Facing Stiffer Competition, Whole Foods Is Struggling

[Photo: Whole Foods SLU/Facebook]

Whole Foods is struggling, although you'd never it know by stepping into one of the grocery chain's three bustling Seattle stores. As Eater National reports via Bloomberg, Whole Foods has seen its stock plummet 35 percent so far in 2014, with CNN reporting earlier this year that the company is the "worst performer in the S&P 500."

Facing competition from Amazon Fresh and smaller chains, Bloomberg reveals that after avoiding deal programs for more than three decades Whole Foods may start to offer customer rewards. The company is currently planning to test a rewards program in its New Jersey market that will allow shoppers to earn points that can be exchanged for price reductions and "store experiences," including cooking classes.

Eater Seattle readers are conjecturing about why Whole Foods may be facing tougher times over on Facebook, with one commenter noting, "They don't call it #WholePaycheck for nothing."
· Whole Foods Is Struggling - Who Knew? [-EN-]
· Whole Foods to Test Rewards Program as Competition Grows [Bloomberg]