Migros

Migros (IPA: /ˈmiɡro/) is one of Switzerland's largest enterprises and certainly its largest supermarket chain. The name comes from the French "mi" for half or mid-way and "gros," which means wholesale. Thus the word connotes prices that are halfway between retail and wholesale.

The logo of the company is a large orange M, which some Swiss call "the orange giant". The firm's loyalty card is the M-cumulus card (a play on the word accumulate and a type of cloud formation).

History

Migros was founded in 1925 in Zurich as a private enterprise by Gottlieb Duttweiler, who had the idea of selling just six basic foodstuffs at low prices to householders who, in those days, did not have ready access to markets of any kind. At first he peddled only coffee, rice, sugar, noodles, coconut oil and soap from trucks that went from one village or hamlet to another. Later, of course, he and his drivers expanded their inventory and in 1926 Duttweiler built his first market, also in Zurich. His second store, in Ticino, presaged the future because it was founded as a cooperative. By 1941 the energetic entrepreneur had built a number of markets but in that year he basically gave the business to his customers by transforming everything from his privately owned enterprises into regional cooperatives, headed by the Federation of Migros Cooperatives (FCM). As early as 1935, Duttweiler showed his zest for expansion by founding the Hotelplan travel agency. Later the Migros brand was applied to a weekly magazine, "Wir Brückenbauer" in 1942. Other ventures were restaurants in 1952, gasoline stations (Migrol) in 1954, language schools (Eurocentres) in 1956, a bank (Migros Bank, Banque Migros) in 1957 and an insurance company, 1959. It opened its first foreign supermarket in the frontier region of France, at Thoiry, in 1993.

Reflecting the altruism of its founder, Migros operates a number of evening schools for working adults, featuring classes in cooking, languages and other subjects. It opened its first recreation park, Säntispark, at Abtwil in St.-Gallen, in 1986.

Migros acquired some notoriety in 1977 when it fired its severest internal critic, Hans A. Pestalozzi.

M-Budget and Migros Sélection

In 1996, influenced by the budget ranges in other supermarket chains around Europe like Tesco's Value and a business trip to Australia, Migros made their budget range called M-Budget with 70 products aimed at those with low incomes and large families. Now it has grown to 330 products including mountain bikes (CHF 299), snowboards (CHF 279), mp3 players (CHF 68), milk chocolate (CHF 0,45/100g) and jeans (CHF 19 for women/men and CHF 13 or CHF 15 for children). To promote the range, in the early noughties, Migros developed M-Budget Party with tickets costing CHF 9,90 including free non-alcoholic drinks (cola, lemonade and orange juice) and snacks (crisps, chocolate and cakes).

In 2005, together with Swisscom, Migros lauched M-Budget Mobile, a pay-as-you-go mobile phone company with calls costing CHF 0,44 (now CHF 0,37) per minute and CHF 0,10 per SMS.

In April 2006, Migros announced the M-Budget credit card together with Fédération des coopératives Migros (FCM), MigrosBank and MasterCard with an annual rate of CHF 4,40, this low compared with credit card annual rates of CHF 100 for an MigrosBank MasterCard Argent credit card. The card will be ready by the autumn 2006. In 2005, they introduced a premium line called Migros Sélection.

The Migros Ethic

Migros does not sell alcoholic beverages nor cigarettes, except at LeShop.ch, and does not sell racy magazines.

Companies

Swiss Migros:

Migros – supermarkets
LeShop.ch – an online supermarket (cooperation started in 2004 - 80% of shares bought in 2006) ^*
Migrol – petrol stations
M-electronics– electronic stores and internet music download service
OBI – Do it yourself stores
FitnessPark – fitness centres
Do it+Garden Migros – Do it yourself stores and garden centres
Micasa – furniture stores
MigrosBank – bank (it is the fifth-largest in Switzerland)
Golfpark – public golf courses
Ex Libris – bookshops
Migros Klubschule – adult education centres
SportXX – sports shops
Eurocentres – language schools
Frey – chocolate manufactures
Migros Magazin – the company's sales magazine
Hotelplan – holidays company
Florissimail – postal flower service

Globus Group (became part of Migros in 1997)

Interio – furniture stores
Globus – department stores
Globus Herren – menswear stores
Office World – office supplies (not the British Office Worlds, owned by Staples)
Globi – a cartoon character who is mascot of the Globus Group, often refers as Switzerland's Mickey Mouse.

Competitors

The main competitors are the coop, Denner Discount, Carrefour , Aldi, & Manor.

External links

Companies of Switzerland | Cooperatives