Price war comes to a head Empty Migros shelves shortly before Christmas - these brands are affected
A price war is raging between Migros and many major brands, resulting in empty supermarket shelves just before Christmas. What's behind the conflict - and which products are affected, from Pepsi to Kellogg's.
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- The price war between the retailer Migros and major brand manufacturers is coming to a head.
- Shortly before Christmas, the conflict is leading to empty shelves, as many popular items are not being reordered for the time being.
- Products from Pepsi, Kellogg's, Toblerone and Perwoll are among those affected.
"Delivery interruption" - this unwieldy little word, which can currently be read on many Migros price tags, symbolizes a delicate conflict. The price war between the retailer and numerous major brand manufacturers is escalating, leading to gaps on supermarket shelves in the run-up to Christmas of all times.
While Migros only recently reached an agreement with chocolate manufacturer Lindt, the company is sticking to its guns with many other top brands.
According to research by CH-Media newspapers, this affects the Pepsi Group, Kellogg's products and Perwoll detergent from Henkel, as well as Toblerone products from the US company Mondelez, Thomy mayonnaise from Nestlé and Rio Mare tuna from the Italian company Bolton.
Accordingly, the popular branded products will not be reordered as long as the manufacturers do not respond to the price demands.
Impact on consumers only now
Migros boss Mario Irminger justifies the move with the increased procurement prices, which are not comprehensible from the retailer's point of view. International groups have pushed through higher margins in recent years and are now demanding further increases.
Negotiations are "currently being conducted with large corporations to ensure fair and comprehensible prices and to avoid price mark-ups for customers", spokeswoman Prisca Huguenin-dit-Lenoir also told the CH-Media newspapers.
According to "Blick", an insider reports that Migros was previously able to fall back on stocks, but that these have now been used up. Negotiations on purchase prices have been going on for months, but the effects are only now becoming visible to customers. It is expected that the shelf gaps will persist into the new year and may even worsen.
Concentration on a few products
At the same time, Migros is taking a selective approach, as reported by CH-Media publications: Kellogg's "Frosties", for example, would still be in the range, while "Special K" and "Toppas" would be missing. At Toblerone, the classic bars are available, while variants such as "Toblerone Tiny Milk" are no longer on offer. At Lindt, too, not all bars have been removed from the range, but only some of the assortment.
According to Irminger, Migros is concentrating on around 1000 important items, so-called "must-in-stock" products, where it wants to be on a par with discounters in terms of price. The focus is on around 60 major brand suppliers, the Migros boss said in the SRF interview, adding that around CHF 500 million had been invested in previous price reduction rounds and a lower margin had been accepted in return - these funds are now to be recouped through better purchasing conditions.
The Migros boss sees the company's previous strategy confirmed. The effects of the price campaign are being measured on an ongoing basis, and in those categories where prices have already been reduced, above-average growth in sales is being recorded.
However, it remains to be seen whether the price war with brand manufacturers can be resolved without further visible gaps on the shelves. At least there will be chocolate for the festive season again following the agreement with Lindt.
