Retail and wholesale

Retail and marketing co-operatives…

• Provide lower prices to customer members
• Provide competition and choice in the wider market
• Support a range of community activities
• Share wealth with its customers through sharing profits through dividend

Provide lower prices to customer members

Consumer co-operative shops are driven to provide the best possible products at the lowest price to customers, rather than to maximise profits to investor shareholders.

Provide competition and choice in the wider market

The different business focus from competitors means that co-operatives are often pioneering in providing different choices to customers, such as local sourcing, fair trade products or environmentally friendly packaging.  These can have a profound effect on the general market by changing consumer behaviours. 

Support a range of community activities

As community owned businesses, co-operatives will focus on helping the people that the businesses belong to by providing additional services to local people.

Share wealth with its customers through sharing profits through dividend

The original Rochdale co-operative model led the way with profit sharing by returning money to customers in proportion to their purchases, and this is continued today through cash dividend payments that share the success of the business with customers who have made it happen.