Under the same program, every year Migros works with the Ministry of Trade in organizing conventions of women’s cooperatives in a single region. To date these meetings have been held in Kocaeli, Adana, Samsun, Ankara, Eskişehir, Çanakkale, Nevşehir, and Isparta. During these gatherings, Migros Women’s Academy conducts classes on “Quality”, “Quality Management Systems”, “Produce Certification”, “Good Agricultural Practices”, “Fresh Produce Tracking Systems”, “Central Market Registration Systems”, and “Legal & Regulatory Compliance”. The products of women’s cooperatives participating in the trainings given by Migros Women’s Academy are offered for sale at Tazedirekt. These natural delicacies such as grape molasses, tarhana (dried soups), tahini (sesame paste), acuka (tomato - pepper pastes and dips), manti (meat pasty), peanut butter, honey, jam and marmalade, which are produced with great effort, are presented in the Women’s Cooperatives’ category. In this context, tastes produced by 50 entrepreneurs and 600 producer women from 7 Women’s Cooperatives meet with customers. Having previously set itself the goal of providing Family Club and Women’s Academy vocational/ professional and personal development and training resources to one million people by end-2023, Migros had reached more than 2.8 million people through the two programs as of end-2022.
Our Works
Family Clubs
Migros Family Clubs established in collaboration with District Public Education Centers aims to develop the skills of women, men and children of all ages. In addition to providing free vocational and skill development courses in Family Clubs, socialization opportunities for people with similar interests are offered.
Introduced in line with the company’s commitment to gender & opportunity equality, Migros’ award-winning Family Club project gives people of all ages–whether they are Migros employees or not–many opportunities to discover what they are capable of doing. As the majority of their members are women, the clubs also encourage women to play bigger and more active roles outside the home in social spaces, to invest in their own personal futures, to acquire and develop marketable skills, and to be more effective role models for their children. Those who attend Migros Family Club courses and successfully fulfill their requirements are awarded Ministry of National Education diplomas attesting to the knowledge and skills they have gained. A steadily growing number of the women who have been awarded such diplomas are setting up businesses of their own. Children also benefit from the resources that Migros makes available through Family Clubs. In addition to the art, music, chess, choir, drama, and similar courses that they provide for children, the clubs also help youngsters become more knowledgeable, imaginative, and conscientious individuals by organizing workshops that focus on current issues such as computer coding and preventing pollution and waste.
Besides personally benefiting from the training they receive and the knowledge and skills they acquire by attending these clubs, the people who then go on to set up businesses of their own based on what they have learned also serve as strong role models for others. 23 thousand people–17 thousand of them women–who attended Migros-supported Family Clubs transformed their knowledge and skills into monetary earnings after graduation. The diploma-qualifying vocational and personal-development training courses provided through Family Clubs which located 33 Migros stores across Türkiye cover 178 subjects ranging from beekeeping to mushroom cultivation, from traditional manuscript illumination to paper marbling, from the culinary arts to sport, and from medicinal & aromatic plants to digital marketing. The total number of people attending such courses to date is 367,745. Migros has set itself the goal of providing classroom training for 500 thousand new people through Family Clubs by end-2027. Through the “Zero Waste Kitchen” module of the Family Club culinary arts course, Migros helps prevent food waste. These courses have been attended by 488 people. Food-waste prevention awareness training was also provided to another 475 people through 27 organizations. Contributing to local economies in partnership with countylevel District Public Education Centers and Ministry of Agriculture & Forestry directorates, 300 people have successfully completed Migros Family Club beekeeping, royal-jelly production, and queen bee rearing courses and been awarded MEB diplomas and gone on to pursue careers in those endeavors. After completing the Migros Family Club beekeeping course’s comprehensive curriculum of subjects ranging from bee biology and health to product harvesting and processing, graduates are then helped to more successfully pursue their careers by means of Migros-provided product quality & safety, marketing processes & dynamics, and sales management training.
