Coop (Switzerland)

Coop Switzerland
Cooperative
Industry Wholesale distribution
Predecessor USC (founded in 1890)
Founded 1969 (1969)
Headquarters Basel, Switzerland
Key people
Joos Sutter
(Chairman of the Executive Committee)
Hansueli Loosli
(Chairman of the Board of Directors)
Revenue 26 932 million CHF (2015)[1]
Number of employees
79 953 (2015)[1]
Website coop.ch
Coop city at Bellevue square in Zürich
Coop in a shopping center in Oberwil

Coop Cooperative (German pronunciation: [ˈkoːp]) is one of Switzerland's largest retail and wholesale companies. It is structured in the form of a cooperative society with around 2.5 million members.

As of 2015, Coop operates 2,213 shops and employs more than 54,000 people in Switzerland. According to Bio Suisse, the Swiss organic producers' association, Coop accounts for half of all the organic food sold in Switzerland. In June 2011, independent German rating agency oekom research AG awarded Coop with the title of "World's Most Sustainable Retailer".[2] Coop has three primary brands with a sustainability selling proposition: Coop Oecoplan (various daily life products), Coop Naturaline (textile products) and Coop Naturaplan (food). The company also sells products bearing the Max Havelaar Fairtrade label.

Coop also has a low-cost product line, "Prix garantie". Coop owns the Swiss chocolate company Halba.

Coop publishes a weekly magazine called Coopzeitung (in German), Coopération (in French) and Cooperazione (in Italian).

The chain has an online presence called coop@home.[3] The web site offers much of the same selection found in the Coop stores and delivers groceries, wine, flowers, books, and other products to customers in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It currently markets its services in German, French, English and Italian.

Summary

The Coop Group is headquartered in Switzerland and operates in the retail, wholesale and production sectors. Coop Group operates store formats in the food, non-food and service sectors. With Transgourmet Holding AG, Coop is Europe’s second largest cash & carry and wholesale supplies business. In total, the Coop Group has around 2,000 retail outlets in Switzerland and 124 cash & carry markets in Switzerland and other European countries. The Coop Group has a workforce of around 80 000, with approx. 54 000 employees in Switzerland.

History

The Verband Schweizerischer Konsumvereine (French: Union suisse des sociétés de consommation) was founded in 1890 as a union of cooperative societies.[4]

In 1927, the Verband Schweizerischer Konsumvereine and the Swiss Federation of Trade Unions founded the Coop Bank (as Genossenschaftliche Zentralbank). Named Coop Bank in 1995 and owned by the Basler Kantonalbank since 1999. The Coop Bank undertook a comprehensive rebranding and became the Bank Cler on May 19, 2017.

In 1969, the Verband Schweizerischer Konsumvereine became the Coop.

Passabene (self-checkout)

Coop was one of the first self-checkout providers in Switzerland, introducing its own system called Passabene in 2005. It is in use in 80 stores. Coop uses the MC17T Retail Mobile Computer by Motorola Solutions for this application. They later introduced an Apple iPhone App that customers can use to scan items.[5][6] As of Nov 2015, Coop point-of-sale devices accept Apple Pay, however, Coop Pronto gas stations do not (due to lack of NFC-capability.) (Please elaborate)

Cargo Sous Terrain

Cargo sous terrain (CST) is a planned underground logistics system – its first phase in the Mittelland region is scheduled by the early 2030s. As of January 2016, the company respectively association (Förderverein Cargo sous terrain) is based at the seat of Coop (Genossenschaft Basel) in Basel.[7][8]

Swissmill

Swissmill operates the largest grainery in Switzerland that produces 800 tons of grain daily, representing 30% of the national grain requirements. Its meal is prepared for all bread products produced by the Swiss retailer Coop, Volg and Landi. Although the Swissmill Tower's exterior and height in Zürich is disputed, the municipal authorities claim that the silo is intentionally designed in its aesthetically conscious way. Its external appearance is intended to express its interior – an industrial plant.[9]

See also

Notes and references

  1. 1 2 Facts & figures of the Coop Group, 2015
  2. World’s most sustainable retailer Coop. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  3. coop@home's official web site Archived 2011-02-11 at the Wayback Machine.
  4. http://www.coop.ch/en/about-us/company/about-us/our-history.html
  5. "Passabene at Coop, Switzerland". Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  6. "IMPROVED RETAIL EXPERIENCE WITH MOTOROLA SOLUTIONS' MC17T" (PDF). Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  7. "Förderverein Cargo sous terrain" (in German). moneyhouse.ch. 2015-11-23. Retrieved 2016-01-29.
  8. "Das wird die Logistik in der Schweiz auf den Kopf stellen" (in German). Limmattaler Zeitung. 2016-01-26. Retrieved 2016-01-29.
  9. Florian Niedermann (2016-04-27). "Der Swissmill-Tower spaltet Zürich" (in German). Limmattaler Zeitung. Retrieved 2016-05-19.
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