or unexpected events that may arise.
 Time & Stress
o Consumers will no longer have to worry about trips to the grocery store; saving
time and reducing stress.
o No more worrying about what cook or how to cook a meal with step by step
recipes and instructional videos that allow a consumer to follow the chef while
preparing their meals and having fun in the process.
Caring
Caring is huge part of Whole Foods Market’s culture and operating principles. Therefore, Whole
Foods Market will incorporate their care into these new Culinary Meal Kits by giving back 3%
of sales from each meal kit to one of three foundations that Whole Foods Market operates. All
funds will be directed to impact each of the 3 city’s communities and not allocated to other
national interests or geographic locations. Buying local and supporting communities is not just a
competitive advantage but it allows consumers to impact their communities by choosing which
foundation they would like Whole Foods Market to concentrate on in their communities.
SWOT ANALYSIS
Strengths
Brand
The Whole Foods Market brand and the quality consumers associate them with is the main
strength of Whole Foods Market Culinary Meal kits. Additionally, to all ingredients being
certified organic, none of the 3 main competitors are offering exclusively locally sourced,
seasonally inspired ingredients in their meal kits and reusable packaging offers the added value
of sustainability.
When consumers think Whole Foods, they immediately associate the brand with the best quality
ingredients. This allows Whole Foods Market to attract a broad customer base that is loyal and
Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 11
results in repeat, habitual purchases. Whole Foods Market standards includes strict farming,
manufacturing, fishing and ranching standards. They also only sell cage free, free range eggs.
They have hundreds of ingredients on their ban list that include artificial preservatives, colors,
and flavors. Currently, no other natural grocer has all their stores 100% certified organic
(Dalavagas, 2015).
Favorable Industry Trends
As the strongest brand among natural retailers and organic food offerings, Whole Foods
Market’s Culinary Meal Kits has an impressive advantage to succeed in this capacity if
implemented and executed correctly. Consumer relationship consciousness between healthy
eating and overall health will continue to drive Whole Foods Market and their Culinary Meal
Kits, especially in the younger generation. The younger generations’ concern with how food is
produced, sourced and what impact it has on the environment is what Whole Foods Market is
about. These concerns by the younger generation continue to fuel Whole Foods Market’s
revenues and services of this type (Dalavagas I. , 2015).
Established Supply Chain Relationships
Whole Foods Market currently has strong relationships with the producers that would be
supplying the Culinary Meal Kits due to the fact that these same producers are supplying the
inventory in their stores. Easy acquisition at bulk prices will keep profit margins for this service
healthy and sustainable.
Product Offerings
Consumers will have the flexibility and ability to consolidate all their grocery shopping needs.
From toothpaste, to personal care items to a wide array of foods, consumers will save time by
not having to visit different websites and/or stores. Current competitors do not have that
shopping experience.
Technology
Whole Foods Market makes it easy to shop with their already established phone App available
on iPhone and Android platforms. Keeping track of grocery lists, purchasing history, delivery
schedules and instructional cooking videos increases the consumer experience in ways that the
competition cannot.
Fair Pricing
Pricing is a critical factor that will be outlined further in the pricing strategy section. Whole
Foods Market will adopt a fair pricing practice that will operate under flat rate prices per
serving, no matter how many servings or family size. This will ensure that a single person
providing for him or herself will be paying the same price per serving as a family does.
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Weaknesses
Late Market Entry
In 2016 the meal kit market was on pace to eclipse 1.5 billion dollars in sales per (Chamlee,
2016) . Blue Apron, the biggest competitor, was seeking a 2 billion valuation for funding, which
many analysts agree that they are valued at that level according (Chernova & Demos, 2015).
Converting existing meal kit customers will cost money as Whole Foods Market builds value
with these new Culinary Meal Kits.
Price
While Whole Foods does offer superior quality ingredients, their prices reflect that in their
stores and will in the Culinary Meal Kits. Although the target market consists of high income
individuals and families, some are deterred by the prices and feel that even though the
ingredients are the best, the prices might not match that value in consumers’ minds.
Opportunities
Specialty Diets
The Whole Foods Market brand is identified with healthy, nutritious ingredients which infers a
belief that these Culinary Meal Kits could potentially offer meal kits catered to specific
segments of the population that require specialty diets, such as those battling diabetes and
obesity. Employing Registered Dieticians that can formulate recipes that cater to these specific
ailments and offering them an option could present itself as a lucrative opportunity.
Utilization of 365 Whole Foods Brand
Currently, Whole Foods Market has opened three “365 by Whole Foods” stores in California,
Oregon, and Washington. These stores are smaller and provide a more streamlined shopping
experience that offer natural and organic products at a lower price point. These stores appeal to
the more price conscious millennial. The opening of these stores in less progressive and less
populated areas will allow Whole Foods Market to expand its customer base and Culinary Meal
Kit service.
Children’s Lunches
5 bagged, nutritious lunches per week contained with the meal kits would add another level of
convenience that other competitors do not offer. These school lunches would be the typical
sandwich, chips, fruit and beverage items. The products in these lunches are products that are
already sold in the stores and could easily be assembled and added to the Culinary Meal Kit
service and online shopping carts.
Threats
Potential Natural Food Grocer’s Market Entry
If Sprouts, Trader Joes or small regional natural grocers entered into this market it would
mitigate the added value of being an exclusive supplier of certified organic, locally sourced,
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seasonally inspired meal kits. Also, these natural foods retailers come to market with lower price
points which could cause subscriptions to decline, thus raise the churn rate.
Current Competitors Changing Sourcing Standards
Companies like Blue Apron and Hello Fresh are beginning to offer locally sourced, organic
ingredients which would make it difficult to convert or acquire new customers in this market
since their price point is lower.
Negative Publicity
In addition to the negative association of Whole Foods Market’s high prices, by some, any
additional negative publicity could hurt sales of the Culinary Meal Kits. For instance, if one of
their suppliers were to have been found to be practicing unsustainable or cruel farming practices
and it were leaked to the media, this could potentially have negative effects on sales of this
service. To mitigate this, Whole Foods must continue to practice the strictest of sourcing
standards.
COMPETITOR ANALYSES
Top 3 competitors are listed below in order of price (high to low).
1. Plated
2. Hello Fresh
3. Blue Apron
Summary Analysis
 Not one competitor targets single individuals.
 Not one competitor offers flat rate pricing across the board.
 All competitors offer a max of 4 servings per 4 meals per week.
 Hello Fresh is the only competitor that has an App for IOS or Android mobile phones.
 Plated is the only competitor that uses YouTube.
 Competitors do not offer instructional cooking videos, 100% organic offerings or craft
beer.
Plated
Value Selling Points (Plated.com, n.d.)
 Raised Without Antibiotics
 Sustainably Caught
 Fresh & Seasonal
 No Added Hormones
 Sourcing Organic
 Artisanal Ingredients
Shipping Prices
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 $6.00 delivery charge for 2 servings twice a week. Free shipping for all orders higher
than 2 servings twice a week (Plated.com, n.d.).
Add-ons
 No upselling opportunities.
 No miscellaneous items are sold outside of meal kits i.e. spices, knifes, wine and other
grocery items.
 Gift cards.
Digital Advertising Avenues
 Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube and Instagram.
Hello Fresh
Value Selling Points (Hello Fresh, n.d.)
 Pick a plan that fits your lifestyle.
 Pause, modify or cancel subscription anytime.
 Select from variety of weekly recipes.
 Get quality ingredients at your doorstep.
 Access your account anywhere including computer and phone App for IOS and Android
users.
 Free shipping nationwide except Hawaii and Alaska.
Shipping Prices
 Free shipping.
Add-ons
 No upselling opportunities.
 No miscellaneous items are sold outside of meal kits i.e. spices, knifes, wine and other
grocery items.
 Gift cards.
Digital Advertising Avenues
 Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.
Blue Apron
Value Selling Points (Blue Apron, n.d.)
 Our chefs and farmers work together.
 We send you a higher quality food at a better value.
 You cook incredible meals from scratch.
 Creating better standards, regenerating our land, eliminating the middle man and
reducing food waste.
 Farm fresh, seasonal produce, meat with no added hormones, sustainably sourced
seafood plus recipe cards, how-to videos and the story behind our ingredients.
 No commitment. Skip or cancel anytime.
Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 15
 Free shipping.
Shipping Prices
 Free shipping.
Add-ons
 Plenty of upselling opportunities.
 Monthly wine subscription that allows a customer to receive 6 premium wines per month
including 3 reds, 3 whites and free shipping for $10.00 per bottle (Blue Apron, n.d.).
 Under, Market, customers can buy everyday kitchen necessities including some spices,
pots, pans, cooking utensils, knifes, aprons, bowls, dish ware and wine glasses (Blue
Apron, n.d.).
 Gift cards.
Digital Advertising Avenues
 Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.
PRICING STRATEGY
Pricing will be determined on market positioning that follows the considerations below.
 100% organic offerings
 Customized plan that allows consumers to buy 1-7 meal kits per week that are designed
for a single person up to a group/family of 10.
 Straight forward flat rate pricing will ensure a single person pays the same price per meal
as an individual in a group or family of 10.
The following page shows current pricing levels from the 3 main competitors on 2, 3 and 4
servings based on 4 nights per week. Competitor pricing data was derived from their websites.
See bibliography for references (Blue Apron, n.d.), (Plated, n.d.) and (Hello Fresh, n.d.).
Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 16
This chart displays Whole Foods Market’s Culinary Meal Kit’s pricing and positioning within
the market. Whole Foods Market will use flat rate pricing set at $15.00 per serving per person.
The considerations mentioned before the chart and the current price levels of the top 3
competitors allow an established price level to be set at this rate. This is consistent with Whole
Foods Market’s brand as it is priced slightly higher than their competitors.
Whole Foods Market will use the average price of the 3 options of servings per week plus an
adjustment for the craft beer subscription to determine relative yet, conservative expectations
and sales goals. This price will be set at an average of $200 per weekly spend. Food average is
$180 per week plus $20 for craft beer subscription. This baseline will most likely change after 3
months but will be used as an evaluation metric during the 3-month interim of this marketing
plan.
