Retail news round-up on July 8, 2014: Midcounties co-operative society to cease subscription to Co-op party and Tesco loses

Midcounties to cease subscription to Co-operative party from October

Britain’s largest independent co-operative society Midcounties is ending its long-standing subscription to the Co-operative party in a move to attract more shoppers to its stores, The Guardian reported. From October, that subscription will no longer be paid automatically, but the society can still pay donations to the party. Midcounties president Patrick Gray said research conducted by the Warwickshire-based society showed potential customers could be deterred from shopping in stores with political affiliations.

Supervalu grabs 25% share of Irish grocery market

According to Kantar Worldpanel’s latest figures, Irish grocery sales surged by 2% in the 12 weeks to June 22, the fastest rate since March last year. For the 12 week period, grocery inflation stands at 2.3%, down slightly from 2.6% last quarter. In the 12 week period, Tesco lost 3.4% of its Irish market share, while SuperValu grew its share by 1.3% and Dunnes gained 0.5%. SuperValu was the ‘stand out performer’, adding 87,000 new customers this quarter.

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