103-465: Co-op is a UK supermarket chain and the brand used for the food retail business of The Co-operative Group , one of the world’s largest consumer co-operatives. As the UK’s fifth largest food retailer, Co-op operates nearly 2,400 food stores. It also supplies products to over 6,000 other stores, including those run by independent co-operative societies, through its wholesale business, Nisa Retail Limited . Co-op
206-401: A legal services business (providing conveyancing , will writing and probate services) and an Energy Generation business, the latter included significant investment in renewable energy generation which formed another key aspect of the co-op's drive towards its ethical image. This period was successful for the co-op in increasing its profitability and in beginning to rationalise what had been
309-489: A Lincolnshire farm that supplies the Co-op. It also appeared to show the birds struggling with severe injuries, while one can be seen crawling across the floor with broken legs. In August 2023, chickens were found "collapsing in agony, deformed and dying" at multiple farms supplying the Co-op. The footage captured birds panting from heat and stress, while dirty floors left the birds lying in their own waste. In December 2023, it
412-447: A consistent branding whilst also driving for efficiency savings to make the food business more competitive – the similarity in conclusions between the 1919, 1958 and 2001 reports highlights the distinct lack of progress within the movement during this time. The 2001 report also highlighted the need to market what it called 'The Co-operative Advantage'; a favourite idea of Graham Melmoth, which suggested that commercial success would provide
515-655: A delivery, the user receives an alert and can unlock the robot through the app once their identity has been verified through biometric authentication technology. Before operating commercially the service was tested in over 100 cities and 20 countries around the world. The company operates in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Finland and Estonia. From 2019 Starship has focused mainly on delivery services on college campuses . It has announced plans to expand its service to 100 university campuses in
618-537: A fleet of 25 robots at launch, this was the largest implementation of autonomous robot food delivery services on a university campus at that time. In 2019, it expanded its services to six other US universities. and in 2020 to two more. In March 2020, following the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Starship made many redundancies. However, half a year later, and after the US universities reopened, it rehired many of
721-560: A further 1% being donated to a local cause of their choosing. Following years of under-investment, the Co-op brought in Mike Bracken , in order to completely re-invent the Society's digital operations and to drive back office efficiencies in the food, funeral and insurance businesses. Focus was also given to re-targeting the insurance business as the preferred insurance provider for Co-op members rather than chasing market share. In 2016
824-414: A further attempt to differentiate itself from its larger competitors The Co-operative Bank had introduced an ethical policy in 1992 and this, along with its technical innovation, was well received with customers. The CWS decided that, though it had always aimed to trade responsibly (for example though the working conditions in its factories and plantations as well as its boycott of South African produce during
927-472: A governance arrangement which was complicated and not understood by many individual members and which led to relatively few members becoming democratically engaged with the business. During 2007 the then chief executive Martin Beaumont was critical of the lack of commercial expertise on the board, foreshadowing the conclusions drawn from later Myners review into the near failure of the business during 2013 which
1030-499: A new brand platform, "Owned by You. Right By You." This was developed in response to findings that over 50% of consumers did not fully understand the concept of a co-operative or mutual business. The "Co-op" brand is used by over 3,500 shops owned by various societies which make up the co-operative movement, including the Central England Co-operative . A number of co-operative societies including Scotmid and
1133-592: A partnership with Veriff in January 2022 to provide authentication and re-verification services for its fleet of autonomous delivery robots in the UK. This partnership makes Starship the first company to create a fully autonomous end-to-end delivery service for age restricted items. Economically, Starship's robots are considered to be cheaper than human-staffed delivery services such as DoorDash , which uses human-driven vehicles. Starship's robots cost US$ 5500 in 2018, and it
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#17328021838021236-580: A purpose-built National Distribution Centre in Coventry during 2006. As a result of their steady expansion after 2000 the Pharmacy and Funeralcare businesses were performing well, however the farming business was poorly aligned with the needs of the food stores and so was significantly reorganised in 2007 to focus the farmland on producing produce for the business's food stores. The co-op also moved into new business opportunities during this period adding
1339-515: A rate agreed annually by the Board. In September 2016, The Co-operative Group launched a new membership, decreasing the amount members earn from 5% to 2%, and increasing the amount spent on charity from 1% to 2%. In July 2024, The Co-operative rebranded their slogan to "Owned By You. Right By You", placing greater emphasis on member ownership. Co-op Food ranges currently are (as of September 2023): Co-op Food ranges formerly were: In November 2020,
