Migros Türk
Encyclopedia
Ramstore/Migros Türk Ticaret A.Ş. is one of the biggest chain of supermarket
Supermarket
A supermarket, a form of grocery store, is a self-service store offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments...

s in Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

.

Together via Migros supermarkets, Şok discount stores, international Ramstore shopping centers, online shopping, wholesale stores, and mobile sales units, Migros Türk serves an estimated 160 million customers. As of 2011, with 504 Migros stores (897.898 m2 enclosed area), 174 Tansaş stores (194.474 m2 enclosed area), 15 5M stores (132.170 m2 enclosed area) and 13 Macrocenters stores (21.387 m2 enclosed area) in Turkey, and 27 Ramstores in Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...

, Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

, Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...

, Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...

 and Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

, stores total 733, globally.

News reports in February 2008 indicated that BC Partners
BC Partners
BC Partners is a private equity firm specialising in buyouts and acquisitions financing in Europe and the United States. The firm invests across all industries...

 has agreed to buy Migros Turk in Turkey's biggest-ever leveraged buyout
Leveraged buyout
A leveraged buyout occurs when an investor, typically financial sponsor, acquires a controlling interest in a company's equity and where a significant percentage of the purchase price is financed through leverage...

. The London-based firm will trade Koc Holding 1.98 billion TL for a 51 percent stake in Migros Turk.

The Migros logo

The logo of Migros Türk is similar to that of the Swiss Migros
Migros
Migros is one of Switzerland's largest enterprises, its largest supermarket chain and largest employer. It co-founded Turkey's largest retailer, Migros Türk, which became independent of Migros Switzerland in 1975....

 but uses a dotted i, as the dotless I represents a different letter in the Turkish alphabet
Turkish alphabet
The Turkish alphabet is a Latin alphabet used for writing the Turkish language, consisting of 29 letters, seven of which have been modified from their Latin originals for the phonetic requirements of the language. This alphabet represents modern Turkish pronunciation with a high degree of accuracy...

 with phonetic value /ɯ/, a close back unrounded vowel
Close back unrounded vowel
The close back unrounded vowel, or high back unrounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is . Typographically a turned letter m, given its relation to the sound represented by the letter u it...

. As in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

, the supermarkets are categorized in three size classes of M, MM and MMM:
  • M Migros-supermarkets are selling basic consumables and a limited number of non-food products
  • MM Migros-stores offer a wider range of non-food articles besides the basic consumables
  • MMM Migros-stores have a larger product spectrum ranging from stationery to textile products, electric household appliances to bakeries, books and cosmetics


Migros vends some products under its own label.

History


The municipality of Istanbul founded Migros Türk in 1954 as a joint venture with Swiss Migros Cooperatives Union
Migros
Migros is one of Switzerland's largest enterprises, its largest supermarket chain and largest employer. It co-founded Turkey's largest retailer, Migros Türk, which became independent of Migros Switzerland in 1975....

. Initially, Migros Türk operated via 45 sales trucks (the same as its Swiss counterpart) only later to open stores fronts – the first in 1957 Beyoğlu
Beyoglu
Beyoğlu is a district located on the European side of İstanbul, Turkey, separated from the old city by the Golden Horn...

, Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...

.

In 1975, the majority of shares in the company were transferred to the Koç Group. Thereafter, Migros rapidly increased the number of stores in Istanbul, establishing the necessary infrastructure for purchasing fruits and vegetables directly from producers and farmers.

In 1981, a central perishables warehouse was opened. It is still in use, with some alterations and improvements.

In 1988, following development in Istanbul, 4 large stores were opened in İzmir
Izmir
Izmir is a large metropolis in the western extremity of Anatolia. The metropolitan area in the entire Izmir Province had a population of 3.35 million as of 2010, making the city third most populous in Turkey...

, and infrastructure investment were started in the Aegean
Aegean Sea
The Aegean Sea[p] is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus...

 region.

In addition to neighborhood stores in Istanbul and İzmir, larger stores were opened in new residential and suburban areas – an MM market in İzmir, followed by two MMM stores in Istanbul, in 1991.

Since late 1990, almost all of the older stores have been renovated, equipped with fully automated systems, introducing computerized and automatic cash registers.

In 1991, Migros became a publicly traded company.

Around this time, Migros extended its chain of supermarkets to other large cities, such as Antalya
Antalya
Antalya is a city on the Mediterranean coast of southwestern Turkey. With a population 1,001,318 as of 2010. It is the eighth most populous city in Turkey and country's biggest international sea resort.- History :...