PROMOTION STRATEGY
This section is very critical and will outline various components in a marketing mix to
successfully execute the promotion strategy and/or “pull tactics”.
In-Store Promotion
Hanging Ceiling Banners Promoting Culinary Meal Kits
Two 2.5 x 6ft full color vertical stand banners that advertise Whole Foods Culinary Meal Kits
will be strategically set in the prepared food section as well as the entrance/exit of each of the
twelve locations, totaling 24 banners. The cost for this promotional strategy will be $1,050.00
for all twelve locations (VistaPrint, n.d.).
$0.00
$50.00
$100.00
$150.00
$200.00
$250.00
Blue Apron Plated Hello Fresh Whole Foods
Price Levels for 2, 3 & 4 Servings 4 Nights Per Week
2 Servings 3 Servings 4 Servings
Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 17
Promotional Postcards
Post cards to supply our promotional booth, set in the prepared food section of the store, and
given to customers at checkout will also be printed. Post cards will consist of 100% post-
consumer waste, 100lb premium matte, 7 x 5 size. Each store will be provided 5,000 post cards
for a total of 60,000. Total cost will be $4,530 (VistaPrint, Postcards, n.d.).
Door Greeters – Educate & Enroll
An in-store booth near the customer entrance of Whole Foods will be designated to educate
current Whole Foods Market customers of new Culinary Meal Kit service. This booth will
consist of one employee specifically designated to educate customers about the service and
enroll them on the spot. He/she will provide post card flyers that outline what the Culinary Meal
Kits include as well as pricing for the service.
 Booth will be open from 11am – 7pm, 7 days per week, 8 hours per day.
 Tactic cost will be $3,360 per month, per store, broken down as $15 per hour for
combined 2,880 man hours per month. Booth operations will cease, when total
enrollments reach/surpass targets outlined in the sales budget and metric/expectations
sections.
 The total, per month, for all TWELVE locations will be $43,200.
Printed Grocery Bags
120,000 100% recycled post-consumer waste paper grocery bags, 10,000 per location,
advertising Whole Foods Culinary Meal Kits will be printed and used as the primary grocery
bag at checkout. At a cost of .21 cents per bag the cost of this promotion strategy will be
$25,200 for all twelve locations (PrintGlobe, n.d.).
In addition to single use paper bags we will also have reusable grocery bags printed. These
reusable bags are popular among our target market and the advertising will be seen in their
homes as well as when they bring it to places like the farmer’s market. 6,000 of these bags at
$1.69 each, 500 per store, will total $10,140 for this promotion (Products, n.d.).
Discounts given to customer’s groceries in-store the day they sign up. (15% discount on their
groceries that day, subject to $300 total check-out cost). This promotion will run for only one
month. Target sign-up per store is 200 for the first month per location, totaling 2,400
enrollments. Cost of this will be a max of $108,000 (2,400 enrollments x $300 grocery cart
value x 0.15%).
Digital Promotion
 Press release on website promoting new services and offerings. Designed to generate
buzz/attention from the store level to the stock exchange.
 Press release on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google Plus, Pinterest, Instagram,
LinkedIn and Snap Chat.
Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 18
 Banner ads on website home page, promoting new service.
Email Drip Campaign
 Emails sent to current subscribers offering a 15% promotional discount as well as an
additional 15% discount on their weekly orders if they refer somebody within the first 60
days of launch.
 This promotion will be closely monitored and discount will be applied for 3 months and
subject to terms and conditions set forth by the legal department.
 Current email subscribers target enrollment goal is 100 per store location. Anticipated
cost will reflect target of weekly spend per consumer of ($200 x 100 enrollments x 12
locations x 15% discount), $36,000.
 Referral discount cost will reflect a success rate of 3 referrals out 100 current subscribers;
1,200 current enrollments will = 36 referrals at an estimated cost ($200 weekly order x 36
enrollments = $7,200 x 15% discount = $1,080.
Social Media Manager Hire
 $65,000 annual salary plus quarterly bonuses.
 Duties include: coordinate and manage Whole Foods Meal Kits promotion as it is
concerned with Whole Foods’ social media accounts, email list, website, and blog. This
will include promoting the service to Whole Foods Market’s 4.85 million Twitter
followers, 2 million Facebook followers, current newsletter recipients, and
WholeFoodsMarket.com’s blog followers. Weekly coordination of celebrity chef cooking
demonstrations.
 One month prior to the launch of the meal kit service, the Social Media manager will
provide digital materials concerning services offered, pricing, and how to enroll. Once
the program is launched the Social Media Manager will continue these informational
offerings in addition to updating followers and recipients of current seasonal meal kit
offerings as well as any news and reviews concerning Whole Foods Market Culinary
Meal Kit program.
 Target goals will be outlined in the sales and metric section.
Direct Mail Campaign Promotion
 Whole Foods Market will not utilize Direct Mail Campaigns as a promotional strategy.
This is decided as an effort to reduce Whole Foods Market’s carbon footprint during the
manufacturing and/or production of paper mailings.
 An added benefit of this decision allows Whole Foods Market to allocate more funds
towards other promotional efforts.
Though Direct Mail Campaigns can produce results, this would only be utilized as a last effort
if sales are experiencing a wide gap between reality and established metrics and expectations.
In the event this promotion is utilized; direct mailings would only encompass the store
locations’ zip code of operation.
Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 19
Site selection of existing store-front locations have already been established to serve the
customers that Whole Foods Market targets. Expanding this service to all zip codes in a city
would increase operational cost in terms of delivery resulting in a decreased profit margin.
Public Relations Promotion
 CEO and Director of Marketing will promote this new service by invitation to CNBC,
stock market channel during the power lunch hour the day of the announcement.
 In the morning of the launch, the Director of Marketing, CEO and all associated chefs
will go on live television with the Today Show, to promote the new service and offerings
and conduct a live cooking demonstration from all the celebrity chefs.
 Duration of trip will be 3 days and an estimated target budget for all travel arrangements
is $100,000.
o 8 chefs, CEO, Director of Marketing, Public Relations Officer and 3 assistants.
o Total attendees, 14.
Invitation to CNBC and the Today Show will be the duties of the CEO and Director of
Marketing, to reach out directly and make arrangements.
Branded Gifts Promotion
A full set of new cookware inspired by James Oliver will be given to the first 100
subscribers for each store location. 12 stores in three markets equates to 1,200 cookware sets
valued at a retail value of $700.00 per set. A 200% retail profit margin will be applied to
determine the cost of this promotion. $175 per cookware set (which is the estimated company
cost) multiplied by 1,200 total cookware sets equates to $210,000 promotional investment.
This will generate immediate sales within the market and will allow Whole Foods Market to
deduct the cost of this promotion on their taxes using the current tax code. This promotion will
be subject to terms and conditions outlined by the legal department.
Causes & Charity Promotion
The entire promotion strategy and this service will adopt a similar marketing and sales
strategy that Subaru has done for several years with their Share the Love initiative which
allows the buyer/consumer to choose the charity/cause they would like the company to donate
money to with the purchase of every new car. Whole Foods Market has established and
founded three foundations that were discussed earlier.
The promotion will allow every new subscriber and continued user to choose one of the three
foundations they would like Whole Foods Market’s foundations to support in their city. Whole
Foods Market will allocate a percentage of sales to the foundation of their consumers’ choice.
The percentage of sales will be set at a rate of 3%. 100% of funds generated in these markets
will go directly to Whole Foods Market’s foundations where they will benefit those cities
directly and not on a national basis.
This promotion will allow Whole Foods Market to gain local attention and become more of the
fabric of the communities they operate within. This will also be monitored closely and have
continued oversight from the legal department.
Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 20
Cost of this promotion will be considered an indirect marketing cost and a cost of doing
business that will operate with the goal of raising funds for three foundations. Amount of funds
raised will be considered the cost of this promotion.
Ground Promotion
Each location’s store manager will fill this capacity by visiting and meeting with
property managers at high rise condos, loft communities and upscale apartments promoting this
new service to their residents. This promotion tactic will be used to eliminate other forms of
marketing that require investments. Furthermore, this relationship building approach will allow
Whole Foods Market to become more vested in their communities, while appealing directly to
the defined target markets that live these communities. No investment is required for this
promotion but will generate new business and enrollments.
MARKETING OBJECTIVES
The meal kit market has been increasing every year and as noted in the beginning of this
marketing plan, its anticipated to surpass $5 billion in the coming years. This section will
outline the overall objectives of this marketing plan.
Brand Management
 Brand management is critical as well as the continued efforts to maintain image, market
dominance and staying relevant with existing and new customers. Maintaining the brand
also coincides with increasing brand loyalty. This objective is designed to stay relevant
with customer buying trends while appealing to customers’ emotional state in supporting
local sourcing, healthy eating and charity/foundation support within their local
communities.
 Doubling down on brand loyalty will allow Whole Foods Market to attract new
customers but maintain existing customer base while preventing/curving any current or
future loss of customers.
Charity & Foundation Support
 Increase support and raise funds to support the three foundations that will directly
impact the consumers’ communities. This is a very direct objective with the added
benefit of appealing to consumers’ hearts and giving them the opportunity to
dramatically impact their communities. This objective will be at the mercy of 3% of
sales. Estimated revenue goals will be outlined in the budget, sales and metrics &
expectations sections.
Sales
 Achieve 6,000 plus Culinary Meal Kit orders on a weekly basis by end of 3rd month.
 Generate $60 million plus in annual revenue across 3 cities.
Organic Awareness
 Increase awareness of the benefits of eating organic, caring about where food comes
from and sustainable farming and fishing practices.
Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 21
Establish Presence in The Meal Kit Market
 Become one of the top three brands in this market among consumers and the only one
that offers a monthly craft beer subscription and 100% organic offerings.