1442-550: A shift in consumer habits towards shopping little and often. Owing to their strength in the market, the food business chose to focus on their estate of approximately 2,500 convenience stores , selling over 100 of their larger supermarkets and opening 300 new convenience stores during 2014, 2015 and 2016, particularly in London and the South East of England. The business also sold 298 of its smallest stores to McColl's in 2016 with
1545-400: A significant increase in sales of Fairtrade goods (sales of Fairtrade products rose 18% during 2016), through being the first major UK supermarket to switch all of its own brand meat (excluding continental meats like chorizo ) to being British sourced and through reinventing the Society's membership scheme to include a reward of 5% of spend on own brand items being credited to the member and
1648-415: A small profit during 2014, but would not pay a dividend to members until 2018. When The Co-operative Group released its annual report in 2016, it showed that its food business was growing faster than the overall grocery market (by 3.2 percentage points) and that like-for-like sales were up 3.8% in its core convenience estate. This reflected the significant growth in the convenience sector in the UK following
1751-469: A special member's meeting agreed to restructure the way members elected the board, largely along the lines suggested in a governance report by Lord Myners . The Myners Review was very critical of the co-operative movement's (and especially the Group's) lack of response to the 1958 commission report and for the failure of the Group's governance since the merger of CWS and CRS in 2000. The review also underlined
1854-419: A sprawling but rather unsuccessful conglomerate. Many however, believed that for the co-op to survive in the long term it would need to merge with other large co-operative societies. At the start of 2007, the group began discussions with United Co-operatives , then the UK's second-largest co-operative, about a merger of the societies. Such a merger was expected to lead to significant efficiency savings owing to
1957-498: A strategy of driving sales by reducing the price and increasing the quality of products, by increasing the proportion of produce produced in the UK and the roll-out of locally sourced products in small clusters of stores (following a successful trial in Yorkshire). As their ethical image had largely recovered after their financial crisis, they focused attention on differentiating the food business through measures such as by driving
2060-479: A subsequent criminal court case, Regan's bid was rejected and two senior CWS executives were dismissed and imprisoned for fraud. An arrest warrant was issued for Andrew Regan in 1999 however he had already emigrated to Monaco . The shock that Regan's bid sent through the co-operative movement has been attributed with sowing the seeds for the reduced hostilities between the CWS and CRS factions which eventually ended with
2163-571: A €50 million investment from the European Investment Bank . In March 2022 the company raised $ 100 million in investments, bringing total investment raised to $ 202 million. In February 2024 the company raised $ 90 million led by Plural and Iconical, bringing equity funding to $ 230 million and another €50 million long term loan facilities by the European Investment bank in January of 2022. Starship also announced
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#17328021838022266-449: Is a network of supermarkets and convenience shops owned and operated by over 15 independent co-operative societies , many of which have adopted the 2008 version of The Co-operative brand. In total there are over 4,000 co-operative food shops in the UK. The table below indicates how many food shops each co-operative society operates. In 2021, the Co-op started selling food online through Amazon, using robots to deliver groceries. The move
2369-666: Is co-located at the Birtley Distribution Centre. Co-op Supply Chain Logistics has 9 regional distribution centres (RDCs) and 3 smaller local service centres (LSCs) servicing the outer extremities of the UK. The Coventry-based National Distribution Centre (NDC) supplies all distribution centres with slower moving ambient lines and tobacco. Members of The Co-operative Group and participating regional societies earn one membership point for every £1 spent at The Co-operative Food. Points are converted into dividend at
2472-437: Is owned by millions of UK consumers and employs 56,000 people, with an annual turnover of more than £11 billion. The organisation is known for its involvement in social and community programmes. Before reintroducing the Co-op brand in 2016, the group used " The Co-operative " branding, which some consumers' co-operative societies in the UK continue to use, while others have adopted their own branding. In 2024, Co-op introduced
2575-483: Is secured against theft. Starship have said "After our robots have been in an area for a while, people get used to them. They become part of the community and residents look out for their well-being", though the robots did sometimes get kicked. They must compete with bicycle couriers for short-distance small deliveries. In 2022, a video of a Starship robot being run over by a train at a level crossing near James Madison University campus circulated online, highlighting
2678-656: The Co-operative Federal Trading Services , formerly the Co-operative Retail Trading Group (CRTG). The Co-operative Group has developed over the years from the merger of co-operative wholesale societies and many independent retail societies. The Group's roots are traced back to the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers , established in 1844. The Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers was based on
