ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the rise of consumer co-operation in Britain and the national and global context in which the movement emerged and flourished. The strategies and methods by which retail and other businesses organise themselves to ensure that commodities for sale are produced or procured to the requirements of consumers and delivered on time at a price that consumers are willing to pay is known as supply chain management. Indeed, building the capability to manage its supplies in a coherent way was prioritised in the developing structure of the consumer movement from a very early stage in its development—in 1863 with the formation of the English Co-operative Wholesale Society, and the establishment of its Scottish equivalent five years later. The very creation of the wholesale societies indicated that from a very early period, the exercise of some measure of control over supply chains was at the heart of the British consumer co-operative movement.
