Retailers/Co-op/News

Co-op news

11 December 2014
The Co-operative Food has announced it is targeting 120 new stores per annum as it looks to grow its small store estate. In addition the retailer has launched its festive campaign, highlighting its position at the heart of local communities. 120 new stores per annum The Co-operative food has announced it is set to have opened 35 new stores between 21 November and 12 December. This means the r...
17 November 2014
The Co-operative Food has appointed Chris Whitfield to the position of retail and logistics director following the departure of Sean Toal earlier in the year. Wealth of retail experience Whitfield brings 27 years of experience within retail, with most of that time having been spent at Tesco where he has held a number of senior roles. For the last two years Whitfield has been the store ope...
21 October 2014
The latest 12 week data release from Kantar Worldpanel to 12 October 2014, shows GB grocery market growth remains sluggish, on just 0.4%.  The latest measure of inflation shows prices falling by 0.2%, indicating that while the market is struggling for value growth, the volume uplift is slightly stronger.  Amongst the leading four retailers it is again only Asda that sustained positive growth over ...
07 October 2014
At the IGD Convention, The Co-operative Group CEO Richard Pennycook gave an inspirational speech around the process of recovery at The Co-operative. A year of crisis for the Co-operative Richard talked through the events of The Co-operative's challenging year, noting the issues surrounding the finances, the controversy over revelations surrounding the previous chairman and the loss of a ch...
30 September 2014
The Co-operative has agreed a deal to open 63 new convenience stores on existing or former Marstons pub sites.  Building on a deal done in April This deal was originally done in April of this year when the retailer agreed to lease 54 pubs from the property investor NewRiver Retail. The increase in the number of stores signifies the importance The Co-operative is placing on its convenien...
04 September 2014
The UK's leading consumer co-operative, The Co-operative Group has announced its interim results for the 26 weeks to 5 July, showing overall sales falling to £5.1bn.  This reflects the disposal of a number of businesses to underpin future sustainability of the organisation.  Following the the approval of governance reforms, Richard Pennycook, previously interim Group Chief Executive, has now been...
02 September 2014
As part of its 'Fair & Square' pricing pledge, The Co-operative Food has announced it is lowering the prices on additional products. The next phase of 'Fair & Square' pricing The Co-operative launched its 'Fair and Square' pricing pledge across its 2,800 stores in April this year focusing on essential items such as bread, milk, chicken and bacon. These new reductions will see prices perma...
27 August 2014
"No battle plan survives contact with the enemy" according to a German strategist called Helmuth von Moltke. In other words, it’s impossible to prepare for all eventualities and even the best laid plans are disrupted by unpredicted events. Every consumer goods company experiences disruption. It could be an unexpected loss or gain of a big customer contract, a sudden change in the cost of a ma...
14 August 2014
As summer draws to a close we summarise recent moves at leading UK retailers in what is proving to be a turbulent year for board rooms. New leadership at Tesco Dave Lewis was appointed as the next CEO of Tesco last month, succeeding Philip Clarke who has led the business for the last three years and whose career at Tesco has spanned 40 years. Lewis will join Tesco from Unilever in October...
04 August 2014
The Co-operative has announced the sale of its Farming business to the Wellcome Trust for £249m. Following through swiftly on restructuring plans The sale marks the latest stage of the Co-operative's restructuring plans as it looks to focus on its Retail and Consumer Services divisions and divest non-core businesses. Just two weeks ago the group revealed it was selling The Co-operative Pha...