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Things are booming in the home electronics industry: On Wednesday, Coop announced the merger of two online stores microspot.ch and interdiscount.ch. Microspot will only be around for a few months.
But does the retailer pay? “As a result of the merger, Coop will lose sales,” says retail expert Malte Polzin (50). According to the consultancy Caparthia, sales of microspot.ch are significantly higher than those of the Interdiscount webshop: Microspot in Switzerland generates sales of 349 million francs, while sales of interdiscount.ch are less than half, at 145 million.
Interdiscount also announced that its extensive branch network of 170 stores will continue. But Polzin has doubts about this in the long term.
“The future of the home electronics market is clearly online,” the expert tells Blick. In the home electronics market, customers want to be able to compare prices much more than in the retail sector. The best way to do this is online, and deliveries are becoming faster and easier.
Migros also does cleaning
Migros also knows this. He makes less and less money from specialist shops. Therefore, Melectronics branches will be integrated into the supermarket as a store within a store. “After the reorganization, we will continue to have 74 Melectronics across Switzerland,” Migros media spokesman Patrick Stöpper told Blick. At the end of 2022, the number of branches was still 98; In other words, approximately one quarter of the branches will be closed.
It is not yet known what will happen to the employees. “Nothing in detail can be said on this subject yet. Connectivity solutions will be implemented where plans are already developed,” says Stöpper.
Retail expert Malte Polzin predicts that an online share of 70 percent of electronic sales will be possible in the future. For the first time in 2022, Swiss consumers spent more on electronic products online than in traditional brick-and-mortar stores, according to figures from GFK.
Migros Coop stands out on the internet
Migros is clearly ahead of Digitec Galaxus in the online environment. Sales in 2022 were 1.15 billion francs. The Migros subsidiary announced a new feature on Thursday: Anyone who orders before 21.00 will be delivered the next day. The supplier is Planzer.
“But with microspot.ch, Coop failed for the second time to establish a webshop as a pure online provider or marketplace,” says Polzin. Coop also failed with Siroop. In addition to Interdiscount, the retailer also operates Fust with 143 branches and online store nettoshop.ch. In response to Blick’s question, Coop said: “There are currently no plans to abandon Fust or nettoshop.ch.”
Polzin also believes that the two formats can coexist. “The question is how long Fust can sustain branches,” he continues. He sees Nettoshop.ch as advantageous. “Because the era of large branch areas is over.”
Source :Blick
I’m Tim David and I work as an author for 24 Instant News, covering the Market section. With a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, my mission is to provide accurate, timely and insightful news coverage that helps our readers stay informed about the latest trends in the market. My writing style is focused on making complex economic topics easy to understand for everyone.
