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Hotelplan gone, Melectronics gone, SportX gone, Mibelle gone. And as a result, 1,500 fewer jobs. Migros wants to get rid of a lot of things. A reduction on this scale is a novelty for the orange giant.
Focusing on the core business is the order of the day. Things sounded completely different at Migros in 2000. At that time, the president of the cooperative association, Peter Everts, announced in the Tagesschau: “We will grow in areas that are not part of the classic retail business.”
A lot has happened since then, especially in digital commerce. So now the about-face.
Clean up with notice
The divestment of Hotelplan is the least surprising. Experts have been wondering for a long time how the travel company fits into the retail trade.
When the retail business was supposed to be merged into a supermarket AG last early summer – and the heads of the ten cooperatives took the reins out of the hands of the cooperative association – it became clear: things would continue to be rearranged. Now that the travel business is doing better again after the pandemic, the timing seems good for the Hotelplan sale.
Internally, it was already said back then that industrial companies would also get their turn. The cooperative bosses were no longer satisfied with the industry. The subsidiaries pursued their own strategy – saw themselves more as independent companies than as suppliers. Expansion abroad was announced. That was expensive and was confusing.
It is true that in the recent past there has been centralization in the industry. However, one Mibelle didn’t really fit into the landscape of food companies like Elsa or Micarna. The cosmetics sector was partly innovative, but research and production are expensive.
Mibelle was not powerful enough – especially as the cooperatives increasingly included other large brands in their range.
What is Melectronics supposed to do next to Digitec Galaxus?
Melectronics had been struggling for years. People in the industry were always wondering what else the specialist store was doing in the group besides Digitec Galaxus. Migros’ omni-channel strategy, which has been touted several times – sales interlinked across all channels – has not worked.
Now, with the decline in the entire home electronics market and the increased displacement by online consumption, the suffering is apparently great enough. The same should also apply to SportX after the “Corona boom”. The competition from other providers is extremely high.
But: Who wants to take over Melectronics or SportX in this difficult market situation? Most locations are within Migros department stores. It would not be surprising if even more jobs had to be cut here.
With other units you can also ask yourself: How does this fit into the core business? For example, the books subsidiary Exlibris. Some are, as it is said, subjected to a “thorough examination”. For example, the furniture provider Micasa, the hardware stores Do it + Garden and Obi as well as Bike World.
The largest reduction in Migros’ history will probably take on an even greater dimension.
Manuela Siegert
Business editor