The Consumer Co-operatives in the Face of Large Retail Sector in Italy: a Case Study

Over the 1950s and 1960s, most European consumer cooperative movements experimented with new strategies with a view to facing the emerging large and organized food distribution chains. The strategies varied significantly depending on the national contexts. According to Espen Ekberg's classification, we can identify three main models: the federal model, the hybrid model, and the centralized model. Based on this classification, Italy developed a federal model, where regional or inter-regional cooperatives centralize their purchases in a nation-wide body named Coop Italia pursuing common marketing strategies, and sell, among other products, also products distinguished by the Coop brand. The Trentino coop movement, while remaining well-connected with the national network, has continued to experiment with extremely interesting local initiatives. Differently from the other Italian provinces that are distinguished by a sole coop provincial entity, this model relies on a variety of small cooperatives, which are rooted in local territories and succeed in developing trust relations with the local population.