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Home > Ecommerce in Europe > Ecommerce in Switzerland

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.

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COUNTRY
SWITZERLAND
Population 8.21 million people
– % internet users 86,7%
Online sales €7.4 billion (2017)
Online stores worth mentioning: Ricardo.ch, Tutti.ch, Digitec.ch, Microspot.ch and Coop.ch
Top 10 online stores in Switzerland: Click here

Content:

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%. Another study suggests that 55% of the Swiss surveyed is a smartphone user of which 9% uses this device weekly for online shopping. 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 online payment methods in Switzerland are paying by invoice, credit card and Paypal. According to information from Netcomm Suisse, consumers in Switzerland prefer paying with PayPal (43 percent), credit card (40 percent) and cash on delivery (39 percent).Other popular payment methods in Switzerland are online bank transfer, prepaid or rechargeable credit card, post-office issues cheque, Sofort/direct bank transfer, payment in-store after reserving online and bank transfer in branch.

The ecommerce market in Switzerland

Swiss consumers have spent 8.4 billion euros on products and services online in 2015. This is a growth of over 13 percent compared to 2014. 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.

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In 2017, Asendia published a report about Swiss ecommerce, in which it was noted that smartphones are now being used by 75 percent of the Swiss population,  up 50 percent in two years, and 37 percent of those who don’t have a device expect to get one in the next 12 months. They are already used by 68 percent of online shoppers.

Big online stores in Switzerland

The top 100 online shops in Switzerland generated 3.4 billion euros in 2013. Currently, online store Digitec.ch is the biggest online store in Switzerland (€661 million euros in sales in 2016). Other popular online stores in Switzerland are Amazon.de, Nespresso.com/ch, Zalando.ch and LeShop.ch. Also Brack.ch, Coop, Microspot.ch, Nettoshop.ch and Exlibris are in the top 10 of online Swiss stores. The top 10 of popular online stores in Switzerland, according to Y&R Group Switzerland: Ebookers, Nespresso, Digitec, Ex Libris, iTunes, Amazon, Ticketcorner, Zalando, SBB, Ricardo.

Latest news about Switzerland

Conrad Electronic closes stores in Switzerland

October 26, 2020Conrad Electronic has made the decision to let the leases of its two branches in Switzerland expire in 2021. This means the consumer electronics retailer will close its physical stores. But Conrad won’t be leaving Switzerland completely: it now focuses on ecommerce and b2b.

Zalando acquires body scanning tool Fision

October 16, 2020Zalando has announced it acquired Fision, a Swiss company that offers a mobile body scanning solution. For Zalando, the acquisition is part of its investment in the customer experience.

Mister Spex offers first online eye test

April 6, 2020Online optician Mister Spex now offers an online eye test, since the coronavirus has made it impossible in many European countries to visit an optician. It says it’s the first optician to offer customers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland the possibility of an individual eye test via an online application.

Ecommerce in Switzerland: 9.77 billion euros in 2019

March 12, 2020Ecommerce in Switzerland was worth 9.77 billion euros last year, which means it passed the 10 billion Swiss francs mark for the first time. The Swiss online retail industry increased by 8.4 compared to the situation one year before.

Coop’s ecommerce sales grow 16.3%

February 19, 2020The Coop Group generated sales of 28.9 billion euros in 2019, with ecommerce sales increasing by 16.3 percent. The profit of the Swiss retail and wholesale company amounted to almost 500 million euros.

Read all our articles about ecommerce in Switzerland.

Last update: February 2018