NEW THINKING AT MIGROLINO STEMMING FROM THE COVID-19 CHALLENGE
The present crisis imposed on us by the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to have a lasting impact on the strategies of retail businesses, even after this threat is over. We are likely to see more purchasing online, more home delivery, and more social distancing. The emerging digital technology revolution also seems key.
In this article, we shall discuss what seem to be several major shifts in retail firms’ strategies, using Swiss-based retail firm Migrolino as an example. This company, wholly owned by Switzerland’s largest retailer, the Migros group, consists of around 330 retail outlets, most of which are co-located with petrol stations. The typical Migrolino store is thus relatively small and caters primarily to the convenience-driven shopping needs of customers.
It should be noted that Migrolino was only one of two subsidiaries of the Migros group which experienced ultra-high growth in the midst of the COVID-19 threat (the other was a mail order business). Social distancing was a vital element!
The research methodology adopted in this note can be characterised as pre-paradigmatic (Glaser and Strauss), i.e. intended to frame key current dilemmas in such terms that they might then, in follow-up research, be suitable
