Migros launches grocery delivery service Miacar

Migros, the largest supermarket chain of Switzerland, is bringing back the famous Migros wagons, but with a digital twist. In the Bern region, the company is testing Miacar, a new delivery service that resembles the Dutch online grocery startup Picnic that’s currently shaking up the German market.

Migros, now the biggest supermarket chain of Switzerland, once started with five sales cars that offered groceries at 178 stops in Zurich. Soon, founder Gottlieb Duttweiler opened physical stores, but the Migros vans stayed until 2007.

Miacar is tested in Bern

And now they are back. Three months after Migros founded the Migros Digital Solutions business unit, the grocer is ready for a new chapter in the company’s history, with the launch of Miacar. Since last month, the electric vehicles are being tested in the Bern region.

“The Migros sales cars of Gottlieb Duttweiler are our example”, Migros spokesman Luzi Weber tells Blick.ch. One wondered how the founder’s vision could be implemented in a timely manner, and talked to many customers. “Based on this analysis, we then worked out an independent concept.”

Ordering groceries using a mobile app

Miacar customers can place orders using a mobile app, after which they will receive the ordered products in a time frame between one hour and twenty minutes. When the order value passes 25 francs (almost 22 euros), the products will be delivered to the customer’s home with no shipping fees.

The assortment includes the most popular items in the region from Migros’ and Denner’s (the discount supermarket chain Migros acquired in 2007) product range. In addition to fresh products, this also includes beer and wine.

Miacar versus Picnic

When you read about how the service works with a mobile app, what the electric vans look like and how the delivery process is, you might start thinking about the Dutch online supermarket Picnic, which started its service in some areas of Germany. Miacar even uses the same electric vehicle type as Picnic (or Swiss startup Farmy.ch).

Miacar in Switzerland

Migros is considering launching Miacar nationwide. “If the customer experiences are positive, a gradual expansion into other regions of Switzerland is planned”, Weber says.

A video about the last Migros car in Valais: