Half Yearly Meetings 2021 & Your Co-op Member App launch

With the continued online format of the meetings, I gave an update on how the Society has been performing during the first half of this year as well as how our trading areas have been getting on.

It was great to hear and answer so many questions from members including ones sent in before the meetings. Sadly, the Chair of the meetings, Helen Wiseman, our Society President, developed a heavy cold but still attended the meetings online to keep an eye on us! Stepping in was our two Vice Presidents, Heather Richardson & Vivian Woodell, who both had the great opportunity to answer some really interesting member questions discussed during the meetings.

We also discussed the annual Share of the Profits for members as well the biggest number of appointments in our Society Elections history for the Board and Member Engagement Committee (MEC). A big welcome to them all and a thank you to all the departing Board & MEC members who have now finished their terms.

I am always really proud of our Society but during member events, it gives us all the chance to reflect and admire everything we do for our colleagues, members and customers no matter the situation. Being a highlight of the Half Yearly Meetings, we showed a brief video that showcased exactly that. Have a watch of some of our Society activities from the first half of the year below.

Following the meetings, it’s been great to hear lots of positive feedback on how well both meetings have been received by our members but of course, I look forward to when we can host these events in person once again.

Can I just say a big thank you to everyone who was involved in making this year’s Half Yearly Meetings a success, as well as a thank you to my co-presenters Heather Richardson, Vivian Woodell,  Peter Dubios, Edward Parker and last but not least to Tarra Simmons for organising two great events. Well done all.

Your Co-op member app launch – Membership makes the difference

We’re doing more than ever to help promote membership by talking and listening to our members with our Half Yearly Meetings and the brilliant Your Co-op Conversations. They provide a two-way interaction which is integral to understanding how members feel about what we are doing and what they want from us in the future.

As announced at this week’s Half Yearly Meetings, Tuesday sees the exciting launch of the Your Co-op members app on 19 October to members. A project that was piloted back in August last year with our colleagues, we have undergone huge improvements over the last year to be at the position with improved technology and connectivity. From today, I am glad to announce that all of our stores now have Wi-fi installed to ensure members can use the app in remote store locations. This was raised by member feedback during the pilot launch to which we acted.

In terms of app layout, stamps are no longer a feature but as a little thank you, we have rewarded our members for taking part with vouchers in place of their existing stamps. Around 7,000 members have now received the vouchers and we are grateful to all members who took part in the pilot.

Starting as a Rewards app, it is now much more than that. It’s about how we interact and inform members around all the important things we do. A big step in our long-term strategy by renewing focus on membership across everything we do, it’s great to see all the work that has been put in Society wide and is simply our biggest promotion of membership ever.

With many colleagues preparing for the big day, the branding and signage look incredible and will certainly ensure it’s very easy for our members to access all the benefits with our members app and how we interact with them. If you missed it, watch the walkthrough video at Pineham Food store here.

Please take the time to download the app which is all about ‘value’ in offering deals just for our members and the ‘values’ in how you can get involved in Your Co-op. I would like to remind you that this is an improved layer of membership and the card and paper vouchers will still be produced for members. Click here for further information and hear more on this next week.

Black History Month continues

Finally as mentioned last week, October is Black History Month, raising awareness and celebrating the history, achievements and contributions of black people in the UK. If you missed it, read our colleague story from Jo Soor who tells us all about the ‘Windrush’ generation. Watching the video, it was really fascinating and informative to understand more about why the term was used and the impact many of the people had in the UK. Click here to read the story and find out more facts on the ‘Windrush’. Thank you for sharing your story, Jo.

As a Society we want to help raise awareness during Black History Month, so if you would like to share your story like Jo, contact embraceworkinggroup@midcounties.coop.

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