2781-595: The Lincolnshire Co-operative prefer to use the 1992 'cloverleaf version' of The Co-operative brand. In May 2016, The Co-operative Group reverted to the use of its 1968 Co-op cloverleaf branding. In March 2009, The Co-operative Group acquired the Somerfield supermarket retailer for £1.57bn from a group of private equity investors. The Somerfield Head Office in Bristol was subsequently closed and
2884-635: The Rochdale Principles – which notably introduced the idea of distributing a share of profits according to purchases through a scheme which became known as the dividend or "Divi". Although the Co-operative Group incorporates the original Rochdale Society, the business's core for much of its history were its wholesale operations. This began in 1863 when the North of England Co-operative Wholesale Industrial and Provident Society Limited
2987-619: The first national co-operative branding , the 'Co-op' cloverleaf. Though Operation Facelift led to some improvements, the movement (including the CWS) remained largely unreformed with its grocery market share continuing a downward trend. Again, it was suggested that societies merge to form regional societies to improve their competitiveness through enhanced economies of scale. Many local co-op societies strongly resisted such mergers but, as their financial situation declined, many were forced to merge to create regional societies or were absorbed into either
3090-399: The "Honest Value" range was launched as a lower priced range. Co-op receives frequent media coverage around animal abuse within its supply chain. In February 2021, undercover footage taken at a salmon supplier for the Co-op showed fish being incorrectly stunned with many killed while fully conscious. The Co-op suspended the supplier. In July 2021, an investigation into three chicken farms in
3193-414: The 1990s would become a crucial decade if the Co-op was to survive. In order to raise capital to invest in its food stores (and also the increasingly successful Co-operative Bank), the CWS sold many of its factories to Andrew Regan in 1994 for £111 million in what initially appeared to be a highly beneficial arrangement for the CWS. However, later it appeared that those involved in this deal did so without
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3296-418: The 2001 Co-operatives Commission, The Co-operative Group launched a brand panel which was tasked with developing a single consistent national branding standard for the movement. For decades, marketing by co-operatives was confusing for many customers with different societies adopting different store names (notably "Co-op Welcome" and "Co-op Late Shop"), various shop fascia designs and inconsistent marketing. Also,
3399-422: The 500,000 'active members' he could gain control of the CWS. Though this strategy worked for the carpetbaggers working to demutualise UK building societies at the time, it failed to recognise that the ownership actually lay with millions of ordinary members and that many of these 'active members' were staunch co-operators and who would be unlikely to back the bid. After investigations by a private detective and
3502-500: The CRS becoming a member of the CRTG before fully merging with the CWS in 1999. The merger took two years to complete and the launch of the newly combined business, named The Co-operative Group, was timed with the release of the 2001 Co-operative Commission report, chaired by John Monks , which proposed a strategy of modernisation. The report focused on improving store design and building
3605-597: The CRS or the SCWS to avoid failing. Consolidation within the movement was considerable, and in 1973 serious financial mismanagement of the SCWS Bank led to the SCWS and the CWS merging to form a single UK-wide wholesale society. The merger did highlight the potential of The Co-operative Bank as it was building a sizeable base of customers (notably local authorities, mutuals and local groups alongside co-operative societies) and this became an increasingly significant proportion of
3708-523: The CRTG had been working to switch the role of the CWS from "selling to" to "buying for" co-operative societies as a way of maximising the economies of scale to become more competitive to the major supermarkets. Since the 1960s the Co-op had been following retail trends after they had occurred, always having to catch up, in a way that it led the changes before the Second World War. Many leaders within
3811-471: The CWS Board's permission and had been also handing confidential CWS files to Regan. Notably, one Sunday newspaper printed the CWS' annual report before it had been officially released. This would later pose a huge threat to the CWS when in 1997 Regan posed a highly ambitious £1.2bn hostile takeover attempt of the CWS. This shocked many in the movement and consolidated support for the CWS as the 'linchpin' of
3914-406: The CWS as a valuable supplier but did not want to exclusively purchase produce from them owing to perceptions of high cost (mostly transport costs) and unreliable quality – some things the CWS were at pains to resolve. In contrast to this, the CWS had its aim to be the centrepoint for the whole co-operative movement in the UK and lobbied hard for loyalty from co-ops. To this end, they started to assist
4017-544: The CWS becoming highly innovative. By 1890 the CWS had established significant branches in Leeds , Blackburn , Bristol , Nottingham and Huddersfield alongside a number of factories which produced biscuits ( Manchester ), boots ( Leicester ), soap ( Durham ) and textiles ( Batley ). In an attempt to drive down the significant cost of transportation for produce the CWS even began its own shipping line which initially sailed from Goole docks to parts of continental Europe . One of
4120-482: The CWS began planning for the future, as even then they could see the potential disruption to the retail market that the new multiple grocers could have. What was less obvious at the time would be the impact of National Savings and national taxation on the movement, as Britain shifted from a country of friendly, building and co-operative societies, to one with a National Health Service, National House building programs and National Post Office Bank NS&I GPO . In 1944,
