Ecommerce in Switzerland

Switzerland is a very interesting country in Europe. For example, it hasn’t been in a state of war internationally since 1815, and it also didn’t join the United Nations until 2002. And also quite noticeable: it’s a founding member of the European Free Trade Association and part of the Schengen Area, but it’s not a member of the European Union, nor the European Economic Area. So Switzerland is obviously creating its own path in Europe, while not ignoring the global or European events.

Content:

• Ecommerce customers in Switzerland
• The ecommerce market in Switzerland
• Big online stores in Switzerland
• Latest ecommerce news from or about Switzerland

Ecommerce customers in Switzerland

Switzerland has quite a high Internet penetration, with 95 percent of the population between 16 and 65 regularly using the internet, and 90 percent of them having shopped online at least once. More males than females use smartphones and tablets for online services in Switzerland: 69% versus 61%. In 2021, the country had 6 million ecommerce users.

A study by Netcomm Suisse in 2016 shows that the Swiss are only second to the UK in Europe for the amount they spend online each year. Swiss consumers spend €2,149 online annually. The most popular product categories are clothes, transport, books, tickets/reservations and holiday.

Popular payment methods

When you run an online store in Switzerland, make sure you offer, at least, credit card and invoice. Each payment option respectively attracts one-third of all Swiss consumers. Only 16 percent of Swiss shoppers prefer to use e-wallets such as PayPal. And the debit card is used by only 7 percent.

Looking for ecommerce software to start selling in Europe? Webador and Shopify are platforms that are well optimized for cross-border ecommerce.

The ecommerce market in Switzerland

Approximately 40 percent of the ecommerce market consists of the online sale of products, while the other 60 percent is based on services. Switzerland is also one of the top three markets in Europe for cross-border purchases, with 61 percent of online purchases being dedicated to cross-border purchases. A study from 2021 shows that the value of goods sold online in 2020 was worth 12.2 billion euros.

Do you want to sell cross-border in Europe? It ain't easy but with the right ecommerce software, online marketing channels and European fulfillment companies market leadership is surely possible.

According to RetailX, the fashion sector reached an online revenue in Switzerland of 4 billion euros in 2021. It is projected to reach 7 billion euros in 2025. The online furniture sector generated an online revenue of 2 billion euros in 2021. It is projected to reach 5 billion euros by 2025.

In 2021, Switzerland ended in first place in the annual ecommerce index of UNCTAD, which ranks countries on their readiness to engage in ecommerce. Around 11 percent of Swiss consumers prefer to shop online. This amount is expected to rise to 22 percent in 2022.

Leading online stores in Switzerland

Currently, online store Zalando is the biggest online store in Switzerland (1.79 billion euros in sales in 2022). Other popular online stores in Switzerland are Digitech.ch, Galaxus, Amazon and Ricardo. If you want to know more, visit our page about the top 10 online stores in Switzerland.

Read all our articles about ecommerce in Switzerland.