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Migros anticipates: With the resignation of Hansueli Loosli, an era at Coop ends
In Coop, the positions of Chairman of the Board of Directors and General Director will be filled. In recent years, the group has often acted more proactively than Migros, with one important exception.
Hansueli Loosli (left) will step down as Chairman of the Coop Board of Directors, and CEO Joos Sutter (right) will inherit it.
The label “Coopkind” does not apply to any Swiss like Hansueli Loosli. The 65-year-old joined Coop at the age of 36, led the group between 1997 and 2011 as CEO and has chaired the retail giant on the Board of Directors ever since. Next year is over. Loosli is resigning for reasons of age and wants to relinquish his position to former CEO Joos Sutter, as Coop announced on Friday. This ends an era.
In 2001 Loosli started the race to catch up with perennial competitor Migros with the “Coop Forte” fusion program. The regional Coop cooperatives gave up much of their autonomy and the group has been managed more centrally and uniformly since then. While Migros cooperatives continue to make many decisions on their own and trigger a great need for coordination, the reorganization made it possible for Coop to open new formats such as Coop Pronto or Coop City, to buy competitors such as the old Waro and take control of the wholesaler Transgourmet completely in 2010.
Since 2016, Coop has recorded more sales than Migros
Four years ago, Coop reached a milestone and has since recorded more sales at the group level than Migros, even if it continues to employ more people in Switzerland and sell slightly more products in its supermarkets. Even the market entry of the German discount chain Aldi and Lidl had little impact on Coop. In the online business, however, Migros has been one step ahead recently. Not only does it have a higher turnover grocery store with Leshop than Coop, with the Digitec purchase it also moved into the electronics sector. Digitization and online channel development are likely to be among the biggest challenges for Loosli’s successor.
This one has a familiar name. As already after his resignation from the management of the group, Joos Sutter will inherit it as Chairman of the Board of Directors. Sutter has been CEO of Coop since 2011. The 56-year-old from Graubünden has been in the Coop universe for much longer. After studying economics at St. Gallen and a stint at Ems-Chemie, he took over the finance department of imported perfumeries in 1996. Then he ran the electronics retailer Interdiscount and later the commercial business with department stores and specialty markets. .
Sutter is followed by a “little Loosli”
Sutter, who is described in media reports as “lightning smart”, “humorous” or “alpine charm”, grew up in Thusis GR. Whenever possible, the nostalgic Graubünden resident goes hiking, fly-fishing, motorcycling or skiing. He is married and has three children. In an interview with this newspaper in the spring, he did not reveal anything about his plans, but indicated that it was still “a lot of fun” working at Coop.
Philipp Wyss will rise to the top of the group for Sutter. He was already one of the Papabili in 2011 when it was time to succeed Hansueli Loosli as CEO. But finally Joos Sutter made the race. Wyss was appointed deputy to Sutter and assumed the influential Directorate of Marketing and Acquisitions.
Before that, the Lucerne resident rose step by step up the internal career ladder. He has worked for the retailer for over 20 years. Until April 2012, he was Director of the Central Switzerland-Zurich sales region. The skilled butcher and businessman started his career at Frischfleisch AG in Sursee. The father of three is Coop-internal like the smaller version of Loosli, like Chrampfer: reliable, sociable. As success factors, he once mentioned the “Luzerner Zeitung”: “Common sense, ambition and willingness to drink.”
