In February 2016, the chain reported their worst sales performance in a decade and revealed that they had their sixth consecutive quarter of slumping same-store sales. Whole Foods also announced that they are closing nine stores, the most ever at one time, and lowered their sales outlook for the rest of the year. While they still generated $4.92 billion in revenue in the last quarter, they were projected to make $4.98 billion.
In some ways, Whole Foods Market is a victim of its own success. Organic food is rapidly rising in popularity, increasing over 200 percent in sales over the past decade, according to the Organic Trade Association (via The Washington Post). And 53.3 percent of such food sales are made through traditional supermarkets and big-box retailers, who charge less for organic food. So now that even Walmart is in the organics game, what once made WFM special is no longer unique.
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