ON ITS 60TH YEAR INTRODUCING NEW GENERATION RETAIL SALES, MIGROS IS A REFLECTION OF TURKEY IN TERMS OF ITS CUSTOMER PROFILE WITH ITS STRUCTURE THAT EQUATES THE MOST SUITABLE SHOPPING BASKET IN THE MARKET TO ITS OWN SHOPPING BASKET

MİGROS TİCARET A.Ş GENERAL MANAGER ÖZGÜR TORT:
“PRODUCTIVITY LEVELS ALLOWED MİGROS TO OPEN UP ADDITIONAL 80 NEW STORES”

Since the year 1954, when it was established, as it is bringing ground breaking implementations to the retail industry, Migros Ticaret A.Ş. pioneers yet another innovative application. The first and only institution that has the status of a ‘Research and Development centre’ within the industry, Migros Ticaret A.Ş. promoted the examples of new generation retail practices at the store that will be opened within UNIQ Istanbul in Maslak. Combining 60 years of established experience and advanced technology, Migros ensures that every customer reaches the freshest products in the fastest and most advantageous manner in each of the new generation stores. Evaluating the new generation retail sales, Migros Ticaret A.Ş. General Manager Özgür Tort stated, “Our new generation retailing practices are a proud result of the meeting of this vision formed through our 60 years of experience with technology. We see technology as a tool to touch our customers’ mind and heart and we use it with this purpose. Thinking that the applications that will result from this initiative will be implemented in all of our stores and will guide the industry increases our excitement even further in our 60th year. I should say that the strength of the brand Migros is productivity, penetration, shopping experience and growth. Productivity in retailing opens every door. With this understanding, we ensured that growth is constant and at the same time with the resources generated by the productivity in 2014, we opened up additional 80 new stores. By bringing the products that have the quality and price advantage that is available only in Migros to wider masses, we further increased the competition established in the industry within the recent years. We equated the most affordable shopping basket in the market with our shopping basket. We care about the middle income class and particularly those who take care of their families and we fulfil their expectations with the prices that are most affordable in comparison to their budgets. For this reason, we are the preference of the consumer. Today, our customer profile reflects Turkey’s profile”.

The leading player of the Turkish retail industry, Migros group welcomes its 60th year in the industry with double digit growth numbers, increasing penetration level in 70 cities, permanent results that guide the investments in terms of productivity and innovations that resonate well with its leading role. As the first and only institution within the retail industry in Turkey that has been granted the status to establish a Research and Development centre, Migros Ticaret A.Ş. opens its first store that will determine the merchandizing standards of the future and is equipped with new generation retail practices to service at UNIQ Istanbul located in Maslak. Aiming to bring the freshest food products as well as the non-food household products to the customers in the fastest possible manner, Migros now combined 60 years of experience and genuine service understanding with technology in order to fulfil this objective. Shaped with the retailing understanding of the future, the first of the new generation Migros stores were introduced to the members of the press, hosted by Migros Ticaret A.Ş. General Manager Özgür Tort.

The new generation store that turns shopping into a pleasing experience, will end the problems related to closed tills with new generation check out points with and without a cashier. Significant retail innovation as “iBeacon” (RehberiM) that provides information about in-store deals, along with a number of technological applications such as the smart scale that can recognize all kinds of vegetables and fruits and “Unlimited Shopping”, where the products that are not found in the store can be ordered, will make shopping faster and much more fun. The new generation Migros features a number of product machines that provide customized services for various brands and it will also include a three dimensional printer. Experienced store personnel on the other hand will be able to immediately respond to all of the questions of the consumers related to the products in the store with the smart identity cards that can transform into a small computer and at the same time communicate with all of the employees working in the store.

“With the productivity generated in 2014, we opened up 80 new additional stores””
Informing the press during the introduction of the new generation store, Migros Ticaret A.Ş. General Manager Özgür Tort defined the strengths of the brand Migros as productivity, penetration, shopping experience and growth. Özgür Tort said, “At the basis of all of the aspects that differentiated us during the last 60 years, lies the perfect harmony of these four. Between the years 2009-2013, Migros acquired a growth rate of 11 percent on average with double digits, and reached 13 percent growth rate during the first six months of this year. Productivity opens every door in retailing. We opened 80 of more than 200 stores we opened and will open in 2014 with the resources generated by the productivity. By using technology efficiently, we aim to increase our productivity levels”.

“Migros reflects Turkey like a mirror with its structure that equates the most affordable shopping basket in the market to its own shopping basket.”
Özgür Tort indicated during his speech that the discount stores, hypermarkets and local markets acquired an extremely fast development and also caused further competition in the retail industry that they are a part of. In addition to the penetration of Migros that increased during the recent years, it also developed its competitiveness and equated the most affordable shopping basket in the market with its own shopping basket and continued his words as the following: “We care about the budgets of families and those who take care of their families more than everything and we strive to keep their price expectation and budgets together in a sustainable manner. Along with developing very affordable and high quality products under the Migros brand, we also improve the products that are only found in Migros and allowed them to reach the widest sections of the society. Our competitive structure which equates the most affordable shopping basket in the market with our own ensures that we have a customer base that reflects Turkey entirely. The customer profile of Migros is the same as Turkey’s middle income group, which is 62 percent of the whole population. This means the customer profile that Migros built with long years of experience is exactly a mirror reflection of Turkey.”

