Central England Co-operative celebrates bumper festive sales performance

Posted by nathan lloyd | Published: 13/01/2017


Central England Co-operative has seen strong sales performance over the 2016 Christmas period.

The Society saw like-for-like sales of £46.3 million, up 4.6% for the three weeks ending 31st December 2016, including excellent like-for-like sales in convenience stores, which increased by 6.2%.

Food Stores handled over 1.9 million customer transactions during Christmas, which included the Society’s highest ever daily sales of £3.8 million on Christmas Eve.

The Christmas period saw particularly strong performance across in-store bakery and the Society’s range of beers, wines and spirits. 

Other high performing categories included new seasonal product lines, including the new Co-op ‘Irresistible’ premium range, as well as floral gifts. 

Central England Co-operative members and customers were provided with a great range of quality festive food products and excellent availability levels, all supported by the fantastic commitment of colleagues throughout the Christmas and New Year trading period.

Martyn Cheatle, Chief Executive at Central England Co-operative, said: “We are proud of our strong sales figures during the Christmas and New Year period.

“This growth shines a light on the excellent range of quality products we had on offer in our stores, the expert planning that went into our festive strategy and the hard work, dedication and commitment by all of our colleagues.

“I would like to thank all colleagues, customers and members for their support during this very busy period.”

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. It is a modern, forward-looking organisation employing over 8,000 staff, with projected gross sales of £958million for 2016/17. The Society recently celebrated being named Leading Co-operative of the Year 2016 by Co-operatives UK. The Society’s principal areas of activity are food, funeral services, and property. Central England Co-operative has more than 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.  The Society has an ambitious food store development programme for 2017.
Central England Co-operative is proud of its reputation for ethical business practices and corporate responsibility.  It is a member of Business in the Community, the membership organisation that stands for responsible business, and has also won many business awards for excellence.  The Society supports a number of charities including Newlife Foundation for Disabled Children and invests a percentage of its trading profit into local communities.
Becoming a member of Central England Co-operative offers a whole host of benefits ranging from collecting points every time you spend in store to earn a share of the profits, access to members activities and community initiatives including the Community Dividend Fund, which hands out grants of up to £5,000 to charities and good causes across the Society’s trading estate.
Find out how to become a Central England Co-operative member by calling 0800 0501 601, emailing members@centralengland.coop or visiting https://www.members.coop

For more information visit http://www.centralengland.coop follo,w Central England Co-operative on Twitter: @mycoopfood, and on Facebook: facebook.com/centralenglandcooperative

Rob Smyth – PR officer - Central England Co-operative - 01543 414140
Email – publicrelations@centralengland.coop