Cutting through retail “noise” is not easy these days. To get the message across that our co-ops are great places to get delicious food with a heaping helping of community requires focus, discipline and a fair amount of coordination on the part of store staff. One way to do this is by planning integrated storewide promotions, based on common seasonal themes that are already present within your shoppers’ distracted minds.

NCG’s marketing, purchasing and fresh departments work with an advisory team of co-op staff in grocery, wellness, produce, deli and meat plus marketing, to develop quarterly Promo Playbooks. This tool is intended to provide co-ops with a starting point for developing your own integrated storewide promotions plan.

Each edition of the Promo Playbook includes promotional information for a three-month period, posted 5 to 7 months out, to help you plan ahead for thematic promotions that go beyond center store and encompass the signature fresh departments that differentiate co-ops from the competition. 

Before you download the latest edition, check out the top seven reasons you’ll want to make the Promo Playbook part of your ongoing promotional strategies:

• Flyer dates, themes, and suggested seasonal recipes for three entire months, in one convenient document
• Holidays, national observances and other significant food occasions (“Shape Up with Pickles Time” is the first week in February, in case you were wondering)
• Great co-op-tested ideas for thematic demos, endcaps, sweepstakes and cross-promotions
• Top-selling product categories for each month, provided by our data partner SPINS
• Two to four thematic, solutions-focused endcap planners for every single promotional period
• Links to related recipes and articles on www.StrongerTogether.coop that can be repurposed for your store’s newsletter and e-news
• And if you’re just getting started on cross-departmental promo planning, the Playbook even includes a suggested approach to creating an in-store team – one that has worked well for many co-ops!

Using cross-functional store teams to plan promotions can be a great way to create effective, engaging and fun seasonal promos for your customers, position the co-op as an exciting destination and communicate your values to the community. An integrated promotional plan that encompasses all store departments enhances internal teamwork, creates an outstanding experience for your shoppers and ultimately increases sales and basket size.