After a switch to a digital portal increased its new membership rate, Heart of England Co-op has won two national accolades.
The Coventry-based retail society says the portal has transformed the way customers become members and receive benefits. Nearly 15,000 locals have signed up to the portal since its launch on 26 February – triple the number previously measured over a similar timescale.
Before the portal was introduced, shoppers had to manually fill in a form and wait up to three weeks for their membership to be approved. Only then could they start earning benefits including store discounts.
Now, after scanning a QR code, customers can join the scheme, become share holders and start receiving their benefits in less than a minute.
Within the first 72 hours of the launch, more than 750 new members came on board and were able to save money on their first store visit, the society says.
Now the co-op has picked up two accolades at the 2025 Memcom Excellence Awards for the project, developed with Smart Impact.
Jin Dhaliwal, head of IT at Heart of England, accepted the Highly Commended trophies in the Best Transformation Project and the Best use of Technology categories, during a ceremony at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London.
“Getting shortlisted was an achievement in itself,” he said, “so coming back to Coventry with a brace of trophies was a great feeling. I think the judges were impressed that the staff don’t need to get involved and there are no delays for shoppers. All the new system requires is a scan, a tap, and a welcome.
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“Heart of England Co-op boasts 180,000 plus members, but there are many more shoppers who are not Members and miss out on substantial discounts and special offers at the till.
“Crucially, this makes it far easier for them to benefit too, and the numbers speak for themselves regarding how well the digital system is being embraced.”
“Ourselves and Smart Impact architected and delivered a system that was brilliant for Heart of England Co-op and our members,” said CEO Steve Browne. “For us it represents a modest investment against the expected return – and our customers are finding it simplicity itself to join up and start saving money.
“They just pay their £1 membership via Apple or Google Pay, and instantly receive a digital member number, till-ready QR code, and a branded wallet card for their phone. It takes under 60 seconds from start to finish.
“There have been zero issues reported at store level. We have made Membership instant, accessible and tangible which is exactly what we set out to achieve.”
Image: Jin Dhaliwal with the two Memcom Excellence awards outside the society’s support centre in Foleshill
