Survey Results... Your opinions were heard!

Coop members and shoppers will remember that last summer you were asked to fill out a questionnaire regarding shopping at the Coop and about future possible directions for the Coop. The questionnaires were part of the strategic planning directed to take place by the Board of Directors. They were sent through the mail and distributed in the store. Ultimately 335 questionnaires were returned. These were used extensively in the strategic planning process we went through in the fall, but we thought you might also be interested in a general summary of the results.

It is important to remember that these surveys are not the result of a random sample. The people who responded may have different opinions than those that did not respond. Therefore, the results may not reflect the true sense of the Coop. Also, some responders either did not understand a question or refused to answer and therefore there is missing information. Nevertheless, 335 is a substantial portion of our community and the results tell us a lot about ourselves.

We divided the responses into three groups: from members (those who put in working hours), from shareholders (those who have purchased a share but do not work) and from shoppers (neither members nor shareholders).

Table 1 below gives the demographic composition of those responding.

The majority of responders were female, age 35 to 64, and had a college or post-graduate degree.

Close to 50% of the responders thought the size of the Coop was just right, with an additional 40% responding that it was too small. Seventy-two percent thought the store was conveniently located. Of the working members, 48% spent 75–100% of their grocery budget at the Coop, while 49% of shoppers and 39% of shareholders spent less than 25% of their grocery budget.

We asked a number of questions about future products or services that people might want. Table 2 below gives the responses to those questions.

We asked why people shopped elsewhere. Most responders said they did so for products that were not available at the Coop (77%), because of lower prices (43%) or for convenience (48%). Only 23% shopped elsewhere because of the Coop hours. The most common products bought elsewhere were fish (70%), paper products (64%), wine (60%), poultry (58%), cleaning products (55%), meat (52%) and personal care products (52%).

We would like to thank you all for responding. We will be using these data for a long time as we think about the future.

Table 2