Grüezi Migros/Migipedia

In my 15 years in Switzerland, I have been able to observe the product management in Migros and Coop quite well. Every now and then I go shopping in the USA or Canada, and I have noticed that although there is a much larger selection of products there, such as cheese, meat, etc., they have a similar problem as here.
Namely: when products disappear, some people are always unhappy (I am no exception), and the way this is done is not smart.

What I mean is: it is apparently done in such a way that if product "X" is not bought often enough, "X" is replaced.
A good solution right away, but a very important point is completely lost in the thought: people like to have a choice. Or to be more specific: if I as a customer know that I *can* buy a certain type of cheese - even if I don't do it this time or even next time! - I would much rather go to the store than if I know that there is only a limited selection.

Please read that sentence again, because nobody seems to get it: We customers come because we like to have a choice. If our favorite products disappear - even if we rarely buy them! - we are dissatisfied and are more likely to go to another store.

I know this from my own experience. 15 years ago, there were some products in Migros that I always liked going to Migros for - I much preferred Migros to Coop, for example. Then it happened: my favorite cheese was suddenly gone, and it was the only cheese of its kind in the refrigerated section. I wrote emails, I collected signatures... nothing worked. From that moment on, I was no longer as loyal to Migros as I used to be. You have to understand that many people develop almost an emotional relationship with their favorite products; we are not just robots who go shopping in a "statistical" way.
Today I have become "used" to being disappointed when something new disappears. Nowadays I just go to the store that's closest - often Coop in my case, although a long time ago I used to go almost exclusively to Migros.

I think Migros could benefit from building up a good selection - and keeping it. Thinking differently and not always scrutinizing every product in the same way. If Migros were to do something like this - to make its range more varied and stable - I bet that over time they would be more popular than the Coop (as long as the Coop continues to let products disappear).

And if you do something like that - please bring the old Havarti cheese back into the range - that round slice in the red packaging...that was my favorite cheese, and it was only because it (apparently) didn't sell enough that I went to Migros less often for 13-14 years. Was it worth it?

Yours sincerely,
Adrian Schubert