Shared Services combine the competence centres in the areas of logistics, IT, transport, sustainable development/ecology, planning/expansion and quality assurance. In addition to operations, the competence centres are responsible for the strategic orientation of these areas.

Activities in the logistics sector in 2013 focused on increasing efficiency by reducing costs along the whole supply chain. Rising raw material prices, the euro exchange rate and higher production costs necessitated continuous optimisation along the whole value-added chain.

Distribution centres: consolidation of facilities
Since September 2012, frozen products requested by the branches are being transported in temperature-controlled swap bodies by intermodal transport on the Swiss Plateau-Eastern Switzerland axis. They are then sent back to Neuendorf (SO) with finished products, among other things, from Migros' own industrial company in Bischofszell (TG). This ensures that Migros' transport logistics strategy of always transporting goods by rail where possible is consistently implemented and enhances its position as the biggest customer of SBB Cargo as well as boosting its image as an environmentally friendly company. Intermodal transport reduces the burden on the heavily used A1 on the Swiss Plateau-Eastern Switzerland section by around 2'500 lorries per year. In the reporting year, the intermodal transport network was consistently expanded towards western Switzerland and southern Switzerland with goods flows from the Commerce Department (e.g. Globus) and other cargo from the Logistics Department.

Transport logistics: intermodal transport
Since September 2012, frozen products requested by the branches are being transported in temperature-controlled swap bodies by intermodal transport on the Swiss Plateau-Eastern Switzerland axis. They are then sent back to Neuendorf (SO) with finished products, among other things, from Migros' own industrial company in Bischofszell (TG). This ensures that Migros' transport logistics strategy of always transporting goods by rail where possible is consistently implemented and enhances its position as the biggest customer of SBB Cargo as well as boosting its image as an environmentally friendly company. Intermodal transport reduces the burden on the heavily used A1 on the Swiss Plateau-Eastern Switzerland section by around 2'500 lorries per year. In the reporting year, the intermodal transport network was consistently expanded towards western Switzerland and southern Switzerland with goods flows from the Commerce Department (e.g. Globus) and other cargo from the Logistics Department.

IT: integration complete
Following the pooling of IT competence and services under a single management structure as Migros IT Services in 2011, the integration was consolidated and completed in the reporting year. IT continues to operate on a decentralised basis, but now has a compact management structure. This enables processes and developments to be standardised and quality to be optimised. Centralisation means that resources can be deployed more efficiently and costs reduced even further. The second stage of the consolidation provides for the pooling of the IT infrastructure and computer centres.

Sustainable development: optimised services
In 2013 the Logistics & IT Department, in partnership with the other strategic business units (SBU), committed itself to the sustainable organisation of its services. Within Shared Services, certain aspects of sustainable development have been more strongly incorporated into the individual management divisions. Within the Commerce SBU, a start was made on extending the environmental control system and integrating the 2020 Climate and Energy Strategy to both Denner and Globus.

As in the previous year, the bulk of Migros' goods transports was carried by rail. At 75%, the proportion of goods transported by rail as opposed to by road between the national and regional distribution centres is at a very high level. In the reporting year, Migros successfully switched deliveries to a number of regional Cooperatives to the railway network. In total, the goods wagons of Migros covered around 11 million kilometres, 8% more than in the previous year. Through the conclusion of a three-year framework agreement, SBB Cargo remains the preferred strategic partner of Migros, both in wagonload freight and intermodal transport.

Progress has also been made in the corporate environmental protection area. Since the end of 2013, Migros has been the first Swiss retailer to recover and recycle all types of household plastic bottles.

Targets and outlook
Shared Services are anticipating a further increase in efficiency in the current year. Efforts will be made to transport similar or slightly higher volumes of goods at lower cost and at the same time with less damage to the environment, to optimise the supply chain processes in the intermediary trade area and to further increase energy efficiency.