A century ago, the Swiss distributor Migros arrived on the market with its shopping trucks that crisscrossed the country; today, its supermarkets are well established. The brand is celebrating its anniversary with a “thank you” logo and events. 2025 is also an opportunity to turn the page on 2024, the most difficult year.
For the first time in its history, Migros had to lay off employees in 2024. More than 700 positions were eliminated and despite the announced festivities, this is expected to continue in 2025: its boss Mario Irminger announced this to several media on Monday morning.
>> On the subject, also read: Migros will cut another 415 jobs and the Melectronics stores will be partly taken over by Mediamarkt
Good results expected
He also said he anticipated good results. “Migros’ turnover in 2024 should be higher than the 32 billion francs of the previous year,” Mario Irminger said in an interview published Monday in the German-speaking newspapers of CH Media. It expects operating profit to be “as good, or even better, than in 2023”.
In addition, in its objectives for 2025, Migros intends to develop in the Lake Geneva region. “We are under-represented in this part of Switzerland and we will need to open more stores. In French-speaking Switzerland, the need to renovate branches is also important,” underlined Mario Irminger in 24 Heures. The management of the major distributor also plans to expand its medical services in French-speaking Switzerland and open doctors’ offices.
However, 2025 sales will be reduced by 500 million due to the strategy of lowering prices for dozens of products.
Restructuring
The brand therefore wants to fight against hard discounters and regain market share.
>> On hard discounters, read: Are hard discounters really cheaper than Coop and Migros?
“At the same time, we should sell more in volume. This means that supermarket sales should remain stable. Online sales in the non-food sector will continue to grow strongly,” assured the boss of the orange giant.
As part of this unprecedented restructuring, Migros also put several of its subsidiaries, including Hotelplan and Melectronics, up for sale to focus on its core supermarket business.
>> On the financial health of the company, read: Migros’ online food sales are largely in deficit
Mathilde Farine / juma with ats
News-Swiss
