Retail Industry and Trader Joe's

Trader Joe's
Student's Name
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Trader Joe's
Question 1
Trader Joe's operates in the retail industry. This is an industry characterized by several store brands with hundreds of outlets across the country. For many years, retail stores have grown based on an expansionist strategy. In turn, each store has developed into a corporate of its own. However, Trader Joe's is different. The store does not employ an aggressive expansionist strategy. Instead, it seeks to maintain some chains that are manageable by the private entity. This gives the store a narrow scope of operations, which also extends to the size of its individual stores. Trader Joe's has relatively smaller stores when compared to its competitors. This also adds to its strategy of reduced varieties of commodities. Trader Joe's notes that consumers like fewer choices and this is key to its business-level strategy. The commodities sold at Trader Joe's outlets are also branded with the store's name. In addition to this, the store sells its products (which are of high quality), at relatively lower prices compared to competitors.
Question 2
Whole Foods is Trader Joe's main competitor. Trader Joe's competitive advantage has relied partly on its low prices. However, Whole Foods is picking up on this. Comparing baskets of various commodities from Trader Joe's and Whole Foods shows that the two are currently asking for the same price. This presents a challenge for Trader Joe's since it has to diversify its strategy to counter Whole Foods' new approach. While Trader Joe's has a relatively smaller scale of operat...