brand products could be sold. The food range in stores was refreshed with a smaller range of items, that were tailored to individual stores, rather than their previous policy of determining product range purely on store size. The Co-op also shifted to a strategy of driving sales by reducing the price and increasing the quality of products, by increasing the proportion of produce produced in the UK and the roll-out of locally sourced products in small clusters of stores (following a successful trial in Yorkshire). As their ethical image had largely recovered after their financial crisis, they focused attention on differentiating the food business through measures such as by driving a significant increase in sales of Fairtrade goods (sales of Fairtrade products rose 18% during 2016), through being the first major UK supermarket to switch all of its own brand meat (excluding continental meats like chorizo) to being British sourced and through reinventing the Society's membership scheme to include a reward of 5% of spend on own brand items being credited to the member and a further 1% being donated to a local cause of their choosing. Following years of under-investment, the Co-op brought in Mike Bracken, in order to completely re-invent the Society's digital operations and to drive back office efficiencies in the food, funeral and insurance businesses. Focus was also given to re-targeting the insurance business as the preferred insurance provider for Co-op members rather than chasing market share. In 2016 the Co-op announced its intentions to replace its "The Co-operative" branding with revitalised "Co-op" branding from the 1960s, following fears that members associated the branding with the failures of the organisation leading up to 2013. On 1 March 2017 Richard Pennycook stood down as Group CEO and was succeeded by the CEO of the Co-op's food division, Steve Murrells. This was viewed as representing a shift in the focus of the business from the Rebuilding phase and into a phase of planning for Renewal. In their 2017 annual results the Co-op announced that all of the group's businesses were gaining in market share and that their new membership scheme had led to an additional 700,000 members joining the Society during its first six months, although this news was overshadowed by the group reporting a loss during 2016 after being forced to write off their shareholding in the still troubled Co-operative Bank. Co-operative practices As a co-operative, the