Co-op in marketing restructure
The Co-operative Group has announced that they will aim to unify the whole Group and will be making changes to their marketing to do so. Gill Barr, Marketing Director of the Group, has revealed that the Co-op will focus their efforts on other parts of the Group rather than just concentrating on their food division. This comes as 300 jobs within in the food division were announced to be at risk earlier this week.
The food division of the Group has seen gross sales up by 3 per cent around Christmas whilst the other businesses (including travel, banking and funeral services) saw the same encouraging sales figures. Barr has stated that the Group’s new marketing strategy will be ‘energetic and purposeful’ to encourage consumers to use all of the Co-op’s services and not just the retail division.
The shift in a unified marketing strategy across the whole Group coincides with the announcement of a drive on the Co-op’s online channel. They are currently recruiting for a Head of Digital to build a sense of customer community across different digital spaces. The Group will also introduce a bi-monthly digital magazine as well as an in-store magazine. As Helen Nunn, Head of Marketing of the Food division reveals that “In-store magazines are proven to drive sales and our multi-channel approach will ensure maximum reach for our content by allowing us to communicate with our customers on a number of different levels." The in-store and digital magazine will include recipe ideas, vouchers and reinforce the Group’s ‘good for everyone’ slogan.
By maximising on their food division and promoting their other divisions with the same rigor as they have done with the food side; this should help drive the Co-op’s sales and steer them into a new direction.
Other large retailers are also being forced to react to consumer’s habits. Tesco announced this week that their UK shares are at the lowest they have been for decades which has coincided with a shakeup in their marketing department, and a big push on offers and coupons to get customers through their doors.
Retailers are concentrating on their marketing teams again after a couple of years of re-structuring and budget cuts which is good news for marketers and those seeking new marketing jobs.