We’ve just passed a landmark in our new Co-op Membership.

Through the 5% reward when you choose to buy Co-op, we’ve now given back our first £1million.

It’s just 13 days since we launched our new Co-op Membership and the early signs are that our members are loving it. Our colleagues’ enthusiasm, especially on launch day, has a great deal to do with that.

Co-op Bournemouth-Charminster hitting 500 new Co-op Members, great visit tonight and fired up #beingcoop pic.twitter.com/VhPULKriCc

— Julian Rickman (@rickman_julian) September 30, 2016

Every store in the country made sure Wednesday 21st September was a special day in our history. We had flash mob dancing, Co-op bags for life fashioned into cat-walk dresses, 1844 Pioneers in cloth caps and aprons, and enough Co-op cakes to launch our own rival to The Great British Bake Off.

Our membership contact centre have broken all records for the number of calls they’ve  been handling (far exceeding our expectations) and the team worked through the first weekend to make sure existing and new members had a good experience talking to us.

Over 4,000 local causes are being supported by the 1% reward and they’ve been given a kick-start to their fundraising through the carrier bag levy and sales of bags for life. And the very latest figures show our members have given more than £200,000 through the 1% reward.

Between now and Christmas we’ll be showcasing our great Co-op products and how by buying more of them members are helping their local community more too. The good news is that we’re not short of great products to talk about, especially with the launch of Co-op Irresistible and the new Christmas range coming soon.

And don’t forget that our Co-op membership rewards apply in Funeralcare and Legal Services too while Insurance and Electrical have their own exclusive member offers.

Thanks to all of our colleagues, our new Co-op Membership is off to a fantastic start. In the New Year we’ll launch our big recruitment campaign for new members by showing everyone exactly what #TheCoopWay looks like.

We’re looking for people right now, if you’re interested contact Chantelle on chantelle.harris@coop.co.uk

Richard
Group Chief Executive