A plea for help

The Co-operative Group has “lost touch with its customers and members and with the communities in which it operates”.

It’s not an easy admission for any CEO to make, but that’s exactly what Co-op Group boss Euan Sutherland conceded yesterday morning when the society launched Have Your Say – an online survey to get people to help it shape its future strategy.

Looking at the resulting media coverage and social media comments so far – #haveyoursay was trending yesterday in The Co-op’s home city of Manchester, apparently – the move has been branded a PR exercise, a plea for help, and a genuine attempt to listen to customers.

Each point has its merits.

Take the PR exercise view. It has launched Have Your Say with high-profile ads in the national media and a social media campaign with its own Twitter hashtag. There’s in-store activity too. Why didn’t it just send out letters or emails to its seven million members?

And then there’s the plea for help. In our Review of the Year, we branded 2013 as Annus Horribilis for the society as it lurched from one high-profile crisis to another. It made a hefty loss, it found a £1.5bn sink hole in its banking business, and then came up with a rescue plan that left it with just a 30% stake. And who could forget the sordid allegations surrounding its former Bank chairman Paul Flowers?

But with a new management team at the helm, improving food sales and a new plan for the Bank, this does look like a genuine attempt by the society to listen to what customers want.

The Co-op has always stood for ethics, values and Fairtrade, but in times of austerity and the fast-growing convenience sector, people want value for money, availability and good customer service from their local store.

There is no reason why The Co-op can’t offer both. The Co-op has played a key role in the UK economy for 150 years. It used to lead as others followed, but, as Sutherland says, it has lost its way.

It won’t be easy, but come May, when the results of Have Your Say will be announced, Sutherland and his team need to show that The Co-op can continue to play as important a role as it did in the past well into the future by evolving and adapting to what its members, staff and customers want now.

Is the ‘sleeping giant’ finally waking? Have your say - and let us know what you think in the comments below.