User:Ryan.smith12/sandbox

1. retailer's cooperatives page 2. cleaning list of retailers' cooperatives 3. adding examples to list (leclerc) 4. linking/fixing pages: -ROFDA -Grocers of Florida

RETAILERS' COOPERATIVE

Retailers' cooperative From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

DEFINITION
A retailers' cooperative is a type of cooperative which employs economies of scale on behalf of its retailer members. Retailers' cooperatives use their purchasing power to acquire discounts from manufacturers and often share marketing expenses. A retailers' cooperative is essentially a group of independently owned businesses that pool their resources to purchase in bulk, usually by establishing a central buying organization, and engage in joint promotion efforts. Store owners benefit from a common brand recognition while still maintaining individual autonomy.(cite somethin) It is common for locally owned grocery stores, hardware stores and pharmacies to participate in retailers' cooperatives.

Consumers' cooperatives, sometimes referred to as retail cooperatives, should be distinguished from retailers' cooperatives.

EXAMPLES
[edit] Further information: List of retailers' cooperatives
 * Sort by Country

AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND Mitre 10 is a hardware group in Australia and New Zealand. Foodstuffs

UNITED STATES Ace Hardware Do It Best True Value Best Western ShopRite (United States) National Automotive Parts Association (NAPA)

FRANCE E.Leclerc Les Mousquetaires Systeme U

GERMANY Edeka

UK Nisa-Today's

See also [edit]

Governance and Operation
Retailers' cooperatives are governed by democratic member control, which generally means one vote per member. Some firms, such as E. Leclerc, are able to make decisions in this fashion, with each member business only receiving one vote. For many retailer co-ops, however, it is difficult to achieve a democratic standard. Since the members are businesses rather than individuals, offering one vote per member will leave the larger member businesses underrepresented. If the amount of votes is based on the size of the business, there is a risk of all smaller businesses within the cooperative being outvoted by a larger business. A democratic solution that many retailers' cooperatives employ is an increase in votes based on business size, up to a certain point, say 5 or 10 votes. This way, there is a varying degree of representation for member businesses, but no one member can gain too much control.

It is typical for members to convene in weekly discussion groups, aimed to promote greater activity and involvement in the cooperative (p of c). Some firms even require weekly participation of one or two days from each member, meaning the owner of a business in a retailers' cooperative must potentially devote time each week purely to supporting the cooperative (leclerc article? i think so)

democratic? voting? member meetings? board of directors? follow rochdale principles? shareholding? start-up? are members workers?

FINANCE/APPROACH TO CAPITAL
-purpose is to benefit members, which are businesses the incentive to remain in the co-op is greatly due to the profits that members gain.(leclerc) -what is done with profit/surplus? members share surpluses according to initial input (leclerc)

PROBLEMS
-remaining democratic w/ groups instead of individuals *1 vote each, or based on size? *solution can be based on size up to 10 or so votes so no one has too much power

- its members are businesses *less clear ground than other co-ops *are they still good/ following rochdale principles? *are the businesses themselves necessarily good for society? or are they capitalist bastards?

PURSUING SOCIAL GOALS THRU CO-OPS
- are they? -why do people join these businesses? -neo-capitalist doctrine? (see consumer co-op page)