In Dialogue with Migros

Customers

Customers are Migros' largest group of stakeholders. In the reporting year, the company counted around 443.5 million customer contacts at the checkout in Cooperative Retailing.

The company communicates with its customers through various channels, such as M-Infoline, where customers can share their suggestions or opinions about products, and via the social media platforms Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. M-Infoline was contacted over 206'400 times in 2019, and there were more than 24'000 interactions with social media users. In the reporting year, customers were able to give their opinion on 12 issues relating to the product range and branches on the community platform Migipedia.

Employees

In 2019, the Migros Group employed a total of 106'119 people in Switzerland and abroad. It also trained 3'700 trainees in more than 50 professions in retail, industrial, logistics and service companies.

Migros employees benefit from progressive and responsible working conditions, an occupational health management system and, with the N-CLA, one of the best collective labour agreements in Switzerland.

Cooperative members

In 2019, Migros had more than 2.2 million cooperative members in its ten regional Cooperatives. These members are equal co-owners of their regional cooperative.

The members are kept regularly informed of the latest events in their regions via the Migros media (Migros-Magazin, Migros Magazine, Azione) and the Cooperative Councils. Migros also reaches a large readership via its website.

Business partners

Strict quality and safety standards are important to Migros. It must ensure that its products are made under socially responsible and safe working conditions, and that they originate from environmentally sustainable sources. It meets these requirements by working closely with suppliers and manufacturers in Switzerland and abroad. For example, since 2019, Migros has been selling chicken meat from Brazilian suppliers produced in accordance with Swiss animal welfare standards.

Economic policy

Migros actively engages in political dialogue on issues relating to the economy, agriculture, consumption, the environment and food. The Directorate of Economic Policy represents the interests of the Migros Group and its customers towards political authorities, parties and organisations. As part of the Swiss retail stakeholder group IG DHS, Migros is also committed to the concerns of consumers and to ensuring good general conditions for Swiss retailers.

In 2019, Migros supported a counter-proposal to the responsible business initiative and a counter-project to the drinking water and pesticide initiative. From Migros' perspective, both initiatives address important concerns of the population, but go a little too far.

Non-governmental organisations

Migros maintains regular dialogue with numerous non-governmental organisations (NGOs). The aim is to engage in open dialogue, to identify at an early stage which topics they address and to find interesting ideas. Migros also collaborates with NGOs on specific projects and issues.

In 2019, the topics of packaging and products made of plastic again received a lot of attention from the media and some NGOs. Within this context, Migros met Greenpeace and media representatives to discuss possible measures to reduce the amount of plastic used.

Media professionals

As Switzerland's largest retailer, Migros is a popular partner for the media. It announced its annual results for 2018 at a financial press conference on 26 March 2019; M-Industry communicated its results at an annual press breakfast.

In the reporting year, about 7'300 enquiries from media professionals were received by the media office of the Federation of Migros Cooperatives (FMC) on issues that are important to the population, such as plastics and climate change.

Science

Migros maintains close dialogue with universities and other research institutions. For example, in 2019, it worked with the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) to study ventilation methods for organic basil, which can be used to fight powdery mildew and thus reduce the use of pesticides.

Migros also collaborated with the consultancy company FehrAdvice & Partners AG to conduct a behavioural economics study that shows which factors influence consumer behaviour in the area of plastics.