Co-op News
From "Maple Street Co-op News", Dec 2006/Jan 2007

Connecting with Members and Customers
by Kamala Alister, on behalf of the Board of Directors

At Maple Street Co-op's AGM on 28 November, the Board shared preliminary results on the recent Member and Customer Surveys for The UpFront Club and the Co-op Shop. The survey forms were available to members and customers between October and early November.

Board Chair Leigh Findlay explained that the Board's job is to act as "servant leaders" representing the needs of our membership. The surveys were designed to give the Board a sense of our members' level of satisfaction with existing products and services and also to test the waters for future innovations at the Club and Shop. The responses will help give specific direction to staff in areas such as entertainment and food styles at the Club, and products and services at the Shop that need improvement. Given the large number of creative comments, the Board has many fresh ideas to contemplate introducing in the future.

On behalf of the Board, I presented a general overview of the responses, which will be fully compiled with the help of member Michael Cole-King, who kindly offered his statistical analysis services after the AGM. In total, 65 people filled out the Shop survey, and 42 filled out the Club survey. These included 48 and 30 members respectively. With 800 active members at the Co-op, the response rate was close to 10 per cent.

What surprised me, while reading through all of the completed surveys, was that the responses were very touching. People love their co-ops. While there were a few negative comments, there were also many supportive and highly appreciative notes as well as many creative suggestions, highlighting the different things people like about the Shop and Club.

On the Co-op Shop
A simple overview of Shop survey responses showed that most people gave a very high rating to "friendly and welcoming customer service" and quite a positive rating on the staff being "well informed and helpful".

Respondents in the main gave a medium rating in reference to the range of products available, but it is certainly expected that the Co-op will be able to offer a much larger range with the increased floor space when renovations are completed.

As for which types of products are "very important" to the respondents, "fresh fruit and vegetables" was clearly the most important category, followed by "bulk items", "other grocery items", "green cleaning products" and "special diet foods".

There was also an extremely high response to the importance of organically produced food, with only a slightly lower importance given to ethically sourced items. There was also strong support for the Shop to move into "sustainable living" items in the future.

Members and customers appear to be generally satisfied with the Shop's pricing and are very satisfied with the newsletter.

There was not as much interest in other educational activities such as our past classes or the website, and a few commented that they didn't know about them.

On The UpFront Club
Generally the responses on the Club survey were less clear, with some items receiving both high and low ratings.

There was reasonable satisfaction with the food, but less satisfaction with the range of food offered. Asked about the kinds of food they found important, respondents gave organic food the top rating, followed by ethnic and vegetarian.

It was nice to see that nearly two-thirds of respondents strongly agreed that they are happy with the friendliness and welcoming manner of the staff. There was more disagreement on "efficiency of service", with several comments that this factor seemed to depend on individual staff.

People were reasonably satisfied with the entertainment at the Club and the quality of presentation. The "range of entertainment" question received a slightly lower rating. As for the types of entertainment preferred, the top choices were ethnic and folk, and local entertainers were a more popular choice that non-locals.

Respondents were reasonably satisfied with pricing, and, although it may not be an option at this time, there was high interest in low-cost meal choices especially at lunch and dinner.

On the Shop and the Club
In both surveys, around two-thirds of respondents said that their reason for continuing their membership is to be part of a co-operative – something more important than any financial incentive, although some non-members did suggest that a better financial incentive would entice them to join.

About one-third of respondents on both surveys said they're interested in volunteering time, e.g., in fundraising, helping with special events, doing yard maintenance, providing special skills, etc., many saying they could give eight to 10 hours a week – which suggests that the Board needs to consider creating more openings for the potential of volunteer energy.

Love Letters
The many comments (especially from Club members, who, presumably had a place to sit and write more carefully) were largely very positive. Many of these were read out at the AGM to give a sense of the many different things that people appreciate about their co-ops. To quote a few:

• About the Shop:
"I feel privileged to be a member of Maple Street Co-op. It is a great store – one with heart and soul."

"I think the staff do a great job and I enjoy social interactions with them."

"I really value all the time, energy and commitment that goes into the research of the products before they are stocked at the Co-op."

• About the Club:
"Congratulations on a fantastic improvement and surviving tough times. The merger with the Co-op is a smart move. Keep up the good work."

"Well done to all involved in the redevelopment. You have retained that special character that makes the Club unique."

"The UpFront Club is unique in that there’s probably not another place like it in the world."

[From "Maple Street Co-op News", December 2006/January 2007; published by The Maple Street Co-operative Society Ltd, 37 Maple Street, Maleny, Qld 4552, Australia, tel (07) 5494 2088, email maplest.co-op@serv.net.au,
website http://www.maplestreetco-op.com.au]