It’s commercial
It’s ambitious
It’s responsible
It’s successful
It’s me

By its very nature, a co-operative isn’t like any other kind of business. A co-operative is a group of people acting together to meet the common needs and aspirations of its members, rather than shareholders. We’re limited to what we can achieve as individuals. Alone, we couldn’t dream of persuading food manufacturers to be more honest in the way they label their products. But together, we became the first retailer to provide high, medium and low ratings in the nutritional information panel on the back of our food packs – leading the way for the ‘traffic light system’ that we see today on food everywhere. Alone, we couldn’t oppose the exploitation of workers around the world, or reduce the use of scarce resources. But as part of a co-operative we have been a leader for Fairtrade for many years. In fact, we sell more fairly traded products, in more stores, than any other retailer.

Because of these initiatives, and many others like them, we received the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in Sustainable Development this year, an award that no other major retailer has ever won.

Our ethical vision and values have been fundamental to our business since we were founded in 1844. They still drive us and are the cornerstone of our mission to be the best co-operative in the world. As a co-operative we strive to be profitable, but this is the only thing we have in common with PLCs. While they distribute their profits among their shareholders, our members reinvest a share of our returns into the communities that we’re based in. We’re an efficient and very viable business – but it’s the way we invest our money that makes a real difference to people here, and across the world.

“The Co-operative Group is made up of lots of different businesses and people who are working together to create benefits, not for private investors and financial gains, but who use commercial success to deliver benefits for members, communities and the environment.”
Asma Amin