MANCHESTER, England, 2016-Mar-02 — /EPR Retail News/ — The Co-op has today (Wednesday 2 March 2016 ) announced a raft of multi-million pound price cuts that will save customers over £125 a year* and shows its support for British farming.
The mutual will cut 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 percent but by around 10 percent 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. All of The Co-op’s “own-brand” meat sold in its stores is 100% British, with the specific exception of New Zealand lamb and Danish bacon which are offered alongside British varieties.
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 and, in a report launched today by the retailer, it announced new support for UK farming by extending its British lamb season in store, widening its British fruit and veg offer with more crops made available and unveiling a new young farmers initiative. In the first year of a three-year commitment to British farming, The Co-op confirmed 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, The Co-op, 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.”
The community retailer has reduced prices across more than 1,000 products in the past two years after dropping prices across its range of fresh fruit and vegetables last summer when it launched its new ‘Fresh Three’ promotion which came hot on the heels of lower prices on everyday staples, such as bread.
Further Information:
• Craig Noonan, Head of Retail PR – Contact: M: 07702 505 439 / E: craig.noonan@co-operative.coop
• Andrew Torr, Co-op Press Office – Contact: M: 07702 505 551 / E: andrew.torr@co-operative.coop
*The average Co-op shopper makes 3.8 visits per week and based on purchasing each of the following items each week could save £128.44 a year:
- 6 large free range eggs – £1.29 down from £1.75
- 220g salmon fillets – £2.99 down from £4
- 500g mince and 450g chicken fillets – 2 for £7 multi-buy reduced to 2 for £6 multi-buy
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