Co-op Media Network: the Co-op retail media network for UK convenience, explained

Co-op sells convenience, not the big weekly shop. Its stores are small, close to home and visited often. Co-op says 70% of the UK population lives within two miles of one of its stores, a company claim (Grocery Gazette, 4 November 2025). At launch, chief membership and customer officer Kenyatte Nelson argued that convenience trips and supermarket trips are different occasions. Brands, he said, gain by buying media against both. That is a direct pitch to advertisers who already spend with Tesco Media or Nectar360.

The second difference is the sheer number of screens in a small-store estate. In October 2024 Co-op planned 300 front-of-store screens; a year later it installed the 1,000th (Grocery Gazette, 4 November 2025). Counting kiosks, self-service checkouts and tills, Co-op operated 15,871 screens across 2,300 stores. The network also reaches festival pop-ups, hospitals, service stations and train stations. Co-op's total counts till and kiosk displays, so compare it with other retailers' screen numbers with care.

Third, Co-op has tried to prove that small-store media earns attention. Lumen Research ran eye-tracking work for the network, and dentsu added the data to its media planning tool in June 2025. The study found that smaller stores gave over twice the opportunity to see some products, three times the attention and four times the brand recall of larger stores (Convenience Store, 4 June 2025). The research was commissioned on behalf of Co-op Media Network, so treat the findings as company-sponsored.

Screen estate timeline

In-store. Screens sit at the front of store, on kiosks, at self-service checkouts and at customer-facing tills. Commercial IT Services and Grassfish delivered the front-of-store rollout. The in-store retail media guide explains how such in-store media is counted and sold.

Offsite. Co-op Compass, launched at the end of March 2025, sells curated audiences on Meta's Facebook and Instagram and on the open web (The Grocer, 31 March 2025). The Grocer reported that Compass is offsite only, separate from screens and signage. A brand launching a meal-deal drink could target shoppers whose recent trips fit a "food-to-go" mission.

Out of store. Pop-ups at festivals, hospitals, service stations and train stations extend the estate beyond Co-op shops.

Compass segments shoppers by "convenience missions" such as treat, meal occasions, top up, food-to-go and gifting. The segments use purchases from the past 90 days. Co-op says the data covers more than 850 million transactions a year and more than 6 million members (company claims, The Grocer, 31 March 2025).

LiveRamp provides the data collaboration layer. The partnership began in October 2023 and was extended for two years in 2025. LiveRamp's 2023 release said the platform lets Co-op use member data without sharing directly identifiable personal information (LiveRamp via Retail Times, 19 October 2023). Brands receive audiences and results, not member records.

At launch, SMG said its Plan-Apps software would help brands understand performance and measure return on investment. Co-op has not published a standard sales report, an incrementality method or an independent audit. The Lumen work measures attention, not sales. Buyers should ask whether member transaction data can show sales uplift for their campaign.

1. Brief the Co-op Media Network team. Campaigns are planned with Co-op's in-house team and Threefold.
2. Choose screens or Compass. Screens suit in-store reach; Compass suits offsite audiences on Meta and the open web.
3. Pick missions, not just demographics. Match your product to a convenience mission such as food-to-go.
4. Ask about attention data. Agencies using dentsu's planning tool can model in-store attention with the Lumen data.
5. Agree the sales read. Settle what member-based sales reporting you will get before the campaign starts.

It suits:

• FMCG brands with strong convenience distribution, such as drinks, snacks and meal-deal items;
• advertisers who want UK-wide store screens in small, local shops;
• brands already in large supermarket networks that want the convenience trip too.

It suits less:

• brands with little Co-op distribution;
• advertisers who need self-serve buying today;
• buyers who require audited sales measurement.

• Whether the self-service Compass option planned for 2025 has launched.
• The 2026 innovations Co-op said it would announce early in the year.
• Media revenue, minimum spend and rate cards.
• How screens at kiosks and tills are sold compared with front-of-store screens.
• Co-op's progress towards tripling media and insight operating profit by 2030.

1. Co-op, "Co-op announces launch of the UK's first retail media network in the convenience sector", release published by Retail Times (31 January 2024). https://retailtimes.co.uk/co-op-announces-launch-of-the-uks-first-retail-media-network-in-the-convenience-sector/
2. Retail Gazette, "Co-op launches UK's first convenience retail media network" (31 January 2024). https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2024/01/co-op-retail-media-network/
3. LiveRamp, "Co-op partners with LiveRamp to enhance relevancy in its retail media offering", release published by Retail Times (19 October 2023). https://retailtimes.co.uk/co-op-partners-with-liveramp-to-enhance-relevancy-in-its-retail-media-offering/
4. The Grocer, "Co-op launches retail media tool that target shoppers based on 'convenience missions'" (31 March 2025). https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/news/co-op-launches-retail-media-tool-that-target-shoppers-based-on-convenience-missions/702847.article
5. Convenience Store, "Co-op Media Network announces launch of its Co-op Compass for brands" (3 April 2025). https://www.conveniencestore.co.uk/news/co-op-media-network-announces-launch-of-its-co-op-compass-for-brands/702992.article
6. Convenience Store, "Dentsu, Co-op and more set sights on transforming retail media with world-first tech" (4 June 2025). https://www.conveniencestore.co.uk/news/dentsu-co-op-and-more-set-sights-on-transforming-retail-media-with-world-first-tech/705177.article
7. Grocery Gazette, "Co-op Media hits 15,800 digital touchpoints after landmark rollout" (4 November 2025). https://www.grocerygazette.co.uk/2025/11/04/co-op-15800-digital-points/