Migros

Migros

Migros:- Migros, pronounced [ˈmiɡro] in German, is the biggest grocery chain, retailer, and job provider in Switzerland. It is among the top forty global merchants as well. With more than two million members, it is organised as a cooperative federation called the Federation of Migros Co-operatives.

It was a co-founder of Migros, the biggest retailer in Turkey, which separated from Migros Switzerland in 1975.

The word “mi” (half, midway) and “gros” (wholesale) are French origins of the name. Therefore, the term suggests pricing that fall somewhere between those of retail and wholesale. The company’s emblem is a big orange M. Migros is commonly known as “the orange giant” (gigante arancio in Italian, géant orange in French, and oranger Riese in German).

History

Gottlieb Duttweiler established Migros as a private company in 1925 in Zürich with the goal of providing homeowners, who at the time had easy access to any form of market, with just six staple goods at affordable rates. He originally only operated five vehicles that travelled from one town or hamlet to another, selling coffee, rice, sugar, pasta, coconut oil, and soap. Due to his competitors’ widespread opposition and provocation of the producers to boycott him, he was able to reduce the intermediary trade and their profits. Migros began developing its own range of products in response to this danger, starting with meat, milk, and chocolate.

After Duttweiler and his drivers increased their stock, Zürich’s first market opened for business in 1926. Founded as a co-operative, his second business in Ticino was a forerunner of things to come. The dynamic businessman had established several markets by 1941, but that year he essentially turned the business over to his clients by converting all of his privately held businesses into regional co-ops, led by the Federation of Migros Co-operatives.

Duttweiler shown his desire for growth as early as 1935 when he established the travel business Hotelplan. The monthly journal Wir Brückenbauer (now known as Migros Magazin) was branded with the Migros name in 1942. Restaurants (1952), petrol stations (1954), language schools (1956), the Migros Bank (1957) and an insurance firm (1959) were among the other businesses.

The self-service strategy was first used at Migros stores in 1948 when economist Elsa Gasser persuaded Duttweiler to do so, setting the stage for the growth of the most prosperous grocery chain in Switzerland.

The cargo ship Adele was ordered by the Zürich-based Reederei Zürich AG on behalf of the Migros Federation and launched on July 15, 1952, at the H. C. Stülcken Sohn shipyard in Hamburg, Germany. Gottlieb Duttweiler’s wife Adele Duttweiler gave the ship her name.

In order to penetrate the Turkish market, Migros formed Migros Türk in 1954 in collaboration with the Istanbul City Council. This is the biggest retailer in Turkey and was sold to the Turkish conglomerate Koç Holding in 1975. Koç Holding sold BC Partners the majority of its shares of Migros Türk between 2008 and 2011. Migros wouldn’t open another international store until 1993, and that one would be in Thoiry, which is close to Geneva.

1986 saw Migros’ first recreation park, Säntispark, in Abtwil.

Migros launched its “Migros Bio” organic label in 1995, designating items that adhere to the requirements set out by Bio Suisse. For organic products made with at least 90% Swiss components, a new label called “Migros Bio Suisse” was added in 2017.

When Migros purchased Tegut, a network of Hessian grocery stores, in October 2012, it increased its presence in the German market. The first Swiss location of the German organic supermarket chain Alnatura was established by Migros in the same year. But in 2013, the business declared that it was selling its four Migros-branded stores in Germany to the REWE retail group. The first Migros store opened its doors in 1995 in Lörrach, close to Basel.

Migros declared in 2016 that free plastic bags will no longer be provided at the register. Since 2013, Migros has been testing the measure in the Canton of Vaud. The results showed a 90% decrease in the amount of plastic bags supplied, saving 100,000 francs annually. On November 1, 2016, Migros was the first to implement the policy nationwide. Additionally, the business said that proceeds from the sale of its remaining plastic bags will go towards funding environmental initiatives.

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Philosophy

Gottlieb Duttweiler made the decision for Migros to sell no tobacco products or alcoholic drinks because he was worried about his clients’ health. Even though Denner, a company owned by the Migros group, does sell cigarettes and alcoholic drinks, this is still the case today.

Below is a synopsis of some of the features of Migros and its “responsible” attitude based on the “fifteen theses” proposed by Gottlieb and Adele Duttweiler:

doesn’t sell tobacco products or alcoholic beverages; However, it does so in its online store;

doesn’t make dividend payments;

The supermarkets must reduce their pricing if profits before interest and taxes (EBIT) equals 5% of the company’s market capitalization;

has more than two million shareholders, structured as a cooperative (federation of regional co-ops);

Each adult residing in Switzerland is eligible to join, get a share at no cost, and cast a ballot in the general assembly;
donates 1% of its profits to charitable and artistic endeavours.

The Migros was also a major financier of yes campaigns in the several cantons and the two national referendums in 1959 and 1971, supporting women’s suffrage in Switzerland. The Migros distributed paper bags printed with propaganda for the yes campaign during the victorious national vote in 1971. It also had an internal women’s suffrage group. It published pro-women’s suffrage pieces in its weekly corporate magazine, which had a readership of around 600,000. These articles were released in advance of the referendum for a few weeks.

The “fifteen theses” (1950) by Adèle and Gottlieb Duttweiler are part of Migros’ ethical legacy, even though they are not legally obligatory. They include principles and directives like “serving the community” as their objective, “putting people at the centre of the economy” as our basic philosophy, and “the general interest will be placed higher than the interests of the Migros cooperatives.”

But in 1977, the corporation faced controversy when it dismissed Hans A. Pestalozzi, its most vocal internal critic. At the time, Pestalozzi was employed by the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute, a think tank whose mission was to look into the problems with capitalism in contemporary society.

