Working to make membership irresistible and indispensable
03 April 2025
By Kenyatte Nelson, Chief Membership and Customer Officer
In 2023, I said we were laying the foundations for a new member-owner experience at our Co-op. Our aim was to build more value for our member-owners every day, working to make membership irresistible and indispensable for them.
A year on, I’m hugely proud of all we’ve achieved here. We can see that people value Co-op membership; in 2024, over 23,000 people became members every seven days. On top of this, 2024 saw our member participation numbers rise significantly. We’re increasing the number of member-owners who understand, value and engage with the co-op that they own.
We’re also showing up differently to members and potential members. Just take our ‘Owned by You, Right by You’ campaign, our presence at UK festivals and the member experience we’ve created at Co-op Live – the UK’s largest live music venue. It’s all having an effect. In 2024, over 340,000 members under 25 joined our Co-op, which is a 66% increase on 2023. (2024: 344,800; 2023: 207,700)
Ownership value: Members own our Co-op and have a say in how we’re run.
There are lots of ways for members to shape our Co-op, like choosing a community cause or helping us develop products. In 2024, we rethought many of the ways we engage members in how our business is run.
For example, in May, we held our AGM at Co-op Live for the first time. Members could vote using our app, which saw voting numbers rise by over a third. In November, we held 100 events, like pop-up cafés, to help members understand more about member-ownership, and to encourage them to get involved.
Across 2024, 1.74 million members took ownership action in our Co-op, from influencing our strategy to tasting wine and supporting local projects. Of this number, many members joined in for two or more activities over the year. This is how we measure member participation, and it’s up by 60%.
Economic value: The financial benefits of being a member.
It’s our responsibility to make sure that being a member comes with real financial benefits. In our 2024 member survey, members told us that ‘the rising cost of living’ was a top concern. And so, across our business areas, we invested £92m in Member Prices and offers through the year. For example, today, in our Food business, members can save up to £10 a week based on an average basket. We launched Member Prices online in 2024, too.
Social value: We act on the things that matter most to members.
‘Concern for community’ has long been a guiding principle for our Co-op. We supported communities, campaigned on behalf of members and contributed to causes they care about.
For all our achievements in this area in 2024, read our Social Value and Sustainability Report, but to highlight a few:
Our Local Community Fund has shared £114m since starting in 2016 with causes across the nation and on members’ doorsteps, from sports clubs to local gardens.
We found new ways to involve members in community action. For example, our Winner Shares It All prize draw saw nearly 1.5 million members taking part for the chance to win £500 for themselves and £5,000 for their local cause.
We are the naming rights sponsor for Co-op Live, which opened in May. This is the most sustainable venue in Europe, and also donates £1 million a year to our Co-op Foundation to empower young people and communities.
We’re focused on sustainability across our Co-op. In 2024, we continued to reduce the carbon emissions from running our business. We’ve now reduced these emissions by 61% since 2016, equivalent to 55,000 households’ emissions.
We continued to campaign for Safer Colleagues and Safer Communities in 2024. For example, since 2018, our colleagues and members have written over 25,000 letters to MPs and police calling for change. In February 2025, we were delighted to see the Government publish its Crime and Policing Bill, which makes assaulting a shopworker a standalone offence.
We continue to proudly support the Co-op Academies Trust. In 2024, the trust continued to change the lives of over 20,000 children from 38 schools across the North, helping them succeed, no matter their background.
As of 2024, we’ve raised £4 million for our charity partner Barnardo’s, and we’ve supported 200,000 young people so far.
2024 was our 30th year stocking Fairtrade products. To celebrate, we made all our fresh-cut roses Fairtrade and rolled out vibrant new packaging on Fairtrade products.