Ecommerce in Switzerland: 9.77 billion euros in 2019

Ecommerce 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.

Ecommerce in Switzerland is relying less on sales of foreign online retailers and more on local players. Last year, about 7.87 billion euros were generated by B2C online retailers with Swiss customers, while the remaining 1.9 billion euros came from foreign customers. In 2018, 7.2 billion euros generated by local customers while 1.8 were generated by foreign online shoppers.

80.6% came from Swiss buyers

The share remains almost the same (last year, 80.6 percent came from local buyers versus 80 percent in 2018) but in absolute numbers, the growth of ecommerce in Switzerland came mostly from local buyers (+670 million euros) rather than foreign shoppers (+100 million euros).

In the study from Swiss mail order association VSV, GfK and Swiss Post, the researchers state that domestic purchases on .ch domains have grown by 9.2 percent. “There is a trend reversal of international purchases online: direct cross-border online purchases with delivery to Switzerland grew, below average, with 5.2 percent last year.”

Consumer electronics are popular online

The most popular online product categories in Switzerland are consumer electronics and fashion/shoes. Last year, 36 percent of consumer electronics purchases were done online.