Whole Foods 2015 Annual Report Download - page 4

4. We will support our differentiation and value strategies through enhanced external
marketing efforts. We will use media to support our pricing efforts across all maMor markets, clearly
communicating not only our pricing investments but our quality as well. We will holistically address
the way in which we communicate our value and values to our customers at every touch point,
including our online, digital and social platforms.
. We will invest in digital strategies to convert the strong trafÀc we generate online into
sales. We have integrated Instacart into our app, have plans to launch a national sales Áyer, and
will continue to make upgrades to provide more functionality and streamline our customers’ digital
experience. We are committed to our $fÀnity program and have plans for tests in additional markets
to further enhance the customer experience and reÀne the economics, before rolling it out nationally.
6. We will invest in our technology platforms to provide a better shopping experience and to
run our business more efÀciently. The rollout of our new uniÀed pointofsale system will provide
faster checkout times, improved labor productivity, and better data visibility across all channels. It
will also enable personalized offers and new experiences at checkout through our mobile app.
Our partnership with Infor, to cocreate a nextgeneration cloudbased retail, merchandising and
supply chain management platform, will bring many new capabilities such as perpetual inventory,
replenishment, retail space planning and price optimization.
7. We will launch our second growth vehicle, 365 by Whole Foods Market. With eight leases
signed to date, we plan to open three stores in Àscal year  and up to  in Àscal year . The
time is right to make the high quality standards we have developed over the last  years more
broadly accessible through a streamlined, valuefocused format and serve communities we are not
able to reach with our larger Whole Foods Market stores.
. While we remain conÀdent in our longterm growth potential, we will increase our sTuare
footage at a more moderate pace this year. Having consecutively accelerated our store openings
over the past six years, we plan to grow our square footage at a more moderate pace in Àscal year
, which will lessen the negative impact of cannibalization on our comparable store sales growth
and allow us to focus on the other areas we have outlined.
. We will continue to afÀrm our culture. Our team members are the heart and soul of our
company. We believe our full time ratio is among the highest and our turnover is among the lowest in
the industry, and we will continue to invest in our team members’ development and growth, including
creating thousands of new Mobs over the coming year.
to charitable organizations once again well exceeded our goal of  of our aftertax profits.
In addition, our foundations and Local Producer Loan Program continued to expand their
good works. Whole Planet Foundation® has partnered with various microfinance institutions
to facilitate  million in grants to  proMects in  countries where we source products.
$pproximately , schools have received school garden grants and , have received
salad bars through the Whole .ids Foundation and its partners. Whole Cities Foundation,
dedicated to individual and community health through collaborative partnerships, education
and broader access to nutritious food in underserved communities, has existing partnerships in
1ew Orleans, L$, 'etroit, MI and -ackson, MS, with future proMects planned in (nglewood, IL
and 1ewark, 1-. $nd, our Local Producer Loan Program has disbursed  million to nearly
 local producers.
Our Targets for Fiscal Year 2016 are:
• Sales growth of  to 
• $pproximately  new stores, including two to three relocations and three  stores
• Square footage growth of  or greater
• (%IT'$ margin of approximately .
• Capex of approximately  of sales
• 5OIC greater than .
While we are making progress on many of our initiatives, we recognize we need to move faster and
go deeper to rebuild trafÀc and sales and create a solid foundation for our longterm proÀtable growth.
These are the steps we are taking to communicate our differentiation, improve our price perception,
and fundamentally evolve our business:
1. We are committed to a fundamental restructuring of the cost side of our business. We are
systematically looking at every aspect of our business to eliminate costs that do not produce value for
our customers and plan to reduce expenses by a  million run rate by the end of Àscal year .
2. We will innovate faster to further differentiate the Whole Foods Market shopping experience,
with a focus on our Exclusive Brands and prepared foods. Totaling close to  billion, or onethird
of our sales, our (xclusive %rands and prepared foods are key differentiators for us. We have created a
new *lobal 9ice President of Culinary and Hospitality position and plan to partner with our suppliers
to widen our competitive advantage in these areas.
3. We will improve our value perception through increased promotional activity and selective
and strategic price reductions. We will utilize new talent, tools and systems, as well as consumer
insights, benchmarks, and KPI progress reporting, to better track how our promotions and investments
resonate with customers and impact our results.