Many shelves in Migros supermarkets across Switzerland are bare. What’s going on and when will they they be restocked?
If you’re looking for refrigerated dairy items in your local Migros, you may be out of luck as many shelves in the yoghurt and cheese sections remain empty due to IT problems causing delivery disruptions.
As a result of what the company is calling “an extraordinary event” on signs attached to empty shelves, there’s only a limited selection of products, such as quark, cottage cheese, and mozzarella, reported Swiss daily Tages-Anzeiger.
All regional Migros cooperatives – Denner, Migrolino, and Migros Online – are also affected.
Consumers have been taking to Migipedia, the store’s community platform, in recent weeks to bemoan stock shortages and empty shelves.
So what’s going on? The Elsa Group, which is owned by the Migros Group, recently migrated to a different software provider, and things haven’t run as smoothly as hoped.
Migros’ dairy products are produced by Elsa, which is also responsible for the aging and processing of cheese.
The glitch came about when Elsa switched to SAP software at the start of June, causing logistical problems and supply bottlenecks as the company uses this software to manage its product distribution.
“Our IT specialists are working hard to resolve the problem as quickly as possible,” a Migros spokesperson told Swiss online news site 20 Minuten.
“At the same time, we have already implemented initial immediate measures,” a Migros spokesperson told Swiss daily Blick, explaining that this included alternative procurement, outsourcing of activities, and manual picking.
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There has, so far, been no clear statement from the company on how long the disruption could last and when the full product selection could be back on shelves.
But the disruption is only impacting products delivered by the Elsa Group, with many alternative products available, Migros has said.
For example, products with the ‘regional’ label are not affected as these come from different suppliers.
The disruption to deliveries also means that many products are spoiling before they can make it to shops. These products have been donated to charities, while any unfinished products that couldn’t be delivered have become pig feed, the supermarket told the Tages-Anzeiger.