Özgür Tort: “Our new generation retail practices are the result of 60 years of vision that we are proud of”
Highlighting that throughout the 60 years of history of the Migros Group, it has pioneered a number of innovations, Özgür Tort reminded that the first packaged products and original brands within the Turkish retail industry were used at Migros. Highlighting that Migros also used the cash register for the first time as well, Özgür Tort said that the barcode, loyalty card and online market applications were also implemented by Migros for the first time. As the brand that introduced part-time work opportunities to the industry and allowed for the first use of credit cards, Özgür Tort highlighted that Migros maintains its leading role with respect to a number of innovations that come up with the fast developments in technology.
Underlining that the industry players who want to make a difference are in an open competition to use “new generation retail” practices and to have their customers experience these, Özgür Tort added, “The new generation retail practices we are introducing, is a proud result of our 60 years of vision. We make shopping completely different with the new generation retail practices. With this aspect that we have, we have become the first and only institution in Turkey that has been granted R&D status in the retail industry”.

“Our genuine service understanding that brings fresh products to the consumers in a fast manner, is our strongest aspect in new generation retail”
Along with being the first and only R&D Centre in the industry, Özgür Tort indicated that they do not see new generation retailing limited to technology and continued his words as the following: “Our genuine service understanding that brings fresh products to the consumers in a fast manner makes up the most significant and strongest aspect of our perspective towards the new generation retailing. Bringing fresh food products to the customer’s basket with the standards adopted by Migros requires a significant investment and system. For this reason, we consider and use technology as a tool to touch our customers’ minds and hearts.”
Stating that in order to realize all of these, customers have to be known really well, Özgür Tort also indicated, “One of the most important differences in the service understanding of Migros lies here. With our different formats, we appeal to both the minds and the hearts of 1,750,000 customers that enter through our doors each day in 70 different cities, realizing the changes in 13 million households that we penetrated, we develop services that can address our customers’ demands in a genuine, fast and freshest manner.

Considering that the generations change in the retail industry every 20 years, in 2014 when we are celebrating our 60th year, we come across four generations that knows, recognizes Migros and grew up with it. Our customer profile, which embraces all of these four generations reflects Turkey entirely ranging from students to retired, from housewives to working professionals, in all kinds of income groups and lifestyles. Put differently, we know what makes us feel good in this country. We offer everything that will make our customers feel good; good agriculture, good meat and best quality products with our service understanding that prioritizes friendly attitude and affordable prices. For this reason, we say that Migros will treat you and your family well as it did in the past 60 years”.

“We ensured that 4,417 producers begin conducting good agriculture practices with product purchase guarantee”
Özgür Tort highlighted that with established experience acquired over the years, they observed that the most basic aspect that determines the market preference of the consumer is fresh groceries and explicated that the expertise attained by Migros in relation to fresh groceries constitutes the determinant of Migros’ success. Tort stressed that Migros maintained its leading position with respect to fresh groceries, in fruits-vegetables with “Good Agriculture”, with its own integrated facility established last year in red meat and with “Good Chicken” in white meat.
With the good agriculture practice, more than 309 thousand tons of product were sold as indicated by Özgür Tort, who said that Migros ensured that 4,417 producers begin conducting good agriculture practices with product purchase guarantee. Özgür Tort highlighted that bringing fresh groceries to the customers all around Turkey making sure that it does not lose its freshness with Migros standards requires a significant infrastructure and system and that the most critical success element is qualified manpower.

“iBeacon” (RehberiM) knows the customer as soon as they enter through the door: “Your favourite chocolate is half price specially for you just after you turn the corner...”
Migros Ticaret A.Ş. General Manager Özgür Tort also introduced the most advanced example of CRM approach that knows the customers as soon as they enter through the door, “RehberiM” (iBeacon) application during the meeting where the examples of new generation applications were presented. Özgür Tort also provided the following information related to the subject matter: “With the RehberiM (iBeacon) application, we know the customers, who have Bluetooth open in their smart phone, as soon as they enter through the door. While our customers are shopping, we send them a text message to let them know about a new product that came to the store at that moment or a product that is special to a certain region or the deals that they might be interested in. Moreover, the information related to the products and brands that they might need or like in accordance with their past preferences are also conveyed to the customers. Put differently, with the customer guide we recognize the consumers’ shopping habits, styles and needs not after they leave the cash register but as soon as they enter the store and therefore we accompany them during their shopping with suggestions that they might be interested in. For instance, those customers who frequently purchase chocolates are sent a message saying, “Your favourite chocolate is right around the corner with half price especially for you”. If Alaşehir’s seedless grape is a new product that has come to our store, we notify this to our customers with a message saying “Alaşehir’s seedless grapes are now in the fruit and vegetable section”.

