The Co-Operative - Essay Example

As the years go by, Co-operative food has continued to be versatile in strategy and approach. The company has also placed itself in a position where it is benefiting fully from the advent of technology. For instance it is argued that “The Co-operative Food will become the UK’s first major grocery retailer to introduce contactless payment in its stores nationwide after joining forces with Barclaycard” (The Co-operative Group, 2010). As a business strategy, the company focuses its strength on growing its smaller retail shops and ensuring fair-trade.

Overview of the French food market The decision as to whether or not Co-operative food should enter the French market is one that comes with a lot of considerations before drawing any conclusions. The first of such considerations is a thorough examination of the French Food Market to ascertain the viability of the French Food Market to contain not just Co-operative Food but any other food company. The French market is reputed for “better prices, finding more exotic items, and buying in bulk” (Mason, 2011).

This means that the strength of the French Food Market hangs around the factors of price, variety and type of sales. Largely due to the fact that fair-trade is upheld and practiced in France, food producers barely have problems with the payment of deserving and fair prices for their food produce. This fairness is to a very large extent transferred to the larger France Food Market where the right of consumers to fair prices is always respected. To this effect, prices of goods are generally lower as opined by Mason (2011).

What is more, France’s open market trade that is in place in France makes it possible for as many variety of food items as possible to enter the French market. To this effect, natives and foreigners (especially tourists) are offered an advantage of getting almost everything they want as far as food products are concerned. Lastly, both retail and wholesale food marketing are in full force in France. Mason (2011) notes that most of the whole sale and in some cases retail sales are done by the farmers themselves.

This approach ensures that it is only quality and affordable food products that are sold in the French Food Market. Potential benefits for Co-operative Food entering France Once Co-operative Food, UK finalizes its decision to enter the French food market and indeed enters it, there are a couple of advantages and benefits that the company is sure to tap. In the first place, The US Commercial Service