4223-505: The CWS published a report entitled Policy and Programme for Post War Development which focused on methods for revitalising the co-op movement after the war had ended. The report suggested merging the CWS with the Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Society (SCWS); reducing the number of co-operative societies through merger; moving into the manufacturing and production of white goods and the expansion of
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4326-689: The CWS' steamships, the Pioneer , was the first commercial vessel to use the Manchester Ship Canal . This rapid expansion continued so that by the outbreak of World War I the CWS had major offices in the United States, Denmark, Australia and a tea plantation in India. There was a great deal of consideration on the role of the CWS in the British co-operative movement around the turn of the twentieth century. Many, fiercely local, societies saw
4429-448: The CWS's annual profits. The growth in the bank largely related to its aggressive expansion into the personal banking market and with the pioneering of free banking (1972) in the UK, nine years before any of its larger rivals. The co-operative movement's marketshare and profitability continued to decline during the 1970s and 1980s, in part, due to a number of reasons. Firstly, the process of deindustrialization , that had characterised
4532-858: The Co-op announced its intentions to replace its "The Co-operative" branding with revitalised "Co-op" branding from the 1960s, following fears that members associated the branding with the failures of the organisation leading up to 2013. Starship Technologies Starship Technologies, Inc. is an Estonian company developing autonomous delivery vehicles . The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California , with engineering operations in Tallinn , Estonia, and Helsinki , Finland. Starship also has offices in London , England; Germany; Washington, DC , US; and Mountain View, California , US. As of 2024,
4635-471: The Co-op supply chain found birds had died of thirst while carcasses were left to rot among the living. Chickens crammed into "filthy, overcrowded" sheds resorted to cannibalism, and many suffered ammonia burns. In August 2022, workers were caught abusing ducks at an intensive farm producing eggs for the Co-op. Birds were swung by the necks and bins were filled with dead ducks. In July 2023, footage emerged showing chickens being crushed to death and run over at
4738-469: The Co-operative Bank . This report received much criticism from the fiercely local co-operative societies and the proposals of the report were only partly and slowly implemented. The end of war allowed some attempt to modernise the co-operative stores around this time, while the slow demobilisation of the wartime boost of full employment and high wages partly waned consumer spending power. After
4841-476: The Co-operative Group today. It was hoped that these financial ties, as well as the CWS corporate dividend, would increase loyalty to the CWS. During the Second World War , rationing led to an effective pause in any major changes to the co-operative movement in the UK with the CWS becoming highly involved in sourcing overseas goods for UK consumers and manufacturing wartime goods. During this time,
4944-495: The London Co-operative Society opened its first self-service shop in 1942, the co-operative movement led the way on the development of self-service stores to the point where, by the 1950s, 90% of self-service shops in the UK were run by co-operatives. Despite this the subscribed share capital (risk capital) available to societies to innovate and take risks dwindled causing market share and relative quality of
5047-588: The UK. The Co-operative Group The Co-operative Group Limited , trading as Co-op and formerly known as the Co-operative Wholesale Society , is a British consumer co-operative with a group of retail businesses, including grocery retail and wholesale, legal services, funerals and insurance, and social enterprise. The group has its headquarters located at One Angel Square in Manchester , England. The Group also manages
5150-634: The UK. It was an early adopter of the RSPCA 's 'Freedom Foods' animal welfare certification. It introduced the first supermarket range of 'environmentally friendly' household products and the first range of toiletries certified by Cruelty Free International as "not tested on animals". This new adoption of an ethical strategy was only part of the CWS' changes. The Co-op had been pioneering on notable changes to its packaging with nutritional labelling on food (1985) and later introduced Braille on its packaging. Many own brand products were also reformulated to reduce
5253-483: The United States, with the goal of reaching one million students. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Starship expanded the number of delivery robots used for grocery in the UK and the US to help with the delivery driver shortage. According to Starship, its technology operates delivery robots that are "powered by zero carbon electricity, with the average delivery for a Starship robot consuming as little energy as boiling
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#17328021838025356-637: The United merger was complete, the Chief Executive, Peter Marks, was already preparing another significant acquisition as he believed that only though significant growth could the co-operative become truly sustainable in the long term. In July 2008, the group announced a deal to purchase the Somerfield chain of 900 supermarkets and convenience stores. The sale was completed on 2 March 2009, costing £1.57 bn. The conversion and rebranding of Somerfield stores into Coop stores took just over two years and
