Co-op 'divi' to make a comeback

by DARREN BEHAR, Daily Mail

Last updated at 12:12 22 April 2004


For more than a century, the Co-op 'divi' gave loyal shoppers a welcome reward for their custom.

Until it was phased out in the 70s, members queued twice a year for a cash payment earned by their spending.

For some it bought little luxuries like new curtains, for others it was a lifeline, paying for the children's shoes or settling debts.

Now the oldest bonus scheme in the High Street is returning.

From 2005, about a million consumer members - who have paid £1 to join the group - will be given a share of the group's profits in proportion to what they have spent with its businesses, from supermarkets to its Co-op Bank, insurance, travel agencies, and even funeral directors.

Paid every six months

Details are yet to be worked out but it is likely to be paid every six months, as in the past, and is aimed both at bringing new customers through the doors, and encouraging existing members to spend more with the group.

Instead of the old-fashioned 'divi book', computer databases similar to those used with loyalty cards will keep track of shopping trips.

Payments are expected to total 25 per cent of profits.

The dividend was born in 1844 when 28 working men set up the Rochdale Equitable Pioneers' Society, to allow customers a share in the profits they helped create.

It helped the Co-op reach a height of popularity around 1955 with 30,000 shops and 13 million members. But the scheme in which everyone had a number and purchases were recorded, became too expensive to run.

In 1997, the Co-op launched what it called the dividend card, but this was a loyalty scheme like Tesco's Clubcard, rather than a share in profits.

The Co-operative Group has struggled against the supermarket chains, but it bounced back into the black yesterday, reporting pre-tax profits for last year of £385million against a £112.5million loss the previous year.

Most watched News videos