Whole Foods Is Stealing Trader Joe's Customers

Whole Foods' price drop is paying off. A new report shows that some shoppers who frequent other retailers — including Walmart, Target, Kroger, Sam's Club, and Aldi — are now going to Whole Foods instead. The highest rate of turnover comes from Trader Joe's. Nearly 10 percent of its customers were lost to Whole Foods.

This study was conducted by Thasos Group, a research company that tracked shoppers' mobile phone location data. According to the New York Post, Thasos Group's chief executive Greg Skibiski warns that Trader Joe's management should be "really concerned."

During the first week of Whole Foods' price reduction, Walmart customers accounted for most of the organic grocer's new clients at 24 percent. By the third week, they only accounted for 0.6 percent, while Trader Joe's stood tall at six percent. According to the report, new Whole Foods customers were drawn from other retailers' wealthiest customers. One obstacle to conversion was distance: Switching customers were only willing to drive 15 minutes or less to reach a Whole Foods location.

While Amazon's August 28 acquisition of the Texas-based grocer may be hurting the competition, it's beneficial to shoppers in many ways. Who would turn down cheap organic groceries? But we bet you didn't know about these 18 times Whole Foods got into big trouble.