Britain’s Co-Operative Group will open more stores and step up the recruitment of new members this year.
The move comes as it seeks to reverse a decline in grocery market share.
The group is owned by its over 5 million members, and it currently operates almost 2,400 food stores in the UK.
Competitors
Britain’s seventh largest supermarket group ended 2023 with a grocery market share of 5.4%, according to research by Kantar.
That figure was down 20 basis points on the year.
The fall reflects intense competition from discount retailers such as Lidl and Aldi, as well as market leaders Tesco and Sainsbury.
The Co-op said today that it plans to acquire new Co-op stores, more than double the number of its franchise stores – currently 38 – and open 400 new stores under the Nisa brand.
Co-Operation
The group also has insurance, funeral and legal services businesses.
It now has a target to increase its membership to eight million by 2030.
Speaking on this planned expansion, chief executive of the group Shirine Khoury-Haq said, “Co-op membership is not a loyalty scheme but rather a different way of doing business. We exist and are run for the benefit of our millions of members.”
The decline in grocery market share in 2023 comes after a maintained profit in the previous year, despite the pressures of inflation in food, energy and wages.
