Coop (Switzerland) facts for kids
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Headquarters in Basel, Switzerland
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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 largest companies. It sells many different products. Coop is also a big wholesale company. This means it sells goods in large amounts to other businesses.
Coop is special because it is a cooperative. This means it is owned by its members. About 2.5 million people are members of Coop.
As of 2019, Coop had 2,478 stores. It employed over 90,000 people in Switzerland. Coop sells a lot of organic food. In fact, it sells about half of all organic food in Switzerland.
In 2011, Coop was named the "World's Most Sustainable Retailer." This was because of its efforts to be eco-friendly. Coop has special brands for sustainable products. These include Coop Oecoplan for daily items and Coop Naturaplan for food. It also sells products with the Max Havelaar Fairtrade label. This helps farmers get fair prices.
Coop also has a line of products called "Prix Garantie." These products are sold at a lower cost. Coop owns a Swiss chocolate company called Halba.
Coop publishes a weekly magazine. It is called Coopzeitung in German. In French, it is Coopération, and in Italian, it is Cooperazione.
You can also find Coop online at coop.ch. Their website sells many of the same things as their stores. They deliver groceries, flowers, and other items. They deliver to customers in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. The website is available in German, French, Italian, and English.
Contents
What Coop Does
The Coop Group is based in Switzerland. It works in three main areas. These are selling directly to people (retail), selling to other businesses (wholesale), and making products.
Coop has many different types of stores. Some sell food, others sell non-food items. They also offer various services. Coop is Europe's second-largest business for cash & carry and wholesale supplies. This is through its company, Transgourmet Holding AG.
In total, the Coop Group has about 2,500 stores in Switzerland. It also has 124 cash & carry markets. These are in Switzerland and other European countries. The Coop Group has a large team of around 90,000 employees.
How Coop Started
In 1864, a man named Jean Jenny-Ryffel started Switzerland's first consumer cooperative. This happened in Schwanden. A consumer cooperative is a business owned by its customers.
Over the next few years, many other cooperatives started. In 1890, many of them joined together. They formed a group called Verband Schweizerischer Konsumvereine (VSK). In 1969, this group changed its name to Coop Genossenschaft. This is the name it still uses today.
In 1927, the VSK and the Swiss Federation of Trade Unions started a bank. It was called Genossenschaftliche Zentralbank. Later, in 1995, it was renamed Bank Coop. In 1999, another bank became the main owner. In 2017, Bank Coop changed its name again to Bank Cler.
Self-Checkout at Coop
Coop was one of the first stores in Switzerland to offer self-checkout. They started their own system called Passabene in 2005. This system is used in 80 of their stores.
Customers can use a special scanner to scan their items. Later, Coop also made mobile apps. These apps let customers scan items with their own phones. This makes shopping quicker and easier.
Swissmill and Food Production
Swissmill is a company owned by Coop. It runs the largest granary in Switzerland. A granary is a place where grain is stored. Swissmill produces 800 tons of grain every day. This is about 30% of all the grain Switzerland needs.
The flour from Swissmill is used to make bread products. These products are sold by Coop and other Swiss retailers. The Swissmill Tower in Zürich is a very tall building. It is designed to look like an industrial plant.
See also
In Spanish: Coop (Suiza) para niños
- List of supermarket chains in Switzerland
External links
- coop.ch
