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.
The friendly corner newsagent in the UK is closing at the rate of over one day, a victim of competition from supermarkets, crime and the economic downturn. In 2008, 510 newsagents closed, 6.25 percent more than in 2007, reports the BBC. The national federation of retail newsagents (NFRN), which counts 17,500 members, wants the government to help newsagents to install closed-circuit cameras (CCTV) and shutters to combat crime. It is also asking the government to make a distinction between “normal crime and retail crime”. There are some 30-35,000 newsagents in Britain, 75 percent of them owned by Asians. BBC, This is Nottingham
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.
Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Migros, one of Switzerland’s two main supermarket chains, has come up with a surprising deal for its customers which is bound to make noise, not for the first time. Starting 30 December it is offering two one-day train passes for the price of one, CHF54 for two people to go anywhere on the public transport system covered by half-price CFF rail company cards, for a day.
There are three catches. One is that at least one of the two people must have a half-price CFF card. The tickets will be on sale until 26 January, but the number of them is limited. And during the week trips can begin only at 09:00, but the card is valid for the rest of the day, as long as transport is available.
The day passes may be used until 31 March.
Migros has caused a furor in the past with other special offers. In June 2007 it gave away Rolling Stones tickets in a lottery that provoked a black market online, but that even earlier forced the lottery authorities to take a close look at the legality of the deal.
Updated 23:05 (correction) Switzerland (TSR, Fre) – Migros, Switzerland’s largest supermarket chain, will be cutting back advertising for its own brands, which now account for about 90% of the store’s merchandise, president of the Migros federations, Claude Hauser, told Illustré. The move is part of a larger cost-cutting programme to reduce ad expenditure by about CHF50 million.
