CO-OP gets good mileage from Sharjah Food Festival at Expo Centre Sharjah

The company, which owns the brand name CO-OP, is upbeat about its market image following the good response that it has been receiving at the Festival, which began on October 12.

Nizzam said that they had achieved their goals of creating brand awareness ­ despite the competition - among the public during the festival.

The CCU was occupying one of the largets exhibit area at the Expo Centre during the six-day Festival to highlight its products comprising 13 main groups of items including tea, milk powder, mineral water, edible oils, pastas, rice, cleaning products, paper products and baby products like diapers and wipes.

Nizzam said that since it was based in Sharjah, the CCU had chosen to become the main sponsor of the Sharjah Food Festival and expected to get good mileage to create a brand image among the public and also awareness about the availability of its products.

'We got more than we expected because the awareness generated and customer response was so good that many of them commented on the reasonable prices of our good quality items compared to our competitors,' he said.

He said many customers spoke to him about the cost effectiveness of the CO-OP products and calculated the amount of money they could save, once they realised that CO-OP products are generally sold 40% cheaper compared to other similar products.

The CCU has come a long way since its formation in 1982. Having launched its first product in 1984, it today markets about 125 products that cover the daily needs of the end users. The CCU operates through 112 outlets which include all Co-operative Societies and branches in the UAE such as the Abu Dhabi Co-operative Society, Union Co-operative Society, Al Ain Co-operative Society, Sharjah Co-operative Society, Emirates Co-operative Society, Dubai Co-operative Society, Delam Co-operative Society, Dohms Co-operative Society, R.A.K Co-operative Society, U.A.Q Co-operative Society, Ajman Co-operative Society, Dhaffra Co-operative Society, Khalidiay Co-operative Society, Khorfakkan Co-operative Society and Baniyas Co-operative Society.

When asked how the CCU was managing to make a profit, he said that the Union was not profit-based but focused on consumer interest foremost.

'The main goal of the CCU and all Co-operative Societies is to protect the end user by offering high quality products at very competitive prices and the CO-OP brand on them means the items are all made from good quality materials by well-known and reliable producers of local and global origin,' he said.

The CCU is governed by a board of directors with the chairman being Dr Suleiman Moosa Al Jassim. While each Co-operative Society has its own independent management for self-functioning, the CCU maintains its role of basically protecting consumers from an international brands' price war by keeping the products costs low for the customers.

'While other companies spend more on their advertising and then pass on the costs to the consumers, we prefer to avoid this medium and instead let our products speak for themselves through their premium quality and price competitiveness,' Nizzam said.

'Our goal is to be number one in the UAE and our brand has become popular because our policy is to source the products locally. If they are not available here, then we seek supplies at the international level. However, 70 per cent of our products come from the UAE manufacturers itself, besides the rest from the GCC or globally,' he said.