Coop (Switzerland) facts for kids
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| Cooperative | |
| Industry | Wholesale distribution |
| Predecessor | VSK/USC (founded in 1890) |
| Founded | 1969 |
| Headquarters | , |
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Key people
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Joos Sutter (Chairman of the Executive Committee) Hansueli Loosli (Chairman of the Board of Directors) |
| Revenue | 30.7 billion CHF (2019) |
| Members | 2,500,000 |
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Number of employees
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90,307 (2019) |
Coop is one of Switzerland's biggest companies for selling things in stores (retail) and selling in bulk (wholesale). It's special because it's a cooperative society. This means it's owned by its members, not just a few shareholders. About 2.5 million people are members of Coop!
As of 2019, Coop had 2,478 shops and over 90,000 employees in Switzerland. They sell a lot of organic food. In fact, half of all organic food sold in Switzerland comes from Coop. In 2011, Coop was even named the "World's Most Sustainable Retailer." They have special brands for sustainable products: Coop Oecoplan (for daily items), Coop Naturaline (for clothes), and Coop Naturaplan (for food). They also sell products with the Max Havelaar Fairtrade label, which helps farmers get fair prices.
Coop also has a cheaper product line called "Prix Garantie." They even own a Swiss chocolate company named Halba. Coop publishes weekly magazines in different languages: Coopzeitung (German), Coopération (French), and Cooperazione (Italian). You can also shop online at coop.ch. Their website delivers groceries, wine, flowers, books, and more to customers in Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
Contents
How Coop Started
The very first consumer cooperative in Switzerland was formed in 1864. It was started by Jean Jenny-Ryffel in Schwanden. Many other cooperative groups then started across the country.
In 1890, many of these groups joined together. They formed the Verband Schweizerischer Konsumvereine (VSK). This name means "Association of Swiss Consumer Societies." In 1969, this association changed its name to what we know today: Coop Genossenschaft.
Easy Shopping with Passabene
Coop was one of the first stores in Switzerland to offer self-checkout. This system is called Passabene and was introduced in 2005. You can find it in 80 Coop stores.
With Passabene, you can scan your own items as you shop. Coop uses special mobile devices for this. They also have mobile apps that customers can use on their phones to scan items. Since 2015, Coop stores have accepted Apple Pay, making it even easier to pay.
Swissmill: Making Flour for Switzerland
Swissmill is a very important part of Coop. It runs the largest granary in Switzerland. A granary is a place where grain is stored and processed. Swissmill makes 800 tons of grain every day! This provides about 30% of all the grain Switzerland needs.
The flour from Swissmill is used to make bread for many Swiss stores. This includes Coop's own bread products, as well as those for Volg and Landi. You might have seen the tall Swissmill Tower in Zürich. It's a very noticeable building!
See also
- List of supermarket chains in Switzerland
