The Migros Group stores are a substantial part of the Swiss retail environment. Switzerland‘s largest retailer, known for its supermarkets as well as online stores and marketplaces Digitec Galaxus, got inspired by Amazon Prime‘s success, worldwide.
Migros aim to entice its loyal customers with:
- Free shipping
- Double loyalty points from their Cumulus program
- 10% discount on the top 10 most purchased products
One of the main reasons the Swiss retail giant has chosen to give a loyalty program with a subscription model a go, is because it has worked really well for Amazon.
With 150 million subscribers, Amazon Prime is arguably the most successful customer loyalty program in the western world.
How many people have an Amazon prime account
The company says it now has over 150 million Prime subscribers, and that more people joined Prime during the fourth quarter of last year than any other quarter in the company’s history. Since its last milestone of 100 million subscribers in 2018, more than 50 million people have joined. (Jan 30, 2020)
How much does Amazon Prime cost, compare to Migros M-Plus
The cost of an Amazon Prime subscription is 119 USD, or 99 EUR respectively. A Monthly subscription is slightly more expensive, at 12.99 USD or 9.90 EUR per month.
Migros launched its M-Plus program for a monthly fee of 8.90 CHF.
Do Amazon Prime customers order more
Yes, Amazon Prime customer order nearly 2x as many times on the platform, than those who do not have a subscription.
This shows the power of the program and the fact that customers remain loyal when they have bought into the program.
This statistic presents the average number of Amazon orders per year of Amazon Prime and non-Prime members in the United States as of December 2018. According to the findings, Amazon Prime members placed an average of 24 orders per year, while in comparison to those who were non-Prime customers had an average annual order volume of 13 orders.
Is a Migros subscription a good customer lock-in tool
If we go by Amazon’s numbers, it might very well be a great to create customer loyalty.
However, the product offer is far more extensive on Amazon Prime. Beyond mere online shopping rebates, the entertainment package (Amazon Prime Video and Amazon Music) are reasons for users to buy into the subscription, too.
Will Migros’ subscription be a success
Migros are early enough to the game to give this model a go, in Switzerland. Amazon has shown little or no interest in entering the Swiss market. Hence, the playing field in Switzerland is wide open.
However, whether or not the market for home deliveries is big enough to create a sustainable loyalty program for the Migros group, will remain to be seen.
Furthermore, this type of subscription does not exist in Switzerland, just yet. It will be up to the consumer to decide if the offer is enticing enough. An M-Plus subscription cost cost more than 100 CHF per year.
When will it launch
The M-Plus project has launched its pilot phase, already. Currently, interested customers can leave their contact details on the M-Plus website.
It is unclear when the next phase of the pilot project will be rolled out to a larger group of customers and whether or not it will be deployed in all of Switzerland.
What is the loyalty program called
Migros‘ new Amazon Prime-Style subscription is called: „M-Plus“.
What will the loyalty program cost
The test was launched in Migros Aare, a „test subscription“ costs 8.90 CHF per month.
Migros Loyalty Program in our GANDT Fireside Chat #013
In our daily Team Fireside Chats, we discuss trends in online marketing and digital retail.
In our Fireside Chat #013 this topic came up in our GANDT team. Interested to learn more and join the discussion?
Have a look at the video below.
You don’t need to go through the entire video to find it – the discussion starts after 0:52 min. Have fun.
The video is in German, we are working on English captions. If you are fine with Google’s auto-translation, or speak German of course, you’re all set.
