Summer 2026 blows away Co-op’s 2025 blues

2025 was a year full of trials and challenges for Co-op, the UK’s largest co-operative retailer. After a buoyant start to the year the business suffered profound disruption in Q2 as it sought to fight off a criminal cyber-attack that led to significant issues for its supply chain and store operation systems. Even when the initial battle was won the reverberations of the attack made for a prolonged period of recovery and the negative impact on trading persisted into Q3, before some level of growth was restored in Q4.

In addition, the cyber-disruption occurred against a background of stiff ‘headwinds’ for the convenience sector as a whole, primarily driven by sharply falling sales in the tobacco and vape categories. Here declining consumption has been seriously exacerbated by elevated contraband and counterfeit supply as well as disruption from new sales legislation affecting single-use vape products. As the single largest category in the channel the downsides of tobacco not only put a hole in the sales of all convenience retailers but have also affected related footfall and purchasing.

2025 saw Co-op down but definitely not out

Overall, this double-whammy saw Co-op’s 2025 grocery retail sales down by 2.0%; not a happy place by anyone’s standards, but in fact the result could have been so much worse. The fact that it wasn’t is a testament to the underlying resilience and future potential of the business.

Even with all these challenges, 2025 showed that the business has real areas of strength. The sales growth before and after the cyber-attack shows that Co-op is already well-adapted to a world in which tobacco has a much-diminished role in the convenience sales mix, underpinned by its well-developed food and drink ranges. Moreover, while overall sales were down Co-op’s q-comm sales continued to grow briskly (in spite of the operational disruption), up 15%, showing how it remains well-positioned to take advantage of this fast-growing online opportunity. Finally, Co-op membership numbers continued to grow rapidly, with a million additional active members joining the society during the year taking the total to 7.2 million, an increase of 16%.

Momentum regained with help from the weather and the beautiful game

Fast-forward to August 2026 and Co-op is now building back the substance of that potential and it’s riding a wave of strong sales growth. The latest figures from data agency Worldpanel by Numerator showed that in the 12-week period to 12 July sales at co-operative retailers (of which Co-op is by far the largest) grew at 5.6%, the third fastest rate in the market after Ocado and Lidl. This is the fastest rate of growth for co-operatives recorded by this measure in over five years (since February 2021).

Clearly the ‘bounce’ in sales owes not a little to the badly cyber-affected comparatives recorded last year, which will have magnified any upside in 2026. However, the equivalent performance number for July 2025 was -3.7%, suggesting that 2026 has more than recovered what was lost the previous year.

It is surely great to see that, in a long-needed twist of good fortune, Summer 2026 has delivered pretty much the optimal circumstances for Co-op to thrive. Prolonged periods of hot weather (as we’ve seen) favour convenience retailers above all, driving impulse purchasing and taking people to many day-tripping and holidaying locations where retailers such as Co-op have a good store presence. Added to this has been the excellent focus-event that was the World Cup, always a sales boost, and especially so when home nations enjoy an extended run in the competition.

Even better, this year, perhaps more than any other, Co-op has been ready for the summer opportunity. Having honed its q-comm capabilities around sporting events in recent years, Co-op was well-prepared for the spike in sales produced by the 2026 World Cup ensuring late-night availability for delivery service from stores across the country to fans watching games running into the early hours of the morning. In addition, with an increasing focus on new product development Co-op now has a market matching, mission-led proposition to entice shoppers looking for food-to-go that offers an ever-broader palette of tastes and flavours for picnics and ‘picky bits’ snacking suited to hot weather eating.

2027 growth ensured

As Co-op continues to invest in improving its store base and an increasingly successful convenience offer, the retailer seems well-set to move on from its ‘annus horribilis’ to consolidate and further develop its position as a leading force in the UK’s local and neighbourhood retail sector. In 2026 the merger of Southern Co-op has added a further 173 grocery stores (along with other business assets) to Co-op’s 2,338, extending the reach its estate into the south-coast counties of England. Full integration is pending the findings of a Competition and Markets Authority enquiry, but whatever the ruling about required disposals (if any) Co-op will certainly enter 2027 with enhanced scale in the market.