Coop reaches new sales landmark

Supermarket chain Coop reaped the benefit of undiminished consumer spending by recording turnover of SFr20 billion ($21.2 billion) for the first time last year.

Coop claimed that the 1.8 per cent increase in revenues on 2009 was achieved despite prices decreasing by the same percentage during the same period.

Retail sales from its 816 supermarkets rose 0.6 per cent to SFr11.3 billion. Along with its other operations, such as the Fust electronics chain, the group operated 1,914 outlets in Switzerland.

Coop’s main rival, Migros, said earlier this week that it had increased turnover one per cent from its 2009 mark of SFr24.95 billion.

But Coop is set to overtake Migros in terms of turnover volume once it fully incorporates the €6.2 billion (SFr7.85 billion) of revenues generated by European wholesaler transGourmet into the group.

The Swiss Competitions Commission approved the Coop takeover of transGourmet on Monday.

Coop will release its full 2010 results on February 15.