Whole Foods Market is still smarting over a report last month that it overcharges consumers — and shoppers responded by voting with their wallets.
The company reported disappointing quarterly results and cut its sales forecast. Same-store sales were up just 1.3 percent — far less than the 2.9 percent Wall Street analysts had expected.
Total sales increased 8 percent to $3.6 billion. Its stock closed at $40.82, down slightly on the day, but cratered nearly 11 percent to $36.39 in after-market trading.
In June, the upscale grocer was the target of a New York Department of Consumer Affairs investigation, finding that nine stores routinely overcharged shoppers on pre-packaged goods.
“By any measure the audit had a significant impact on our sales,” said Walter Robb, co-CEO of Whole Foods, during an earnings call. “Trust was broken and has to be rebuilt.”
But co-founder and co-CEO John Mackey sees it differently. “We don’t think our track record is any different from any other supermarket. These were inadvertent errors. It went viral in the media and we feel we were victims.”