Co+op Deals, Co+op Basics, flash sales — promotions that help your co-op cultivate a positive price image can delight customers and give you a competitive edge in your marketplace.  Participating in these promotions is a solid place to start. But to ensure shoppers are aware of these money-saving promotions and maximize the benefit to your co-op, you’ll want to enlist NCG’s resources — and your own creativity — to take them up a notch.

One of the largest and most successful promotions programs in the natural channel, Co+op Deals is designed to meet or beat the lowest sale price in town. Co+op Basics grew from the success of Co+op Deals and provides everyday low prices on popular grocery and household staples that customers regularly purchase. Flash sales drive shopper excitement with urgency by offering deeper than normal discounts for a limited time.

All of these promotions pass savings on to the customer and make shopping at the co-op more affordable for everyone in your community. Shoppers may not realize, though, that Co+op Deals promotions compete with prices at other grocers and big box stores, or that Co+op Basics beats many national retailers’ prices on everyday items, especially on organic.

The first step to getting the word out is to take full advantage of all the promotional materials available. NCG provides many valuable resources to advertise and promote Co+op Deals in your co-op including flyers, coupon tear pads, feature shelf promotions and off-shelf promotions for endcaps and case stacks. To support Co+op Basics on an ongoing basis, display the distinctive purple shelf signs, violators and endcap headers at the point of product. An array of similar marketing materials (as well as preferred practices) are available to help you execute flash sales, too.

With these tools in hand, and ideas tailored to appeal to shoppers in your unique marketplace, your promotions will leap off the shelf. Try these tactics that successful co-ops use to wow their customers with great deals:

• Prominent, well-signed and well-stocked displays on endcaps, in case stacks or using brand-provided shippers.
• Attractive, full displays upon entrance to the store or within immediate eyesight from the entrance. Utilizing space in vestibules and outside (weather permitting) are great ways to ensure that positive price perceptions are conveyed early in a shopper’s trip when space directly inside the entrance is limited.
• Cross-merchandise promotions with complementary items in other departments. For example, when you have a great deal on ground beef, use a spot cooler to merchandise as part of a grocery grilling-themed display.
• Devote flash sale promotional energy on high-usage items. For example, in wellness, featuring a line of body lotion will have more appeal and potential for sales than facial masks.
• Engaging social media content to draw attention to promotions — especially flash sales — and to provide product education or personalized “staff favorite” testimonials

Get creative, stay competitive! For more tips and strategies to maximize NCG’s promotional programs for success at your co-op — plus lots of real-world examples and photos from other co-ops — check out the course Priced To Compete series on Co+op U, where you also have access to Co+op Deals and Taking Co+op Basics to the Next Level. And when you’re ready to put it all together, dive into NCG’s promotions planning tools featuring promo playbooks, endcap planners, hot sheets and other resources.

Co+op Deals and Co+op Basics promotions support a positive price image for your co-op and so much more. They can help you grow sales and achieve better margins, compete in your market and, by making the co-op accessible and welcoming to more shoppers, grow your positive impact in your community.