According to the Organic Trade Association, the growth in sales of organic products in the U.S. has rebounded compared to the slow to 4.6% in 2009. In 2013 sales rose 11.5 percent to $35 billion. Organic food (and nonfood) products used to be sold primarily in specialty natural shops until Whole Foods Market essentially took over the market. Mainstream consumers discovered natural food products and chains such as Costco, Kroger and Safeway jumped on board. The sales of organic products at Costco doubled in two years to roughly $3 billion.
The organic/natural food industry is now preparing for the U.S.’s largest grocer to expand its organic food selection. Yes, Wal-Mart will be promising not only to expand the selection of organic products but to sell them at the same prices as nonorganic food. Typically organic food costs at least 25% more than regular food products, so Wal-Mart’s plan is to use Wild Oats as it’s main supplier. Wild Oats was bought from Whole Foods by Anthony Zolezzi and Tim Luberski. Soles states that his goal was “to democratize organic to the masses,” and now Wal-Mart accounts for more than 90 percent of Wild Oats’ business.
To read more about the boom in organic foods in retail in the U.S., click here
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