Christmas and New Year trading update from Central England Co-op

Posted by rob smyth | Published: 19/01/2021

• Christmas like-for-like food sales up 9.2%
• New Year’s Eve saw biggest jump in food sales (11%) followed by Christmas Eve (4.7%) and New Year’s Day (3.7%)

Sales highlights included a 7.6% rise in Co-op Irresistible range and a surge in sales of Pink Prosecco, reflecting a trend of people looking to treat themselves more this winter

• Combined like-for-like sales (including fuel) were up 5.2%  

Central England Co-op can today announce a 9.2% increase in like-for-like sales (excluding fuel) over the Christmas and New Year period.

The Society, which has over 260 food stores across 16 counties, recorded growth for the key three festive trading weeks ending 2 January.

Community-based convenience stores traded very strongly, with Central England Co-op also enjoying a bumper Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day thanks to the support of its customers and members.

Areas that saw major rises in sales included the firm’s Irresistible range, Pink Prosecco and its popular turkey meal deal.

This successful trading period allowed the co-operative to reinvest in vital community projects across its trading estate and support a range of important festive campaigns.

This included:

• Creating over 524,000 for FareShare Midlands as a result of a £131,000 donation based on a portion of sales from its Irresistible range
• Near £15,000 donation to NHS Charities Together through sales of its festive flower range
• Customers donated over 45,000 items via its Christmas Food Bank Appeal to help create 22,000 extra meals for families in need via over 65 different local food banks
• Over 12,000 toys and gifts were handed to youngsters as part of the Society’s annual Christmas Toybox Appeal

Debbie Robinson, Chief Executive at Central England Co-operative, said: Our focus this festive season was to provide our members, customers and communities with access to food, essentials and vital services in a safe and secure environment.

“The Society’s strong performance during this time reflects the incredible efforts of all our teams across our Food businesses, our Funeral businesses and our support teams.
“Thank you to all of our colleagues for their outstanding contribution to the Society throughout the whole of 2020, and to our members and customers for their continued support and loyalty.”

Notes to editors

Picture caption: Central England Co-op Chief Executive Debbie Robinson.

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 and property investment.

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

Our 7,550 colleagues who serve 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 400 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