--- description: Whole Foods shares tumbled as investors lose faith in the grocer's command on the organic food market title: Whole Foods Has a Serious Problem image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Retail](/tag/retail/) ## Retail Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Whole Foods Stock Plummets as Natural and Organic Food Competition Grows by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 7, 2014 6:47 PM CUT by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 7, 2014 6:47 PM CUT Whole Foods stock plummeted nearly 20 percent Wednesday, its biggest one-day fall in more than five years, after informing skittish investors late on Tuesday that sales at established stores have slowed. The grocery chain has been fighting to compete in an increasingly crowded natural and organic foods market, a niche it once had cornered. “It’s just gotten to be a very big niche and in some ways, it’s gone mainstream,” John Mackey, chief executive, told analysts on a conference call, the _Financial Times_ [reports](http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/b2403cac-d604-11e3-a017-00144feabdc0.html#axzz313M6agck "undefined"). Whole Foods’ second-quarter [net income](http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/sites/default/files/media/Global/Company%20Info/PDFs/WFM%20press%20release%20Q2%202014%20FINAL.pdf "undefined") was $142 million, flat compared to a year earlier. But it predicts same-store sales growth of 5% to 5.5%, versus a previous forecast of 5.5% to 6.2% and historical growth of 7% to 8%, the _Wall Street_ _Journal_ [reports](http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304831304579546191212785908 "undefined"). The company’s competitive edge traditionally derived from its low prices, but other major companies are increasingly focusing on selling low-cost organic product lines as consumers pay closer attention to the foods they eat. Walmart’s U.S. division plans to introduce 100 Wild Oats-branded organic products ranging from olive oil and canned black beans, Reuters reports. Walmart said those products would be priced at least 25 percent below branded organic foods. With that kind of competition, Wall Street may not have an appetite for Whole Foods for long. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/91192/whole-foods-stock-plummets-as-natural-and-organic-food-competition-grows/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/91192/whole-foods-stock-plummets-as-natural-and-organic-food-competition-grows/"},"headline":"Whole Foods Stock Plummets as Natural and Organic Food Competition Grows","datePublished":"2014-05-07T18:47:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:42:25.494Z","description":"Whole Foods shares tumbled as investors lost faith in the grocer's command on the organic food market","url":"https://time.com/91192/whole-foods-stock-plummets-as-natural-and-organic-food-competition-grows/","keywords":["Retail"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/retail/","name":"Retail"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/91192/whole-foods-stock-plummets-as-natural-and-organic-food-competition-grows/","name":"Whole Foods Stock Plummets as Natural and Organic Food Competition Grows"}}]}] ```