Whole Foods Market, Inc. (WFM), The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. (HAIN): Eating Organic Is Profitable

Last year, The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAIN) acquired Cully & Sully, an Irish company that sells soup and pies ready made. Cully & Sully will now have access to the U.S. market to sell ready made soups and pies. Premier Foods, the U.K. manufacturing company, was also purchased last year in October. Hain is well on its way to international recognition in the organic food market.

Comparing Whole Foods to Safeway Inc. (NYSE:SWY) is the difference between generic art and exclusive artwork. Safeway Inc. (NYSE:SWY)’s market cap is $6.23 billion compared to Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:WFM)’ $15.89 billion. Safeway Inc. (NYSE:SWY) has even begun to sell organic food products to compete with natural food grocers.

Safeway is the dominant grocer in the U.S. and Canada, operating 1,675 stores. Easily recognizable to any consumer, Safeway is the standard for grocers. They are now on a mission to differentiate themselves from their current image by incorporating their Lifestyle Stores and catering to natural food and organic consumers. It seems their marketing team is learning from competitors.

Consumers have the power

The bottom line is that people want to look and feel healthy. Health is a result of what you drink and eat. The more educated you become about food and health, you probably will not revert to past eating habits. Consumers dictate what they want by what they spend their money on. The more people transition to natural food, the more corporate farms will have to grow unaltered food staples if they do not want to lose their position in the market.

The article Eating Organic Is Profitable originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Robert Palmer.

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