5459-411: The aim of providing a more consistent shopping experience by focusing on stores primarily in the 2000–4000 square foot bracket where a greater range of own brand products could be sold. The food range in stores was refreshed with a smaller range of items, that were tailored to individual stores, rather than their previous policy of determining product range purely on store size. The Co-op also shifted to
5562-418: The amount of salt, sugar and fat in order to make the product range more healthy. So successful was this initiative that competitors such as Sainsbury's and Marks and Spencer began to follow aggressively on these initiatives. In an attempt to build upon the success which was being felt around the increasing public perception of the Co-op as an ethical retailer and to implement what was a core recommendation of
5665-539: The bank's credit rating by six notches to junk status (Ba3) and the bank's Chief Executive, Barry Tootell, resigned. The difficulties stem largely from the commercial loans of the Britannia Building Society , acquired in the 2009 merger. The Co-operative Insurance sold its life insurance and pensions business to Royal London releasing about £200M in capital, and planned to dispose of its general insurance business. Further financial restructuring
5768-414: The cloverleaf design of the Co-op logo was seen by many as too associated with the years of neglect and decline within the movement and hence The Co-operative Group aimed to launch a totally new brand. The new " The Co-operative " branding was first displayed at the 2005 co-operative congress and became the first brand which could bring together all of the co-operative businesses (both those of The Group and
5871-435: The co-op having both corporate (co-op societies) and individual members, hence making it both a primary and secondary co-operative . The CWS's expansion into direct retailing (especially after the mergers of the 2000s) led to the CWS becoming a highly visible business in the UK. The legacy of this was that many people perceive the British co-operative movement to be one business, The Co-operative Group, or co-op for short. By
5974-574: The co-operative movement including The Co-operative Group. These changes to the business are largely credited with the successes in profitability and the achievement in social goals which improved in the years after the Co-operative Commission report. As a part of the CWS-CRS merger, new governance arrangements were designed with the 'independent societies' becoming part owners of the new Group and their representatives were elected to
6077-534: The company additionally announced the start of delivery services in Finland . Starship develops and operates electrically-powered last-mile delivery robots. The robots ride on sidewalks with a maximum speed of 6 kilometres per hour (3.7 mph) (pedestrian speed), can be remotely controlled if autonomous operation fails, and are only used for relatively short-distance local delivery. The robots use feature detection of edges and mapping techniques to determine
6180-561: The company has raised approximately $ 230 million in equity funding and €50 million in long term loan facilities since being founded in 2014. Starship Technologies was founded by Skype co-founders Janus Friis and Ahti Heinla . Initially, it was called Project Echo. A core team of the company became the team Kuukulgur , which led by Ahti Heinla had participated in NASA Centennial Challenge by building experimental sample retrieval robots. Starship Technologies OÜ
6283-424: The delivery arrives; these are chosen from before the order is placed in the mobile app. The four characters are the default robot character, "Asher," who speaks like a late-teens college student, "Sunshine," a feminine voice with a positive style, and "Harry," a British voice who speaks like a butler. Users order Starship deliveries using the company's iOS and Android applications . Once the robot arrives to make
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#17328021838026386-684: The economic downturn, half-year profits had risen by 35.6 per cent to £292.6 million for the six months to June 2008. In January 2009, Co-operative Financial Services and the Britannia Building Society announced their intention to merge, subject to regulatory and member approval. Members of the Plymouth & South West Co-operative Society joined the Co-operative Group in September 2009. The Group's reputation suffered in 2007 when 38 of its 41 stores in Sussex failed fire safety inspections and it
6489-560: The first robot delivery service to operate in a British town center with the rollout of its service in Central Milton Keynes . By November 2020, said Starship, Milton Keynes had the 'world's largest autonomous robot fleet' By March 2023 Starship was delivering in seven British cities. In January 2019, Starship partnered with Sodexo to launch robot food delivery services at George Mason University in Virginia, US. With
6592-625: The following five years. Even after The Co-operative Group's financial crisis of 2013 the 'Have Your Say' survey found that more than 70% of the public agreed that the Co-op 'tries to do the right thing'. Following the integration of the CRS and CWS into the new Group structure it became evident that the business required significant modernisation and rationalisation of its businesses. The Co-operative Group followed by selling its loss-making footwear and milk processing businesses as well as some aspects of its agricultural production. The business also sold many of its larger supermarkets and hypermarkets using
6695-435: The funding for the social goals of the movement which (when the public saw a tangible benefit to their own lives) would provide a competitive advantage to the Co-op which would further its commercial success – a virtuous cycle. Unlike Gaitskell Commission's 1958 report the recommendations of the report, notably the major update to "The Co-operative brand" and the re-launch of the membership dividend scheme, were largely adopted by
