Switzerland

Swiss Post will get some serious competition in the booming parcel delivery market in Switzerland. DHL, the subsidiary of Deutsch Post, will build a network of 1,000 pick-up points in the Central-European country. The goal is to become the number two in Switzerland, just after Swiss Post.

It's not uncommon for online shoppers in Switzerland to pay a shipping fee for their online order. This year, free shipping is, just like in previous years, still the exception. Less than a fifth of the top-selling online stores in Switzerland send orders without any shipping costs.

In Switzerland, many online consumers are often subject to unexpected additional fees. The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs now wants to oblige foreign online retailers that are active in Switzerland to list all fees customers need to pay when they order online.

What are the top-selling online shops in Switzerland this year? Which Swiss ecommerce companies generated the highest turnover? Consulting firm Carpathia analyzed figures of the largest online retailers in Switzerland and came up with a top 50.

Ecommerce in Switzerland gets more and more influenced by foreign online retailers. Last year, the total order value at foreign ecommerce websites in Switzerland has grown over twice as much as the value of domestic retailers.

Online food delivery service Takeaway.com has acquired Foodarena, a similar company from Switzerland, from its main competitor Delivery Hero. The acquisition doesn't mean Takeaway.com is entering a new market, as the Dutch company was already operating a food delivery service in Switzerland.

Siroop will cease to exist. The Swiss online marketplace was acquired by co-owner Coop last month, but the retail company has now confirmed it will pull the plug on Siroop at the end of this year.

Swiss retail company Coop will be the total owner of online marketplace Siroop with effect from the first of May. On that day, the major retail and wholesale company will acquire the 50 percent share package of Swisscom. Coop and Swisscom jointly launched Siroop in 2016.

Swiss supermarket chain Migros has launched a new social shopping platform, called Amigos. Through this platform, Migros' customers get connected with people who like to receive packages and earn some money by bringing the products to the original customer.

Deutsche Post DHL Group has opened a new fulfillment center in the United Kingdom. In the English town of Radlett, an area of about 6,500 square meters offers same-day processing for the Greater London area. DHL already operates a similar fulfillment center in Germany and is now working to open such centers in the Netherlands, Poland and Switzerland.

Swiss Post has acquired the Swiss startup Notime, which provides bicycle courier services. The acquisition should help Swiss Post with gaining more ground in the fast-growing market of same-day deliveries and fast, flexible deliveries in urban areas.

Ecommerce in Switzerland has increased by 10 percent in 2017. The online turnover generated in Switzerland with B2C and C2C sales of products, so no services included, was worth 8.6 billion Swiss francs, which corresponds to 7.4 billion euros.

The entry of Amazon into the Swish ecommerce market seems imminent. The American ecommerce giant has signed a cooperation agreement with Swiss Post, which means the postal agency will carry out customs clearance for Amazon in the near future.

In the near future, business customers and consumers from Swiss Post can benefit from a new service, which will roll out nationwide. Swiss Post will offer the ability to deliver parcels within four different time slots.

Strelsson, Switzerland's biggest menswear manufacturer, opened an online shop where consumers won't need to pay money to get a fashion item. In order to be the owner of a trench coat or pair of jeans, consumers need to collect a certain amount of Facebook likes on a shared post.