In the UK, the Co-op's grocery division is attempting to gain ground in the supermarket price war by extending its recruitment drive, as part of an initiative to cater for the increasingly large number of purchase-little-and-often shoppers, theguardian.com reports.
The nationwide chain has already hired 2,000 new staff to assist in the running of the 200 new stores it will open over the next two years. It has now acquired another 1,000 employees on top of this, who will operate checkouts for the benefit of the modern phenomenon of the 'grazing' shopper – urban (and often suburban) consumers who buy relatively few goods on any given visit to a supermarket, but might make several visits per week.
Steve Murrells, CEO of the Co-op group, of which the supermarket chain is a subsidiary, commented, “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.”
© 2015 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Peter Donnelly.
