A Truly Co-operative Venture: The case of Co-operative Food

Civil society has responded to the predicament of marginalised producers by the rapid emergence of the FT market both within the UK and internationally (Barratt Brown, 1993; Crane and Matten, 2004; Lowe and Davenport 2005a). The Fairtrade Mark is now recognised by 52% of the population (Fairtrade Foundation 2006) and there are now over 2,500 retail and catering products carrying the Fairtrade Mark (Fairtrade Foundation 2006). According to Teather (2006) global sales of FT marked goods grew by more than a third to £758 million in 2005. The UK market alone has grown by 46% and now totals £290m (Fairtrade Foundation 2006), Teather (2006) argues that the involvement of major retailers is key to this growth. One such retailer is Co-operative Food (CF). CF is part of a larger group of diverse businesses from travel to The Cooperative Bank. CF is different from most other UK retailers; it was founded in 1844 on a set of co-operative values and principles that guide the organisation (Birchall 1994). The Co-op is consumer owned and democratically controlled (one member one vote) by its members, ordinary shoppers. CF is now responsible for 3,000 UK stores which are in the main convenience stores (between 1,000 5,000 square in size). By contrast Tesco plc own 1380 Tesco branded stores in the UK retail market (Tesco 2006, pg.10). CF for many years has been recognised for its Responsible Retailing Strategy, the Co-op Brand product range has been one key way of communicating this strategy (The Co-op and Fairtrade Strategy Paper 2000, internal document). The CF during 1998 decided to embark upon a strategy to take fair trade out of the niche and into the mainstream (Co-op 2002). By 2006 the CF share of the UK grocery FT market is 25%, in contrast to its share of the overall grocery market which is 6.1% (AC Neilson 2006). Fairtrade sales at CF totalled £22m in 2006 and are forecasted to reach £28m by end of 2007 (Co-op 2007). It is also worth noting that 64% of Co-op shoppers are aware of FT compared to 52% nationally (Co-op 2007).