Co-operative Food boosts own-brand range
The Co-operative Food is overhauling and extending its own-brand range as it looks to capture a greater share of the market and attract younger customers.
The retailer, which operates almost 2,800 local, convenience and medium-sized stores across the UK, has also announced that it is converting a number of key product ranges, including Food to Go, chilled ready meals and pies, to using 100% British meat, poultry and fish wherever possible.
The overhaul of The Co-operative own-brand range is being supported by a major advertising and marketing campaign, as a key element of the retailer’s strategy to boost sales.
Rolling out from this week, the retailer’s new Food to Go breakfast and lunch range is the first to be launched into The Co-operative’s new “Loved by Us” brand, which is being introduced across the retailer’s standard tier.
Never Miss a Retail Update!While the Food to Go range includes a number of new items including Middle Eastern and Indian-style flatbreads and wraps, classic sandwiches have been improved with softer breads and extra fillings. In addition, the retailer has extended its chilled ready meals range to include almost 50 new premium Truly Irresistible and Loved by Us products which have been benchmarked against the market.
The retailer will also introduce an extended and improved range of chilled pies, all featuring British meat and poultry, where applicable.
The switch to 100% British meat and poultry follows the launch of The Co-operative’s British Farming Groups earlier this year, which aims to cement relationships with producers, deliver a continued investment in quality, and provide shoppers with a more consistent and transparent supply chain.
Steve Murrells, chief executive for retail at The Co-operative Group, said: “This will take Co-operative own-brand products to a new level. We are completely overhauling our own-brand range, and we believe this extensive new product development will encourage customers to re-appraise The Co-operative brand.
“We’ve adopted a ‘back to basics’ approach – re-evaluating key ranges to ensure they offer our customers carefully chosen, great quality, good value products as part of our mission to provide delicious food conveniently – whatever the time of day.
He added: “All our fresh chicken, pork, beef and turkey is 100% British, and switching to 100% British meat and poultry for these key own-brand product ranges forms a large part of the quality message. In a survey commissioned by The Co-operative earlier this year, 72% of people said it was very important that the UK has a sustainable farming industry, with 22% saying it was quite important.”