Social Media
 Drastically improve number of social media followers by at least 5 million and become
number one against competitors using Google + and YouTube.
Growth
 Achieve all goals, targets and expectations to provide groundwork for potential regional
launches and a national launch.
Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 22
BUDGET EVALUATIONS
MARKETING BUDGET
This marketing budget accounts for the anticipated investment required. Furthermore, the
duration of this marketing budget will be enacted on day one of the launch and last for three
months. Grand total of $765,816.00 is subject to change depending on the charitable donation
promotion. Immediate fixed investment is set at $604,200.
Category
Estimated
Quantity
Cost per Store
Estimated
Subtotal
Notes
In-Store Promotion
Ceiling Banners(2 per store) 24 $87.50 $1,050.00
Post Cards(5,000 per store) 60,000 $377.50 $4,530.00
Door Greeters(1 Employee per store @$15/hr) 2,800 $3,600.00 $43,200.00
Paper Grocery Bags(10k per store) 120,000 $2,100.00 $25,200.00
Reusable Grocery Bags(500 per store) 6,000 $845.00 $10,140.00
15%Cashier Discount with Enrollment 2,400 $9,000.00 $108,000.00
Total $192,120.00
Digital Promotion
Corporate Social Media Manager Salary 1 $5,416.67 $65,000.00
E-Mail Drip Campaign (current subscribers) 1,200 $3,000.00 $36,000.00
E-Mail Current Subscriber Referral Promotion 36 $90.00 $1,080.00
Total $102,080.00
Public RelationsPromotion
New York City Arrangements 14 $8,333.33 $100,000.00
Airfare, hotel, meals& misc. cost for
Total $100,000.00
Give-Away Promotion
Cookware Sets 1,200 $17,500.00 $210,000.00
Total $210,000.00
Charitable Donation Promotion
Whole Kids $4,489.33 $53,872.00
Whole Planet Foundation $4,489.33 $53,872.00
Whole CitiesFoundation $4,489.33 $53,872.00
Total $161,616.00
$765,816.00
Marketing Budget Plan - 1 Quarter
3%of sales, monthly
revenue goal set at
$161,616
ESTIMATED MARKETING GRAND TOTAL
Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 23
Enrollment Goals – By end of First Quarter
This table represents the promotion tactic and the desired results. Enrollment goals are defined
as individuals enrolling in the Culinary Meal Kit program. A grand total of 6,216 enrollments is
the target goal for this marketing plan. 6,216 enrollments across 12 stores in 3 cities is used as a
target in order to achieve realistic revenue results.
Sales Forecasting
METRICS
In collaboration with marketing objectives, some of the metrics will reveal new
marketing objectives and/or augment/emphasize certain results and trends that need to be
monitored, controlled and adjusted.
Category
Target
Enrollments
Notes
In-Store Promotion
Door Greeters 1,080 3 per day, 30 days per month
Cashiers 1,800 5 cashiers/store, 60 enrolls/day
Total 2,880 240 per store
Digital Promotion
E-Mail Drip Campaign (current subscribers) 1,200
E-Mail Current Subscriber Referral Promotion 36
Total 1,236 103 per store
Ground Promotion
Store Manager Visiting Property Managers 900
Total 900 75 per store
Public Relations Promotion
The Today Show & CNBC Power Lunch 1,200
Total 1,200 100 per store
Grand Total 6,216 518 per store
Enrollment Goals - 1 Quarter
Weekly Monthly Annual Population
Saturation Rate,
$ per Person
Austin - 5 Store Locations $518,000 $2,244,667 $26,936,000 931,830 $28.91
Denver - 4 Store Locations $414,400 $1,795,733 $21,548,800 682,545 $31.57
Seattle - 3 Store Locations $310,800 $1,346,800 $16,161,600 684,451 $23.61
Total $1,243,200 $5,387,200 $64,646,400 2,298,826 $84.09
Sales Forecast - Desired Results by end of Month 3 of Quarter
Revenue Stream (Based on $200
weekly average spend per
Enrollee at 518 orders / week/ store)
Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 24
Digital Metrics
Below is a snapshot of Whole Foods Market’s current social media outlets and following.
Social Media, website analytics and email marketing will be monitored using the following
metrics across each of the media outlets and compared to monthly/quarterly/annual differences.
 Follower increase and/or decrease.
 Increase and/or decrease in shares, likes, comments and posts.
 Total downloads, average clicks, revisits per month, unique visitors and click through
rates.
These metrics, insights and analytics will provide critical information that will be used to adjust
messaging and content while providing insight into potential cities of duplication and measuring
effectiveness. The social media manager that will be hired to head up this portion of the
marketing plan will need to meet and/or surpass the following expectations, targets, goals and/or
results.
Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 25
 Increase followers for each social media outlet to a total as follows:
o Twitter: 6 million (1.1195 million increase)
o Facebook: 3 million (1 million increase)
o Instagram: 3 million (1.1 million increase)
o Pinterest: 500,000 (182,700 increase)
o Google +: 400,000 (144,120 increase)
o LinkedIn: 500,000 (314,068 increase)
o YouTube: 500,000 (434,714 increase)
 A $100,000 bonus will be paid to the new social media manager if he/she achieves the
following follower targets after one year.
o Twitter: 10 million
o Facebook: 6 million
o Instagram: 6 million
o Pinterest: 1 million
o Google +: 1 million
o LinkedIn: 1 million or 3 million in place of Google + and YouTube
o YouTube: 1 million
Without knowing current SEO information and/or software specifically used by Whole Foods
Market, below are some of the results gathered by Net Valuator (Valuation, n.d.), (subject to
daily changes). This data is presented in a comparison format and used as competitor analysis
tool to establish more metrics and expectations set forth by this marketing plan.
Metric
Whole Foods
Market
Blue Apron Plated.com Hello Fresh
Traffic Report
Daily Unique Visitors 130,601 50,962 13,902 6,569
Daily Page Views 1,044,808 305,772 83,412 32,845
Total 1,175,409 356,734 97,314 39,414
Social Engagement
Facebook Shares 6,084 4,661 579 582
Facebook Likes 5,473 3,633 446 344
Facebook Comments 4,803 6,355 531 422
Twitter Count (Tweets) 3,450 not listed 2 6
LinkedIn Shares 214 41 21 8
Delicious Shares 715 44 14 12
Google + 15 753 24 33
Total 20,754 15,487 1,617 1,407
Estimated Valuation
Income per Day $1,045 $612 $167 $82
Estimate Worth (website domain) $1,128,600 $440,312 $120,240 $49,200
Total $1,151,129 $440,924 $120,407 $49,282
Website Analytics
Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 26
This information infers that Whole Foods Market dominates in several areas however, Facebook
comments and Google + are very weak compared to their competitors, specifically Blue Apron.
These are very technical metrics and can be analyzed in numerous ways. The underlining
metric(s) in addition to the established ones for the new social media manager, is to simply
increase/improve/optimize all digital promotion metrics in the most effective way.
 Increase web page visit time.
 Increase job cart size during checkout by advertising craft beer subscription and the new
Culinary Meal Kits and free delivery.
 Increase conversion rates by 10% from unique visitors.
 Increase unique visitors specific to Austin, Denver and Seattle.
 Increase social engagement, as mentioned earlier.
 Promote and increase awareness of the 3 charitable foundations that Whole Foods
Market is contributing 3% of revenue towards in these 3 cities.
All Other Metrics
Other important metrics that will be measured and analyzed are provided by (Volpe, 2013):
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC):
Will be measured month over month for three months and recalculated at the end of month 3.
The current marketing budget has an expectation to achieve a CAC of $123.20 with charitable
contributions and a CAC of $97.20 without charitable contributions.
Marketing % of CAC (M%-CAC):
This number should be a relatively high number since the sales function does not require a high
attention to outside sales or a large sales force. As the budget stands, M%-CAC and current
marketing strategy this calculation will not be calculated. If the marketing plan succeeds and
meets expectations listed later, this calculation should be performed on a regional basis and
national basis as it will allow further insight to determine applicability as it may apply to the
following scenarios:
 Spending too much on marketing.
 Sales costs decrease because target/quotas are missed.
 Spending more on marketing increase quality of hits/leads, resulting in a decrease in
other expenses.
Ratio of Customer Lifetime Value to CAC (LTV:CAC):
This calculation is not only critical but necessary for reoccurring/repeat revenue streams, while
accounting for the churn rate/cancellation rate. A good rule of thumb for this calculation is
understanding that this marketing plan’s ROI is crucial to the CEO, board of directors and stock
holders. Since this marketing plan is designed to create a new revenue stream, it’s expected to
have a high ROI and LTV:CAC ratio. This will be monitored very closely to ensure that if
Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 27
expectations, goals and targets are met or surpassed quickly, the success could indicate that an
increase in marketing funds might be appropriate to eliminate growth restraints. By not
adjusting or increasing the marketing spend, it could make life easier for competitors to
increase market share.
 A healthy churn rate/attrition rate would be 1-3%.
CAC Payback Time:
This is another calculation that will provide insight into market penetration, ROI and will assist
in monitoring goal, target and expectation progression. As the budget stands, the CAC Payback
Time period will be well within 6 months for the average customer spending $200 per week.
Further analysis will be necessary after implementation to appropriately determine gross profit
margins.
Marketing Originated Customer %:
Whole Foods Market will need to strengthen their analytics team to keep a close eye on this
calculation. It’s important to understand where new customers come from and what marketing
avenues contributed to the acquisition of a customer. This calculation will provide insight into
which marketing avenues are working the best. An anticipated percentage should range
between 85-95%.
ACTION ITEMS / TIME LINE / TACTICS
Necessary Events & Resources
Analysis of action items reveals approximately 57% of budget will be allocated in the months
leading up to, and within the first month of the launch of Whole Foods Market Culinary Meal
Kits. Although this is a considerable percentage, the funds are needed on the front end to create
brand awareness, build brand value and educate customers about the service.
