But then the rest of the industry caught up. Whole Foods’ very success allowed the products they premiered to scale up, and, once at scale, flee over to Target and its ilk: those massive chains that operated with a buying power and efficiency the Whole Foods decentralized structure couldn’t match. And rather than double down on their strengths and continue to innovate—and since we are far from a sustainable world, it seems there is plenty of room left to innovate—Whole Foods decided to stand pat. And when you are suddenly playing the same game against everyone else, you play it on their terms.
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