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COST OF LIVING

Swiss retailers Coop and Migros accused of selling customer data

Swiss chains Coop and Migros have their own customer Loyalty Programmes that reward shoppers with points and, ultimately, help save money. But new claims suggest these retailers may not be so loyal to their clients.

Published: 2 October 2023 16:22 CEST
Swiss retailers Coop and Migros accused of selling customer data
Coop (along with Migros) is selling customer data to third parties. Photo by FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP)

The country’s largest chains, Migros and Coop, have their own well-established bonus schemes — Cumulus and Supercard, respectively.

The more goods you purchase in one chain or another (as well as in many of their subsidiaries), the more points you accumulate, and the more benefits you will reap.

READ ALSO: How can Swiss loyalty programmes help you save money?

So far it sounds good, but new information published by Neue Zurcher Zeitung (NZZ) this weekend claims that both chains have been collecting information about customers and selling it to third parties.

What exactly does this data reveal about customers?

If you have a loyalty programme in one (or both) of these supermarkets, as most people in Switzerland do, you may be worried about your personal information no longer being protected.

The data sold to outside sources is anonymous, which means your name, address, credit card information, and other sensitive information. is not sold — at least according to both retailers.

On the other hand, purchasing habits, age, gender, and the region where each customer lives, constitute ‘open’information for many companies seeking to better target new client base.

According to NZZ, Coop has even developed and put into operation a centralised customer information system.

This means that everything sold in the supermarket, online, or in one of the many Coop subsidiaries such as Jumbo, Import Parfumerie, and Interdiscount, is registered in the database, and then sold to third parties.

As for Migros, its management admitted receiving money from suppliers in exchange for this type of customer information, though exact revenues that both retailers have gotten from these third-party sources is not known.

What do the two retail giants say about this practice?

Both justify it by saying data collected through their loyalty cards helps them to better understand their customers’ needs and adapt their advertising accordingly.

Migros and Coop also insist that he anonymised data they sell is no longer “customer information” from the legal point of view.

However, “studies have shown that we can quickly draw conclusions about people if we cross-reference anonymous data with other sources, such as cookies,” Lucien Jucker of the German-speaking consumer protection organisation told the NZZ.

The only way to avoid this trap, he said, is to give up the Cumulus or the Supercard and become a truly ‘anonymous’ shopper.

Up to you to decide whether you want to forego all the savings and other benefits of the loyalty programmes in order to protect your anonymity.
 

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SHOPPING

REVEALED : Are ‘discount’ supermarkets in Switzerland really cheaper?

Lidl, Aldi and Denner claim their prices beat those of large Swiss retailers. But is this really the case?

Published: 18 April 2024 11:40 CEST
REVEALED : Are ‘discount’ supermarkets in Switzerland really cheaper?

Common consumer goods (except one) are typically more expensive in Switzerland than in neighbour countries — sometimes by much.

This includes food.

READ ALSO: Why Switzerland is the most expensive country in Europe

That is especially the case of largest Swiss chains, Migros and Coop, while Denner, Lidl, and Aldi say their food prices are significantly lower.

To find out whether this claim is actually true, journalists from RTS public broadcaster’s consumer programme went shopping in each of these supermarkets. 

They purchased the same 30 products in each of the five supermarkets on the same day, to ensure that the price comparison is as accurate as possible.

Not what you’d expect

In each of the stores, the investigators purchased only the lowest priced items from the supermarkets’ budget lines.

It turned out that most money was spent at Denner, widely considered to be one of the lowest-priced supermarkets.

The total for the 30 items came to 181.67 francs — more than was spent at the country’s more expensive stores, Migros and Coop, where identical basket of goods cost 170.37 and 167.82 francs, respectively.

(That, in itself, is surprising as well, because Migros typically has lower prices than Coop).

As for the other two supermarkets, these purchases cost 166.59 francs at Aldi and 162.05 at Lidl.

So the difference in price between Migros and Coop versus Aldi and Lidl is minimal. But what is even more surprising is that the cost of groceries at ‘cheap’ Denner is actually highest of the lot, by between 11 and nearly 20 francs.

Migros and Coop performed quite well in the comparison survey because most of the items purchased in those stores came from their budget lines, M-Budget and Prix-Garantie, respectively, both of which were introduced to compete with Aldi and Lidl.

But how important is price? Patrick Krauskopf, a professor of anti-trust law, told RTS: “German, French, English, Spanish and American consumers pay a lot of attention to price. In Switzerland, consumers place more emphasis on quality of service. Price is almost secondary.

“Distributors have realised this and have stopped competing fiercely on price.”

Big versus small

While this particular analysis focused on supermarket chains, another survey, conducted at the end of 2023, looked at prices in small grocery shops. 

Common logic has it that it is cheaper to shop in supermarkets than a local corner store, because big retailers purchase products in large quantities, which means lower prices for consumers.

However, prices in some local shops were found to be “up to 30 percent cheaper than Migros and Coop.” 

The reason is that in order to cut costs, small grocers may buy their products from the most cost-effective suppliers, a tactic which includes importing some items.

Another reason for lower prices is that unlike major supermarkets, which ‘pretty up’ their stores for better presentation of products, these small retailers are ‘no-frill’ shops. This means little money is invested in décor, so there are no extra costs to pass on to consumers.

 READ ALSO: Why it might be cheaper to avoid the big supermarkets in Switzerland
 

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