Co-op boosts membership by 500,000 in seven months

Co-op has seen a surge in new sign-ups to its membership scheme on the back of exclusive offers and has already reached half-way towards its target of attracting one million new member owners by 2028, after just seven months.

The organisation only set the target of adding a million new members within 5 years in April; it has now grown from 4.5 million to 5 million active members.

So far this year it has invested £90m into prices, with members now saving 7.5% on average on essential everyday items, such as milk and eggs, compared to rival retailers.

Overall, Co-op has vowed to invest more than £240m over the next five years to boost its loyalty programme and help customers save more. It claims the member-only prices could help customers save up to £300 a year.

Co-op is also shunning the traditional Christmas ad by focusing on the ‘gift of community spirit’, calling on donations from its customers, with a pledge to match the funds raised.

More members are choosing to spend £1 to become an owner of the Co-op, and as a result this year members are choosing to shop more frequently as well as benefitting from lower prices.

More than over 1.3 million members have selected to receive personalised offers via the app and there are 17 million transactions at the Co-op every week.

Co-op chief executive Shirine Khoury-Haq said: “We’re putting our member owners at the heart of our Co-op. Our member owners don’t just benefit from our best prices and exclusive offers, but they also have a say in how we are run, and the opportunity to support the causes closest to them and their communities.

“This Christmas we are going even further to make a difference in local communities by matching member and customer donations to local communities.”