During the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns when Migros Family Club members were unable to meet with one another, the clubs were relocated to Migros’ social media account through which club members had access to the company’s huge library of short training videos. These videos have been watched more than 2.5 million times by followers and subscribers hailing from all 81 of Türkiye’s provinces. 27 education-ministry approved Migros Family Club training program courses were also attended by 450 members of 25 cooperatives. Migros collaborates on Living Without Obstacles awareness projects in partnership with specialeducation schools that are subject Ministry of National Education oversight. Through such projects, sign-language training has been provided to 10 groups of hearing-impaired school children; Gluten-free Culinary Vocational Training was also provided to a Mild to Moderate Intellectual Disability Children’s cooperative. Migros’ Accessible Stores project continues to make progress in line with its goal of having at least 1 store manager and employee sufficiently fluent in sign language available to assist hearing-impaired customers: 163 employees have received such training to date. Motivation and personal development training has also been provided to 221 administrative units and store employees. Courses that support sustainability by teaching Recycling Practices are given under the Migros Family Club program. These courses include a variety of activities such as making bags, baskets, and accessories from discarded plastic and other recyclable materials.
Migros Women’s Academy
Migros undertakes many projects to support both the presence and the personal advancement of women in business life. Migros Women’s Academy, which was launched in 2021, is intended to help women acquire new skills and play more diverse roles. A joint undertaking of Migros Retail Academy and Migros Family Clubs, this program covers and provides training on more than 70 subjects ranging from personal development and occupational training to interacting with other family members and creating one’s own brand. Another aim of the program is to raise participants’ awareness and boost their motivation so as to strengthen their presence in other areas and thus serve as sources of inspiration. The resources that Migros makes accessible through Migros Women’s Academy are intended to turn the program into a platform on which productive women can start up a business of their own and market their products.
Our WellBeing Journey Program
Our WellBeing Journey program provides customers with a range of services including personal information, interactive suggestions and discounted product suggestions on balanced diet, regular and adequate water consumption, increasing daily physical activity and oral and dental health to help them live healthier lives. In the WellBeing Journey sections of the Migros Money app, the Migros Sanal Market app, and the www.migros.com.tr website, we compare the food purchases that our Money Card members make with recommended consumption rates and then encourage positive behavioral changes in their shopping habits by sending message and discounted-product suggestions about the food groups that they need for better nutrition and healthier eating. We use videos prepared by qualified dieticians to share WellBeing Journey informational messages. We collaborate with Aptamil to promote infant nutrition, Johnson & Johnson to promote infant care, and GSK, the makers of Corega, to promote denture care by sending out messages. In cooperation with Anadolu Medical Center, we also offer appropriate recommendations for vegan and vegetarian diets. To date, the Migros WellBeing Journey Program has reached 5.4 million people. With this practice, we are encouraging positive behavioral changes in our customers. In 2022, we helped approximately 30% of our Money Card members make positive changes in their diets, which resulted in an average increase of 3.7 points in their Balanced Nutrition Index (BNI) scores. In 2022, we sent our customers personalized discounts worth a total of TL 632,538 through Wellbeing Journey Program recommendations messages.
We are currently working with approximately 70 different brands to conduct the WellBeing Journey Program. In 2022, we partnered with Danone Türkiye in the conduct of a “A Better Future Recipes For You and The Planet” project. Migros TV featured professional chefs demonstrating recipes made with Danone Alpro’s plant-based food products, which are healthier, have a lower environmental impact, and are more sustainable. Migros Family Club also held in-store and online workshops to showcase the same recipes. For the conduct of this project, we marked down Danone Alpro product prices by more than %50 in order to make them more affordable and attractive to more people. Our 360-degree communication efforts for this project reached a total of 1.3 million people. Our WellBeing Journey Program has been recognized as a leading example by the global retail industry, receiving seven international awards and being showcased at summits in Lisbon, Berlin, London, Tokyo, Warsaw, and Monaco.
Growing Healthy with Migros Project
Believing that children play a vital role in our efforts to promote social awareness about health, we engage them through activities that capture their attention. All of these activities are part of our “Growing Healthy with Migros Project” which has been recognized with numerous awards for its efforts to promote healthy lifestyles and behavior among children. As part of this program, we invite parents to bring their children to any of our 396 participating stores in 70 provinces where volunteer store manager take them on guided tours of the premises. During these tours, kids and their parents learn about a variety of topics that include the benefits of fresh fruits and vegetables, the shipping and control processes that food undergoes before it reaches our shelves, Good Agricultural practices, and tips for reading food labels wisely. As the tour progresses, our guides point out our in-store waste-recycling collection bins and explain to children how they can help to create a better future by recycling waste.
