Warmer weather, Fair Tax and Colleague volunteering
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Published 9 Jun 2023 in Phil's blog
As we approach the start of Summer, the temperatures are slowly increasing. This weekend will see the UK potentially having the hottest day of the year (along with a few thunderstorms – for typical Britishness!).
These warm days not only make us feel better about ourselves but over the last two weeks it's been fantastic for Food sales. Coupled with a more robust supply chain it has resulted in on-shelf availability of over 96%, so I am pleased to say we have now surpassed our new forecast target by an outstanding margin of over 1.5 million in the last two weeks. A big thank you to all our colleagues who made this possible and for continuing to serve our members and customers as we move toward the second half of the year.
Have a look at some of the superb store displays below...
Click here to see our store updates
Dee Anderson – Chipping Campden
"What a fantastic couple of weeks! With our tourism trade growing more and more since covid, with lots of visitors doing staycations to long haul Travels, they are all coming to visit the Cotswolds. We have seen a strong start to our tourist season trade with great summer weather. With lots of local events enjoyed by visitors from far and wide with last weekend’s event being 'Robert Dovers Games'.
Campden has a strong loyal membership Community. With summertime finally here, and an increase in membership deals, the store team continue to push deals and recruit new members while enjoying the great weather which has had a positive impact on our sales.
I would like to thank Team Campden for all their hard work so far and the great sales yet to come.”
Clive Bosel – Churchstoke
"What a difference when the Sun does shine. My colleagues worked incredibly hard last week to deliver the best possible member experience in Churchstoke whilst customers took advantage of the amazing weather we had! The store was £18.7k or 23.44% up Year on Year which was fantastic! All departments showed excellent sales growth, but particularly Beers, wines and spirits (BWS) up 19.50%, Fresh categories 39.80% up and a star performance on Frozen foods showing a massive nearly 70% increase down to taking advantage of impulse ice cream sales and other warm weather-related lines!
It really does show how successful we can be financially when the warm weather comes, and we deliver the best availability, service and operational standards."
Dave Hughes – Chipping Norton
"Our produce sales over the past 2 weeks, have increased by 10%. We took £3500, just from Strawberries alone! I've been dreaming of Strawberries ever since."
"My ice cream sales have shot up over £1000. At one point I couldn't get to the freezers to fill them."
"Customers are definitely happier in the warmer weather. We've noticed this on our talk to us responses. Last week we had 94.1% customer satisfaction; my customers have commented on the improved availability, this shows on the medallia feedback."
Overall, store sales have gone through the roof, with 2 weeks of £255,000 against the previous 2 weeks of £240,000 & £234,000 respectively!
Fair Tax Week – Our transparent commitment
During Fair Tax Week, I am proud to say we are fair tax accredited, in recognition of our commitment to transparency over tax disclosures and paying the right amount of tax.
As outlined in our voluntary published Tax charter which contributes to our commitment; we believe that we should pay the taxes that are due and not engage in aggressive tax avoidance schemes, even if legal.
They align with our values and actions as an ethical organisation; so, I am pleased to say we are transparent on the subject. If you would like to find out more, read our colleague story here.
Financial support for colleagues – GroceryAid School Essentials grant
With inflation still at a high and the increased cost of living, there is a range of support available from our retail charity partner, GroceryAid to all colleagues. Offering support grants, next week sees the launch of the GroceryAid School Essentials grant providing colleagues help with school uniform costs. This opens on 14th June at 6.00am, so I ask colleagues to save this date as grants are filled very quickly. To find out more about financial support and Co-op Credit Union click here as well as more on GroceryAid here.
The Big Help Out – Colleague Volunteering
Finally, I would like to thank all the colleagues who shared their volunteering stories over the last month as part of ‘The Big Help out’. It was great to read how our colleagues volunteer in a number of brilliant ways; from head shaving and running marathons to helping Food banks; you really do make a cooperative difference to your local communities. Remember, all colleagues receive 22.5 hours of volunteering allowance, so if you haven’t used any yet, why not give it a try? To find out more, click here.
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