While not as crazy like in the US. There are also many coupon opportunities in Switzerland and you really should use it.
Grocerie Stores
In Switzerland, there are 5 major grocery stores and 3 of them do have a loyalty or/and cashback system.
Migros (Cumulus)
Migros was founded in 1925 by Gottlieb Dutweiler and is one of the cornerstones in the Swiss grocery markets.
Migros has the CUMULUS loyalty System which equals “1%” cashback which is paid out every 2 months in coupons (after reaching min. 5 CHF value)
You can download the App here and here
- On every purchase, you get 1 Cumulus point per CHF spent (1 Cumulus equals 1 Cent or “Rappen”.
- In the app, there are sometimes coupons that will get you more points on the overall purchase, like 5x or 2x (which equals 2% or 5% cashback)
- Sometimes there are also product or brand-specific coupons that will multiply the points you get (usually it’s a 20, which equals 20% cashback). A good tip is to combine them with sales of the product.
- If your purchase is over 100 CHF you automatically get a 2x coupon for your next purchase.
- if your purchase is over 5000 CHF you automatically get a 5x coupon for your next purchase.
Recommendations:
- Always activate all coupons and collectible passes in the app before making a purchase.
- Disable any 5x or 2x coupons if you are only making a small purchase and the validity of these coupons is still fine.
- If you are a big family, try to reach the corresponding thresholds for the 2x/5x coupons.
Coop (Supercard)
Coop has a similar cash-back system where you also get 1% back in points. These points can be converted anytime as soon as you reach 1000 points which equals 10 CHF.
You can download the App here and here
- On every purchase, you get 1 point per CHF spent (1 Point equals 1 Cent or “Rappen”).
- There are sometimes coupons multiple bonuses (like 2x points) or flat bonuses if you reach a certain amount (e.g purchase for 80 CHF and get 888 points extra (8.88 CHF))
- You can only activate up to 20 coupons in the app. So choose wisely. There is no such limit for collectible passes so activate them all
Recommendations:
- Always activate all suitable coupons and all collectible passes in the app before making a purchase
- You can filter by “Shop” in the app which makes it easier to see which coupons work for your current shop
- Disable any 5x or 2x coupons if you are only making a small purchase and the validity of these coupons is still fine
Sometimes there are campaigns where they claim that you can now pay with points. this is a bit misleading as you can always convert any points from 1000 to “cash”
Lidl (Plus)
They do not have a cashback system per se but they provide collectible passes plus after each purchase, you get a “scratch card” which can contain a free product or discount for a product.
You can download the App here and here
- You get free products or discount to products after each purchase
- sometimes you get flat discount coupons like 2 CHF off
- Reaching collectible pass milestones gives free products as well
- Completing a collectible pass usually gives a 5 CHF off coupon (purchase must be over 25 CHF to redeem it)
Recommendations:
- Activate all coupons in the app. You cannot activate a coupon that applies to the same products (rarely the case).
- Unless you go often to Lidl, do not scratch the tickets immediately. They are valid for 7 days upon scratching. Ensure that the unscratched ticket itself does not expire (usually also valid for 7 days).