For these reasons the purchase of in-store promotional products, hiring of a social media
manager and the initial email drip campaign 1-2 months prior to launching the service are
crucial. The hiring process will begin two months from the launch date and will be completed
within one month of launching the service. This will allow the social media manager ample time
to acclimate into the new position and begin implementing social media awareness strategies,
executing the email drip campaign to current customers and creating buzz on the
wholefoodsmarket.com website and blog.
Within the first few weeks of the launch, $310,000 is allocated toward cable television news
appearances and cookware promotion. These strategies are necessary in the first few weeks to
entice customers to sign up and get the enrollment process underway. Which in turn, will lead to
the customer referral promotion to take off. In the following months, allocated funds taper off as
initial buzz has been created and remaining funds are delegated to sustain enrollment numbers
in preparation for national and/or regional launches.
Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 28
Action Item 2 Months’ Prior Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Total
In-store promo products
(banners, postcards, bags)
$40,020 $40,920
Hire Social Media Manager $65,000 $65,000
Email Drip Campaign $6,000 $10,000 $10,000 $10,000 $36,000
Referral Promotion $360 $360 $360 $1,080
Cookware Promotion $210,000 $210,000
Enrollment Discounts $36,000 $36,000 $36,000 $108,000
Cable News Appearances $100,000 $100,000
Charitable Donations
Promo
$53,872 $53,872 $53,872 $161,616
Ground Promo (Rolled into Store
Manager Salary)
$0 $0 $0 $0
In store representatives $14,400 $14,400 $14,400 $43,200
Totals $111,920 $424,632 $114,232 $114,232 $765,816
Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 29
AUTHOR NOTES & DISCLAIMER
This marketing plan outlined various marketing avenues that we believe Whole Foods Market
should explore and implement. We also understand that this marketing plan acts as a basis for a
more in-depth look in the market research that Whole Foods Market would need to conduct
before implementing and executing.
Our research performed, contains vital information that could allow Whole Foods Market to
develop a new marketing strategy, new revenue streams and dramatically augment their 3
charitable foundations on a local level. It’s our belief that this marketing plan coincides with
Whole Foods Market’s culture and operating principles that have defined them and have
contributed to their success.
All our research indicated that this trend is rapidly growing and will continue to grow year over
year. Whole Foods Market possesses the footprint, supply chain, economies of scale and funds
to implement Culinary Meal Kits into their operations. Research indicates and we believe the
upside potential is in the billions of dollars not for only the Meal Kit industry but for Whole
Foods Market’s bottom line. The downside for Whole Foods Market would be to ignore this
trend and/or not allocate the necessary funds to successfully launch this new division in an
aggressive manner.
Whole Foods Market has taken a very small step in the meal kit industry with their acquisition
of Purple Carrot back in late October early November of 2016. However, it’s our opinion that
Whole Foods Market has not gained traction with this acquisition as there has been no regional
or national marketing strategies developed/executed since then and other contributing factors,
not to say they are not working on them currently.
We believe that Whole Foods Market needs to act quickly since they have indicated an interest
in this market before competitors like Blue Apron acquires more customers or potentially new
market entries from national competitors such as Sprouts and Trader Joes or regional
competitors such as HEB Central Market in Texas and Amazon Fresh in Seattle which is
expanding throughout the Pacific Northwest.
Joshua Neeper, 254.717.9298
Masters Business Administration, Supply Chain Management - February, 2018
Bachelor of Science, International Business
Associate of Applied Science, Business Management
Michael Brooks, 315.570.8970
Masters Business Administration – November, 2017
Bachelor of Technology Horticulture Business Management, Food Crops
Bachelor of Business Administration
Associate in Science, Culinary Arts
Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 30
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Elevated Culinary Meal Kits

  • 1. Whole Foods Marketing Plan: Culinary Meal Kits Strategic Marketing – MRKT 5500 By: Joshua Neeper & Michael Brooks February 9, 2017
  • 2. Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Marketing Plan Introduction........................................................................................................2 Objective .........................................................................................................................................2 Target Market................................................................................................................................2 Overview, Defined Target Markets Unique Selling Position..................................................................................................................5 Ingredients,Packaging & Delivery, Recipe Cards vs. Cooking Videos,Chefs, Cookware,Craft Beer Value to Customers........................................................................................................................9 High Quality Ingredients, Seasonality,Sustainability,Locally Sourced,Convenience,Caring SWOT Analysis ............................................................................................................................10 Strengths,Weaknesses, Opportunities,Threats Competitor Analysis ....................................................................................................................13 Pricing Strategy............................................................................................................................15 Promotion Strategy......................................................................................................................16 In-Store, Digital, Direct Mail, Public Relations,Branded Gifts, Causes & Charity,Ground Marketing Objectives ..................................................................................................................20 Brand Management, Charity & Foundation Support, Sales, Organic Awareness, Market Presence, Social Media, Growth Budget Evaluations ......................................................................................................................22 Marketing Budget,Enrollment Goals, Sale Forecasting Metrics...........................................................................................................................................23 Digital,Website, All Others Action Items / Timeline / Tactics ................................................................................................27 Necessary Events & Resources Author Notes & Disclaimer.........................................................................................................29 Bibliography .................................................................................................................................30
  • 3. Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 2 MARKETING PLAN INTRODUCTION This marketing plan will outline various avenues of marketing and new product offerings that Whole Foods Market will use to advertise their new, Culinary Meal Kits, while providing insights and analyses into their three top competitors in this space, areas of opportunities and ending with budgeting and sales. Furthermore, this marketing plan will provide distinctive insight into this newly trending market that is competing directly with traditional grocery stores and takeout joints, an estimated food industry size of $1.3 trillion estimated back in 2015 (Dunn, 2015). The meal kit industry might be relatively in its infant stage but this trendy, progressive movement has established relevancy and has even received recognition from Technomic Inc, food industry analyst, where they have estimated the United States’ meal kit industry could grow by an estimated $5 billion over the next decade according to (Severson, 2016). This marketing plan will provide insight and financial data that will establish certain metrics and performance standards to be met in accordance with their current capital returns outlined in their 2015 annual report. Department: Marketing and Business Development Name of Campaign Culinary Meal Kits Campaign Manager Director of Marketing Subject Matter Outlined Marketing Plan OBJECTIVE To start and incorporate a culinary meal kit service for Whole Foods Market and it’s already established grocery delivery service in select progressive cities before expanding nationally. In addition to the meal kits, this marketing plan will also incorporate differentiating unique product and service offerings that will include cookware inspired by James Oliver, weekly cooking videos from a list of celebrity chefs and a monthly craft beer subscription that pairs recipes with the unique flavors of craft breweries and their seasonal brews. TARGET MARKET Overview Whole Foods Market’s Culinary Meal Kits target market will consist of Whole Foods Market’s current customers, potentially attracting customers from their top 3 competitors and gaining new customers in the following segments: young singles, women and families between the ages of 25-65. These segments of customers are comprised of three different generations: millennials, generation x and baby boomers. Characteristics between these three segments might vary but they all share the following attributes listed below. Data is supported by (MRI+).
  • 4. Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 3 Education  Graduated college  Holds post graduate degree Occupation  Business  Financial  Management  Sales and Office  Professional Services Income  $75,000 - $149,999 Interests (Magazines, Cable, Internet)  Cooking, Food and Wine  Health, Fitness and Sports  Politics and Current Events  Environment and Animals  Home and Garden  History and Culture  Travel and Leisure Below are common attributes specific to Whole Foods Market Brand:  Interest in consuming only certified organic, locally sourced and natural foods.  Prefer natural grocery stores to commercial supermarkets.  Typically, college educated individuals that reside in affluent areas i.e. higher income, and in a lot of instances live in progressive cities.  Interest in the environment and sustainability.  Enjoys socializing and cooking to the point where they partake in weekly and monthly dinner clubs.  Their ability to travel has allowed them to appreciate the culinary arts, experience new cultures and cuisines, while enjoying adventure and learning new things. Generally speaking, these segments of the target market have a favorable image of Whole Foods Market which has increased their brand loyalty, proven by Whole Foods Market’s financial reports with sales and growth experiencing a rate of 8-15% each year (Foods, 2017). This target market has proven that consumers in these segments are willing to pay a little more to indulge in higher quality ingredients that Whole Foods Market offers. According to their 2015 financial annual report, they stated that one of their strategic initiatives was launching their first national brand campaign (Whole Foods Market, Inc, 2015). Whole Foods Market’s financial performance has been relatively steady and is generating results for their shareholders. Their national footprint is expanding year over year with the past two years, opening 38 new store locations two years in a row (Whole Foods Market, Inc, 2015). However,
  • 5. Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 4 there is upside potential that Whole Foods Market should capitalize on in respect to gaining more market share, adjusting to relevant market place trends and reducing potential threats. Defined Target Markets Age Group: 25-65 comprised of single professionals, women, couples and families that already shop at Whole Foods Market. Geographic Locations:  Austin, Texas o 5 store locations (Whole Foods Market, 2017). o Population: 931,830 per (census.gov, 2015).  Denver, Colorado o 4 store locations (Whole Foods Market, 2017). o Population: 682,545 (census.gov, 2015).  Seattle, Washington o 3 store locations (Whole Foods Market, 2017). o Population: 684,451 (census.gov, 2015). These 3 cities were chosen based on similar attributes pertaining to political status, population, number of stores, social aspects and their progressive nature. UNIQUE SELLING POSITION Whole Foods Market’s Culinary Meal Kits will adopt a similar business model as some of its competitors but is differentiating by offering an elevated level of quality of ingredients, sustainable packaging, ability to customize their service by number of people and days per week, instructional chef recipe videos, one weekly celebrity chef instructional video allowing the consumer/user to cook with their favorite celebrity chef, ability to buy Whole Foods Market’s specific kitchen ware inspired and designed by Jamie Oliver, and a monthly craft beer paring subscription allowing consumers/users to pair a wide array of year-round and seasonal craft beers with their Culinary Meal Kits. Ingredients  Ingredients in these Culinary Meal Kits will consist of certified organic, locally sourced, natural foods that the defined target market desires and which Whole Foods Market is recognized for.  Ingredients will be seasonal, adding the value, “eating with the seasons”.  Addressing the target market’s interest in supporting sustainability, each box will include short biographies of the farms where their ingredients were sourced from. An example of this is follows on the next page. Derived from (Market, n.d.).
