Switzerland’s largest retailer Migros has bulldozed a 22% retail price concession out of Swiss supplier Ferrero for relisting its 200g Kinder ‘tranches de lait’ cake bars.


When these products return to the shelves, at the new price at CHF2.10 (USD$2.62), they will also have been made with fresh rather than reconstituted eggs.


For this particular line, the Swiss co-operative’s pricing crusade has been running since the autumn of 2005, when Migros broke Swiss trading laws to source Kinder product more cheaply from Germany. Three weeks later, Ferrero had shut down these parallel imports, but within six weeks Migros had sourced an own-label alternative from its extensive manufacturing arm.


At the same time, and using similar parallel import tactics, Migros has also forced down the retail price of the Philadelphia cheese range by 18%. While technically in breach of Swiss rules, Migros has had the support of Comco, the federal competition agency.