European Community of Consumer Co-operatives
Communauté Européenne des Coopératives de Consommateurs
Celebrating the United Nations International
Year of Co-operatives 2012
www.2012.coop
www.eurocoop.coop
LONDON, 29TH & 30TH SEPTEMBER 2011
CONSUMER
COOPERATIVES
FORUM
Summary, conclusions and next steps
Draft
I – SUMMARY
O F P R E SE N T A T I ON S
The Forum was an opportunity for Euro Coop members to exchange ideas and information
regarding their medium term strategies.
Aldo Soldi, President of Euro Coop, welcomed the participants and set the challenge for the
day which would be to reach a possible understanding on ways to further co-operate in the
future.
Peter Marks, CEO of the Co-operative Group described the process of development of the
Group in the last few years, emphasising the need to change the Group’s operations as a
matter of economic survival. The rebranding and repositioning of the Group since 2006 has
showed very positive results in terms of increased sales and profits. He recognised that the
future is uncertain, and there is a need to explore possible co-operation in several areas. He
concluded by inviting the participants to Manchester in November 2012 for the events
closing the International Year of Co-operatives.
Vincenzo Tassinari, CEO of Coop Italy, explained that the economic situation in Italy is very
difficult, with a decrease in consumption and a generalised crisis. Despite the crisis, Coop has
managed to maintain its leading position in the retail market, increasing sales and market
share but at the cost of reducing its operating margins. He informed about the development
plans for the next few years (€500m 2011-2013) including the opening of new shops. He
presented two possible scenarios for development – “more value at the best price possible”
vs. “Discountization of consumption” – saying Coop Italy as chosen the first and so should all
co-operatives. He concluded by saying that the potential for collaboration is enormous but
that consumer co-operatives are not doing enough and they should.
Euro Coop aisbl - Avenue de Tervueren 12, bte3 - B-1040 Brussels -Tel. +32 2 285 00 75 Fax:+32 2 231 07 57 info@eurocoop.coop
Working in partnership with Consumer Co-operatives Worldwide (CCW) www.ccw.coop
European Community of Consumer Co-operatives
Communauté Européenne des Coopératives de Consommateurs
www.eurocoop.coop
Celebrating the United Nations International
Year of Co-operatives 2012
www.2012.coop
Gabriel Csollar, CEO of Coop Euro, presented the situation in the central and eastern
European markets characterized by a strong competition from multinational retailers. He
presented the strategy of Coop Jednota Slovakia to face the challenges of competition,
based on the consolidation of the retail network, integrated purchasing and
communications, the development of private labels and a multifunctional loyalty
programme. He illustrated the work of Coop Euro as an example of international
cooperation among consumer co-operatives in the area of purchasing. He concluded by
indicating the areas where possible future collaboration is desirable, including pan-European
purchasing.
Agustin Markaide, CEO of Eroski, focused his presentation on the issue of involving
consumers with the store. He presented the history of Eroski and its involvement in
consumer and membership issues. He then presented the model for the future that Eroski
intends to implement, based on the development of a personalised relation between the
consumer-member with the store. The main challenge is to turn consumers into partners in
terms of the local management of stores. This also implies a bigger involvement and
responsibility of store managers at local level. He concluded by stating the objective of
Eroski to come closer to consumers.
Thomas Bagge Olesen, CEO of FDB, explained the structure and business model of consumer
co-operatives in Denmark. He put emphasis in sustainability issues but also the search for
the correct and most efficient business model. He considered that the major challenge for
the future is to define the correct business model, especially focusing on food retail and
probably less so in other retail areas. He considered important putting in practice the cooperative principles in a way that is known and understood by consumers, giving several
examples from Denmark.
Kuisma Niemelä, CEO of SOK, started his presentation by explaining the structure and
business model of SOK. He emphasised the fact that the success of SOK in recent years has
been based in providing innovative services to members and real benefits for members.
With the vision that consumer co-operatives are the consumers’ own-stores, SOK strategy is
based in three different axes: membership; comprehensive services offer and combining the
regional with national. To conclude, he highlighted the importance of balancing the cooperative operations and the competitiveness of the enterprise.
The presentations are available by clicking here.
Euro Coop aisbl - Avenue de Tervueren 12, bte3 - B-1040 Brussels -Tel. +32 2 285 00 75 Fax:+32 2 231 07 57 info@eurocoop.coop
Working in partnership with Consumer Co-operatives Worldwide (CCW) www.ccw.coop
European Community of Consumer Co-operatives
Communauté Européenne des Coopératives de Consommateurs
www.eurocoop.coop
II – S U M M A R Y
Celebrating the United Nations International
Year of Co-operatives 2012
www.2012.coop
OF D I S CU SS I O N S
The discussions were centred in two main topics: collaboration in purchasing and access to
finance for investment.
Regarding purchasing, some participants highlighted that there is a huge potential for
collaboration and that this is a way to face many of the current and future challenges.
Purchasing was seen by many as a way to reduce costs and gain economies of scale. It was
also underlined that given the same nature of the enterprises, i.e. consumer co-operatives,
collaboration should be the obvious thing to do and could rely on the sharing of the same
values and principles. However, some participants highlighted the fact that collaboration in
purchasing is not an easy thing to achieve and there are many challenges such as differences
in national markets, in product assortment, in retail formats, etc. Some participants were
supportive of an ambitious approach aiming at developing wide range collaboration while
others considered that a more conservative approach would be better to start.
Regarding investment, all participants agreed that investment is essential to continue to be
competitive and improve the market situation. However, some participants considered that
there is a challenge in raising capital for investment given the nature of consumer cooperatives. While some participants did not consider this as a major challenge in their
national context they recognised that co-operation on this issue would be desirable.
Other potential areas for co-operation were also raised but from a general perspective, e.g.
relations with consumer-members.
III – C ON CLU SI O N S
All participants agreed that collaboration is desirable and should be actively sought.
However, it is necessary to proceed with caution and in a practical and realistic way.
Participants agreed that they would need some time to go back to their organisations and
discuss internally on the options going forward. This reflexion should be done until the end
of 2011.
Euro Coop aisbl - Avenue de Tervueren 12, bte3 - B-1040 Brussels -Tel. +32 2 285 00 75 Fax:+32 2 231 07 57 info@eurocoop.coop
Working in partnership with Consumer Co-operatives Worldwide (CCW) www.ccw.coop
European Community of Consumer Co-operatives
Communauté Européenne des Coopératives de Consommateurs
Celebrating the United Nations International
Year of Co-operatives 2012
www.2012.coop
www.eurocoop.coop
It was agreed that Euro Coop should continue to be the facilitator of this process and that it
should try to set a meeting in early 2012 to discuss practical ways of moving forward.
Beforehand, the secretariat should circulate a questionnaire to gather the views of the
different members on concrete proposals. This meeting should not aim of re-discussing the
same issues but rather focus on concrete proposals of future co-operation taking into
account the conclusions of the internal reflections of member organisations and the results
of the questionnaire.
It was agreed that the events in Manchester in 2012, following Peter Marks’ invitation are a
potential target in terms of timing to achieve the basis for future co-operation.
Comments to this draft are welcomed until the 15th of November
***
Euro Coop aisbl - Avenue de Tervueren 12, bte3 - B-1040 Brussels -Tel. +32 2 285 00 75 Fax:+32 2 231 07 57 info@eurocoop.coop
Working in partnership with Consumer Co-operatives Worldwide (CCW) www.ccw.coop