  • 6. Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 5 Packaging & Delivery  Packaging will be reusable. Culinary Meal Kits will be delivered in reusable cold chain containers. These containers will be left out and picked up when the next week’s or scheduled delivery is made; thereby eliminating unneeded waste and leading the way on responsible supply chain management practices.  Cold chain containers will be utilized to their fullest potential allowing room for the Culinary Meal Kits, craft beer and other grocery items a consumer decides to purchase for their week of grocery shopping. An example of cold chain container is listed below, provided by (Images, n.d.).  Delivery will be free.  A new partnership with Jackson Kayak and its Orion cooler division will be explored with the goal of Whole Foods Market switching current suppliers. They will collaborate to create an eco-friendly, reusable cold chain container that will be made in America.
  • 7. Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 6 Recipe Cards vs. Cooking Videos  The competitor analysis section will show that all the top competitors are only using recipe cards. To increase the user experience, Whole Foods Market’s Culinary Meal Kits will allow consumers the “free” option to cook their recipes with the chefs that inspired the recipe with an interactive cooking video that every recipe will have.  Interactive cooking videos will be accessible via phone, tablet and computer; allowing the consumer/user to pause and play the video at any time.  Theses interactive cooking videos will be comprised of Whole Foods Market’s chefs with the addition of one recipe per week and its instructional cooking video performed by a celebrity chef. Chefs Whole Foods Market will collaborate with the following list of celebrity chefs that will choose one recipe of their liking and provide the consumer/user with the instructional cooking video. One celebrity chef will be showcased once a week. Giada de Laurentiis Andrew Zimmerman Rocco DiSpirito Jamie Oliver Bobby Flay Padma Lakshki Anthony Bourdain Robert Irvine Andrew Zimmerman and the associated recipe for him will be showcased as the, “Bizarre Culinary Meal Kit” representing his unique show for bizarre foods around the globe. This will be monitored and structured as an entry level take on bizarre foods. Each of these celebrity chefs bring a unique level of expertise, personality, experience, food pallets, culture and most importantly, a long list of followers. These followers will be viewed as a potential list of customers, allowing Whole Foods Market to gain insightful demographic information on potentially new customers, shaping Whole Foods Market’s future marketing strategies and plans. The collaboration between Whole Foods Market and these celebrity chefs are mutually beneficial as both parties will gain new followers, exposure and customers. This type of endorsement would achieve a lot of recognition in the press and social media. Furthermore, this new collaboration would allow Whole Foods Market to augment national attention to their three foundations: Whole Planet, Whole Kids and Whole Cities. Rather than directly compensating these celebrity chefs for their service, a portion of the profits from the particular meal in their video demonstrations will be donated to one of three foundations created by Whole Foods Market focusing on the planet, kids and cities.
  • 8. Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 7 Cookware Cookware is not just another opportunity to upsell but an avenue to generate interest and increase conversions with existing customers and unique online visitors. Whole Foods Market’s Culinary Meal Kits will utilize Jamie Oliver in this space. In his cooking television appearances, he utilizes cast iron and stainless steel cookware along with wooden utensils. These products appeal to the target market because they avoid toxic non-stick residues and are overall better in quality. His creativity, personality, and the causes he supports, such as healthy children’s lunch programs, will be reflected in the promotional strategy section in this marketing plan. This target market possess the characteristics of caring where their food comes from and supporting causes they care about. Craft Beer Consumers who shop at Whole Foods Market possess another unique characteristic but the correlation must be carefully made with insightful understanding of their customer demographics and buying habits, while capitalizing on industry trends that continue to increase in progressive cities. Segmenting the different generations that shop at Whole Foods Market tells us that trendy, progressive and local are attributes each of these segments are attracted to. Blue Apron, a competitor that is examined in the competitor analysis section of this marketing plan offers a unique selling position by offering a monthly wine subscription. Whole Foods Market’s Culinary Meal Kits will allow customers to join a new monthly craft beer subscription where the craft beers are locally paired with their Culinary Meal Kits. Customers who shop at Whole Foods Market tend to have more disposable income. With this being a characteristic, a typical Whole Foods Market customer will go to the liquor store to buy preferred wines. Craft beer will allow this new service offering to increase sales, appeal to existing and new customers, and differentiate themselves from their top competitors. The craft beer industry has been increasing every year and is worth noting. In 2012, (Nichols, 2014) reported, “The Brewers Association, a trade group of small and craft brewers, released a report last month celebrating the $33.9 billion contribution that the craft brewing industry made to the United States’ economy in 2012 and ranked the top five states by 2012 economic output.” The top 5 states and their economic impact included: 1) California at $4.7 billion, 2) Texas at $2.3 billion, 3) New York at $2.2 billion, 4) Pennsylvania at $2 billion and 5) Colorado at $1.6 billion (Nichols, 2014). The most relevant and recent craft beer statistics into the states where the Culinary Meal Kits will launch in the beginning are displayed on the following page, provided by (Brewers Association, 2015).
  • 9. Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 8 Colorado Texas Washington These tables and graphs represent the progression of craft beer since 2011. There has been an increase in demand, production and sales every year since 2011. By offering a monthly craft
  • 10. Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 9 beer subscription, this will give Whole Foods Market a competitive edge and a unique selling position to capitalize on this trend and increase customer’s online shopping cart. VALUE TO CUSTOMERS High Quality Ingredients Whole Foods Market Culinary Meal Kits, customers will be provided with wholesome, nutritious certified organic proteins and fresh produce in which competitors have not provided on a national scale. Whole Foods Market’s economies of scale with organic offerings is a strong value to customers as well as a competitive advantage. Seasonality “Eating with the seasons” will also be an added level of value. Seasonality appeals to Whole Foods Market’s target market in terms of flavor, sustainability and creativity. Vegetables allowed to ripen in their natural growing season tend to have a more developed and natural flavor. Seasonal ingredients sourced from local farms decreases need for prolonged refrigeration and less transportation, keeping money in local economies. Customers will be able to choose recipes containing the ingredients they prefer. Although, some produce will be available year- round, the ones contained in the chart will be highlighted by the season. Proteins such as poultry, beef, pork and fish will be available year-round. - Summer - Heirloom tomatoes Eggplant Peppers Cucumbers Melons - Fall - Squashes Pumpkin Brussels sprouts Cabbage Cauliflower Sweet Potatoes - Winter - Potatoes Onions Carrots Beets Artichokes - Spring - Asparagus Green onions Spinach Collard Greens Snow Peas Sustainability In addition to supporting sustainable farming practices, an added level of sustainability will be provided in our delivery and packaging. All Culinary Meal Kits and groceries will be packed and delivered in reusable cold chain packaging containers; ensuring freshness while eliminating waste. Cold chain packaging containers will be picked up the following week or when the customer’s next delivery is made.
  • 11. Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 10 Locally sourced  Ingredients will be sourced from the region for the specific market. Short biographies on small postcards will be in the boxes that highlight the farmers that grew and raised the food and who their purchases are supporting.  Locally sourced ingredients are nothing foreign to Whole Foods Market as they maximize their efforts in every region they operate in. Convenience  Flexibility o Consumers will be allowed to incorporate their Culinary Meal Kits with their weekly online grocery delivery service with the ability to cancel and/or suspend their service anytime; allowing for flexibility with their weekly schedules as well as vacations or unexpected events that may arise.  Time & Stress o Consumers will no longer have to worry about trips to the grocery store; saving time and reducing stress. o No more worrying about what cook or how to cook a meal with step by step recipes and instructional videos that allow a consumer to follow the chef while preparing their meals and having fun in the process. Caring Caring is huge part of Whole Foods Market’s culture and operating principles. Therefore, Whole Foods Market will incorporate their care into these new Culinary Meal Kits by giving back 3% of sales from each meal kit to one of three foundations that Whole Foods Market operates. All funds will be directed to impact each of the 3 city’s communities and not allocated to other national interests or geographic locations. Buying local and supporting communities is not just a competitive advantage but it allows consumers to impact their communities by choosing which foundation they would like Whole Foods Market to concentrate on in their communities. SWOT ANALYSIS Strengths Brand The Whole Foods Market brand and the quality consumers associate them with is the main strength of Whole Foods Market Culinary Meal kits. Additionally, to all ingredients being certified organic, none of the 3 main competitors are offering exclusively locally sourced, seasonally inspired ingredients in their meal kits and reusable packaging offers the added value of sustainability. When consumers think Whole Foods, they immediately associate the brand with the best quality ingredients. This allows Whole Foods Market to attract a broad customer base that is loyal and
  • 12. Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 11 results in repeat, habitual purchases. Whole Foods Market standards includes strict farming, manufacturing, fishing and ranching standards. They also only sell cage free, free range eggs. They have hundreds of ingredients on their ban list that include artificial preservatives, colors, and flavors. Currently, no other natural grocer has all their stores 100% certified organic (Dalavagas, 2015). Favorable Industry Trends As the strongest brand among natural retailers and organic food offerings, Whole Foods Market’s Culinary Meal Kits has an impressive advantage to succeed in this capacity if implemented and executed correctly. Consumer relationship consciousness between healthy eating and overall health will continue to drive Whole Foods Market and their Culinary Meal Kits, especially in the younger generation. The younger generations’ concern with how food is produced, sourced and what impact it has on the environment is what Whole Foods Market is about. These concerns by the younger generation continue to fuel Whole Foods Market’s revenues and services of this type (Dalavagas I. , 2015). Established Supply Chain Relationships Whole Foods Market currently has strong relationships with the producers that would be supplying the Culinary Meal Kits due to the fact that these same producers are supplying the inventory in their stores. Easy acquisition at bulk prices will keep profit margins for this service healthy and sustainable. Product Offerings Consumers will have the flexibility and ability to consolidate all their grocery shopping needs. From toothpaste, to personal care items to a wide array of foods, consumers will save time by not having to visit different websites and/or stores. Current competitors do not have that shopping experience. Technology Whole Foods Market makes it easy to shop with their already established phone App available on iPhone and Android platforms. Keeping track of grocery lists, purchasing history, delivery schedules and instructional cooking videos increases the consumer experience in ways that the competition cannot. Fair Pricing Pricing is a critical factor that will be outlined further in the pricing strategy section. Whole Foods Market will adopt a fair pricing practice that will operate under flat rate prices per serving, no matter how many servings or family size. This will ensure that a single person providing for him or herself will be paying the same price per serving as a family does.
