Swiss Supermarket Promotion Calendar: When Aktionen Actually Drop in 2026

Swiss supermarket Aktionen now start on Thursday at almost every major retailer. Migros and Denner switched from Tuesday to Thursday on 5 February 2026, joining Coop, Aldi Suisse, and Lidl, all of which already ran some or all of their weekly cycle from Thursday. If you still plan your shopping run for Tuesday morning, you are arriving 48 hours early.

This is the practical calendar, week by week and month by month: which day each retailer drops new offers, which weekend deals overlap, and the seasonal cycle that determines when meat is half-price, when chocolate hits 50% off, and when the wine Aktionen go deepest. Bookmark this page and check it every February, since the cycle has now changed two years in a row.

Sources checked: May 2026. Verified against Migros corporate communications (26 January 2026 announcement), Coop, Aldi Suisse, Lidl, and Denner official Aktion pages. Live offers in the Rappn app.

Rappn is the only neutral grocery price comparison app in Switzerland, with no commercial agreements with any retailer.

The big change: Thursday is the new Tuesday

For decades, Swiss Aktion week ran Tuesday to Monday. That ended in two steps. Coop shifted to a Thursday-to-Wednesday cycle in early 2025. Migros and its subsidiary Denner followed on 5 February 2026, with weekly Aktionen now running Thursday to Wednesday and the Migros-Magazin/Coopzeitung delivered on Wednesday and Thursday respectively.

The reason is shopping behaviour. Both Coop and Migros now confirm that the bulk of weekly grocery shopping happens between Thursday and Saturday, so promotions are timed to land when foot traffic is highest. The shift also extended Migros's Wochenend-Knaller weekend deals to a longer Thursday-to-Sunday window. Denner expanded its Wochenend-Knaller to four days. Lidl and Aldi already had Thursday-anchored cycles, which is why the switch puts everything on roughly the same rhythm.

The practical effect: Wednesday is now the rest day for promotions, and Thursday morning is when the new cycle's best deals are most available before the weekend rush picks them clean.

The weekly cycle at a glance, retailer by retailer

Every retailer now follows a Thursday-anchored pattern, but with small variations that matter when planning a shopping run.

A few points worth flagging. Lidl is the outlier with two distinct weekly cycles, Monday-to-Wednesday and Thursday-to-Saturday: its assortment is split across the two windows. Aldi Suisse runs the Thursday-to-Wednesday main cycle but also refreshes a smaller selection on Monday, so two store visits a week capture both. Otto's and Aligro do not follow a fixed weekly cycle and require a different approach: keep an eye on the app or visit when convenient.

For the two big ones, Migros and Coop now run on the same beat. That means a single Thursday-morning shop catches both flyers' headline Aktionen. See our weekly basket comparison for what that looks like in practice.

Within the week: when to actually go to the store

The day the Aktion starts is not always the best day to shop. Here is the practical rhythm.

Thursday morning (8:00–11:00) is when fresh-Aktion stock is fullest. Meat, fish, fruit, and Aktion-priced ready meals are all there in volume, and 30%-or-50%-off labels are already up. This is the prime window for high-demand items like Pouletbrust, salmon fillets, or Käse-Aktionen.

Thursday and Friday late afternoon (17:30–19:30) is the best window for last-hour discount stickers. Coop and Migros sticker meat, bread, and prepared foods in the late afternoon, with the deepest 30% and 50% reductions typically landing closer to closing. The flyer Aktion plus a sticker compounds: a chicken at -30% Aktion plus a -50% expiry sticker sometimes lands at a quarter of normal shelf price.

Saturday morning is the worst time to shop for limited-quantity Aktionen but the best time for browsing the weekend deals. The high-volume Wochenend-Knaller selections at Migros and Denner specifically run Thursday to Sunday, so Saturday catches them mid-cycle. Expect crowds.

Sunday Swiss supermarkets are closed. The exceptions are train station Migros and Coop branches (Migros at HB Zürich, Lausanne, Genève, Bern, plus around 50 stations), Denner-on-station, Migrolino, and a few border-town Coop Pronto outlets. Prices at station branches are higher; treat as emergency-only.

Monday and Tuesday are now the slow days for Aktionen. The previous week's offers have ended (closed Wednesday), and the new week starts Thursday. Useful for non-Aktion staples and avoiding crowds.

Wednesday is dead day. The old Aktion cycle has closed and the new one has not opened. Avoid unless you need something specific.

The seasonal calendar that drives the deepest deals

The weekly cycle is the floor; the seasonal cycle is where the genuinely big discounts come from. These are the windows where retailers go beyond their standard 30% Aktion and into structural clearance.

January: post-holiday inventory reset

Christmas chocolate and confectionery hit 50% to 70% off in the first week of January. Lebkuchen, Adventskalender remnants, and seasonal alcohol clear out fast. Wine and bubbly Aktionen follow as retailers rebuild their assortment for the year. This is the deepest discounting window of the calendar for sweets and seasonal goods.

February: weekly cycle recalibration + Valentine's

Watch for the annual cycle changes (this is when both Coop in 2025 and Migros in 2026 shifted their Aktion days). Valentine's drives a chocolate-and-flowers Aktion peak in the week before 14 February. After Valentine's, fish and seafood Aktionen take over for Lent.

