Company News

Norwegian grocer Coop chooses frontline training platform Axonify to deliver connected employee learning experience

Posted on: September 6, 2022

LONDON, UK – 6 September, 2022 – Norwegian grocer Coop is working with leading training solution provider Axonify to deliver personalised learning to 28,000 employees across 1,250 stores as part of their mission to prioritise employee performance and align learning outcomes to business goals.

With disruption continuing to impact the grocery market, Coop sees a modern approach to employee development as a key competitive differentiator, contributor to top-line revenue, and essential for developing and retaining employees. “If people think our store staff are amazing, they’ll come back,” says Margrete Martin, Head of HR Development. “We want to provide the best experience for our customers and our employees, right across the business. We believe the best people will want to work for Coop because they know we create opportunities for them. We love Axonify’s approach of creating short, engaging learning paths that are personalised to each individual’s training needs. It’s the perfect platform to bring our learning vision to life.”

Coop’s internal training programme is designed to align learning to the objectives of the business, and not to be a box-ticking exercise. They want it to be accessible to everyone, personalised to each individual, and engaging enough to keep employees logging in. Axonify’s frontline-focused platform will help Coop deliver on their vision, enabling them to align the right learning content to their roles and— critically—making it accessible in the flow of work through mobile and store devices.

Measuring the impact of training is particularly important to Coop, and Axonify excels at closing the loop on learning measurement. Reporting gives the business a complete view of where employees are most knowledgeable and confident so they can target their training and coaching efforts accordingly. Dashboards also provide detailed insights on how training is influencing specific business targets.

“The team at Coop are taking a fresh approach to learning,” says Liam O’Meara, VP Europe, Axonify. “They are focusing on the outcome of the training and how to get results that contribute to the performance of the business—not just on the content itself. They want to bring together digital and face-to-face learning, and ensure that the whole experience is truly engaging their employees. We’re incredibly excited to go on this journey with them.”

Coop has always been an innovator in training and career development opportunities for employees. In the 1940s, it opened its first training school for shop managers, who would travel from all over Norway to learn management skills. The school closed in 2004 when training was digitised, but the spirit of that training is still very much a part of the retailer’s ethos.

“We want to recreate the feeling of community that our physical training school had,” says Margrete Martin. “People work with us because they are part of something bigger than an individual store. They have opportunities to develop their careers and their knowledge, and connect with other people to share their experiences.”

About Coop
Coop is the second largest retail company in Norway and operates approximately 1160 grocery stores in six chain concepts: Obs, Extra, Coop Prix, Coop Mega, Coop Market and Matkroken. In addition, Coop operates 110 DIY stores through the chains Obs BYGG and Coop Byggmix. Coop is owned by its customers through their membership in one of 62 co-operatives in Norway. Coop currently has 2 million members and an annual turnover of 59,9 billion.

About Axonify
Axonify is the training and communications solution for frontline employees that actually works. Why does it work so well? Because the experience is fun, fast, personalised and designed to make critical information stick. And employees love it—83% of users log in 2-3 times a week, which translates into meaningful behaviour change that drives business results. More than 160 customers in 150+ countries around the world, including Walmart, Bloomingdale’s, Levi’s and Merck, trust Axonify to fuel their people’s performance to keep pace with their business. Founded in 2011, Axonify is headquartered in Waterloo, ON Canada.