One of the largest supermarkets in Switzerland, Migros, has announced that it will be opening up to 100 new branches in the near future. Migros CEO Fabrice Zumbrunnen also predicted that the recent price rises seen in all Swiss supermarkets should stabilise in the spring and even start to decline, provided there are no unforeseen shocks.

100 new Migros stores will open in Switzerland in future, says CEO

Speaking to the Tages-Anzeiger, Zumbrunnen confirmed that they would be building 50 small Migros branches in the medium term and up to 100 in the long term, in addition to the 735 stores the chain already runs across all Swiss cantons. “This does not mean that we want to downsize our large supermarkets. They will also be of great importance in the future, but we want more smaller stores,” he said.

The CEO, who is due to resign in April, said that the crucial aspect for the supermarket was choosing the right location to set up shop and making sure there is enough of a supply chain in place to fill the shelves. The newspaper implied that they are able to make the new construction pledge thanks to record-breaking profits in 2022, despite a decline in sales in the supermarket side of the business.

Prices in Switzerland predicted to rise but then start to fall

In addition, after a year that started with a supermarket boycott of Russian goods and ended with Migros being criticised for price rises and high profits, Zumbrunnen predicted that prices on store shelves will continue to rise, but only in the short term.

Speaking to the newspaper, he said that the average price rise for goods at Migros was around 1,2 percent in 2022 - an increase that was blamed on higher raw material, packaging and energy costs. He said that Migros would also raise prices on a number of products at the beginning of this year, amounting to a 2 percent rise in 2023 as a whole.

However, he said that price rises should be contained and will even stabilise by the spring. "We can already see that energy and raw material prices are no longer rising. Some are even sinking again… As of spring, our prices should fall again, provided there are no unexpected turbulences,” he said.

Image: Shutterstock.com / Martin Good