6798-513: The funds to expand further into the convenience store sector, notably through adding 600 stores, following the acquisition of the Alldays chain. Alldays had previously purchased the VG chain of small supermarkets, which operated a franchise operation, supplying marketing and own-brand products to independently owned grocers. The Co-op invested significantly in distribution facilities, notably by opening
6901-439: The future. Its recommendations had two main thrusts: that a strong response to the emerging multiple-store supermarket chains (including the appointment of professional managers) was needed and that the Co-op needed to come to terms with the rise in consumerism and to move away from its association with the "working poor" rather than a more prosperous working class. The CWS responded with operation facelift in 1968 which introduced
7004-462: The grocery stores were either sold to rivals or integrated into its own Co-op Food division. In 2016, The Co-operative Group sold 298 smaller convenience stores to McColl's . The majority of products sold in "Co-op Food" shops are sourced collectively through Federal Retail Trading Services although stocking decisions and pricing are determined by the individual businesses. Though often considered to be one supermarket business, The Co-operative Food
7107-550: The group's national board. The largest change, however, was the much stronger representation for the individual members of the retailing operation with a string of regional boards and area committees designed to facilitate a clear democracy and representation on a local and national level. The composite nature of the Co-op as both a primary and a secondary co-operative led to the business having both individual members and corporate members (independent co-operative societies) which had to be included in any democratic structure. This led to
7210-691: The independent societies joined this new branding however, with United Co-operatives (prior to its merger with the Co-operative Group), the Scottish Midland Co-operative Society and the Lincolnshire Co-operative Society not adopting the new brand design. In combination with the new "The Co-operative" redesign, the Co-op sought to relaunch the co-operative membership scheme using a single consistent national standard and featuring
7313-430: The independent societies) under a single consistent brand. With the brand came a set of standards which any outlet using the brand must adhere to – to maintain a high standard of impression with customers. A twelve-month pilot of the new branding followed and these suggested that a significant growth in sales followed the re-branding of stores, largely understood to result from a major impact on public perceptions. Not all of
7416-430: The kettle to make a single cup of tea". Starship Technologies worked in conjunction with Milton Keynes Council to conduct a study to review the impact of zero-emissions robots in cities over the course of 3 1 ⁄ 2 years. According to the study report, "Starship’s fleet has prevented 280,000 car journeys, and over 500,000 miles travelled in cars, leading to 137 tons of CO 2 saved, and 22 kg of NOx saved during
7519-538: The large duplication of services which the two societies provided. On 16 February 2007, the boards announced they were to merge subject to members' approval, and on 28 July 2007 the newly enlarged Co-operative Group was launched. At the same time, the group transferred the engagements of the Scottish Nith Valley Co-operative Society which, while trading profitably, was suffering a burden with its pension fund commitments. Before
7622-525: The local retail societies in more ways than simply as a wholesaler. The CWS Bank, the precursor to The Co-operative Bank , financed loans for societies to use for expansion through purchasing new buildings, land or new equipment. After the acquisition of the Co-operative Insurance Society in 1913, the CWS also provided insurance services to members and the CWS also began providing legal services – all businesses which form parts of
7725-450: The movement began to appreciate that this 'me too' approach to retailing was not working, for example, expanding into hypermarkets after Tesco and Sainsbury's had already developed a dominant position, but without the resources to compete on price. After the 1997 strategic review the business suggested that it close the majority of its hypermarkets and department stores and instead focus on its core chain of convenience stores . As
7828-418: The movement in a way that many had previously opposed. The CWS, under the leadership of Graham Melmoth, was able to defend itself from this takeover bid, largely by informing Regan's creditors that his hostile takeover was based upon dubiously sourced data and bad business practices. The deal also failed because Regan had greatly misunderstood the CWS' complicated ownership structure, assuming that by paying off
7931-523: The mutual or co-op model was almost dead. The Co-op's reputation was not helped in this respect by the factions within the movement, notably the strong rivalry between the CRS and the CWS, acting in a manner which exacerbated the belief held by many members of the public that, rather than working for the interests of all members, co-ops were largely acting in the self-interests of a dominant 'clique' of members within each society. Together these crises meant that
8034-604: The organisation in its design, construction and its relationship with employees and the surrounding communities. The centrepiece of the initial development is One Angel Square , one of the largest buildings in Europe to have a BREEAM Outstanding Distinction as a result of its high sustainable energy credentials. Occupation of the new building began in early 2013. In May 2013, after recognising inadequate capital levels in its banking group , Euan Sutherland took over from Peter Marks as Chief Executive. That month Moody's downgraded