March–April: spring fresh and Easter

Asparagus arrives in mid-April from Switzerland (the green and white Spargel season runs April to June). Strawberries from Spain are heavily promoted from March, with Swiss greenhouse strawberries from April and field-grown from June. Easter chocolate (lamb, eggs, bunnies) hits steep discounts the day after Easter Monday: typically 50% off, clearing within 48 hours.

May–July: peak Swiss-grown produce

Swiss strawberries, asparagus, peas, courgettes, salad greens, and the early stone fruit hit promotional volume because the Swiss harvest is at peak. This is the cheapest window of the year for Swiss-origin produce. Grilling season Aktionen on meat and sausages run from May into August.

August: end-of-summer ice cream and BBQ clear

Ice cream is the August signal: 30% to 50% Aktionen on family packs as retailers clear cold-chain inventory before the autumn assortment lands. BBQ accessories, mineral water multipacks, and outdoor goods see the same pattern.

September: back-to-school and harvest

Apples, pears, plums, grapes, and squash arrive at Aktion volumes. Stationery, lunch boxes, and back-to-school bundles peak in the first two weeks. The September Migros and Coop assortment refresh is one of the year's bigger flyer drops.

October: pumpkin and the early winter restock

Halloween is a smaller deal in Switzerland than in the US, but pumpkin and squash Aktionen are heavy. The first wave of Christmas inventory arrives in late October, which means the previous year's seasonal stock gets cleared.

November: the Black Friday convergence

Black Friday now matters in Swiss supermarkets. Coop runs a multi-day Black Friday window starting around 28 November, with discounts across food, household, and seasonal goods. Migros runs Mobile and Migros-wide promotions including a recurring 30% off all toys typically the day of or weekend of Black Friday. Aldi, Lidl, and Denner participate selectively. Singles' Day (11 November) has grown into a smaller Black Friday warm-up, especially for Lidl.

December: Adventskalender and the Christmas peak

Coop runs an in-store and online Advent calendar with daily Aktionen throughout December. Christmas baking ingredients, fondue, raclette cheese (Aktion volume in mid-December), Champagne and Prosecco, and panettone all see promotional peaks in the second and third weeks of December. The week between Christmas and New Year sees clearance of leftover Christmas inventory.

Stop scrolling through 7 flyers every Thursday.
Rappn aggregates this week's Aktionen across Migros, Coop, Aldi, Lidl, Denner, Aligro, and Otto's into one feed, sorted by your favourite categories.

Annual flyer drops and special events to watch

Beyond the rolling weekly cycle, certain dates anchor the year for serious deal hunters.

Coop Adventskalender (December): A daily promotional reveal across stores and the Coop app, with one or two genuine standout offers buried in the daily lineup.

Migros Cumulus Days: Recurring 4× and 6× points multiplier days, typically 4 to 6 times per year. The points compound, so stocking up during a Cumulus Day is effectively a 4% to 6% extra discount on top of any Aktion price. See our Cumulus vs Supercard breakdown.

Coop Supercard 5-fach-Punkte days: The Supercard equivalent, also recurring through the year. Worth stacking with Aktion prices on bulk pantry items.

Aldi and Lidl seasonal Themenwochen: Both discounters run themed weeks (Italian, French, Mexican, Asian, organic, BBQ) where a category sees deeper-than-usual promotions and special-import products. Each themed week typically runs Thursday to Saturday.

Denner Wein-Aktionen: Monthly 50%-off windows on selected wines, typically tied to a vintage or producer focus.

How to read the flyer fine print

Swiss promotion pricing has a few quirks worth knowing.

The Aktion price is what the price is during the promotion period. The "statt" (was) price is what the retailer claims the regular price is, and the percentage discount is calculated from that. Since the federal pricing rules were loosened in 2025, retailers can now run Aktionen for longer with more flexibility on what counts as the regular price, provided that price was charged for at least 30 consecutive days. The implication: a percentage like "-48%" can sometimes overstate the real discount versus the genuinely lowest price you might find on the same item across the year. The fix is to track actual prices, not stickered percentages.

The "X für Y" bundle (3 for 2, 4 for 3) is usually a strong deal on shelf-stable goods like pasta, tinned tomatoes, and canned fish. Multiplied across a basket, it adds up.

The "20% on the second item" promotion is weaker than it looks: the average per-unit discount is 10%, not 20%. The "1+1 gratis" structure is the strongest of the bundle Aktionen and equates to 50% off per unit.

Loyalty multiplier days (Cumulus 4×/6×, Supercard 5×) stack on top of Aktion prices. Combining a 30% Aktion on chicken with a 6× Cumulus day delivers an effective 30% off plus 6% in points value, which is the closest Swiss supermarkets get to a genuine 36% off on shelf prices.

A typical week, planned

For a household with a free hour on Thursday morning and a free hour on Saturday, here is the routine that captures most of the value.

Wednesday evening: Open Rappn or browse the Migros Magazin and Coopzeitung delivered that day. Identify 5 to 10 items worth chasing.

Thursday 9:00: First store run for fresh and meat Aktionen. Hit Migros or Coop for the weekly headlines plus a discounter (Lidl/Aldi) for the parallel Thursday cycle. Most fresh Aktion stock is available in the morning.

Friday or Saturday late afternoon: Second short run for sticker-discounted bread, meat, and ready meals approaching expiry. This is also the best Wochenend-Knaller window at Migros and Denner.

Monday morning (optional): Aldi's Monday-cycle refresh adds a smaller Aktion list. Useful if you live near one and have time.

That cadence captures both major Aktion windows and most of the late-hour discounts. Anything beyond it is diminishing returns.