ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – Swiss consumers are increasingly ordering groceries online using their mobile phones, reports LeShop.ch, the Migros online store.
Sales coming in via iPhones, Androids and tablets more than doubled, to 11 percent of sales at CHF15 million. The rate of growth of mobile phone sales has been far higher than for computer-based sales shortly after they were introduced, says Switzerland’s largest grocery store chain, and it expects cell phone orders to continue to rise strongly.
LeShop says in a press release 3 January that its largest group of customers is families with small children. The average order is CHF285.
The post office’s Express service in 2011 delivered 39,000 tons of food to more than 106,000 households for LeShop. Growth was strong, 7 percent, in the first half of the year but stalled in the second half, leaving LeShop in the black, but with sales at virtually the same level as in 2010.
Coop’s younger online shop, coopathome.ch, saw 10 percent growth in 2011, TSR reported Monday, with total sales of CHF85 million, compared to LeShop’s CHF150m.
CHF/euro data from Reuters 27 August 2011 (http://www.reuters.com/finance/currencies)
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – You can pay less to colour your hair with Oreal and eat a Kellogg’s breakfast starting Monday. Migros and Coop have negotiated a second major round of price cuts with multinationals and some 2,000 products will cost less 29 August in their Swiss supermarkets and do-it-yourself stores.
The two retailers are pushing for multinationals’ lower import prices to be passed on to Swiss consumers. The Swiss franc has risen
Coop's web site and ads over the weekend said "Enough is enough", asking consumers to back the supermarket chain in its refusal to work with brands the company says are taking advantge of recent exchange rates
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – The Swiss franc was traded Monday in ranges of $1.2505-1.2867 and €.8734-.9025, according to Reuters, with the franc weakening early in the day after last week’s climb, thanks largely to the Swiss National Bank’s insistence that it will intervene if the safe haven impact on the franc’s position does not end.
But by day’s end the dollar had lost ground and the rate was $1.2751 and euro investors were wary, ending the European trading day at €.8791.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the dollar’s gentle slide Monday was due to a combination of a report that manufacturing in the New York region contracted more than expected, the Treasury Department saying that “foreign investors bought a net $3.7 billion of long-term US assets in June, down sharply from May as private foreign investors sold a record amount of Treasury bonds in the month” and “a report from the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo showing confidence remained stuck at very low levels this month. The data were in line with expectations and shrugged off by equity markets.”
Reuters notes that “risk appetite” was up Monday.
Investors are looking for positive European news Tuesday from France and Germany as well as the euro region, which will post its second quarter GDP (gross domestic product) data.
Swiss supermarkets put pressure on brands
Swiss retailers who have bemoaned the Swiss franc include the large supermarkets, two of which have announced they will sell some of their more expensive brands for 50 percent to get rid of stock, then stop carrying certain brands whose manufacturers refused their demands for lower prices. Coop and Denner have both published statements about their tactics.
Wheat harvest the old-fashioned way
Update 12:30 Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Migros and Coop, the two largest food retailers in Switzerland have warned that food prices may rise because of the difficult weather conditions this summer, according to the Wall Street Journal 5 August.
Migros spokeswoman Olivia Luginbuehl explained that the wheat harvest in Switzerland may come in at almost 10-15 percent lower than expected, although almost 70 percent of the wheat for 2010 has already been harvested.
Switzerland imports about 15 percent of its wheat needs, about 70,000 tons, and does this via longer-term contracts. The strong Swiss franc has helped to keep import prices low for now, she says, and the price of bread should stay stable in the short term, but the sudden surge in world prices will eventually affect Switzerland’s prices too, she told GenevaLunch.
Coop spokesperson Denise Stadler says that Switzerland imports durum wheat for pasta mostly from Canada, which had serious flooding in Spring, and imported wheat for bread comes Germany, France and Austria. She points out that Coop tries to soften the impact of increased prices by spreading them out; retailers like Coop are also quick to pass on savings to consumers when prices drop.
Don't leave home without it
Basel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Coop supermarket shoppers will be able to use the points accumulated on their Supercard fidelity card to buy selected items from next 2 November. The items, marked Supercard selection, will be updated and changed regularly, the store says.
Coop already allows its 2.8 million card users to exchange points to pay at the checkouts of their Coop department stores. One hundred points are worth CHF1.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - If you’ve ever been tempted by petanque, a French boules, or balls, game popular in parts of France and southern European countries, carefully check the ones in your cupboard: the Swiss federal government has issued a recall and warning about balls manufactured by Dutch company Nebus BV that have been distributed by Coop Supercard (part of a 2003 offer) and TCS (Touring Club Suisse), which has sent them to new members. The balls can explode when touched.
Do not touch them or take them out of your cupboard or attempt to return them to Coop or TCS. Call the hotline +41 32 321 7111 for information on how to have them picked up at your home.
The balls come in a black holder and are labeled “JEU DE BOULES” and “PÉTANQUE”. Also on the holder is this information: E.H., P.O. Box 4059, 5004 JB Tilburg (NL).
Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss are the largest consumers of paper goods in Europe, consuming 21 kilos of cleaning and hygienic paper products per person in 2007, says the Swiss WWF. The ecology group’s evaluation of stores in Switzerland gave 9 out 10 stores a mark of “insufficient” in their attempts to use and promote recycled paper goods.
Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A battle has been brewing among supermarket chains, with lower prices the most obvious benefit to consumers. Migros Tuesday morning announced that it will lower the prices of 150 items in order to ensure its prices remain lower than those of its competitors.
Zurich, Switzerland (TSR, Fre) – Migros CEO Herbert Bolliger said at a press conference Tuesday that the federation of Migros supermarkets had increased sales by 13-15% in 2008. Sales in 2007 of the leading Swiss supermarket chain were CHF22 billion.
Our slowdown news week at GL means you get a little list of short-short news items with sources today:
- Logitech, based in California and Romanel-sur-Morges, Vaud, announced Tuesday that it will be cutting its workforce by 1,500 and it is revising its 2009 projections in the face of a sharp downturn in the retail market: details will be announced January 20. GenevaLunch
- The number of companies created in Switzerland rose in 2008 by 1.3%, a total of 37,000 new registrations, while the number of companies going out of business fell by 6.1%, but if December is any indication, with a sharp rise in the number of companies closing down, 2008 could prove to be the boom before the crash. (RSR, Fre)
- Read more…
Zurich, Switzerland (Le Temps/AST, Fre) – Jelmoli has sold Fust, its media and household electronics business, to Coop for SFr1 million. Fust will remain an independent business within the Coop group. Jelmoli had record-breaking profits of SFr180 million in 2006, with Fust accounting for three-quarters of its commercial business. The parent company surprised the business community by announcing later that it would get rid of its commercial or its real estate business. The latter accounted for 12% of Jelmoli’s 2006 turnover of SFr1.08 billion.