“Unlimited Shopping” era
With the “Unlimited Shopping” application that will be used in Maslak, the customers will have the opportunity to order the product or products that they cannot find in the store from other stores all around Turkey as stated by Tort and he continued to explain its features as: “You reach our product lists by using the Unlimited Shopping application. Let’s say you come across a product that is not available in the store you came to but is available in a different Migros store, for instance a 5M store. You select the product on the screen, you pay for it and you give an instruction to have it sent to your address. Depending on the area, it is delivered to your home within one or two business days.”

The cash registers in the store are always open… New generation cash registers end the lines at the till
One of the most interesting innovations at Maslak Migros store is the “New Generation Cash Register”. With the new generation cash register application, the products can be scanned without a cashier as in the case of jet cash register. However, the customer may always request cashier support and have his/her products scanned. Depending on the number of customers in retail merchandizing, there might be lines at the tills, said Özgür Tort and added, “Jet cash registers have attracted more attention from our customers than we expected.

I believe the new generation cash registers will attract the same level of interest. With the new generation cash register application, all of the cash registers will always be open. This will end our customers’ wait at the till and therefore it is a very significant application”.

Sensor and camera fitted, smart scales remotely recognize the fruits and vegetables purchased by the consumer
Indicating that another application that facilitates the lives of the customers are smart scales, Özgür Tort said, “Smart scales that we offer for use for the first time in Turkey within the new generation stores, recognize the vegetable and fruit products remotely with the camera and sensor fitted to it. In other words, you do not have to enter a code number to weigh the product. Smart scale calculates the grammage and price without making any additional transactions only by placing the pre-defined product on the scale and prints the price barcode. Thereby, the products weighed on smart scales do not have to be weighed at the cash register one by one. Moreover, the consumer may purchase from the fruit juices as much as desired that can be prepared with the new generation fruit juice machines located next to the tills, without touching, at +4 degrees and without having the peels touch the juice”.

Window opening to the system: Smart Identity
Another new application is the smart identity cards carried by the personnel, said Özgür Tort and added that the smart identity cards are at the same time a window that opens to the retailing system of Migros. “All of our colleagues working in the store will facilitate the operation immediately until the order without investigating the stocks owing to their smart cards and become a part of the system that can immediately respond to the questions of the customers. With this system, it is as if each of them carry a small tablet on their sleeve. Smart identity cards and push and talk feature ensures that the team can communicate faster among them”. Özgür Tort stated that they added smart phone and tablet consoles to the shopping carts considering the constant relationship of the people in the new era with technology.

Brands also adapt to the new generation retail applications…
Indicating that the employees and the suppliers complement the system offered to the customers by the retailer, Özgür Tort added, “Our claim is related to our business style that is fully compliant with the ecosystem we created and always focused on developing this ecosystem”. Özgür Tort also highlighted that the brands also implement the applications that demonstrate their approach towards new generation retailing at Maslak Migros and continued his words: “The projects that seemed like a dream in the past are now among the indispensable elements of daily life. For instance, the 3D printers that we display at our stores will enable us to produce and present products that we customize for each customer within the store in the coming years. Brands are also catching up with this transformation, suppliers are collaborating with us and they exhibit their approaches in line with the rules of the new generation retail sales in this store. As it can be seen from the current examples, now the shelves and departments can talk to the customers.”

Migros expanded its objective regarding the number of new stores in 2014, its end of year turnover will exceed 8 billion TL
Stating that one of the most significant competence areas of Migros is multiple brand management, Özgür Tort added that besides the roof brand Migros, 5M Migros, MigrosJet, Migros Wholesale, Online Market, Tansaş, Macrocenter and Ramstore formats are also reaching their own targets. Özgür Tort continued as the following: Tansaş is the brand of the Aegean region. Migros Online Market, which was established in 1998 has seen today’s world from that date. It constantly developed and today it has become the leader of online grocery trade. Macrocenter on the other hand is about to break a record in terms of the number of stores. While there were only 10 Macrocenter stores in 2010, today this number reached 27. Beyond the Turkish border, we expand our impact area with Ramstores. In Kazakhstan we are the leader of the market and in Macedonia we doubled our size during the last year.”

According to the most recent Fortune 500 List that has been published, Migros is Turkey’s 17th largest company, said Özgür Tort and added that they will provide services in 1,129 stores in total both in Turkey and abroad and they will exceed the 150 new store target at the end of 2014 and will finalize the year with over 200 new stores opened. Özgür Tort also indicated that they expect their end of the year turnover aims to exceed 8 billion TL.