Coop’s success lies in constant renewal

Péter Boros, the commercial director of Coop told our magazine that a retail chain can make progress in the current economic environment – when shoppers are not expected to spend more – by focusing on private label products.

In this product group a good price-value ratio can attract increasingly price-sensitive customers. Coop’s strategy seems to work as the number of Coop Club members grew further: currently the programme has nearly 600,000 members, who can use their loyalty points in 1,463 stores of 843 towns and villages. Coop’s objective is to have one million programme members by the end of 2012. So far the Coop Group invested HUF 5 billion in its information technology development programme and as a result, more than half of the stores in the retail chain are part of the central IT system. Work continues in this field but a more efficient operation has already been achieved, with constantly updated data from stores being instantly available electronically. What is more, the system is perfectly transparent, making it easy to work with for the authorities. Coop also implements a Store Refurbishment Programme, as part of which shops are modernised and their image is renewed. By the end of the year 2,883 reborn Coop mini, Coop abc and Coop super stores will welcomes customers. This is the third Olympic year that Coop and the Hungarian Olympic Committee organise their joint supporters’ programme. Coop Rally will promote Hungarian products in September and at the end of the years Coop’s charity work will also continue through the Coop Support Foundation.