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Abstract
This article analyses the divergent development of Western European consumer co-operatives in the period from 1950 to 2008. It asks how some consumer co-ops throughout the post-war years managed to defend and even strengthen their market share and increase their membership while others saw both market shares and membership decline or evaporate. To analyse this question the paper offers a comparative analysis of three selected consumer co-ops; one case where consumer co-ops developed positively (Norway), one case showing consumer co-operative collapse (Germany) and one case where there has been quite substantial decline but no collapse (United Kingdom). The overall argument propounded is that thesuccess or decline of these co-ops was intimately linked to how they confronted three parallel transformations in the post-war food retail market: the ‘supermarket revolution’, the ‘chain store revolution’ and the ‘consumer revolution’. The divergent ability to confront these challenges was related both to external and internal factors.
Acknowledgements
I am grateful to participants at the second conference of the Oslo International Contemporary History Network in Trondheim, 28–31 August 2011, the editors of this special issue, as well as one anonymous referee, for valuable comments on an earlier version of this paper.
Notes
1. Substantial parts of this essay draw on research first presented in my unpublished PhD thesis, Ekberg, ‘Consumer Co-operatives and the Transformation of Modern Food Retailing’. See also idem, ‘Consumer Co-operation and the Transformation of Modern Food Retailing’.
2. The most comprehensive comparative study of the historic development of consumer co-ops in Western Europe is still Brazda and Schediwy, Consumer Co-operatives in a Changing World. In addition, a number of nation specific studies have been published, often in native languages. For Finland, see Perko, Med Förenade Krafter; Kallenautio, Lamasta Uuteen Nousuun. For Sweden, see Kylebäck, Konsumentkooperation i Strukturomvandling, Del 1; idem, Konsumentkooperation i Strukturomvandling, Del 2; idem, Federation eller Konsum Sverige?; Hwang, ‘Folkrörelse eller Affärsföretag’. For Norway, see Lange et al., Organisert Kjøpekraft. For Great Britain, see Sparks, ‘Consumer Co-operation in the United Kingdom 1945–1993’. For Germany, see Fairbairn, ‘The Rise and Fall of Consumer Cooperation in Germany’; Prinz, ‘Structure and Scope of Consumer Co-operation’; idem, ‘Consumer Co-operatives’ History with Politics Left In’. For Austria, see Schediwy, ‘The Decline and Fall of Konsum Austria’; Hauch, ‘From Self-help to Konzern’; Knotzer, ‘Vom Marktführer zur Insolvenz’. For Belgium, see Strikwerda, ‘“Alternative Visions” and Working-class Culture’. For Italy, see Zamagni, Battilani and Casali, La Cooperazione Di Consumo in Italia; Battilani, ‘How to Beat Competition without Losing Co-operative Identity; Menzani and Zamagni, ‘Cooperative Networks in the Italian Economy’.
3. A broader examination is provided in Ekberg, ‘Consumer Co-operatives’, 17–33.
4. See, for example, Brazda and Schediwy, ‘Federal Co-operative Systems’.
5. Furlough and Strikwerda, ‘Economics, Consumer Culture and Gender’, 33.
6. International Joint Project, Making Membership Meaningful, 3.
7. One example is Hallsworth and Bell, ‘Retail Change and the United Kingdom Co-operative Movement’.
8. A short, but similar approach is Williamson, ‘Consumer Cooperation in the Postwar Period’. See also Birchall, A Comparative Analysis of Co-operative Sectors.
9. Sparks, ‘Delivering Quality’.
10. A similar analytical scheme is applied by retail analyst Leigh Sparks in a study of the development of the British consumer co-operatives during the 1980s and 1990s. Sparks focuses explicitly on three distinct transformations within the retailing environment – the development of new formats, the development of the corporate brand and the importance of logistics – and shows how the co-ops have been unable to measure up against the multiple retailers in adopting these three strategic components. See Sparks, ‘Being the Best?’, 14. Along similar lines Patrizia Battilani in her study of the Italian consumer co-ops argues that the post-war progress of the Italian movement was related to three basic factors, namely ‘technological innovation, the creation of a system of firms and the definition of new consumer co-operation ideals and significance’. See Battilani, ‘How to Beat Competition’, 109. These are basically the same factors as outlined by Sparks, as well as those applied in the present analysis.
