One problem was that Whole Foods was no longer unique: Walmart, Costco, and Kroger were expanding the number of aisles devoted to organic and natural products. Another was that the company had grown over the years by acquiring regional chains, which led to an unwieldy patchwork of back-end technology systems. Without a frequent shopper program, which Mackey refused to implement, it knew next to nothing about even its most loyal customers. A decentralized operating structure limited the company’s dexterity at precisely the time when it needed to evolve quickly to meet changing tastes, as well
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