This was a supporting detail page of the main policy document.
Community buying is when consumers group together to buy goods or services in bulk. This can make things cheaper, as buying in larger volumes usually means better deals and lower prices. Community buying also helps people who don’t have access to transport and can’t get to bigger stores selling at the best prices. It can also be useful for people who don’t like buying on the internet or can’t afford to pay delivery costs. There are more than 100 community buying schemes in the UK. They include:
Parkwood Estate shop, Kent - local residents have got together to bulk buy things like nappies, wet wipes and washing powder, saving up to 29% on some items
Brighter Living Partnership, Sefton, Merseyside - the partnership supplies food co-operatives in Sefton with fruit and vegetables
Oxford Rural Community Council oil buying scheme - runs a bulk oil buying scheme with more than 500 members across 20 counties, who save up to 10% on their oil
Smarterbuys - the Buy Better Together Challenge winner, Smarterbuys is using its prize money to develop its work and spread awareness of its service helping people with affordable loans
Fair Food Carlisle - second in the Buy Better Together Challenge, FFC provides workplaces in the Carlisle area with a weekly supply of locally-grown produce
Our evaluation of the Buy Better Together Challenge – jointly run by BIS and Co-operatives UK – shows it has encouraged existing collective purchasing schemes and successfully started new schemes. After the Challenge ended in November 2012, this policy was taken forward by the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) through the Cheaper Energy Together fund. This supported the development of innovative collective switching schemes for energy, where consumers group together to negotiate a better deal with their gas and electricity suppliers. £5 million of funds was awarded to 31 projects, covering 94 local councils and 8 voluntary or non-profit organisations in Great Britain. Encouraging community buying is an essential part of the Community Energy Strategy announced by DECC on 27 January 2014. There will be a new community energy saving competition that will offer £100,000 to communities to develop innovative approaches to saving energy and money. Details will be announced when the competition is launched later in 2014, and may include collective switching schemes for gas and electricity or collective buying schemes for fuel, as well as projects to help communities use less energy. If you’d like to know more about setting up or running a scheme, our Guide for community buying groups has all the information you need.