11. In 2001, a large commission on the British co-operative sector concluded that: ‘The current estimate of membership of the UK Co-operative Movement, of around 10 million, we believe is a substantial overestimate and the true membership figure may be less than two million.’ The Co-operative Commission, Co-operative Advantage, 41. The overestimation is probably fairly systematic throughout the period and therefore does not affect the overall trend.
12. Brazda, ‘The Consumer Co-operatives in Germany’, 202–3.
13. Ibid., 214.
14. Prinz, ‘Consumer Co-operatives’ History’, 5.
15. Brazda, ‘Consumer Co-operatives in Germany’, 201–2.
16. Prinz, ‘Consumer Co-operatives’ History’, 6.
17. Brazda, ‘Consumer Co-operatives in Germany’, 187–8.
18. Ibid., 190.
19. Ibid., 191.
20. Fairbairn, ‘The Rise and Fall of Consumer Cooperation’, 295–8.
21. Bamfield, ‘Rationalization and the Problem of Re-Positioning’.
22. This was most certainly an overestimate. In 1938 a separate report from the Co-operative Union noted that ‘the trading membership of the Co-operative movement is at least 1,000,000 less than the total membership figure’. Cited in Jefferys, Retail Trading, 55.
23. Figures from the Co-operative Union, Co-operative Statistics, various years; UK National Statistics, Social Trends No 36 (2006); idem, Population Trends No 123 (2006); the Co-operative Commission, Co-operative Advantage.
24. Lambert, ‘Self-service Review’; Powell, Counter Revolution. Important recent studies of the introduction of self-service and supermarket retailing in the UK include Shaw and Curth, ‘Selling Self-service and the Supermarket’; Alexander, Shaw and Curth, ‘Promoting Retail Innovation’; Shaw and Alexander, ‘British Co-operative Societies as Retail Innovators’; Alexander, ‘Format Development and Retail Change’.
25. See Shaw and Curth, ‘Selling Self-service’.
26. Lambert, ‘Self-service Review’, 95.
27. Co-operative Union, Report of the 92nd Annual Co-operative Congress, 322.
28. Co-operative Union, Report of the 100th Annual Co-operative Congress, 52.
29. Bamfield, ‘Rationalization and the Problem of Re-Positioning’, 160; Paxton, ‘Consumer Co-operative Capital’, 67–71.
30. For an overview, see Seth and Randall, The Grocers.
31. Co-operative News, November 7, 1995.
32. Hilton, Consumerism in Twentieth-century Britain, 178.
33. Walton, ‘The Post-war Decline of the British Retail Co-operative Movement’.
34. Friberg et al., ‘The Politics of Commercial Dynamics’.
35. Wilson, ‘Co-operativism Meets City Ethics’. The essay also interestingly shows how an important precedent for the merger was the successful fending off of the hostile take-over bid for CWS by Lanica Trust Ltd in 1997.
36. Co-operatives UK, The UK Co-operative Economy.
37. See Kallenautio, Lamasta Uuteen Nousuun; Schediwy, ‘The Decline and Fall’.
38. Friberg et al., ‘The Politics of Commercial Dynamics’.
39. Coop NKL, Annual Report 2008.
40. Printed in the co-operative journal Forbrukeren 17, no. 3 (1962), 65.
41. Lange et al., Organisert Kjøpekraft.
42. Cited in ibid., 535.
43. Figures estimated from NKL, Våre Tall 1907–2005; the Co-operative Union, Co-operative Statistics 2000/2001.
44. Gurney, ‘The Battle of the Consumer in Postwar Britain’, 967.
45. The contents of the presidential addresses of the Co-operative Union in the early 1950s are indicative; see Ekberg, ‘Consumer Co-operatives’, 161–5.