Company profile

COOP Jednota Slovakia is a consumer cooperative consisting of 30 regional COOP Jednotas –including their members, 10 logistics centres and the COOP Jednota Foundation. Each regional COOP Jednota has its own membership base. Th e total number of ordinary members of the COOP Jednota group was 128,560 on 31 December 2017.

The main mission of COOP Jednota Slovakia is to ensure the social and economic prosperity of the cooperative and its members, namely by creating tools and adopting measures so that its members, the individual COOP Jednotas, can maintain their share of the market. In addition, COOP Jednota Slovakia protects the rights and interests of the members of the cooperative, representing them and promoting their interests within organs and institutions both in the Slovak Republic and abroad.

The fundamental strategic goals of COOP Jednota Slovakia and the COOP Jednota group are: to bring common procedures together under one roof and ensure uniformity for all members; to extend the functionality in logistics centres; to integrate the purchase, distribution and selling of fruit and vegetables; to support sales of Slovak products; to strengthen corporate identity in both the immediate and external environments.

Th e most highly recognised value within the COOP Jednota group as a whole is customer satisfaction, which we aim to achieve by having creative and happy employees and by having good relations with trade partners as well.

COOP Jednota Slovakia is a significant shareholder in COOP Euro, a. s., OPTIMA, a. s., Nitra, DRU, a. s., Zvolen, VIC, a. s. Mojmírovce, FROP, a. s., etc.

Performance and market position of the COOP Jednota Group

In 2017 the COOP Jednota Group achieved a retail turnover of €1.321 billion.
Compared to 2016 retail turnover increased by 4.5%.
Revenue from the sale of goods and private label products was €1.104 billion, an increase of 4.7% on 2016.
Th e COOP Jednota Group logistics centres had revenue of €0.534 billion in 2017, a year-on-year increase of 6.5%.
Th e combined retail and logistics centre revenue for 2017 was €1.638 billion, growth of 5.2% compared with 2016.

We are particularly pleased that the COOP Jednota Group was able to achieve these results in a year when the overall number of stores was reduced by 27 in an eff ort to optimise the retail store network. Most of the stores closed were small ones. Many of the COOP Jednota stores are located in villages and smaller towns, where they supply groceries to the local inhabitants but also fulfil a social role. Th e main reasons for the store closures were high levels of loss-making and poor viability. COOP Jednota only takes the decision to close stores once all other options to improve store finances have been exhausted. Other reasons for store closures include a lack of qualified staff , unsuitable premises and termination of lease. However, at the same time COOP Jednota renovated and modernised its larger stores. In 2017 the COOP Jednota Group opened 23 new stores, 10 of which were supermarkets.

Despite the stiff competition and thanks to its results, the COOP Jednota Group is still the long-standing market leader – as the largest grocery retailer in Slovakia.

Retail chain

COOP Jednota is the largest retail network in Slovakia, with a total of 2,169 stores. Th e majority of its stores fall into one of three formats: Potraviny, Supermarket and Tempo Supermarket.

Th ere are 1,653 Potraviny stores available to customers across Slovakia. Th is category contains stores with a floor space of up to 200 m². Th ey give customers the opportunity to shop conveniently and quickly near to their homes, as the stores are mainly located in the suburbs, small towns and villages. Customers can find everyday groceries and their favourite COOP Jednota private label products in these stores.

Th e Supermarket chain managed 459 stores in 2017, with a floor space of from 200 m² to 1,000 m². Th ese stores off er customers a wide range of grocery products, including both COOP Jednota private label items and branded goods, as well as domestic products and toiletries. Th e Supermarket chain can be found in cities, towns and larger villages.

At the end of 2017 Tempo Supermarket had 20 stores. Stores in this category, the largest of the formats, have a fl oor space of over 1,000 m². Tempo Supermarket stores can satisfy even the most demanding of customers with their wide range of quality produce, COOP Jednota private label products, domestic goods and toiletries.

Logistics centres

COOP Jednota stores are supplied from dozens of logistics centres. On 31 December 2017 the logistics centres recorded overall revenue of €534.8 million. In 2017 COOP Jednota undertook a number of logistics projects to improve processes and modernise the network.

Marketing, competitions and campaigns

COOP Jednota’s promotional duo, Bača a Honelník (Th e Shepherd and the Shepherd Boy) celebrated their tenth year of existence in 2017. Th ey are an inseparable part of COOP Jednota’s PR strategy and a symbol customers automatically associate with the COOP Jednota brand. They are a concept that has enabled COOP Jednota to successfully build its image over the long-term as the largest Slovak retailer of fresh quality produce with the greatest proportion of Slovak goods, whilst fulfilling the commercial and strategic goals of the COOP Jednota Group.

