Co-op has outlined plans to extend its partnership with health and wellness suppliers to independent retailers through its wholesale business.
In August, the multiple announced a partnership with high street health chain Holland & Barrett, distributing vitamins and supplements into 125 Co-op stores.
Asked by Better Wholesaling whether the convenience chain plans to extend this partnership to its wholesale division during a financial call, Co-op Food managing director Matt Hood responded: “We’ve talked previously about traditional newsagent missions such as newspapers and cigarettes being in decline and what do new markets look like?
“What will convenience look like in 2035? Health and wellness is a big opportunity and we’ve been talking to Holland & Barrett regularly. This ventures into rehydration, menopause health and many other areas.
“There’s definitely a significant ambition within our retail business to extend it much further and then sell that offer into the wholesale business and our independent co-ops. We can look out how we share insight with our trading partners. It will start to get rolled out more significantly and health and wellness is one of the big opportunities across all of our channels.”
Read more: Co-op Wholesale renews supply deal with Costcutter
At the start of the year, Co-op announced it would not renew its five-year contract with Bestway to supply Costcutter stores. However, the firm announced a u-turn on its decision, with the partnership to renew from the start of 2026.
Co-op Wholesale managing director Katie Secretan declined to reveal the length of the new contract when asked by Better Retailing. She added: “We’ve been long standing partners with Costcutter supermarkets for a number of years, and we made comments earlier in the year, which were absolutely true at the time.
“We’ve been in discussion with Bestway for a number of months. This new partnership is built for growth, and that brings the best of our businesses together.”
The results for the six months ending 5 July revealed Co-op’s business to business division fell annually by 3.9% from £1.72bn to £1.65bn. The decline was blamed on a major cyber attack hitting the firm earlier this year.
It added it had launched a new “& Co-op” branding, “offering business-to-business partners flexible ways to engage with the Co-op brand – through partnerships, franchise models, independent formats or as Nisa stores.”
There was also a 40% year-on-year increase in franchise stores, with a “pipeline of greater growth ahead.”
