LeShop with sustained sales growth

LeShop, Migros' online retail subsidiary, recorded a 40 percent increase in sales to CHF 32.7 million in the first half of 2006. LeShop thus achieved two profitable quarters in succession, as the Swiss online store writes in a press release. No figures are given on profitability. However, LeShop was able to acquire 15,600 new customers and the growth of the shopping basket increased by 6.7 percent to an average of 222 francs per customer, confirming the growth trend that LeShop has been experiencing for three years: "For more and more Swiss consumers, online grocery shopping is part of their everyday lives," says Christian Wanner, Managing Director of LeShop, according to the press release. Three years ago, LeShop was a small fish in the international arena - "today, LeShop has caught up and achieves the same turnover as large companies abroad, but in a much smaller market," says Urs Rieder, Head of Marketing at the Migros Cooperative Federation. According to LeShop, the market in Switzerland could reach a volume of 300 to 400 million Swiss francs by 2010. LeShop was founded in 1997. Migros has an 80 percent equity stake in LeShop.