8137-421: The period led to serious economic difficulties in many of the movements heartlands (notably the northern industrial towns), which disproportionally impacted on the societies through a decrease in consumer spending despite the British economy seeing a rise in overall consumer disposable income. This was largely due to the strong increase in wealth and social inequality in the UK at this time. The co-operative movement
8240-408: The re-introduction of the member dividend. Together, this renewed focus on responsible trading, the redesign of "The Co-operative" brand and the reintroduction of the member dividend helped to build the start of a renewed relationship with the British public. In 2006 a survey found the Co-op to be the most trusted major retailer in the UK and almost six million people joined the membership scheme over
8343-470: The requirement to focus on making and retaining annual profits which can be invested in the long-term future of the business and to avoid the risks of over-expansion and 'empire-building' as had nearly destroyed the business in 2013. During 2014, the group sold a series of businesses to reduce debt. The Co-operative Pharmacy was sold for £620 million to the Bestway Group , Co-operative Farms
8446-444: The service societies could offer their members to dwindle. Consequently, this impacted the movement by reducing the number of society members willing to enter membership and then actively trade with their co-operatives, leading to further real terms falls in withdraw-able member share capital levels, and in the level or return generated co-operative investment in the form of lower interest and dividends. A corollary of falling market share
8549-664: The staff. In October 2021, Starship said that its autonomous delivery robots had completed 2 million deliveries worldwide, with over 100,000 road crossings daily. According to the company, it reached 100,000 deliveries in August 2019 and 500,000 deliveries in June 2020. By January 2022, Starship's autonomous delivery robots had made more than 2.5 million autonomous deliveries, and traveled over 3 million miles globally, making an average 10,000 deliveries per day. By April 2023 their robots had driven over 10,000,000 kilometers and
8652-402: The start of the 1990s, the co-operative movement's share of the UK grocery market had declined to the point where the entire business model was in question. This was at a time when many building societies were demutualising as many of the public preferred the short-term financial gain of the windfall payment over the perceived lack of benefits from the mutual model. For a time it seemed as though
8755-571: The study period". The Starship's original headquarters were established in London but were moved to San Francisco in 2018. Its engineering operations are located in Tallinn , Estonia and in Helsinki, Finland. In 2014–2018, Allan Martinson served as the chief operating officer of Starship. In 2018, the chief executive officer Ahti Heinla switched to the position of the chief technology officer and Lex Bayer, Airbnb 's former head of business development, payments, and Airbnb for business,
8858-537: The suitability of navigable terrain. They weigh 55 pounds (25 kg) unloaded, and can carry up to 20 pounds (9.1 kg) of deliveries. Their average battery life is 18 hours, and the typical robot can travel around 40 km per day. The robots are equipped with a sensor suite that includes cameras , GPS , inertial measurement , ultrasonic sensors , radar , and possibly other sensors . The robots have loudspeakers to communicate with humans they meet. The robots also have optional characters and music to play once
8961-499: The time was a period of notable inflation and a strong pound, which had led to a wave of cheap imported goods – this devastated much of the UK's manufacturing industries (including the CWS). By the 1980s, it became clear that the trend in the retail sector was towards large (often out of town) supermarkets and hypermarkets with hundreds of them appearing across the UK. The co-operative movement did build some superstores, having 74 by 1986, but often their development and competitiveness
9064-475: The years of apartheid ), by cementing its "ethical" credentials in a series of strong and clear policy commitments it could work to convince the public of the "co-operative difference". This move posed a bold step for the CWS leadership as this was a wholly new approach for such a large business. As a part of this, the Co-op worked with The Fairtrade Foundation to help introduce the Fairtrade Mark in
9167-469: Was (in part) due to an unfit governance arrangement. In 2014 the governance arrangements were completely redesigned to reflect the recommendations of the Myners review – for more information see the governance section . Though the modernisation of the business was most noticeable after the 1997 takeover attempt, this is not to say that modernisation of the CWS had not been under way for some time. Since 1993
9270-457: Was completed by summer 2011. In 2008, the group bought ten convenience stores trading as Bell's and Jackson's in the north and east of England from Sainsbury's. In autumn 2008, Lothian, Borders & Angus Co-operative Society members voted to transfer engagements to the Co-operative Group. The transfer came into effect on 13 December 2008. The group announced in November 2008 that despite
9373-477: Was continued ownership of freehold land, property and infrastructure, such as warehouses, dairies and farmland (the Co-operative Farms ) built up by societies with accumulated surpluses from the 50 years of growth before the war. The Co-operative Independent Commission (1958) was tasked with investigating the decline in the co-op movement and for making recommendations for revitalising the movement in
