Commerce

 

At Denner, migrolino, Migrol, Digitec Galaxus, Depot and m-way, the main focus of business operations in 2016 was on expansion and defence of the leading market positions. At the same time, the business models of Ex Libris, Le Shop, Probikeshop, OWiba (Office World and iba) and Sharoo were consistently developed towards online market leadership and competence leadership.

This provides the basis for shaping innovation more actively and intensively in future. Globus is currently taking specific measures to improve efficiency. To increase competitiveness on a sustained basis, the decision was made to position Interio more clearly in the market in relation to Micasa and to systematically exploit potential synergies between the two retail brands.

Expansion and defence of the market position

Despite strong competition, Denner enhanced its position as Switzerland's leading discounter with a 2.0% increase in sales. The company again managed to increase its footfall (+3.9%), due primarily to completion of the conversion of 452 stores. Due to systematic expansion of the number of branches, Denner's network of sites grew by 16 to 809.

migrolino also continued its dynamic growth trend. By the end of the year, 307 stores were open to customers (previous year: 287). Sales again rose considerably (+13.0% to CHF 431 million).

Like all petrol station operators and mineral oil dealers, Migrol was affected by the drop in oil prices, with sales falling by CHF 70 million (-5.1%) in nominal terms. However, despite the declining market, stable sales figures enabled it to further increase its market share and extend its leading position.

In the highly competitive non-food market, Digitec Galaxus achieved encouraging double-digit sales growth of 16.0% in the retail segment. It thereby considerably enhanced its leading position again in the B2C electronics market (Digitec). In addition, external retailers have been offering their products on the Galaxus platform since October. With total sales of CHF 704 million (+5.5% resp. +41.1% in the Migros Group financial statement, full integration on 1 April 2015), Digitec Galaxus consolidated its position as the online market leader in Switzerland.

Depot continued its successful growth trajectory, generating consolidated sales of EUR 460 million with its own 452 branches (previous year: 412) and approximately 100 other points of sales at wholesales partners. This represents an increase of 7.2% compared with the previous year. Sales in Swiss francs amounted to CHF 501 million (+9.8% on the previous year). 

In 2016, m-way strengthened its position as the market leader and a centre of excellence for electromobility, with sales increasing by 53.1%.

Cross-channel pioneer with strong performance

Outside its core range of books, Ex Libris again faced a declining and deflationary market with continued consolidation pressure in stationary retailing in particular. Although branch sales were negatively affected, not least due to the closure of ten locations, online sales increased. Despite increasing its market share considerably again, Ex Libris suffered a 7.3% decline in sales to CHF 112 million. However, it managed to enhance its leading position in online and cross-channel retailing.

At CHF 182 million, the online supermarket Le Shop achieved a 3.5% increase in sales, due in particular to an even stronger focus on customer requirements.

Probikeshop was able to increase its sales by a considerable 21.0% to EUR 69 million as a pure online retailer in the bicycle market.

At CHF 179 million, sales at OWiba (Office World and iba) were 0.6% below the previous year's total, due partly to the closure of two branches in 2016.

The peer-to-peer car-sharing platform Sharoo was able to extend its position as a pioneer in the field. The number of bookings made on the platform increased by an encouraging 145.0% in the reporting year.

First efficiency improvements implemented

Globus continues to struggle in a very challenging market environment characterised by shopping tourism and the strong growth of online retail. In 2016, this resulted in a 5.4% drop in sales to CHF 879 million. The focus is still on the consistent implementation of the introduced efficiency measures, as well as on improvement of the position of the Globus world of fascination and enhancement of the department store experience for customers.

Due to the declining market, Interio suffered a further drop in sales, which fell by 7.6% to CHF 168 million. The growth in the online segment (8.3%) was encouraging.

Investment in sustainable development

To improve competitiveness and strengthen the market position on a sustained basis, investments of about CHF 225 million were made in the reporting year. Again, the majority of these (CHF 196 million) were in the Swiss market. Implementation of the basic social and ecological requirements is consistently encouraged and monitored by the companies of the Commerce Department.