APRIL 2018

Central England Co-operative shares tips from #beingcoopy campaign success
Social media is a valuable tool for co-ops
when it comes to sharing news of their social
impact, delegates at the Co-operative Retail
Conference were told.
Shaherazad Umbreen, head of customer and
marketing at Central England Co-operative,
spoke about how the society measures its
investments in local communities. Over the
past year, it has tried to do this in a way that is
meaningful both to the co-op and the communities
where it trades.
Ms Umbreen said the society developed its
latest marketing campaign under the hashtag
#beingcoopy. The initiative started from a belief
that co-ops can achieve greater commercial success
by focusing on their social goals in targeted ways.
One aspect of this approach has been measuring
the Social Return on Investment (SROI), a method
of identifying and assessing the impact of a
particular service or activity. For Central England,
the objective was to show the cost of what would
happen if it did not exist, she said.
The society used SROI to measure educational
events, healthy eating advice, member classes,
defibrillator investment and more. An independent
SROI study on community activity found that every
£1 Central England invested in the community
resulted in £23 of social value being created, said
Ms Umbreen.
“But projects with the highest return ratios are not
the only ones worth investing in,” she said, giving
the example of employability classes run in various
schools, including schools for children with special
educational needs.
Although fewer pupils may end up in meaningful
employment when leaving these schools, there is
still a great need for investment because without
it, employability chances are drastically reduced.
Skills training at Central England leaves these
students much better placed to gain employment,
said Ms Umbreen.
As a result of this engagement, parents started
sharing their children’s experiences with the society
on social media – effectively doing its marketing.
Similarly, during Christmas the society brought
280 winter coats to give to homeless people via
charities and helped to raise 60,000 items for food
banks. As part of the approach, store managers
gave colleagues and customers more confidence to
engage on social media.
The good deeds were promoted using the
campaign #beingcoopy, a hashtag initially used on
social media by Central England Co-op president,
Elaine Dean. Centred around the idea of reciprocity
between customers and the co-op, the #beingcoopy
campaign became the society’s most successful to
date. It achieved editorial coverage worth £1.7m,
and reached eight million people overall.
q Shaherazad Umbreen
Price and convenience to remain top drivers for UK grocery customers
The fundamental needs of grocery shoppers will
stay the same in spite of retail market changes,
Vanessa Henry from retail analyst IGD told the
Co-operative Retail Conference.
Ms Henry looked at how urbanisation, an ageing
population, and the trend for young people to stay
living with their parents, are bringing changes in
shopper behaviours.
Customers are also becoming more healthconscious,
she said, which influences their choices
when it comes to grocery shopping.
Another macro trend is the growing level
of connectivity via technology. Ms Henry
gave the example of smart fridges, which
can automatically order food depending on
stock levels in the home. Technology is also
allowing people to monitor their health better,
from calories to steps taken.
Despite these trends, shoppers’ fundamental
needs are likely to stay the same, she argued,
with online, convenience and discounters
remaining the main growth channels
for the UK retail market. And price and
convenience will still be the key concerns
for shoppers.
Ms Henry said customers are adopting savvy
shopping tactics, looking for promotions and price
reductions. IGD’s annual survey revealed that, on
average, customers engage 26 times per month
doing food and grocery shopping and spend 6.9
hours in store.
“Any way the industry can help them make this
easier is important,” added Ms Henry, pointing
to the Co-op Group’s
recent trail of pay-inaisle
digital technology
similar to Amazon Go.
UK shoppers are
also concerned about
buying local food
and products with
ethical credentials.
IGD’s research
showed that 50% of
customers would back
plastic-free isles.
q Vanessa Henry
APRIL 2018 | 27