At the conclusion of the tour, we present each child with a free copy of “Migros’ Guidebook for Growing Healthy”. This publication, which stresses the importance of healthy eating and offers tips on how to do it, was created with the help of the Food Safety Association. To date, over 176,000 children have benefited from the educational resources and activities that we provide through our “Growing Healthy with Migros Project”. The success of our Migros store tours is bolstered by the convenience and ease of accessing the program’s online and digital content. An animated film about the program, created with the support of the Food and Agriculture Organization, was broadcast on the occasion of April 23 National Sovereignty and Children’s Day in 2021. The “Growing Healthy with Migros” cartoon was first shown on Migros TV and other social media channels. It was relaunched in 2022 with the support of influencers and it has since racked up more than 2 million views. You can find the training video of “Growing Healthy with Migros” on Migros TV channel.
Our “Fresh Leftovers to Our Four-Legged Friends” Project
Migros has been running its “Fresh Leftovers to Our Four-Legged Friends” project since 2014. The project donates food items that are no longer fit for human consumption but are still safe and nutritious for animals to eat to the Turkish Animal Rights Federation (HAYTAP). Since the project began, Migros has donated a total of 5,954 tons of food to help feed stray animals, including the 1,530 tons that 897 stores in 76 provinces donated to HAYTAP in 2022.
Migros has also had specially designed food bowls installed in front of 227 of its stores to provide a clean and healthy environment for strays to feed in.
Accessible Migros
As a well-established retail organization, we aim to grow by eliminating inequalities without leaving any of our social stakeholder groups behind. With this understanding, we launched an “Accessible Migros “ project in 2017 and have so far made 280 Migros and Macrocenter stores in 46 provinces more accessible to people with disabilities.
At our Accessible Migros stores,
- Wheelchair ramps and handrails at all entrances,
- Assisted-shopping services upon request,
- At least one employee who is fluent in sign language and is easily identifiable by a distinctive badge,
- Aisles and shelving designed to be accessible to shoppers in wheelchairs,
- Wheelchairs on hand and ready to be used by elderly or disabled customers when needed.
Our Respecting Food Project
We have been running “Respecting Food” project since 2017 to prevent food waste and provide surplus food to those in need. Through the project’s partnership with Fazla, still-nutritious and wholesome food items that remain unsold are matched with individuals in need.
With the donations of 6,161 tons we made in 2022, we have provided the delivery of more than 25.8 million food items to those in need since the beginning of our project. A video providing more information about the project can be viewed on our YouTube channel. Fazla mobile app’s ‘Surprise Box’ feature notifies users of participating stores near them where they can purchase food items approaching their expiry date at a 50% discount if they pick them up in person. In 2022, 1.1 tons of food were saved from being wasted by 16 Migros and 16 Macrocenter stores that participated in this project.
Bag-Free Shopping Movement
In 2021, we launched the Bag-Free Shopping Movement in all Migros and Macrocenter stores, inviting customers to avoid using plastic bags when shopping. To express our gratitude to customers who supported this campaign, we partnered with the Aegean Forest Foundation to plant 10,000 trees in Manisa Yunt mountain. In 2022, Migros continued the Bag-Free Shopping Movement with a lottery campaign. This campaign reduced customers’ plastic shopping bag use by 21% compared to the same period in 2021. In late 2022, Migros launched a pilot project offering customers in selected areas the option of bag-free shopping through Migros Sanal Market. Their orders are delivered in eco-friendly reusable bags that are collected and disinfected before being used again.
In 2022, Migros celebrated World Environment Day on June 5th with the support of the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization, and Climate Change. On this day, Migros gifted 750,000 reusable shopping bags to customers who shopped at its physical stores, Migros Sanal Market, and Migros Hemen. In its awareness-raising for consumer communication campaigns, Migros registered close to 260,000 social media shares.
Migros Children’s Theater Festival
The Migros April 23rd Traditional Children’s Theater Festival which is the longest-running social responsibility project of Migros. It has been running for 28 years. Over a million children have enjoyed free performances at Turkish State Theaters auditoriums in eleven provinces since the festival began.
