Migros puts these companies in the shop window
Published: Friday, Feb 2nd 2024, 10:51
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Migros wants to focus more on its core business. While the Migros Group's sales increased last year, the specialist stores, for example, weakened significantly for the second year in a row. An overview of the areas that Migros is now putting in the shop window:
Hotel plan:
The Hotelplan Group employs 2485 people worldwide. The travel provider is represented at 229 locations in 20 countries with offices, branches, local service offices and business travel centers. The divisions include "Hotelplan Suisse", "Volume Tour Operating", "Hotelplan UK", "Interhome Group" and "Business Travel". In 2023, the Group recorded sales of CHF 1.7 billion, which corresponds to an increase of almost 21 percent compared to the previous year. This also exceeded the pre-corona level (2018/19: turnover of CHF 1.4 billion). Hotelplan was founded on April 29, 1935 as a cooperative and subsidiary of the Federation of Migros Cooperatives and was converted into a public limited company on April 21, 1981. The company goes back to an initiative by Migros founder Gottlieb Duttweiler, who wanted to revitalize tourism in Switzerland with package holidays.
Size is crucial for the travel business - and Hotelplan is small in global terms, even if it is the largest travel provider in Switzerland, Migros wrote in justification of the planned sale. Although the company achieved record results in 2022 and 2023, it would have "even greater opportunities for development" with a new owner, according to Migros.
Melectronics:
Melectronics currently has almost 100 stores in Switzerland. Here, customers can purchase everything to do with home electronics both online and offline. This also includes Migros' own brand "Mio Star". The specialist store was founded by Migros in 1969 and currently employs more than 800 people. Melectronics was founded in 1969.
Melectronics is one of the specialist stores that has performed poorly recently. According to Migros, their sales are increasingly under pressure due to the growth in online retail. The decision to sell is therefore primarily for economic reasons.
SportX:
The SportX sports department (formerly SportXX) has 54 stores in Switzerland. Here, Migros sells sports articles and clothing for a wide variety of sports. Sports equipment can also be rented here. There are also workshops for skis, snowboards, bicycles and inline skates. SportX opened its first store in 1999 in Buchs in the canton of St.Gallen.
Like the other specialist formats, the SportX specialist store is also suffering from declining sales and increasing online competition. Migros wants to sell the business for economic reasons.
Mibelle:
The Mibelle Group was founded in 1933. In 1951, the Federation of Migros Cooperatives took over the manufacturer, which since then has mainly produced its own brands for Migros supermarkets. According to Migros, 70 percent of production is now exported. Mibelle, which produces products such as "Handy" washing-up liquid and "I am" care products, has 9 sites worldwide, 2 of which are in Switzerland. According to the company website, the manufacturer currently employs 1612 people. In 2022, it generated sales of CHF 663 million - around 70 percent of which was generated abroad.
Migros justifies its decision to sell Mibelle with the fact that the company is increasingly producing for export. Mibelle had "grown out of Migros and beyond it" and there were therefore fewer synergies today. According to Migros, the opportunities for development would be greater with new ownership.
What remains:
It is not yet clear what will happen to the other specialist stores Bike World, Do it + Garden, Micasa and Obi and whether they will also be sold. One thing is certain: things are going badly for them too. However, Migros is still reviewing how to proceed with them, according to the press release.
To date, the Migros Group has united 66 sub-divisions. These include the online retailer Digitec Galaxus, sports and health offerings such as the fitness chain Activ Fitness and Fitnesspark, the pharmacy Zur Rose, Tanzwerk 101, the Alnatura stores, Aproz Mineral Wasser and gastronomy offerings such as Kaimug, Pizzeria Molino and Hitzberger. The announced restructuring will also result in job losses in the subsidiaries that are not up for sale. At the dental subsidiary Bestsmile, for example, 9 of the 36 locations are to be closed, resulting in a reduction of 40 jobs.
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