Consumer Cooperative

Consumer Cooperatives is a cooperative that aims to lower the price of consumer goods for customers by the use of aggregate buying power, consumers are members of the cooperative and elect managers to make decisions about the future of the company.

Theory and Practice

Consumer Cooperatives exploit economies of scale within markets by buying goods in bulk, lowering the overall cost and allowing the cooperative to sell goods to members at lower than market rate.

Data

• It was found in 2013 that consumer co-operatives give 6.9% of profits back to communities, compared to conventional capitalist businesses which only give 2.4%, meaning that consumer cooperatives are nearly three times better for local communities than other businesses.

List of Notable Consumer Cooperatives

• CBH Group
• Co-op Kobe
• Coop amba
• Coop Cooperative
• Coop Norden
• Dublin Food Co-op
• Electricity Ashburton
• Enercoop
• Fonterra
• Foodstuffs
• Lighthouse Cooperative
• Migros
• Mitre 10
• Paper Plus Group
• S Group
• Silver Fern Farms
• Tatua Dairy Company
• Westland Milk Products