Our Collaborations
We are expanding our beneficial impact on society and the planet through our Migros Better Future Plan. Every year, we collaborate with organizations in different sectors to carry out projects in the areas of education, sport, and health.
Our Clothing Donation Campaign: The Clothing Donation Campaign, which has been running for 10 years, is a joint effort between Migros, Ariel (P&G), and the Community Volunteers Foundation (TOG). Since the project’s inception, 420,000 people have received donated garments.
Our Little Athletes Project: In our “Little Athletes” project, we donate a certain part of the income from ‘’Procter & Gamble (P&G)’’ products sold in our stores, to the Special Olympics Committee of Türkiye. The project ensures that children in need of special training who are at the age of 2 to 7 can both develop their communication skills by socializing with their age mates and increase their coordination skills. With the contribution of our customers as well, we supported nearly 7,000 youngsters and child with special needs up until today to help them meet sports. In addition, sports equipment was donated to our little athletes.
Refilling Unit project in partnership with OMO: In partnership with laundry detergent maker OMO, we have installed a liquid detergent plastic bottle Refilling Unit at our Ataşehir MMM store. This project aims to reduce plastic waste and prevent the need to produce new plastic by allowing customers to bring their empty OMO bottles to the store and refill them with detergent at a lower price. This helps customers reduce their plastic footprint. To use the Refilling Unit, customers scan the barcode of their empty bottle at the machine. The machine then detects the size of the bottle and refills it with the appropriate amount of detergent. The Refilling Unit offers three different refill options: 910 ml, 1,690 ml, and 1,950 ml. Once the refill is complete, the machine prints a new barcode for the bottle. Customers then pay for the refill using the new barcode. The Refilling Unit was used over 7,000 times in 2022.
Self-service Dried Fruits and Nuts Dispenser: Self-service dried fruits and nuts dispensers (Jet Reyon) are being rolled out in stores as part of an in-house corporate intrapreneurship project. These units allow customers to purchase the exact amounts they want without having to interact with anyone. They also help reduce packaging waste because customers bring their own containers to the store. These dispensers have been installed in our stores in Metrogarden and Perla Vista Shopping Malls. Due to their economic and ecological benefits, we intend to install them in other locations as well.
Supporting Women Farmers and Entrepreneurs: Migros believes it is important to support women’s cooperatives as a way of empowering women in the formal economy and thereby contributing to local and regional development. For example the company makes purchases from such cooperatives that raise fresh fruits and vegetables that conform to the company’s standards. The number of women’s cooperatives from which Migros makes procurements reached eight in 2022. Certified training courses are also conducted at Migros Family Clubs for the members of existing or planned new women’s cooperatives. In keeping with its approach to gender & opportunity equality, Migros conducts many projects intended to inspire and encourage women to be farmers and entrepreneurs; the company also collaborates with other organizations whose mission is to empower women in farming and business. Migros works with the Women Entrepreneurs Association of Türkiye (KAGİDER) in the conduct of KAGİDER’s “Development and Acceleration of Woman Entrepreneur in Agriculture program” to provide program participants with what they need to know in order to be successful entrepreneurs. Products complying with Migros standards are offered to consumers in our stores all over Türkiye.
During 2022, 15 of the 60 women taking part in this program were given Migros-provided mentoring support all year long. 193 women have benefited from this program during the last three years. One of the participants in the KAGİDER program and member of the Mersin Women’s Cooperative Eylem Bozdoğan, initiated a project in which 100 women farmers are raising geese to be supplied to Migros for sale in its stores. The birds are being raised under conditions that fully comply with Migros-prescribed and supported hygiene and production standards. To date, the company has bought 7,000 of them.
Other examples of Migros’ collaboration with women’s cooperatives during 2022 are given below.
- 400 cases of iceberg lettuce were purchased from Meryem Women’s Cooperative, which was set up by the Adana metropolitan municipality in a project undertaken with UN International Labor Organization support. Migros plans to purchase a total of 130 thousand heads of lettuce from the cooperative.
- Migros undertook a new project in partnership with Bursa Yenişehir Municipality and the Bursa Agricultural Cooperatives Association under which 4 thousand tons of fresh produce ranging from peppers to eggplants and from peas to borlotti beans and tomatoes were procured and supplied in farm-fresh condition to Migros shoppers.