, Ankara
Ankara
Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million....

 and Bursa
Bursa, Turkey
Bursa is a city in northwestern Turkey and the seat of Bursa Province. The metropolitan area in the entire Bursa province had a population of 2.6 million as of 2010, making the city fourth most populous in Turkey. The city is equally one of the most industrialized metropolitan centers in the...

, and the resorts destinations of Marmaris
Marmaris
Marmaris is a port city and a tourist resort on the Mediterranean coast, located in southwest Turkey, in Muğla Province.Marmaris' main source of income is tourism. Little is left of the sleepy fishing village that Marmaris was just a few decades ago after a construction boom in the 1980s...

, Bodrum
Bodrum
Bodrum is a port city in Muğla Province, in the southwestern Aegean Region of Turkey. It is located on the southern coast of Bodrum Peninsula, at a point that checks the entry into the Gulf of Gökova. The site was called Halicarnassus of Caria in ancient times and was famous for housing the...

, Silivri
Silivri
Silivri is a city and a district in Istanbul Province along the Sea of Marmara in Turkey, outside of metropolitan Istanbul, containing many holiday and weekend homes for residents of the city. The largest city in the district is also named Silivri...

 and Yalova
Yalova
Yalova is a city located in northwestern Turkey, on the eastern coast of the Sea of Marmara, and is the capital of the Yalova Province. Yalova has a city population of 92,166, while the population of the Yalova Province is 202,531. as of 2009...

.

In 1992, payment with credit card and customer satisfaction questionnaires were introduced.

On its 40th anniversary, the company expanded in Ankara with two more stores and in Adana
Adana
Adana is a city in southern Turkey and a major agricultural and commercial center. The city is situated on the Seyhan River, 30 kilometres inland from the Mediterranean, in south-central Anatolia...

 and Mersin
Mersin
-Mersin today:Today, Mersin is a large city spreading out along the coast, with Turkey's second tallest skyscraper , huge hotels, an opera house, expensive real estate near the sea or up in the hills, and many other modern urban...

. In 1994, Migros was named "the most successful company in Turkey" and was also shown as one of the most successful companies in Europe by the Euromoney magazine. 1995 brought a rapid growth to Migros with the opening of stores in 17 provinces, including Southeastern Anatolia and Adana, Gaziantep
Gaziantep
Gaziantep , Ottoman Turkish: Ayintab) previously and still informally called Antep; ʻayn tāb is a city in southeast Turkey and amongst the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world. The city is located 185 kilometres northeast of Adana and 127 kilometres by road north of Aleppo, Syria...

, Edirne
Edirne
Edirne is a city in Eastern Thrace, the northwestern part of Turkey, close to the borders with Greece and Bulgaria. Edirne served as the capital city of the Ottoman Empire from 1365 to 1453, before Constantinople became the empire's new capital. At present, Edirne is the capital of the Edirne...

, Tekirdağ
Tekirdag
Tekirdağ , the ancient Bisanthi , is a city in Eastern Thrace, in the European part of Turkey. Tekirdağ is the capital of Tekirdağ Province, felt by the local people to be a quieter and more pleasant town than the industrial centre of Çorlu, which it administers. The city population as of 2009 was...

 and Eskişehir
Eskisehir
Eskişehir is a city in northwestern Turkey and the capital of the Eskişehir Province. According to the 2009 census, the population of the city is 631,905. The city is located on the banks of the Porsuk River, 792 m above sea level, where it overlooks the fertile Phrygian Valley. In the nearby...

.

In 1995, Migros introduced a low-cost brand outlet named Şok. Started in Istanbul, the discount markets expanded to Ankara and İzmir. Şoks offer both food and non food items.

Rapid growth


In 1996, Migros Türk introduced nearly a new store every week, establishing 51 new stores. A supermarket was opened in Erzurum
Erzurum
Erzurum is a city in Turkey. It is the largest city, the capital of Erzurum Province. The city is situated 1757 meters above sea level. Erzurum had a population of 361,235 in the 2000 census. .Erzurum, known as "The Rock" in NATO code, served as NATO's southeastern-most air force post during the...

, and by the end of the year, 75 million people were being served by 124 stores in 20 cities and 6 regions of Turkey.

In 1997, it increased the number of stores in Turkey to 169, servicing 125 million customers. As in previous years, it opened 50 new stores and shopping centers in 1998 and expanded its service to 27 cities in total. Throughout 1999, its growth rate reached 2 stores per week on average, adding 108 new stores and 2 shopping centers.

In 1996, Migros Türk opened its first store outside of Turkey – a Ramstore in Baku
Baku
Baku , sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal...

