Co-op to put more staff on shop floor to cater for 'grazing' consumers
|
Version 0 of 1. The Co-op is hiring 1,000 more staff to work the tills of its convenience stores during busy times as it tries to gain ground in the tough grocery market. The new hires are in addition to at least 2,000 new staff who will be required to operate the 200 new convenience stores planned by the Co-op over the next two years. Steve Murrells, chief executive of retail at the chain’s parent company, the Co-operative Group, said: “The modern busy lifestyle is leading to more consumers adopting a grazing mentality, which sees them shop in a little-and-often way each week. These ‘grazers’ are leading a major shift in shopping habits, which marks a return to the way people used to shop before the advent of larger supermarkets.” Murrells is fighting to turn around the fortunes of the Co-op’s grocery stores – a key plank in the reinvention of the troubled Co-operative Group, which includes food, insurance and funeral care businesses. The chain managed to hold sales in the three months to 21 June after a year of declines. That came after the Co-op said it would spend £125m on cutting the prices of more than 100 fresh fruit and vegetable lines in its stores. The group returned to profit this year after the sale of its pharmacies and farmland helped the mutual to bounce back from near collapse. All traditional supermarkets have been trying to improve service by putting more staff on the shop floor and cutting prices in a bid to fight off competition from fast-growing discounters such as Aldi and Lidl. Tesco has cut head office jobs and management roles but put more than 6,000 staff on to the shop floor, while Morrisons has put 5,000 more staff into stores, including putting staff on to express tills to appeal to shoppers who do not like self-scanning. Sainsbury’s has committed £150m to price cuts this year, while Morrisons is spending £1bn over three years and Asda ploughed £300m into price cuts in the first three months of 2015 alone. |