- 400 tons of onions and 50 tons of purple potatoes were purchased from women’s farming cooperatives in Eskişehir.
- Procuring fruit grown by women farmers in Antalya through the Korkuteli Agricultural Development Cooperative, Migros sells it in farm-fresh condition to its customers. Over the last 2 years the company has purchased a total of 1,000 tons of fresh plums, apricots, and nectarines through the same cooperative, which has more than 1,800 members. Pomegranates and quinces were added to the list last year. The 1,500 tons of fresh produce that Migros purchased through the Korkuteli cooperative during 2022 was supplied to the company’s stores all over Türkiye.
TEGV School Supplies Campaign: Donations In order to support the education of children, we donated some of the school supplies shopping to the Educational Volunteers Foundation of Türkiye (TEGV) on behalf of our customers during the excitement of returning to school and contributed to the education of 1,000 children.
Our Collaboration with Nestlé and SosyalBen Foundation: Migros collaborated with Nestlé Breakfast Cereals and SosyalBen Foundation to support their educational “Ingenious Explorers” project for young schoolchildren. Under this project, educational storybooks and 700 gr tins of Nesquik were handed out. Under the “Analytical Thinking and the Fundamentals of Science: Discoveries Workshops” program, educational training kits and essential school supplies were also given to 1,000 children aged 7-11 living in disadvantaged areas.
Our Collaboration with the Book for All Foundation: Books for All Foundation is a non-profit organization whose mission of promoting reading habits in children aligns with Migros’ own goals of encouraging literacy and learning. In 2022, with the support of our customers at our 2M, 3M and 5M Migros Stores in Istanbul and Kocaeli, we collected their own books or the books they bought from our stores at a discount, in boxes of the Books for Everyone Foundation. We have contributed to the delivery of 4,877 books in 2022, and 63,465 books since 2013, to schools all over Türkiye.
‘Give your smile a voice’ Campaign in Partnership with P&G - Ipana and Migros: We launched “Give your smile a voice” campaigns, in cooperation with Ipana and Community Volunteers Foundation (TOG) This project aims to use a portion of the proceeds from the sale of Ipana toothpaste at Migros stores to support music education in high schools. The first step in the project was to open a music room at a high school in Beykoz, Istanbul. Evrencan Gündüz, a talented singer-songwriter and musician who is popular with teenagers, gave a performance that captivated his listeners. The “Give your smile a voice” campaign reached over 30 million people through its announcements and associated press coverage.
Our Collaboration with Play-Doh with the Theme “A Box Full of Future with Play-Doh”: “A Box Full of Future with Play-Doh” is the name of a project undertaken in partnership with Mother Child Education Foundation (AÇEV) and Play-Doh. The project, whose aim is to foster imaginative creativity children, resulted in the donation of 4,000 Play-Doh four-packs to AÇEV. The donation is based on sales of Play-Doh in Migros stores.
Erikli Seed Project: The Erikli Seed project was launched in 2021 to raise sustainability and deforestation awareness among consumers and also to plant trees in areas that are difficult or impossible to afforest manually by using advanced technologies instead. Under this project, another 100,000 seed balls were aerially dispersed across unforested areas in 2022.
P&G Fairy “Don’t Waste” Project: With the P&G- Fairy Don’t Waste Project, we supported the donation made to the Food Rescue Association with Fairy products purchased from Migros stores during the campaign. Part of the proceeds from Fairy household detergent products sold in Migros stores during the campaign were donated to the foundation and used to provide 135,000 meals to the needy during Ramadan (Ramazan).
Our Collaboration with Spinal Cord Paralytics Association of Türkiye: In 2022, Migros continued its collaboration with the Spinal Cord Paralytics Association of Türkiye (TOFD) to collect plastic caps. A total of 380 kilograms of caps were collected in 2022. The company has so far supported the donation of 7 wheelchairs to the association through this campaign.
Our Collaboration with Paşabahçe and Breast Cancer Foundation: In a collaboration with Paşabahçe and the Turkish Breast Cancer Foundation, Paşabahçe’s Pink-Plugged Water Bottle was included in Migroskop and 5M catalogues during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of each bottle was donated to the foundation to support its breast health and early-diagnosis awareness efforts.