  • 13. Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 12 Weaknesses Late Market Entry In 2016 the meal kit market was on pace to eclipse 1.5 billion dollars in sales per (Chamlee, 2016) . Blue Apron, the biggest competitor, was seeking a 2 billion valuation for funding, which many analysts agree that they are valued at that level according (Chernova & Demos, 2015). Converting existing meal kit customers will cost money as Whole Foods Market builds value with these new Culinary Meal Kits. Price While Whole Foods does offer superior quality ingredients, their prices reflect that in their stores and will in the Culinary Meal Kits. Although the target market consists of high income individuals and families, some are deterred by the prices and feel that even though the ingredients are the best, the prices might not match that value in consumers’ minds. Opportunities Specialty Diets The Whole Foods Market brand is identified with healthy, nutritious ingredients which infers a belief that these Culinary Meal Kits could potentially offer meal kits catered to specific segments of the population that require specialty diets, such as those battling diabetes and obesity. Employing Registered Dieticians that can formulate recipes that cater to these specific ailments and offering them an option could present itself as a lucrative opportunity. Utilization of 365 Whole Foods Brand Currently, Whole Foods Market has opened three “365 by Whole Foods” stores in California, Oregon, and Washington. These stores are smaller and provide a more streamlined shopping experience that offer natural and organic products at a lower price point. These stores appeal to the more price conscious millennial. The opening of these stores in less progressive and less populated areas will allow Whole Foods Market to expand its customer base and Culinary Meal Kit service. Children’s Lunches 5 bagged, nutritious lunches per week contained with the meal kits would add another level of convenience that other competitors do not offer. These school lunches would be the typical sandwich, chips, fruit and beverage items. The products in these lunches are products that are already sold in the stores and could easily be assembled and added to the Culinary Meal Kit service and online shopping carts. Threats Potential Natural Food Grocer’s Market Entry If Sprouts, Trader Joes or small regional natural grocers entered into this market it would mitigate the added value of being an exclusive supplier of certified organic, locally sourced,
  • 14. Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 13 seasonally inspired meal kits. Also, these natural foods retailers come to market with lower price points which could cause subscriptions to decline, thus raise the churn rate. Current Competitors Changing Sourcing Standards Companies like Blue Apron and Hello Fresh are beginning to offer locally sourced, organic ingredients which would make it difficult to convert or acquire new customers in this market since their price point is lower. Negative Publicity In addition to the negative association of Whole Foods Market’s high prices, by some, any additional negative publicity could hurt sales of the Culinary Meal Kits. For instance, if one of their suppliers were to have been found to be practicing unsustainable or cruel farming practices and it were leaked to the media, this could potentially have negative effects on sales of this service. To mitigate this, Whole Foods must continue to practice the strictest of sourcing standards. COMPETITOR ANALYSES Top 3 competitors are listed below in order of price (high to low). 1. Plated 2. Hello Fresh 3. Blue Apron Summary Analysis  Not one competitor targets single individuals.  Not one competitor offers flat rate pricing across the board.  All competitors offer a max of 4 servings per 4 meals per week.  Hello Fresh is the only competitor that has an App for IOS or Android mobile phones.  Plated is the only competitor that uses YouTube.  Competitors do not offer instructional cooking videos, 100% organic offerings or craft beer. Plated Value Selling Points (Plated.com, n.d.)  Raised Without Antibiotics  Sustainably Caught  Fresh & Seasonal  No Added Hormones  Sourcing Organic  Artisanal Ingredients Shipping Prices
  • 15. Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 14  $6.00 delivery charge for 2 servings twice a week. Free shipping for all orders higher than 2 servings twice a week (Plated.com, n.d.). Add-ons  No upselling opportunities.  No miscellaneous items are sold outside of meal kits i.e. spices, knifes, wine and other grocery items.  Gift cards. Digital Advertising Avenues  Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube and Instagram. Hello Fresh Value Selling Points (Hello Fresh, n.d.)  Pick a plan that fits your lifestyle.  Pause, modify or cancel subscription anytime.  Select from variety of weekly recipes.  Get quality ingredients at your doorstep.  Access your account anywhere including computer and phone App for IOS and Android users.  Free shipping nationwide except Hawaii and Alaska. Shipping Prices  Free shipping. Add-ons  No upselling opportunities.  No miscellaneous items are sold outside of meal kits i.e. spices, knifes, wine and other grocery items.  Gift cards. Digital Advertising Avenues  Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. Blue Apron Value Selling Points (Blue Apron, n.d.)  Our chefs and farmers work together.  We send you a higher quality food at a better value.  You cook incredible meals from scratch.  Creating better standards, regenerating our land, eliminating the middle man and reducing food waste.  Farm fresh, seasonal produce, meat with no added hormones, sustainably sourced seafood plus recipe cards, how-to videos and the story behind our ingredients.  No commitment. Skip or cancel anytime.
  • 16. Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 15  Free shipping. Shipping Prices  Free shipping. Add-ons  Plenty of upselling opportunities.  Monthly wine subscription that allows a customer to receive 6 premium wines per month including 3 reds, 3 whites and free shipping for $10.00 per bottle (Blue Apron, n.d.).  Under, Market, customers can buy everyday kitchen necessities including some spices, pots, pans, cooking utensils, knifes, aprons, bowls, dish ware and wine glasses (Blue Apron, n.d.).  Gift cards. Digital Advertising Avenues  Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. PRICING STRATEGY Pricing will be determined on market positioning that follows the considerations below.  100% organic offerings  Customized plan that allows consumers to buy 1-7 meal kits per week that are designed for a single person up to a group/family of 10.  Straight forward flat rate pricing will ensure a single person pays the same price per meal as an individual in a group or family of 10. The following page shows current pricing levels from the 3 main competitors on 2, 3 and 4 servings based on 4 nights per week. Competitor pricing data was derived from their websites. See bibliography for references (Blue Apron, n.d.), (Plated, n.d.) and (Hello Fresh, n.d.).
  • 17. Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 16 This chart displays Whole Foods Market’s Culinary Meal Kit’s pricing and positioning within the market. Whole Foods Market will use flat rate pricing set at $15.00 per serving per person. The considerations mentioned before the chart and the current price levels of the top 3 competitors allow an established price level to be set at this rate. This is consistent with Whole Foods Market’s brand as it is priced slightly higher than their competitors. Whole Foods Market will use the average price of the 3 options of servings per week plus an adjustment for the craft beer subscription to determine relative yet, conservative expectations and sales goals. This price will be set at an average of $200 per weekly spend. Food average is $180 per week plus $20 for craft beer subscription. This baseline will most likely change after 3 months but will be used as an evaluation metric during the 3-month interim of this marketing plan. PROMOTION STRATEGY This section is very critical and will outline various components in a marketing mix to successfully execute the promotion strategy and/or “pull tactics”. In-Store Promotion Hanging Ceiling Banners Promoting Culinary Meal Kits Two 2.5 x 6ft full color vertical stand banners that advertise Whole Foods Culinary Meal Kits will be strategically set in the prepared food section as well as the entrance/exit of each of the twelve locations, totaling 24 banners. The cost for this promotional strategy will be $1,050.00 for all twelve locations (VistaPrint, n.d.). $0.00 $50.00 $100.00 $150.00 $200.00 $250.00 Blue Apron Plated Hello Fresh Whole Foods Price Levels for 2, 3 & 4 Servings 4 Nights Per Week 2 Servings 3 Servings 4 Servings
  • 18. Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 17 Promotional Postcards Post cards to supply our promotional booth, set in the prepared food section of the store, and given to customers at checkout will also be printed. Post cards will consist of 100% post- consumer waste, 100lb premium matte, 7 x 5 size. Each store will be provided 5,000 post cards for a total of 60,000. Total cost will be $4,530 (VistaPrint, Postcards, n.d.). Door Greeters – Educate & Enroll An in-store booth near the customer entrance of Whole Foods will be designated to educate current Whole Foods Market customers of new Culinary Meal Kit service. This booth will consist of one employee specifically designated to educate customers about the service and enroll them on the spot. He/she will provide post card flyers that outline what the Culinary Meal Kits include as well as pricing for the service.  Booth will be open from 11am – 7pm, 7 days per week, 8 hours per day.  Tactic cost will be $3,360 per month, per store, broken down as $15 per hour for combined 2,880 man hours per month. Booth operations will cease, when total enrollments reach/surpass targets outlined in the sales budget and metric/expectations sections.  The total, per month, for all TWELVE locations will be $43,200. Printed Grocery Bags 120,000 100% recycled post-consumer waste paper grocery bags, 10,000 per location, advertising Whole Foods Culinary Meal Kits will be printed and used as the primary grocery bag at checkout. At a cost of .21 cents per bag the cost of this promotion strategy will be $25,200 for all twelve locations (PrintGlobe, n.d.). In addition to single use paper bags we will also have reusable grocery bags printed. These reusable bags are popular among our target market and the advertising will be seen in their homes as well as when they bring it to places like the farmer’s market. 6,000 of these bags at $1.69 each, 500 per store, will total $10,140 for this promotion (Products, n.d.). Discounts given to customer’s groceries in-store the day they sign up. (15% discount on their groceries that day, subject to $300 total check-out cost). This promotion will run for only one month. Target sign-up per store is 200 for the first month per location, totaling 2,400 enrollments. Cost of this will be a max of $108,000 (2,400 enrollments x $300 grocery cart value x 0.15%). Digital Promotion  Press release on website promoting new services and offerings. Designed to generate buzz/attention from the store level to the stock exchange.  Press release on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google Plus, Pinterest, Instagram, LinkedIn and Snap Chat.
