Grocer aiming to build on trading success
THE Co-op has announced a fresh wave of price cuts as it looks to continue its recent strong trading performance.
The Manchester-based group, which is the fifth-largest grocery retailer in the country, specialises in convenience stores. The recent market data has shown, that as shopping habits change away from a weekly ‘big shop’, The Co-op is faring better than many rivals.
The group is cutting the cost of over 200 of its own-brand British sourced meat and poultry products as part of the next round of its price investment strategy. Annualised investment in cutting the costs of products will top £200m by the end of the year and The Co-op will have reduced prices on over 1,000 items since it unveiled its pricing plan.
The new reductions will trim the average Co-op shopper’s annual food bill by over £125 and prices will drop by as much as 50% but by around 10% on average across meat and poultry goods. As well as lower prices, The Co-op will also introduce a new multi-buy offer of 2 for £6 on chicken fillets and mince.
The Co-op hopes to build on its positive momentum and attract even more shoppers after Kantar declared it the fastest growing non-discounter retailer and the most frequently visited major supermarket.
The pricing investment is part of The Co-op’s commitment to source British products. In the first year of a three-year commitment to British farming, the group said it had invested £781m to source ‘own brand’ British meat, produce and dairy products from the UK, rather than alternatives from abroad.
Steve Murrells, retail chief executive said: “This is a major investment in British meat and poultry. We are building momentum and attracting more shoppers into our stores and our price investment programme is ensuring our convenience offering remains highly competitive while restating our commitment to sourcing British products.
“We are on the cusp of something exciting and industry data shows that we are winning and that our strategy is taking us in the right direction. Further price reductions will serve to grow our convenience appeal to shoppers as the combination of changing shopping habits and the rise of the discounters takes a bite out of other retailers’ market share.”
Meanwhile The Co-op said it had opened four new shops in February and exchanged contracts on just under 30 sites.
The four new shops – Cricklewood (north London), Ancaster (Lincolnshire), Longton (Staffordshire) and Moira (Derbyshire) – represent an investment of nearly £2.5m. The group has set a target of opening 100 new stores by the end of the year.