, Azerbaijan –, followed up the next year with a shopping center in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

, Russia. With the success of the first Ramstore in Baku, 4 new stores were opened in Azerbaijan.

Migros opened second, larger, Ramstore shopping center in Moscow's Maryina Roscha district. In 1998, a new Ramstore shopping center's foundation was laid in Kazakhstan.

Currently, there are 3 Ramstores in Baku, 8 Ramstore shopping centers in Moscow, 41 Ramstores in other cities of Russia, 1 Ramstore shopping center in Kazakhstan, 1 Ramstore in Astana
Astana
Astana , formerly known as Akmola , Tselinograd and Akmolinsk , is the capital and second largest city of Kazakhstan, with an officially estimated population of 708,794 as of 1 August 2010...

, 4 in Almaty, 4 Ramstores in Sofia
Sofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...

, Bulgaria, 1 Ramstore shopping center and hypermarket in Skopje
Skopje
Skopje is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Macedonia with about a third of the total population. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre...

, Macedonia, totaling 54 Ramstores internationally.

"Self-service checkouts" were introduced to Turkish consumers in the giant store in Ankara
Ankara
Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million....

 for the first time in Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

 and in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

.

By the end of 1999, the number of Migros Club Card has reached to 2.5 million.

Also in 1999, Migros Türk launched its online presence, Kangurum, hosting more than 25,000 products from 60 different stores, ranging from refrigerators, wedding rings, toys, bouquet arrangements, and tomatoes to vacation reservations.

Migros presented the Bakkalım (literally: My Grocery) store format in the first quarter of 2000, spreading in Istanbul, İzmir and Ankara, they number 700, today.

Throughout 2001, Migros Online, added Antalya
Antalya
Antalya is a city on the Mediterranean coast of southwestern Turkey. With a population 1,001,318 as of 2010. It is the eighth most populous city in Turkey and country's biggest international sea resort.- History :...

 and Adana
Adana
Adana is a city in southern Turkey and a major agricultural and commercial center. The city is situated on the Seyhan River, 30 kilometres inland from the Mediterranean, in south-central Anatolia...

 to its service area. In 2001, Kangurum introduced wholesale market service, with B2B
Business-to-business
Business-to-business describes commerce transactions between businesses, such as between a manufacturer and a wholesaler, or between a wholesaler and a retailer...

 providing corporate transactions.

Within the course of 2001, Migros Turk has introduced 3 Migros stores in MMM format, 5 Migros stores in MM format and 3 Migros stores in M format, as well as 19 Şok discount stores, 1 Ramstore Shopping Center and 2 Ramstores in Moscow, 1 Ramstores in Sofia, and 1 Migros Shopping Center in Antalya. By the end of 2001, Migros was operating 461 stores serving 160 million customers annually.

Throughout 2002, Migros has made a grand total of 41 new investments – 1 MMM, 5 MM, 4 M and a total 23 Şok stores in Turkey, 6 new stores in Russia, 1 in Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

 and 1 in Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...

. With the addition of these new investments, Migros reached 425 points of sale at the end of year 2002, consisting of 65 M stores, 58 MM stores, 30 MMM stores and 3 shopping centers and hypermarkets. 3 Ramstores in Baku, 15 Ramstores in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

, 3 Ramstores in Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...

, 2 Ramstores in Sofia
Sofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...

.

The Ramstore in Baku
Baku
Baku , sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal...

, destroyed after a fire in 2001, was replaced. Within 6 months, Ramstore Hatai opened its doors again – with an investment of $4.5 million. A Ramstore in Sofia was opened in May 2001, followed by a second store in July, 2002.

In 2003, Migros opened its first retail store with direct access to subway in Metrocity
Metrocity
MetroCity AVM, opened on April 30 2003, is a modern shopping mall in the finance and business quarter of 1. Levent in Istanbul, Turkey, with a direct connection to 1...

, a shopping mall in the Levent district of Istanbul.

There are currently approximately 7 million customers holding Migros Club Cards.

In February 2008, BC Partners Ltd. agreed to buy Migros Turk TAS, Turkey's largest supermarket chain, for about $3.2 billion in the country's biggest-ever leveraged buyout, gaining 961 stores in Turkey and nearby countries through the takeover.

As of 04.11.2011 Migros Ticaret A.Ş. had a total of 733 stores with 504 Migros, 174 Tansaş, 13 Macro Center, 15 5M in 67 provinces at Turkey and 27 Ramstore stores abroad covering an area of 1.339.736 m²

External links

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