«Do you have a Cumulus Card?»

In the autumn of 1997, Migros introduced the Cumulus customer loyalty programme, whereby a certain percentage of purchases made using the Cumulus card is returned to the customer in vouchers. Today, Cumulus is the most widely held customer loyalty card in Switzerland.

Migros has well over one million members: just five days after the card’s launch, nearly half of them had the new Cumulus card that ensures that a percentage of purchases is refunded. «This exceeded our expectations by far», said Migros’ head of non-food marketing, Hermann Hasen, at a shareholders’ meeting in November 1997. With the customer loyalty programme, Migros Cumulus sought to kill two birds with one stone: on the one hand, to reward loyal customers, and on the other, «to get to know customers better, and focus more clearly on their needs».
That said, however, so much personal data in a major distributor’s computer systems also prompts suspicion; and it’s for this very reason that Migros regularly allows an independent body to check its compliance with all legal requirements for data protection. In 2002, Migros became the first Swiss company to earn a Good-Privacy Certificate for its careful handling of customer data. As of 2012, some 2.7 million Migros customers have the Cumulus card and it is used in about two-thirds of all purchases.