Migros started thinking about selling alcohol in its shops in 2021. The sale of alcohol was rejected by an overwhelming majority of members of each of the ten regional cooperatives in a referendum that took place in June 2022.

Migros today

Migros maintains the cooperative society as its organisational structure to this day. There are about 2 million Migros cooperative members out of Switzerland’s total population of 8.4 million people, making Migros a customer-owned grocery business. Ninety of Migros’s companies generate more than 90% of the range of items.

It has committed to allocating one percent of its yearly turnover to the funding of cultural initiatives in general; Migros Kulturprozent (“cultural percent”) is the sub-organization in charge of this.

The supermarkets are divided into the M, MM, and MMM size classes. The M-cumulus card, named after a kind of cloud formation and the word accumulate, is the company’s loyalty card.

M-Budget and Migros Sélection

Migros introduced its M-price price line in 1996, with seventy goods targeted at those with modest budgets and big families, after being influenced by the budget ranges found in Australian grocery chains. It now sells 330 items, such as lighters, jeans, shoes, mp3 players, snowboards, mountain bikes, and milk chocolate. The package colour scheme for M-Budget items is consistent and consists of a grass green backdrop with the Migros emblem repeated in small white writing.

Several of these items are not manufactured in large quantities as they are not essential components of the Migros range. Their success will determine whether they stay in place permanently. This adds a certain level of desirability to the rarer goods, along with Migros’s well-established brand awareness. M-Budget products are therefore occasionally regarded as collectors as it’s uncertain if they will ever be made again.

Early in the new millennium, Migros created M-Budget Party tickets, which cost 9.90 CHF and included complimentary non-alcoholic beverages (cola, lemonade, and orange juice) and food (cakes, chocolate, and crisps).

Migros introduced M-Budget Mobile, a pay-as-you-go mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), in 2005 in collaboration with Swisscom.

Additionally in 2005, Migros debuted a premium line called Migros Selection, which mostly featured food items that were cooked differently from what was offered in general stock and were often associated with larger budgets. Additionally, Sélection goods have their unique packaging, which features gold and pearl white colour schemes.

The Federation of Migros Cooperatives, GE Money Bank, and MasterCard launched the M-Budget credit card in April 2006. At first, the annual rate was CHF 4.40, which was extremely cheap when compared to the CHF 100 annual rates for a MigrosBank MasterCard Argent credit card. By the autumn of 2006, the card was completed. Migros eliminated its annual fee after its largest rival, Coop, revealed a credit card with no annual fee.

In 2014, the firm implemented self-service checkout, once again taking after their primary rival Coop.

Companies

bestsmile: Swiss dental-startup, teeth straightening, dental consultation, acquired by Migros in March 2022

Change Migros: currency exchange

Denner (bought 70% stake in 2007, became a wholly-owned subsidiary in 2009)

Digitec Galaxus: consumer electronics and telecommunication shops, household, DIY, garden and sports equipment, and online shop

Do it+Garden: do-it-yourself stores and garden centres

Eurocentres: language schools

Ex Libris: bookshops

FitnessPark: fitness centres

Florissimail: postal flower service

Glattzentrum: shopping mall near Zurich

Golfpark: public golf courses

Hotelplan: tour operator

LeShop.ch: online supermarket (cooperation started in 2004, bought 80% stake in 2006)

melectronics: electronics retail stores and internet music download service

Micasa: furniture stores

Migrol: petrol stations

Migrolino: convenience stores (mostly connected to the petrol stations)

Migros Bank: bank (it is the fifth-largest in Switzerland)

Migros Klubschule (Migros Club Schools): adult education centres

Migros supermarkets

Monte Generoso Railway: railway owned by Migros

Obi: Do it yourself stores

SportXX: sports shops

M-Industry

The majority of the goods manufactured by Migros’s own businesses, M-Industry, are found in its supermarkets. These businesses are based largely in Switzerland. As of 2017, M-Industry produced over 20,000 goods for the Migros supermarket chains, with 25 of its 32 firms located in Switzerland.

M-Industry companies include:

Aproz: mineral waters, fruit drinks, fruit juices

Bischofszell: ice tea, fruit juices, convenience food, crips, jams

Delica: coffees, dried fruits, nuts, spices

Estavayer Lait SA (ELSA): milk, yogurts

Frey: chocolate, chewing gums

Jowa: breads, pastries

La Risiera: rices

Mibelle: cosmetic products, dietary fat

Micarna: meat and fish

Midor: biscuits and ice creams

Mifroma: Raccard, Gruyère and Appenzeller cheese

Products from M-Industry are shipped to fifty countries, including China (where they are marketed in collaboration with Tmail as Orange Garten, Chinese: 欧瑞家; pinyin: Ōuruìjiā).

Globus group (formerly owned by Migros)

In 1997, Globus Group joined Migros, but in 2020, it was sold to Signa Holding and Central Group.

Interio: furniture stores, sold separately to Austrian XXXLutz Group in 2019 before being discontinued for good in 2020.

Globus: premium department stores

Globus Herren: menswear stores

Office World [de]: office supplies (not the British Office Worlds, owned by Staples)

Globi: a cartoon character who is mascot of the Globus Group, often referred to as Switzerland’s Mickey Mouse.

Competitors

The biggest rival of Migros, Coop, is the second-biggest grocery chain in Switzerland. It is organised more centrally than Migros, although it still retains a cooperative structure. The German hard-discounter Aldi and the department store chain Manor are two of the smaller rivals. In March 2009, another rival, Lidl, opened its first stores in Switzerland.

Migros purchased seventy percent of Denner’s shares in January 2007, so combining the third-biggest and largest food retail companies in Switzerland. Both businesses claim that the relocation was necessary for the Denner chain to more effectively compete with growing international competition.

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