  • 19. Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 18  Banner ads on website home page, promoting new service. Email Drip Campaign  Emails sent to current subscribers offering a 15% promotional discount as well as an additional 15% discount on their weekly orders if they refer somebody within the first 60 days of launch.  This promotion will be closely monitored and discount will be applied for 3 months and subject to terms and conditions set forth by the legal department.  Current email subscribers target enrollment goal is 100 per store location. Anticipated cost will reflect target of weekly spend per consumer of ($200 x 100 enrollments x 12 locations x 15% discount), $36,000.  Referral discount cost will reflect a success rate of 3 referrals out 100 current subscribers; 1,200 current enrollments will = 36 referrals at an estimated cost ($200 weekly order x 36 enrollments = $7,200 x 15% discount = $1,080. Social Media Manager Hire  $65,000 annual salary plus quarterly bonuses.  Duties include: coordinate and manage Whole Foods Meal Kits promotion as it is concerned with Whole Foods’ social media accounts, email list, website, and blog. This will include promoting the service to Whole Foods Market’s 4.85 million Twitter followers, 2 million Facebook followers, current newsletter recipients, and WholeFoodsMarket.com’s blog followers. Weekly coordination of celebrity chef cooking demonstrations.  One month prior to the launch of the meal kit service, the Social Media manager will provide digital materials concerning services offered, pricing, and how to enroll. Once the program is launched the Social Media Manager will continue these informational offerings in addition to updating followers and recipients of current seasonal meal kit offerings as well as any news and reviews concerning Whole Foods Market Culinary Meal Kit program.  Target goals will be outlined in the sales and metric section. Direct Mail Campaign Promotion  Whole Foods Market will not utilize Direct Mail Campaigns as a promotional strategy. This is decided as an effort to reduce Whole Foods Market’s carbon footprint during the manufacturing and/or production of paper mailings.  An added benefit of this decision allows Whole Foods Market to allocate more funds towards other promotional efforts. Though Direct Mail Campaigns can produce results, this would only be utilized as a last effort if sales are experiencing a wide gap between reality and established metrics and expectations. In the event this promotion is utilized; direct mailings would only encompass the store locations’ zip code of operation.
  • 20. Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 19 Site selection of existing store-front locations have already been established to serve the customers that Whole Foods Market targets. Expanding this service to all zip codes in a city would increase operational cost in terms of delivery resulting in a decreased profit margin. Public Relations Promotion  CEO and Director of Marketing will promote this new service by invitation to CNBC, stock market channel during the power lunch hour the day of the announcement.  In the morning of the launch, the Director of Marketing, CEO and all associated chefs will go on live television with the Today Show, to promote the new service and offerings and conduct a live cooking demonstration from all the celebrity chefs.  Duration of trip will be 3 days and an estimated target budget for all travel arrangements is $100,000. o 8 chefs, CEO, Director of Marketing, Public Relations Officer and 3 assistants. o Total attendees, 14. Invitation to CNBC and the Today Show will be the duties of the CEO and Director of Marketing, to reach out directly and make arrangements. Branded Gifts Promotion A full set of new cookware inspired by James Oliver will be given to the first 100 subscribers for each store location. 12 stores in three markets equates to 1,200 cookware sets valued at a retail value of $700.00 per set. A 200% retail profit margin will be applied to determine the cost of this promotion. $175 per cookware set (which is the estimated company cost) multiplied by 1,200 total cookware sets equates to $210,000 promotional investment. This will generate immediate sales within the market and will allow Whole Foods Market to deduct the cost of this promotion on their taxes using the current tax code. This promotion will be subject to terms and conditions outlined by the legal department. Causes & Charity Promotion The entire promotion strategy and this service will adopt a similar marketing and sales strategy that Subaru has done for several years with their Share the Love initiative which allows the buyer/consumer to choose the charity/cause they would like the company to donate money to with the purchase of every new car. Whole Foods Market has established and founded three foundations that were discussed earlier. The promotion will allow every new subscriber and continued user to choose one of the three foundations they would like Whole Foods Market’s foundations to support in their city. Whole Foods Market will allocate a percentage of sales to the foundation of their consumers’ choice. The percentage of sales will be set at a rate of 3%. 100% of funds generated in these markets will go directly to Whole Foods Market’s foundations where they will benefit those cities directly and not on a national basis. This promotion will allow Whole Foods Market to gain local attention and become more of the fabric of the communities they operate within. This will also be monitored closely and have continued oversight from the legal department.
  • 21. Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 20 Cost of this promotion will be considered an indirect marketing cost and a cost of doing business that will operate with the goal of raising funds for three foundations. Amount of funds raised will be considered the cost of this promotion. Ground Promotion Each location’s store manager will fill this capacity by visiting and meeting with property managers at high rise condos, loft communities and upscale apartments promoting this new service to their residents. This promotion tactic will be used to eliminate other forms of marketing that require investments. Furthermore, this relationship building approach will allow Whole Foods Market to become more vested in their communities, while appealing directly to the defined target markets that live these communities. No investment is required for this promotion but will generate new business and enrollments. MARKETING OBJECTIVES The meal kit market has been increasing every year and as noted in the beginning of this marketing plan, its anticipated to surpass $5 billion in the coming years. This section will outline the overall objectives of this marketing plan. Brand Management  Brand management is critical as well as the continued efforts to maintain image, market dominance and staying relevant with existing and new customers. Maintaining the brand also coincides with increasing brand loyalty. This objective is designed to stay relevant with customer buying trends while appealing to customers’ emotional state in supporting local sourcing, healthy eating and charity/foundation support within their local communities.  Doubling down on brand loyalty will allow Whole Foods Market to attract new customers but maintain existing customer base while preventing/curving any current or future loss of customers. Charity & Foundation Support  Increase support and raise funds to support the three foundations that will directly impact the consumers’ communities. This is a very direct objective with the added benefit of appealing to consumers’ hearts and giving them the opportunity to dramatically impact their communities. This objective will be at the mercy of 3% of sales. Estimated revenue goals will be outlined in the budget, sales and metrics & expectations sections. Sales  Achieve 6,000 plus Culinary Meal Kit orders on a weekly basis by end of 3rd month.  Generate $60 million plus in annual revenue across 3 cities. Organic Awareness  Increase awareness of the benefits of eating organic, caring about where food comes from and sustainable farming and fishing practices.
  • 22. Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 21 Establish Presence in The Meal Kit Market  Become one of the top three brands in this market among consumers and the only one that offers a monthly craft beer subscription and 100% organic offerings. Social Media  Drastically improve number of social media followers by at least 5 million and become number one against competitors using Google + and YouTube. Growth  Achieve all goals, targets and expectations to provide groundwork for potential regional launches and a national launch.
  • 23. Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 22 BUDGET EVALUATIONS MARKETING BUDGET This marketing budget accounts for the anticipated investment required. Furthermore, the duration of this marketing budget will be enacted on day one of the launch and last for three months. Grand total of $765,816.00 is subject to change depending on the charitable donation promotion. Immediate fixed investment is set at $604,200. Category Estimated Quantity Cost per Store Estimated Subtotal Notes In-Store Promotion Ceiling Banners(2 per store) 24 $87.50 $1,050.00 Post Cards(5,000 per store) 60,000 $377.50 $4,530.00 Door Greeters(1 Employee per store @$15/hr) 2,800 $3,600.00 $43,200.00 Paper Grocery Bags(10k per store) 120,000 $2,100.00 $25,200.00 Reusable Grocery Bags(500 per store) 6,000 $845.00 $10,140.00 15%Cashier Discount with Enrollment 2,400 $9,000.00 $108,000.00 Total $192,120.00 Digital Promotion Corporate Social Media Manager Salary 1 $5,416.67 $65,000.00 E-Mail Drip Campaign (current subscribers) 1,200 $3,000.00 $36,000.00 E-Mail Current Subscriber Referral Promotion 36 $90.00 $1,080.00 Total $102,080.00 Public RelationsPromotion New York City Arrangements 14 $8,333.33 $100,000.00 Airfare, hotel, meals& misc. cost for Total $100,000.00 Give-Away Promotion Cookware Sets 1,200 $17,500.00 $210,000.00 Total $210,000.00 Charitable Donation Promotion Whole Kids $4,489.33 $53,872.00 Whole Planet Foundation $4,489.33 $53,872.00 Whole CitiesFoundation $4,489.33 $53,872.00 Total $161,616.00 $765,816.00 Marketing Budget Plan - 1 Quarter 3%of sales, monthly revenue goal set at $161,616 ESTIMATED MARKETING GRAND TOTAL
  • 24. Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 23 Enrollment Goals – By end of First Quarter This table represents the promotion tactic and the desired results. Enrollment goals are defined as individuals enrolling in the Culinary Meal Kit program. A grand total of 6,216 enrollments is the target goal for this marketing plan. 6,216 enrollments across 12 stores in 3 cities is used as a target in order to achieve realistic revenue results. Sales Forecasting METRICS In collaboration with marketing objectives, some of the metrics will reveal new marketing objectives and/or augment/emphasize certain results and trends that need to be monitored, controlled and adjusted. Category Target Enrollments Notes In-Store Promotion Door Greeters 1,080 3 per day, 30 days per month Cashiers 1,800 5 cashiers/store, 60 enrolls/day Total 2,880 240 per store Digital Promotion E-Mail Drip Campaign (current subscribers) 1,200 E-Mail Current Subscriber Referral Promotion 36 Total 1,236 103 per store Ground Promotion Store Manager Visiting Property Managers 900 Total 900 75 per store Public Relations Promotion The Today Show & CNBC Power Lunch 1,200 Total 1,200 100 per store Grand Total 6,216 518 per store Enrollment Goals - 1 Quarter Weekly Monthly Annual Population Saturation Rate, $ per Person Austin - 5 Store Locations $518,000 $2,244,667 $26,936,000 931,830 $28.91 Denver - 4 Store Locations $414,400 $1,795,733 $21,548,800 682,545 $31.57 Seattle - 3 Store Locations $310,800 $1,346,800 $16,161,600 684,451 $23.61 Total $1,243,200 $5,387,200 $64,646,400 2,298,826 $84.09 Sales Forecast - Desired Results by end of Month 3 of Quarter Revenue Stream (Based on $200 weekly average spend per Enrollee at 518 orders / week/ store)
  • 25. Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 24 Digital Metrics Below is a snapshot of Whole Foods Market’s current social media outlets and following. Social Media, website analytics and email marketing will be monitored using the following metrics across each of the media outlets and compared to monthly/quarterly/annual differences.  Follower increase and/or decrease.  Increase and/or decrease in shares, likes, comments and posts.  Total downloads, average clicks, revisits per month, unique visitors and click through rates. These metrics, insights and analytics will provide critical information that will be used to adjust messaging and content while providing insight into potential cities of duplication and measuring effectiveness. The social media manager that will be hired to head up this portion of the marketing plan will need to meet and/or surpass the following expectations, targets, goals and/or results.
