Co‑op is extending its online opening hours across 180 of its stores on England and Scotland match days, to keep football fans stocked up with quick online home deliveries.
From pre-match gatherings to the final whistle and beyond, deliveries, which normally shut off at 10pm*, will run for up to an hour after the final whistle for all six group stage matches. So, for the England match against Panama, online orders will be available until 1am and for the Scotland match against Haiti, online orders will be taken up to 3.30am.
Co-op estimate that 40M people are within reach of the participating stores and able to benefit from the additional quick deliveries. As the 180 stores are located in towns and cities including London, Manchester, Leeds; Liverpool, Brighton, Bristol, Aberdeen and Glasgow, and with the deliveries taking place late at night and in the early hours, quieter roads will also extend the catchment area.
Working closely with all its major partners, Uber Eats, Just Eats, Deliveroo and Amazon – along with its own online shop, shop.coop.co.uk – fans can get match-night essentials, drinks and sharing food delivered direct to their door in minutes. Based on previous national sporting occasions, the convenience retailer is predicting an uplift in Quick Commerce (Q Comm) participation of upto 50% at peak times, as fans gather in anticipation and hopeful excitement.
Online shoppers can stock-up on the convenience retailer’s tournament supersaver where Co-op Members can score two pizzas and a pack of beer** (including 0% beer or soft drinks options) for just £5 – saving a total of £8.75 (non-members pay £6 and save £7.75.
Kate McCrae, Co-op Retail Director, said: “Sport is often a time for people to come together, and we see a significant spike in QComm orders when the big national sporting moments occur. This summer, working with our delivery partners, we are supporting our shoppers by extending trading hours in 180 stores, often into the early morning hours, so they can be ‘fed and watered’ without missing a second of the football action. We’ve undertaken considerable supply planning to ensure we have availability of the right stock, in the right quantities and our promotional plan is also vital, so we offer great value on key lines most often bought on these occasions, so we can all celebrate (or commiserate!) together.”
The extended operating hours is underpinned by a structured supply strategy, with event‑led forecasting using historic tournament and fixture data; store‑specific ranging based on catchment, online penetration and demand profiles and, promotion‑driven planning with exclusive and time‑limited deals are modelled to predict demand spikes and capable of delivering up to 1,000% sales uplift on specific offers and increasing online participation by up to 30–50%
