Central England Co-op lockdown survey gives insight into how our behaviours have been changing as we adapt to the ‘new normal’

Posted by james brindle | Published: 12/06/2020

Cooking from scratch, gardening and keeping in touch virtually with friends and family are among the ways people have been keeping motivated during lockdown, a new survey carried out by a national retailer has revealed.

The ‘Lockdown Survey’ was carried out by Central England Co-op with over 300 of its Members, customers and colleagues to capture how they were feeling about the lockdown and to assess any changes in behaviour and shopping habits during these uncertain times.

The retailer has now revealed what the survey showed about how people have been coping during the lockdown, how they’ve adapted and what has been keeping them motivated.

The survey reveals the top way people were staying motivated was by keeping in touch with friends and family. However, despite a rise in people video calling as a result of being unable to see friends and family in person, phone calls were still the most popular way of keeping- in touch.

47% of those surveyed said they had been doing more gardening as a result of the lockdown, with 45% saying they had bought new gardening equipment.

Cooking from scratch was also a growing trend according to the results, with 45% saying they had been doing this more often. This was also highlighted by the reduction in people surveyed buying ready meals.

The top activity that people had been doing more of during lockdown was going on social media.

Another motivating factor for people surveyed and one of the top things people were looking forward to post COVID-19 was going on holiday, with 42% still planning on going on holiday this year, although destinations nearer to home, particularly in the UK, were most popular.

However, among those surveyed the top thing people were looking forward to after the lockdown was seeing family and friends again.

Sita Chauhan, Customer Experience and Insights Manager at Central England Co-op, said: “While we were keen to learn about our Members, customers and colleagues shopping habits and behaviours through our Lockdown Survey we were also really interested to hear how they were feeling during these uncertain times and what was keeping them motivated.

“The survey has highlighted some really interesting changes in the way people are spending their time and how our priorities and activities have adjusted as a result of the lockdown. It will be interesting to see how this influences our behaviours as we move to a ‘new normal’.”

People can keep up to date with what is happening in their local community in response to Coronavirus by visiting a dedicated online hub at www.centralengland.coop/updates

Notes to editors

About Central England Co-operative

Central England Co-operative is one of the largest independent retail co-operative societies in the UK with interests in food, funeral, floral, travel and property investment.

Co-operatives have always been there for their communities; they were formed to protect them and help them flourish. 

Our 7,900 colleagues serving our Members and customers work hard to ensure that co-operative values, principles and spirit flow through everything we do to help support and improve our local communities.

Owned by hundreds of thousands of Members, we have over 430 trading outlets across 16 counties including West Midlands, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire. 

We are proud of our reputation for ethical business practices and corporate responsibility.

We invest a percentage of our trading profit into local communities through our Community Dividend Fund scheme, have donated over £1.3 million to our corporate charity partner Dementia UK and also operate a pioneering food redistribution partnership with FareShare Midlands so unsold food goes to those in need.

Visit www.centralengland.coop for more information or follow us on Facebook or Twitter using @mycoopfood

Press office contacts: Rob Smyth and James Brindle

Phone - 01543 421390

Email - publicrelations@centralengland.coop