1. What competitive pressures must Oliver's Market be prepared to face? What do we learn about the nature and strength of the competitive pressures Oliver faces by analyzing the five forces of competition? Which of the five competitive forces is the strongest? The competitive pressures that Oliver's Market must be prepared to address are the pressure associated with market rigging and buyer cronyism that occurs among rival sellers in the industry and the pressure associated with the threat of new entrants into the market. They must be prepared to face rival stores, Trader Joe's, Costco and Whole Foods, which have recently entered the retail area with new stores and so far Wal-Mart and Target have announced plans to develop regional supercenters, i.e., large-format discount centers in their territory. Oliver Market competes with rivals thanks to its pricing strategy. They set daily prices for traditional food items 8 to 10 percent lower than Safeway prices. Plus, the price of its natural foods is just below that of Whole Foods. Besides that they use promotion and advertising as another weapon to compete in the market. They have a Direct to You program that offers a 10% discount to seniors on Wednesdays before 4pm. They also have a basic program that compares prices with Safeway for everyday items. For Oliver's Market among the five competitive forces, the pressures associated with The threat of new entrants into the market are the strongest. Because Wal-Mart and Target had announced plans to develop regional supercenters in the Sonoma County region. They are strong candidates to enter the market, because they own the asset… half the paper… one, and they don't want to work 60-80 hours a week. Steve wants to make Tom an owner. Fourth problem: the demographic data on the two stores, Cotati and Santa Rosa are closely related. You need to decide which store to buy or buy both stores. The question is can Oliver Market make a profit with these stores. Steve and Tom also need to think about their competitors' best and weakest strategy and who is entering demographic markets, as well as which rivals are strong candidates to expand their product offerings and enter new product segments where they are not currently present. the first priority is deciding which store to buy and the least priority is whether to invest the two million up front to renovate the stores or run it as is.