My notes on Zurich and Switzerland

For groceries, the near-duopoly of Migros / Coop and their high prices may be annoying so the best way would be to buy a deep freezer and stock up when you got a better deal.
They both publish thick weekly magazines with subjects of general interest and deals. Subscription is free.
There are other chains like Aldi, Denner, Carrefour, Spar. It seems Aldi offers the best prices however Swiss Aldi is still a lot more expensive than Aldi Germany. You may also check small shops run by families. -Like the neighborhood shops of Pakistanis in the UK-. They may offer good food deals on meat and fresh vegetables. I know three of them near Altstetten where I live.
Noteworthy:

• Both Migros and Coop offers loyalty cards. Neither of them is impressive. You rarely get exclusive deals for the card holders. Migros gives back a mere 1% (vouchers are sent to your address), Coop’s program is based on points and you get even less or around. In exchange, you give your entire consumer info. I wonder why a nation so keen on their privacy is so willing to share this precious information for so little. But as a marketing professional, I can only admire this astonishing success of the Migros/Coop (nowhere you can build up such a database easily) and I believe their database makes them much stronger against new entrants.
• Smaller Coop shops near business districts are more likely offer last minute deals (or Saturday deals) than bigger ones.
• They both have carry awful lot of co-branded products and Migros claims its M-Budget line is a cult among Swiss. I am not sure on that.
• Surprisingly few Coop/Migros stores accept credit cards. However as they recently released their own co-branded credit cards, this may change.
• They both are big conglomerates with many sister brands. i.e. Globus, Frey, Anna’s Best, Candida for Migros, and Import Parfumerie, Interdiscount, Betty Bossi for Coop