At the moment, Coop is looking in vain for a large-scale sales channel on the web - the Group sometimes leaves this area of business to its competitor Migros with its Galaxus store or industry giants such as Amazon. But this is set to change soon: Coop and Swisscom are jointly planning the launch of an online marketplace in Switzerland, which, according to Urs Meier, press spokesman for Coop, "should bring customers and Swiss retailers together throughout Switzerland from 2016". To this end, the company Athos Commerce AG was founded on September 23 (the Tages-Anzeiger reported on this on September 30, the article is not available online) and described in the commercial register as follows: "The company's purpose is online trading in food and non-food products, in particular from the Group's product range". As the Tages-Anzeiger further reports, the domain www.athos.ch has also already been reserved.

Joint venture between Coop and Swisscom
The joint venture between Coop and Swisscom is subject to the approval of the Competition Commission. Coop is therefore not yet communicating exactly when the new web offering will be launched. However, as mentioned, there is talk of a nationwide launch at the beginning of 2016; according to the Tages-Anzeiger article, the new digital marketplace will first be launched in a regional test in November.

Via Baumarkt already offers bikes for sale online
Coop also offers bicycles in its own DIY store "Bau und Hobby", for example its own brand Leopard, mountain bikes from Wheeler or e-bikes from Saxonette. When asked whether bicycles will also be available in the new online range, Urs Meier, media spokesperson for Coop, said: "As the joint venture is subject to the approval of the Competition Commission, we will only be able to communicate details in due course."

According to the official statement, it is therefore still unclear whether Coop will also be targeting online bicycle retail with its new digital strategy. According to the commercial register description of its business activities, it can certainly be assumed that Coop will market bicycles more strongly on the web. The sale of bikes on the web is already a reality on the "Bau und Hobby" websites, where certain bikes can be delivered to your home online or ordered online and collected from the DIY store of your choice.

Application of the Amazon principle
However, there could be even more dynamism in the planned web business of Coop and Swisscom. According to Coop press spokesman Meier, customers and Swiss retailers are to be brought together throughout Switzerland from 2016. Following the Amazon business model, retailers outside of Coop will also be able to offer their goods - and therefore bicycles - on Coop's digital marketplace. It is not yet clear who from the bicycle industry could take part here.

To the report from ride.ch about the bike sale via Galaxus