9476-740: Was criticised by the GMB union, which has been campaigning for improved worker rights at Amazon. Co-op Supply Chain Logistics is the distribution business of The Co-operative Group that manages the national and international distribution of goods on behalf of all the food retailing co-operative societies who are members of Co-operative Federal Retail Trading Services. The Co-operative Group manages all of its own warehouses and most of its own transport operations, although several distribution centres use third party logistics partners to manage their transport operations. Supply Chain Logistics Head Office
9579-402: Was expected. On 5 June 2013, Richard Pennycook, former Finance Director of Morrisons , was named The Co-operative Group's Finance Director, and Richard Pym, former Chief Executive of Alliance & Leicester , as Chair of The Co-operative Banking Group and The Co-operative Bank. The group lost £2.5 billion in 2013, and debt stood at £1.4 billion at the end of 2013. In May 2014,
9682-458: Was fined £250,000. It was fined £210,000 in 2010 after an investigation at one of its Southampton stores. In May 2010, the Co-operative Group unveiled plans to build a new headquarters in Manchester. The initial phase of construction commenced on Miller Street near the existing estate where the Group has been based since 1863. The project, entitled NOMA , aims to reflect ethical values of
9785-401: Was hindered by the lack of a national distribution network and price competitiveness. In an attempt to improve the collective buying power of the movement the CWS acted to reposition itself from a wholesaler (from which societies can choose to buy) to a 'buying group' (where the CWS buys on behalf of), in order that CWS could increase the proportion of produce sold through co-operative stores that
9888-603: Was hired as the new CEO. Starship hired Alastair Westgarth, former CEO of Google X company, Loon , as their CEO in June 2021. By 2019, Starship had received US$ 85 million in venture funding. In addition to Janus Friis and Ahti Heinla, other investors include Airbnb co-founder Nathan Blecharczyk , Skype founding engineer Jaan Tallinn , Morpheus Ventures, Shasta Ventures , Matrix Partners , MetaPlanet Holdings, Daimler AG , Grishin Robotics , ZX Ventures, Playfair Capital and others. In January 2022, Starship received
9991-609: Was hoped to reduce this to $ 2250. Fully-charged they can run for 18 hours. However, a 2016 McKinsey report said that bicycles were still the most cost-competitive last-mile delivery method: "If droids do not become significantly cheaper, bike couriers are likely to be the best delivery form for instant delivery in urban areas." Automated delivery services using pedestrian spaces—not restricted to Starship—have several problems in busy cities which are not present in quieter locations. They must avoid pedestrians on busy footways, which may be narrow, and are subject to vandalism, even if cargo
10094-547: Was launched in Manchester by 300 individual co-operatives in Yorkshire and Lancashire . By 1872, it was known as the 'Co-operative Wholesale Society' (CWS) and it was wholly owned by the co-operatives which traded with it. The CWS grew rapidly and supplied produce to co-operative stores across England, though many co-ops only sourced around a third of their produce through the CWS. It was this continued and fierce competition with other non-co-operative wholesalers which led to
10197-474: Was not well placed to tap into this increase in middle class spending due to the geographic spread of its stores and The Co-op's historic association as the shop for the "working poor". Secondly, redevelopment projects in many cities between the 1950s and 1970s often moved people from rows of terraced housing (which featured co-op stores dotted throughout) to newer purpose-built estates, with around 18,000 co-op stores closing as they had become redundant. Thirdly,
10300-607: Was registered on 11 June 2014 in Tallinn, Estonia. Starship Technologies, Inc., a Delaware corporation, was registered in San Francisco , United States, on 28 September 2016. Starship Technologies launched pilot services in 2016, in the US and the UK among other countries, with commercial services launched in 2017. In April 2018, Starship launched its autonomous delivery service in Milton Keynes , England, in partnership with Co-op and Tesco . In March 2020, Starship became
10403-664: Was reported that ducks destined for Co-op and other British supermarkets had been swung by the necks and slammed into draws. A video showed workers mistreating animals in an intensive farm. In February 2024, a BBC investigation found 37% of chickens sold by Co-op had chemical burns caused by ammonia in excrement. They described the situation as "a sign of poorer welfare on farms". Starting in March 2020 Starship Technologies delivery robots can deliver goods directly to customers from stores in Cambourne , Milton Keynes and Leeds areas of
10506-602: Was sold for £249 million to the Wellcome Trust , and Sunwin (the group's cash transportation business) was sold for £41.5 million to Cardtronics . Having scaled back their operations to their core food, funeral, insurance, electrical and legal businesses in the preceding years, the business set about modernising these businesses in order to create a stable and profitable base for the future. In April 2015, The Co-operative Group announced that it had reduced its debt levels by approximately 40% (to £808M) and had made
10609-546: Was sourced by itself. Though this did work to increase loyalty, it was not until the 2000s with the development of the Co-operative Retail Trading Group that the CWS became the de facto wholesaler for co-operative stores. During the 1980s, the CWS began to merge with a number of failing co-operative societies, having returned to direct retailing after its merger with the SCWS the decade before. These mergers with consumers' co-operatives led to
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