Quality, freshness, convenience and above all Slovak – these are the key messages of the COOP Jednota campaign. One of the biggest image campaigns we ran in 2017 was the autumn campaign promoting the COOP Jednota private label.

Our main medium for communicating product information is through advertising circulars, including our Easter and Christmas special editions that contained recipes and tips alongside the traditional array of appealing offers in a new design.

In 2017 we also organised two interesting events to reward customers for shopping with us. Th e fi rst involved the popular cartoon figures Máša a Medveď (Masha and the Bear), and customers who spent more than €25 were given a free Masha and the Bear box. In the run-up to Christmas we organized a second special offer, Nože príďte nakúpiť (Come and buy your knives), where customers who purchased goods totalling €20 were given a voucher for a 55% discount on the BergHoff range of knives and kitchen utensils.

In peak shopping periods such as Easter and Christmas we organise annual competitions for our customers with many attractive prizes. Th ese are very popular and the aim is to make Christmas shopping more enjoyable for customers. Every year lucky customers can win a car, scooter, electronic goods or vouchers. Last year there were more than 1,900 of these to be won and an additional 600,000 instant prizes.

Promoting the sale of Slovak products

Our corporate slogan, the Best Slovak Produce, not only reflects the quality of our products but also the wide range of Slovak goods on sale in our stores, and COOP Jednota was fi rst on the domestic market for sales of these. Our focus on Slovak goods is not just in keeping with the current trend but reflects the essence and history of COOP Jednota. Slovak produce occupies a fi rm place on our COOP Jednota shelves and represents more than 70% of our products. We actively promote these products through our own campaigns or by supporting various initiatives and projects aimed at enlightening the public and supporting Slovak products.

Private label

In 2017 COOP Jednota private label celebrated its 18th birthday. Th e first private label product to hit our shelves in 1999 was Dobrá cena Semi-skimmed milk and from that point on our private label goods expanded very quickly, reaching a total of 731 by the end of 2017. Th is category continues to occupy a fi rm position amidst the wide range of goods on off er daily to our customers in COOP Jednota stores.

Products sold in COOP Jednota packaging fall into three different categories: Dobrá cena (Good Price), Tradičná kvalita (Traditional Quality) and Premium. Th e Traditional Quality range includes a further subcategory of groups of products targeted at specific consumer groups, such as: Mamičkine dobroty (Mum’s Delicacies), Junior, Active life, Domácnosť (Household) and Bio (Organic).

All products that bear the COOP Jednota label undergo regular checks in accredited laboratories both at home and abroad. Last year several thousand checks were performed on COOP Jednota products to ensure that products sold under this label continue to meet the quality guarantee.

Customer services

In 2017 we continued to improve the quality and availability of additional services on off er at COOP Jednota POS terminals in keeping with one of our aims – to make our services more appealing to customers. COOP Jednota customers can make use of our traditional services such as COOPkasa – a method of paying bills and money orders – mobile phone top-ups and COOP Jednota loyalty programme payments. Another popular service is COOP Cashback. In 2017 our partner companies also expanded the use of electronic luncheon cards.

New technologies in COOP Jednota stores

Th e aim of introducing new technologies into COOP Jednota stores is to improve the customer shopping experience and lighten the workload of store staff.

In 2017 the COOP Jednota Group continued with its rollout of LED price-listings in the 585 fruit and vegetable departments COOP Jednota had at the end of year. Screens provide customers with information on the range of fruit and vegetables available, along with standard prices and offers.

The work of store staff is greatly aided by the electronic price-tags. Th ese were first installed in the COOP Jednota network in 2013. Since then the system has been rolled out to 21 Tempo Supermarket and Supermarket stores. Th e full graphic display improves the aesthetics of the store interiors, but above all reduces human error in price updating. It is also an environmentally-friendly system, as it keeps paper and toner usage to a minimum. Self-service tills are another technology increasingly used in retail chains, as they enable customers 50 DOBRÚ CHUŤ to make their purchases more quickly and conveniently. By the end of 2017 self-service tills had been installed in 11 COOP Jednota stores. Thanks to COOP Jednota Nové Zámky we now off er customers in 108 stores the opportunity to use our mobile self-checkout service. Customers simply scan the items into their smartphone. Th is speeds up payment at the checkout substantially. Musical marketing has been employed in 34 selected COOP Jednota stores since 2014. Music by well- -known artists is played to make the customer’s shop more enjoyable and to inform them about interesting in-store off ers via advertising audio spots.