Co-op grows membership scheme by 20% in first half

Co-op has grown its membership by a fifth in the first half of its 2024 financial year, as the retailer strives to reach 8 million members by 2030.

Describing itself as “firmly” on track to hi this target, the Co-op’s active member base rose by 20% to 5.5 million in the first half of 2024.

The success in increasing active members came as Co-op invested £55m into its exclusive member pricing in the half. In January, the retailer updated its membership scheme to focus entirely on exclusive deals and discounts, rather than allowing members to earn money in a digital wallet as it had previously.

At the time, Co-op described the move as “financially much more rewarding” to members than the previous scheme. Indeed, in the period 17 January to 25 June 2024, 2.9 million members redeemed at least one of the exclusive offers, amounting to almost two-thirds (63%) of those who shopped with the retailer.

In that same period, the Co-op had more than 190 member promotions. These ranged from offering members the opportunity to rent an Amazon Prime movie for free with its curry meal deal, to discounts on well-known brands.

In addition to the success it has seen in increasing members, Co-op also successfully grew revenue and returned to profit in the half. Group revenue was up 1.5% to £5.6bn, with the food segment of the business up by 3.2%. Group profit for the period was £58m, up from a loss of £33m in the same period in 2023.

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As well as engaging members through offers on its food proposition, Co-op also cited the impact of its investment in naming rights for the new Co-op Live venue in Manchester. Beset by technical difficulties, the venue opened in May a month later than scheduled. Despite the opening hitches, Co-op says its investment in the arena directly led to 54,000 new members.

The retailer has seen success in attracting younger members, noting a 79% increase in new members joining aged 25 and under.

For many of its grocery retail rivals, loyalty membership has begun to play a bigger role in emphasising value. Exclusive member pricing is now a popular means of discounting for many of the major supermarkets including Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons.

However, as a cooperative, Co-op is at pains to stress its membership scheme is different.

“Co-op member-ownership is not a loyalty scheme; it is the means by which we can create sustainable economic and social value for you, our member-owners, as equal and part-owners of your Co-op,” the retailer wrote in its half-year report.

In July, the Co-op launched its biggest marketing investment in eight years with the ‘Owned by You, Right by You’ campaign, based on research revealing more than 50% of consumers didn’t understand the co-operative business model, or the benefits it could bring for them.

“We also haven’t put our difference, which is our member ownership model, at the heart of who we are for some time,” Co-op marketing director of food and masterbrand, Mel Matson told Marketing Week at the time.

“Getting that message out there becomes key to enabling our ambitious membership targets.”

Earlier this week, the retailer released a campaign as part of its Owned By You. Right By You brand platform designed to promote diversity and unity across UK communities. Devised against the recent backdrop of civil unrest, ‘Hate Divides Communities. Co-operation Builds Them’ is the Co-op’s response to the violence and racist rhetoric.

“The company fundamentally believes that even if we don’t have the data, if we find ways to bring to life the things that our members tell us they’re passionate about, we will be rewarded,” chief membership and customer officer Kenyatte Nelson told Marketing Week.