  • 26. Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 25  Increase followers for each social media outlet to a total as follows: o Twitter: 6 million (1.1195 million increase) o Facebook: 3 million (1 million increase) o Instagram: 3 million (1.1 million increase) o Pinterest: 500,000 (182,700 increase) o Google +: 400,000 (144,120 increase) o LinkedIn: 500,000 (314,068 increase) o YouTube: 500,000 (434,714 increase)  A $100,000 bonus will be paid to the new social media manager if he/she achieves the following follower targets after one year. o Twitter: 10 million o Facebook: 6 million o Instagram: 6 million o Pinterest: 1 million o Google +: 1 million o LinkedIn: 1 million or 3 million in place of Google + and YouTube o YouTube: 1 million Without knowing current SEO information and/or software specifically used by Whole Foods Market, below are some of the results gathered by Net Valuator (Valuation, n.d.), (subject to daily changes). This data is presented in a comparison format and used as competitor analysis tool to establish more metrics and expectations set forth by this marketing plan. Metric Whole Foods Market Blue Apron Plated.com Hello Fresh Traffic Report Daily Unique Visitors 130,601 50,962 13,902 6,569 Daily Page Views 1,044,808 305,772 83,412 32,845 Total 1,175,409 356,734 97,314 39,414 Social Engagement Facebook Shares 6,084 4,661 579 582 Facebook Likes 5,473 3,633 446 344 Facebook Comments 4,803 6,355 531 422 Twitter Count (Tweets) 3,450 not listed 2 6 LinkedIn Shares 214 41 21 8 Delicious Shares 715 44 14 12 Google + 15 753 24 33 Total 20,754 15,487 1,617 1,407 Estimated Valuation Income per Day $1,045 $612 $167 $82 Estimate Worth (website domain) $1,128,600 $440,312 $120,240 $49,200 Total $1,151,129 $440,924 $120,407 $49,282 Website Analytics
  • 27. Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 26 This information infers that Whole Foods Market dominates in several areas however, Facebook comments and Google + are very weak compared to their competitors, specifically Blue Apron. These are very technical metrics and can be analyzed in numerous ways. The underlining metric(s) in addition to the established ones for the new social media manager, is to simply increase/improve/optimize all digital promotion metrics in the most effective way.  Increase web page visit time.  Increase job cart size during checkout by advertising craft beer subscription and the new Culinary Meal Kits and free delivery.  Increase conversion rates by 10% from unique visitors.  Increase unique visitors specific to Austin, Denver and Seattle.  Increase social engagement, as mentioned earlier.  Promote and increase awareness of the 3 charitable foundations that Whole Foods Market is contributing 3% of revenue towards in these 3 cities. All Other Metrics Other important metrics that will be measured and analyzed are provided by (Volpe, 2013): Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): Will be measured month over month for three months and recalculated at the end of month 3. The current marketing budget has an expectation to achieve a CAC of $123.20 with charitable contributions and a CAC of $97.20 without charitable contributions. Marketing % of CAC (M%-CAC): This number should be a relatively high number since the sales function does not require a high attention to outside sales or a large sales force. As the budget stands, M%-CAC and current marketing strategy this calculation will not be calculated. If the marketing plan succeeds and meets expectations listed later, this calculation should be performed on a regional basis and national basis as it will allow further insight to determine applicability as it may apply to the following scenarios:  Spending too much on marketing.  Sales costs decrease because target/quotas are missed.  Spending more on marketing increase quality of hits/leads, resulting in a decrease in other expenses. Ratio of Customer Lifetime Value to CAC (LTV:CAC): This calculation is not only critical but necessary for reoccurring/repeat revenue streams, while accounting for the churn rate/cancellation rate. A good rule of thumb for this calculation is understanding that this marketing plan’s ROI is crucial to the CEO, board of directors and stock holders. Since this marketing plan is designed to create a new revenue stream, it’s expected to have a high ROI and LTV:CAC ratio. This will be monitored very closely to ensure that if
  • 28. Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 27 expectations, goals and targets are met or surpassed quickly, the success could indicate that an increase in marketing funds might be appropriate to eliminate growth restraints. By not adjusting or increasing the marketing spend, it could make life easier for competitors to increase market share.  A healthy churn rate/attrition rate would be 1-3%. CAC Payback Time: This is another calculation that will provide insight into market penetration, ROI and will assist in monitoring goal, target and expectation progression. As the budget stands, the CAC Payback Time period will be well within 6 months for the average customer spending $200 per week. Further analysis will be necessary after implementation to appropriately determine gross profit margins. Marketing Originated Customer %: Whole Foods Market will need to strengthen their analytics team to keep a close eye on this calculation. It’s important to understand where new customers come from and what marketing avenues contributed to the acquisition of a customer. This calculation will provide insight into which marketing avenues are working the best. An anticipated percentage should range between 85-95%. ACTION ITEMS / TIME LINE / TACTICS Necessary Events & Resources Analysis of action items reveals approximately 57% of budget will be allocated in the months leading up to, and within the first month of the launch of Whole Foods Market Culinary Meal Kits. Although this is a considerable percentage, the funds are needed on the front end to create brand awareness, build brand value and educate customers about the service. For these reasons the purchase of in-store promotional products, hiring of a social media manager and the initial email drip campaign 1-2 months prior to launching the service are crucial. The hiring process will begin two months from the launch date and will be completed within one month of launching the service. This will allow the social media manager ample time to acclimate into the new position and begin implementing social media awareness strategies, executing the email drip campaign to current customers and creating buzz on the wholefoodsmarket.com website and blog. Within the first few weeks of the launch, $310,000 is allocated toward cable television news appearances and cookware promotion. These strategies are necessary in the first few weeks to entice customers to sign up and get the enrollment process underway. Which in turn, will lead to the customer referral promotion to take off. In the following months, allocated funds taper off as initial buzz has been created and remaining funds are delegated to sustain enrollment numbers in preparation for national and/or regional launches.
  • 29. Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 28 Action Item 2 Months’ Prior Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Total In-store promo products (banners, postcards, bags) $40,020 $40,920 Hire Social Media Manager $65,000 $65,000 Email Drip Campaign $6,000 $10,000 $10,000 $10,000 $36,000 Referral Promotion $360 $360 $360 $1,080 Cookware Promotion $210,000 $210,000 Enrollment Discounts $36,000 $36,000 $36,000 $108,000 Cable News Appearances $100,000 $100,000 Charitable Donations Promo $53,872 $53,872 $53,872 $161,616 Ground Promo (Rolled into Store Manager Salary) $0 $0 $0 $0 In store representatives $14,400 $14,400 $14,400 $43,200 Totals $111,920 $424,632 $114,232 $114,232 $765,816
  • 30. Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 29 AUTHOR NOTES & DISCLAIMER This marketing plan outlined various marketing avenues that we believe Whole Foods Market should explore and implement. We also understand that this marketing plan acts as a basis for a more in-depth look in the market research that Whole Foods Market would need to conduct before implementing and executing. Our research performed, contains vital information that could allow Whole Foods Market to develop a new marketing strategy, new revenue streams and dramatically augment their 3 charitable foundations on a local level. It’s our belief that this marketing plan coincides with Whole Foods Market’s culture and operating principles that have defined them and have contributed to their success. All our research indicated that this trend is rapidly growing and will continue to grow year over year. Whole Foods Market possesses the footprint, supply chain, economies of scale and funds to implement Culinary Meal Kits into their operations. Research indicates and we believe the upside potential is in the billions of dollars not for only the Meal Kit industry but for Whole Foods Market’s bottom line. The downside for Whole Foods Market would be to ignore this trend and/or not allocate the necessary funds to successfully launch this new division in an aggressive manner. Whole Foods Market has taken a very small step in the meal kit industry with their acquisition of Purple Carrot back in late October early November of 2016. However, it’s our opinion that Whole Foods Market has not gained traction with this acquisition as there has been no regional or national marketing strategies developed/executed since then and other contributing factors, not to say they are not working on them currently. We believe that Whole Foods Market needs to act quickly since they have indicated an interest in this market before competitors like Blue Apron acquires more customers or potentially new market entries from national competitors such as Sprouts and Trader Joes or regional competitors such as HEB Central Market in Texas and Amazon Fresh in Seattle which is expanding throughout the Pacific Northwest. Joshua Neeper, 254.717.9298 Masters Business Administration, Supply Chain Management - February, 2018 Bachelor of Science, International Business Associate of Applied Science, Business Management Michael Brooks, 315.570.8970 Masters Business Administration – November, 2017 Bachelor of Technology Horticulture Business Management, Food Crops Bachelor of Business Administration Associate in Science, Culinary Arts
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