A retailers' cooperative is a type of

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomy, autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned a ...

which employs

economies of scale In microeconomics, economies of scale are the cost advantages that enterprises obtain due to their scale of operation, and are typically measured by the amount of Productivity, output produced per unit of cost (production cost). A decrease in ...

on behalf of its

retailer Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is the sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesal ...

members. Retailers' cooperatives use their

purchasing power Purchasing power refers to the amount of products and services available for purchase with a certain currency unit. For example, if you took one unit of cash to a store in the 1950s, you could buy more products than you could now, showing that th ...

to acquire discounts from

manufacturer Manufacturing is the creation or Production (economics), production of goods with the help of equipment, Work (human activity), labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the secondary se ...

s and often share

marketing Marketing is the act of acquiring, satisfying and retaining customers. It is one of the primary components of Business administration, business management and commerce. Marketing is usually conducted by the seller, typically a retailer or ma ...

expenses. A retailers' cooperative is essentially a group of independently owned businesses that pool their resources to purchase in bulk, usually by establishing a central buying organization, and engage in joint promotion efforts. It is common for locally owned

grocery stores A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop or grocer's shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a retail store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday US usage, however, "grocery store" is a synonym f ...

hardware stores Hardware stores (in a number of countries, "shops"), sometimes known as Do it yourself, DIY stores, sell household hardware for home improvement including: fasteners, building materials, hand tools, power tools, Key (lock), keys, Lock (security ...

, and

pharmacies Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medication, medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it ...

to participate in retailers' cooperatives. Both consumers' cooperatives and

workers' cooperatives A worker cooperative is a cooperative owned and self-managed by its workers. This control may mean a firm where every worker-owner participates in decision-making in a democratic fashion, or it may refer to one in which management is elected by ...

should be distinguished from a retailers' cooperative.

Governance and operation

Retailers' cooperatives are governed by democratic member control, which generally means one vote per member. Some firms, such as E. Leclerc, are able to make decisions in this fashion, with each member business only receiving one vote. For many retailer co-ops, however, it is difficult to achieve a democratic standard. Since the members are businesses rather than individuals, offering one vote per member will leave the larger member businesses underrepresented. If the number of votes is based on the size of the business, there is a risk of all smaller businesses within the cooperative being outvoted by a larger business. A democratic solution that many retailers' cooperatives employ is an increase in votes based on business size, up to a certain point, say 5 or 10 votes. This way, the degree of representation for member businesses varies.

Financing and economic goals

In order to lower costs, retailers' cooperatives establish central buying locations, providing them with the opportunity to purchase in bulk. Retailers' cooperatives also engage in group advertising and promotion, uniform stock merchandising, and private branding. This increases consumer recognition of brands and is beneficial for the stores under a franchise. The aim of the cooperative is to improve buying conditions for its members, which are retail businesses in this case. The incentive to remain in the cooperative is largely due to the profits that members gain. Generally, any surpluses are shared by the members in accordance with their original input.

Examples

Examples of retailer's cooperatives include the following: *Australia and New Zealand **

Mitre 10 Mitre 10 is an Australian retail and trade hardware store chain. Operations are based on a cooperative system, where the store owners are members of the National group. The chain name references the mitre joint. There are over 400 "Mitre 10" ...

** Foodstuffs *Canada **

Federated Co-operatives Federated Co-operatives Limited (FCL), operating as Co-op, is a cooperative federation, co-operative federation providing procurement and distribution to member co-operatives in Western Canada. It was established in 1944 after a series of amalgam ...

Home Hardware Home Hardware Stores Ltd. is an independent home improvement retailer located in Canada. Co-founded by Walter Hachborn in 1964, and headquartered in St. Jacobs, Ontario, the company has close to 1,100 stores that operate under one of four banners ...

*United States **

Ace Hardware Ace Hardware Corporation is an American hardware retailers' cooperative based in Oak Brook, Illinois, United States. It is the largest non-grocery retail cooperative in the United States. Founded on October 25, 1924, as "Ace Stores", the co ...

Do It Best Do it Best Corp., formerly known as Hardware Wholesalers, Inc. (HWI), is a member-owned hardware, lumber, and building materials cooperative based in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Do it Best Corp. is the second-largest co-op in the industry with over $6 ...

** Frontier Co-Op **

True Value The True Value Company is an American wholesaler and Hardware store brand. The corporate headquarters are located in Chicago. Historically True Value was a cooperative owned by retailers, but in 2018 it was purchased by ACON Investments. In Oc ...

''(until 2018, now privately owned)'' **

Best Western Best Western International, Inc. owns the Best Western Hotels & Resorts brand, which it licenses to over 4,700 hotels worldwide. The franchise, with its corporate headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona, includes more than 2,000 hotels in North America. ...

''(until 1985, now a franchisor)'' **

ShopRite ShopRite is an American retailers' cooperative of supermarkets with stores in six states: Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York (state), New York and Pennsylvania. Based in Keasbey, New Jersey, ShopRite consists of 50 individua ...

National Automotive Parts Association The National Automotive Parts Association (NAPA, also known as NAPA Auto Parts), is an American retailers' cooperative distributing automotive replacement parts, accessories, and service items throughout North America. Established in 1925, NAPA i ...

(NAPA) *France ** E.Leclerc **

Les Mousquetaires Les Mousquetaires, known as in Portugal, is a privately owned retailing symbol group based in France and operating internationally. Its head office is in Bondoufle, France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located prima ...

** Système U *Germany **

Edeka The Edeka Group is the largest German supermarket corporation , holding a market share of 25.3%. Founded in 1907, it currently consists of several co-operatives of independent supermarkets, all operating under the umbrella organisation ''Edeka ...

REWE Group The REWE Group is a German diversified retail and tourism co-operative group based in Cologne, Germany. The name REWE comes from "Revisionsverband der Westkauf-Genossenschaften", meaning "Western Buying Co-operatives Auditing Association". His ...

*Italy **

Conad Conad (', English: ''National Retailers Consortium''), stylized CONAD, is an Italian retail store brand which operates one of the largest supermarket chains in Italy. History Created in 1962, Conad is a cooperative system of entrepreneurs, ...

*United Kingdom **

Nisa NISA may refer to: * National Independent Soccer Association, a third tier United States soccer league * National Intelligence and Security Agency of Somalia * Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, part of the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade a ...

** Edinburgh Bicycle Cooperative

Governance and operation

Financing and economic goals

Examples

References

See also