The Co-operative Federal Retail and Trading Services is the central buying group for co-operative retail societies in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

. It came into its current structure in 2015, though its predecessor was established in 1993, and it supplies almost all food bought for sale by the over 4,000 co-operative foodstores in the UK. The buying group is owned and controlled by each of its member societies but is managed by

The Co-operative Group Co-operative Group Limited, trading as Co-op, is a British consumer co-operative with a group of retail businesses including food retail, wholesale, e-pharmacy, insurance and legal services, and funeral care. The Co-operative Group has over ...

on their behalf. It operates by pooling the collective £8.5bn buying power for 18 co-operative societies in the UK, allowing them to negotiate better prices from suppliers, so as to compete effectively with other UK

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service shop offering a wide variety of food, beverages and household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earlier grocery stores, but is smaller and more limit ...

chains. Federal Retail and Trading Services is a member of the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI). The current FRTS Managing Director is David McKnight

Co-operative Retail Trading Group (1993-2015)

The Co-operative Retail Trading Group (CRTG) was established in 1993 by the

Co-operative Wholesale Society A co-operative wholesale society, or CWS, is a form of co-operative federation (that is, a co-operative in which all the members are co-operatives), in this case, the members are usually consumer cooperatives. According to co-operative economi ...

to centralise buying power for retail co-operatives in the UK. By 2002 it had become the central buying group for all of the major food retailing co-operatives, after being joined by the last two independent societies. The CRTG lost its complete control over the food co-op sector in 2014 however after the

Clydebank Co-operative Society The Clydebank Co-operative Society Limited is the smallest consumers' co-operative in Scotland, based in the town of Clydebank near Glasgow. Along with Scotmid and The Co-operative Group, it is one of three consumer co-operative retail societie ...

left the buying group. After the financial crisis in

it was decided that The Group should no longer be responsible for the central buying group (the CRTG) as, if it had have collapsed, it could have led to the collapse of the independent co-operative societies as they would have had major difficulties in sourcing produce.

Consortium of Independent Co-operatives (Pre-1998)

Prior to 1998, the CRTG faced competition within the retail co-operative movement from another grocery buying group: the Consortium of Independent Co-operatives (CIC), which was led by

Co-operative Retail Services Co-operative Retail Services (CRS, originally CWS Retail) was the second-largest consumer co-operative society in the United Kingdom. In 2000, it was dissolved by its members, merging with the larger Co-operative Wholesale Society, to form the ...

until its merger with the Co-operative Wholesale Society. Several of the larger regional co-operatives of the time were members of CIC:

Portsea Portsea may refer to: * Portsea, Victoria, a seaside town in Australia * Portsea Island, an island on the south coast of England contained within the city of Portsmouth * Portsea, Portsmouth Portsea Island is a flat and low-lying natural i ...

Scotmid The Scottish Midland Co-operative Society (trading as Scotmid), is an independent retail consumers' co-operative based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Originally founded as St. Cuthbert's Co-operative Society in 1859, it merged with Dalziel Co-operat ...

, United, and

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

. In 1998, the CIC supplied £1 billion of goods annually, and the CRTG £2.5 billion.

Federal Retail and Trading Services (2015-date)

A new buying group, Federal Retail and Trading Services, was established in 2015 and differs from its predecessor most notably in that each member co-operative has equal control over the business, whereas previously control was proportional to total amount purchased (giving The Co-operative Group dominant control). Although each member now has an equal voice, FRTS continues to be managed by The Co-operative Group. In 2016, FRTS commenced a project to explore potential co-operation with other European co-operative buying groups, including Coop Trading in Scandinavia.

References

External links

Co-operative Retail Trading Group

Federal Retail Trading Services
{{Co-operative Group Purchasing consortia Consortia in the United Kingdom 1993 establishments in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 1993 Federal Trading Services 2015 establishments in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 2015

Co-operative Retail Trading Group (1993-2015)

Consortium of Independent Co-operatives (Pre-1998)

Federal Retail and Trading Services (2015-date)

See also

References

External links