In 2017, I was asked by the Co-op to rethink their membership program. How could we reimagine co-operative membership for the internet age, reignite the radical roots of the movement, and transform how communities organise themselves? Here’s what I proposed.
The Pitch
Imagine walking into your local Co-op and knowing it’s truly your store – not just because you shop there, but because you’re one of 2,475 members who actually own it. Picture seeing products on the shelves made by your neighbors – Audrey’s homemade cakes that you can only get at this specific store, or Jim’s locally roasted coffee that’s become a neighborhood favorite.
This was the heart of my proposal: transforming every Co-op store into a community hub, with membership tied to specific stores rather than the broader organisation. I’ll get to the details, but first some context.
The Co-op’s unique opportunity to help us understand ‘place’ in the 21st Century
Through my work with the civil service, the Labour Party, and startup charity Local Welcome, I’ve learned that what “local” means has changed dramatically since the co-op movement’s founding during the industrial revolution. The internet has collapsed physical distances, and people move more frequently than ever, especially those who are already underrepresented in our communities. Traditional systems and organisations are struggling to keep up and are losing relevance and trust.
But physical place is and always will be important, and the Co-op has something special: thousands of physical stores embedded in communities across the country.
No other organisation has this combination of nationwide local presence and cooperative structure. While other retailers can try to build (or at least appear to build) community through CSR initiatives and marketing, the Co-op can do something more authentic – it can provide the infrastructure that helps communities organise themselves.
I proposed some ideas of how the Co-op could combine these stores with modern software and the internet.
Store-Specific Membership
Your membership would be tied to a single store, but not necessarily by your primary address. It would default to the store you most frequently buy from, and you’d get extra benefits for shopping at “your” store, but you could easily switch yourself if you move or your shopping habits change. This creates a modern, flexible approach to place.
I designed membership cards that would make this connection tangible. Each card would feature a map of your local area and store details, along with the name and contact information for your store’s Member Pioneer – local Co-op representatives who help build community connections. Each store would also have its own algorithmically generated logo, creating unique but cohesive local identities.
Live Community Dashboard
Each store would display its membership numbers in real-time, a constant reminder that this isn’t just another shop, but a community-owned space.
This wasn’t just about the display. Building systems that could handle real-time membership updates would be a litmus test to ensure that the Co-op had modern software that could support internet-age community engagement.
Local Member Products
Members could sell their products through their local store. These wouldn’t just be local products – they’d be made by fellow member-owners, creating a genuine marketplace for community entrepreneurs.
Local products would only be available at that store, but all products would be indexed and searchable. Imagine viral moments of people travelling across the country to visit a particular store’s Eccles cakes.
Financial Transparency
Perhaps the most radical proposal: complete financial transparency with members through an easy-to-use app. While other retailers guard their performance data closely, the Co-op could share store performance openly with its member-owners. See how your store compares to others, track community investment, and understand the real impact of your membership. This would be a powerful demonstration of what makes a co-operative fundamentally different from its competitors.
Community Group Integration with One-Click Joining and data sharing
Any member could apply to affiliate their local group with the store – whether it’s a walking club, food bank, or tenant association. The Co-op would provide the digital infrastructure to help these groups organise, with seamless joining built in. Want to volunteer for a local litter-picking? Just tap your membership card to share your details, via the co-operative, with the organiser. Change your mind? Use the co-op app to unsubscribe and remove your details.
Organisers would get simple but powerful tools for management and communication, with easy integration into platforms they already use like Facebook and Mailchimp. The Co-op would act as a trusted broker of community data, making it easier for groups to organise while protecting everyone’s privacy.
Starting Small, Thinking Big
The implementation plan was deliberately modest: start with two test stores (one urban, one rural), find some local member-made products, and hold launch events to recruit local organisers. Learn from what works, adjust what doesn’t, and iterate towards national rollout.
The Outcome
I presented these proposals to the Co-op’s leadership team, and I’m glad I took the opportunity to present such ambitious ideas. While I suspected they might be too radical for immediate adoption by the board, it felt important to articulate a bold vision of how traditional institutions could evolve for the digital age. The Co-op movement began as a radical reimagining of how communities could organise themselves. Nearly 200 years later, we again find ourselves at a moment where institutions need to fundamentally transform to remain relevant. Even if these specific proposals weren’t implemented, I hope they contribute to the broader conversation about how we rebuild our civic institutions for the 21st century.
7 years later, the ideas feel more obvious, but yet somehow no closer.
Thanks to Tom Taylor for giving me the opportunity to work on this, Cassie Robinson for working with me and letting me run off with my ideas, and James Barclay for helping put together the visual designs
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