The Somerfield brand is one step closer to disappearing from the UK high street as Co-operative Group confirmed this week that it has completed its programme of converting all Somerfield’s own-brand lines to the Co-op brand.
Co-op acquired Somerfield 18 months ago in a £1.6bn deal and has already rebranded more than half of the stores. It plans to have the other 43% converted by next spring.
In the summer, Co-op heavily discounted the remaining Somerfield branded stock to get rid of items with a long shelf life. There are 900 new products in Co-op’s own-brand range, and 460 have been refreshed or improved. Somerfield’s best selling own-brand products have been kept but rebranded, and Co-op has also adopted Somerfield’s ‘Simply Value’ branding for its value range.
During the first half of the year, like-for-like food sales at Co-op were down compared with last year, with the company blaming “unavoidable disruption” caused by the Somerfield rebranding. Overall, trading profit was up by 12.6% to £169.7m.
Co-op group chief executive Peter Marks said: “This is another major milestone in the Somerfield integration programme. Our ‘best of the best’ approach means the Co-op own-brand range is now stronger than ever.”
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