The loyal supplier

Migros AG sold soap right from the beginning. But before long, soap manufacturers refused to supply the young company because their other customers threatened a boycott. Only Rieder & Co., a soap maker in Oberrieden along Lake Zurich, remained loyal to Migros. Gottlieb Duttweiler purchased the company in 1934 and moved production to Basel.

Migros AG sold glycerine-free soap as one of its six products. But soon its suppliers’ other customers, who were selling the same soap at a higher price, threatened to boycott. This is how soap maker Friedrich Steinfels explained the situation in 1927: «I stopped supplying Migros because I had to take seriously the tacit boycott by the members of the soap and detergent trade association.» In the end, only the soap makers Rieder & Co. remained. Every week delivery vans travelled from Oberrieden to Zurich where the heavy soapboxes were unloaded at the Migros warehouse.

To keep up with the increasing demand from Migros, in 1930 Rieder & Co. moved to a vacant power station in Rüschlikon, Gottlieb Duttweiler’s hometown. In addition to soap bars, the company also began to produce sheets of soap, which were used in the production of Ohä, the first Migros washing powder. Duttweiler bought Rieder & Co. in 1934. He dismantled the machines and enormous boilers, brought them to Basel and, together with GIFA AG, built a company to manufacture all of Migros’ soap products.