The Co-op has admitted to 107 breaches of an Order put in place to protect competition and stop the use of unlawful anti-competitive land agreements in grocery retailing, according to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

The regulator found that the supermarket chain, which owns almost 2,400 stores across the UK and holds a 5.2 per cent market share in the UK’s £190.9 billion supermarket industry, breached the Groceries Market Investigation (Controlled Land) Order 2010 by imposing restrictions that blocked rivals from opening competing stores nearby.

The CMA said that the substantial number of breaches demonstrate a “significant failure” of compliance, especially as the Order has been in place since 2010.

The Co-op has rewritten 104 land agreements and has also agreed to resolve the remaining three.

The order also bans Exclusivity Arrangements lasting over five years, which prevent landlords from allowing stores to compete with an existing supermarket.
The Order currently applies to seven large supermarkets including Asda, Tesco, Morrisons and Waitrose.

The regulator’s action forms part of a targeted programme of activity to enforce the Order’s rules on land agreements.

It follows similar action on breaches of the same rules by Tesco in 2020 (23 breaches); Waitrose in 2022 (7 breaches); Sainsbury’s (18 breaches); Asda (14 breaches) in 2023; Morrisons (55 breaches); and Marks and Spencer (10 breaches) in 2023.

“Restrictive agreements by our leading retailers affect competition between supermarkets and impact shoppers trying to get the best deals,” said Daniel Turnbull, senior director of markets at the CMA. “We know that Co-op has made a considerable effort to amend all their unlawful agreements, given this Order has been in place since 2010.

“Co-op and the other designated retailers must make sure they do the right thing by their customers in the future.”

A spokesperson for the Co-op said that as a business which is committed to operating fairly, it recognises the breaches are “extremely disappointing.”

“Co-op operates in a range of markets, both as a community retailer and a national funeral provider and the number of breaches amount to less than two per cent of transactions across our entire property portfolio,” they continued. “This is a matter we take very seriously, and we have taken all necessary action to ensure this issue is resolved and does not happen again."

---