Support for Pink Ribbon Project with Nesfit: Migros partnered with Nesfit and The Breast Health Society (MEMEDER) in their Pink Ribbon Project to promote breast cancer awareness. In the provinces of Muş, Van, and Gaziantep, where such awareness is particularly low, more than 1,000 women who had not been screened for breast cancer in the past two years were reached and reminded of the importance of early diagnosis and routine checkups in controlling breast cancer. People were encouraged to support MEMEDER by purchasing limited-edition tins of Nesfit sporting the Pink Ribbon from Migros stores or Migros Sanal Market. We also supported this campaign by broadcasting educational breast cancer awareness videos on the Migros Family Club and Migros Women’s Academy websites.
Our Collaboration with Nestlé and SosyalBen Foundation: Migros collaborated with Nestlé Breakfast Cereals and SosyalBen Foundation to support their educational “Ingenious Explorers” project for young schoolchildren. Under this project, educational storybooks and 700 gr tins of Nesquik were handed out. Under the “Analytical Thinking and the Fundamentals of Science: Discoveries Workshops” program, educational training kits and essential school supplies were also given to 1,000 children aged 7-11 living in disadvantaged areas.
“A Future to Make You Smile” Project with Colgate: In 2022, we collaborated with Colgate in our “A future to make you smile” project to support UNICEF’s Early Childhood Development Program by donating a portion of the proceeds from the sale of Colgate products in Migros stores and Migros Sanal Market. In support of the same project, actress, TV presenter, and children’s music teacher Ezo Sunal’s educational presentation was broadcast on YouTube and the Migros For You platform on the occasion of April 23 National Sovereignty and Children’s Day. Educational events were staged at our Beylikdüzü and 5M Viaport stores to promote good dental hygiene awareness among children. During these events, 1,200 gift kits containing a toothbrush, toothpaste, a child-friendly family information guide, and a brushing techniques chart were handed out.
Elidor & TOG Collaboration Project: Revenues from products sold during an Elidor product-launch campaign on Metaverse were donated to the Community Volunteers Foundation. Migroskop issues published during the campaign contained a scannable QR code that took those who scanned it on a journey to the Metaverse via YouTube.
TEGV School Supplies Campaign: Donations In order to support the education of children, we donated some of the school supplies shopping to the Educational Volunteers Foundation of Türkiye (TEGV) on behalf of our customers during the excitement of returning to school and contributed to the education of 1,000 children.
Bookcases Made From Pistachio Shells: In 2022, collaborating with Nestlé, we donated 10 bookcases made from recycled pistachio shells to village schools in Gaziantep. The bookcases were funded by a portion of the proceeds from the sale of Nestlé Damak products at our stores and Migros Sanal Market. We also organized sustainability-themed game workshops to increase young children’s sustainability awareness.
Migros Eco-Hangers: Our private-label Eco-Hangers, which are made entirely from materials collected from our stores and distribution centers and recycled, went on sale at 5M stores in 2022. The Eco-Hanger is a truly circular-economy product because it is 100% recyclable after use.
World Environment Day Coast-Cleaning: To raise public environmental awareness, Migros and Macrocenter personnel gathered and picked up trash from fifteen Marmara, Aegean, Mediterranean, and Black Sea coasts on World Environment Day.
Cleaning up the sea with TURMEPA: We support the Turkish Marine Environment Protection Association’s (TURMEPA) efforts to prevent sea pollution by collecting used cooking oil from our customers and turning it over to licensed firms for recycling. In 2022, through Migros’ support, TURMEPA D-MARIN marine sanitation vessel collected 262,000 liters of wastewater and preserved the cleanliness of 2.1 million liters of seawater.
Migros Up and OTTAN Studio recycled nutshell Project: Migros Up and OTTAN Studio partnered to create shelves from recycled walnut and hazelnut shells from the unprocessed walnuts and hazelnuts sold in Migros stores. These shelves were used to display M Life private-label products, creating economic value from waste and raising awareness of environmental protection.
Migros & Duracell Used Battery-Collection Project: Taking part in the ‘Duracell Turns Your Waste Batteries Into Goodness’ project, we collected over 3 tons of discarded batteries in designated battery disposal & recycling bins in our stores. This helped provide more than 600 white canes to visually impaired individuals in need.