Sales in Swiss online retail will increase by 16% to CHF 1.2 billion this year - in terms of Swiss stores alone. Together with foreign providers and auction houses, sales will climb to over 2 billion francs. As the NZZ am Sonntag reports on the latest study by the Hergiswil-based market research company IHA-GfK, online sales are also becoming increasingly important in the Swiss retail trade. Online sales already grew by 15 percent in 2005 and are expected to increase by 16 percent this year. The retail trade accounted for 1.2 percent of this in 2005. This figure is expected to rise to 1.4 percent in 2006.
The following picture emerges with regard to the individual submarkets: almost half of sales are generated in the multimedia sector. 6.5 percent of total sales are already made online. Food, on the other hand, has only reached 0.3 percent - which, according to the experts, holds great potential for growth.
In 2005, the so-called pure players, whose products are only available via the Internet, generated 32% of sales. Among the multi-channel players, the mail order business occupies a dominant position. In 2005, 18.9 percent of sales were generated online; in the first half of 2006, this figure had already risen to 25.6 percent. Experts therefore also believe that the large main catalogs that mail order companies send out twice a year will soon be a thing of the past.

The NZZ am Sonntag puzzled extensively about what is actually going on at Swiss television. On the occasion of Ms. Deltenre's media orientation next week, the NZZ searched for culture on television.  
The answer beforehand: even the authors Manfred Papst and Regula Freuler did not really find what they were looking for, and the NZZ is known to employ excellent specialists. This is of course comforting for Otto Jedermann. For how could anyone understand that the extremely popular Sunday soap Lüthi & Blanc would be taken off the air. Without replacement, moreover. The NZZ also shakes its head at this, but it is also the starting point for the real question: Where is culture drifting on Swiss television?
 
In search of answers, the authors review the difficult and unsteady development of SRG's cultural formats: Does anyone remember Hotel Babylon? Hotel B.? Bondy and Co. B.Magazine? Next? A tiresome thing, this culture. Whether the current Kulturplatz will fare any better with Eva Wannenmacher, an agenda-fixated culture tip generator, is questionable.
 
Anyone who had previously been puzzled by the allocation of Lüthi & Blanc to culture has been paying close attention. But it's not the author of this text who has trouble with the division of departments. In television, it's like this: TV movies, soaps and sitcoms don't belong to entertainment, but to culture. The literature club, delicacies and horizons, on the other hand, do not, because they belong to the information department. Any questions?

With the planned regional editions of the Tages-Anzeiger, Tamedia, the Südostschweiz Media Group and Theiler Druck are expanding their press combination to include the whole of Lake Zurich.  
The Presse-Kombi 27 advertising combination previously covered the Lake Zurich, Schwyz, Walensee and Glarus regions. Since the launch of the first regional edition "Linkes Seeufer und Sihltal", Tagi-Verlag Tamedia has also been involved. Now the combination is being extended further: The regional editions "Zürichsee linkes Ufer", "Zürichsee rechtes Ufer" and "Zürcher Oberland" will now also be integrated into the offer, as SDA reported on Friday.

Rundschau editor Vanessa Nikisch was honored with the German VJ Award in Berlin on Saturday.  
As the SDA announced on Saturday, Nikisch was honored for the report "Tuvalu - an island sells its name", which was broadcast as part of the program "SF Spezial - Fernweh". The award ceremony took place as part of the 3rd International Video Journalism Awards in Berlin.

Star TV wants to shake up the singles market every Tuesday with the interactive singles show "Dateshow.ch". The show's producer, Harald Zindel, promises flirtations, kisses and baskets and guaranteed sizzling excitement.  
As the broadcaster announced on Friday, Dateshow.ch will see various challengers duel for the favor of their dream partner over the course of four shows. After this time, a merciless assessment will be made: a jury will determine the winning couple. But the viewers are also involved in the decision, they can have their say via SMS voting and support their favorites. The duo that has shown the most passion will go on vacation together for a week - free of charge, but not completely alone: a camera team will accompany the newly crowned couple.
 
The weekly show is first broadcast on Tuesdays at 8.00 pm. With the single show on Tuesday evenings, Star TV wants to offer a valid alternative to the programs on other channels.

The small Zurich agency Walker is delighted to have won another international prize for its Fleurop Mother's Day campaign.  
As the agency announced on Friday, it has won the bronze medal in the "Die Anzeige" competition organized by CommClub Bayern for its ad campaign Zeit, Ihr zu vergeben. This is all the more pleasing for the agency as this year's winners were chosen from over 800 international entries.

The founder of Wallpaper, ex-NZZ columnist and redesigner of Swiss, Tyler Brûlé, is back with new publishing plans. The magazine Monocle is to be launched internationally from next February.  
People had been wondering what had become of the once successful wallpaper prodigy, but now the cat is out of the bag. As Adage.com reported on Friday, Tyler Brûlé once again has big things in mind. Because he is so fascinated by the German news magazine Spiegel, he wants to launch an international magazine in English called Monocle based on its template. Thematically, the new title is based on its great role model: geopolitics, business, culture and design are to be the most important sections.
 
Monocle is intended to stand out from thematically similar magazines such as Time or Newsweek primarily through its volume. And Brûlé wouldn't be Brûlé if he didn't already hold out the prospect that his magazine will be much more visually impressive than all the competition put together. Monocle will be published ten times a year and cost 7.50 euros. Brûlé hopes to achieve sales of 200,000 copies.

From November 1, 2006 to the end of January 2007, around 200 people in the city of Berne will be testing mobile television via DVB-H technology. In collaboration with Swisscom Mobile, Sunrise and Orange, Swisscom Broadcast is testing whether the technology meets the needs of mobile radio and television.  
Thanks to UMTS, mobile television is already a reality today. In order to avoid capacity bottlenecks in future as demand grows, alternative technologies such as DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting Handheld) are being tested. In the Bern test, a system is being used that makes use of both broadcasting and mobile radio technology so that the two networks can be used in parallel.
 
Over the next three months, around 200 customers and employees will test the special DVB-H-based radio and television services developed by Swisscom Mobile, Sunrise and Orange. The companies hope that this will provide them with new insights into the market attractiveness and customer needs with regard to mobile television, as Swisscom announced on Friday.

With Puissance4, Edipresse is launching an interesting package offer for French-speaking Switzerland. Advertising customers now have the opportunity to book the four best-positioned quality titles Bilan, Femina, Télétop and TV Guide as a combined power package with immediate effect. The reach alone makes Puisscance4 a power package for French-speaking Switzerland, the company writes in the corresponding press release. Depending on the combination, advertising customers can achieve between 40 and 64 percent with the combined offer. The discount scale ranges from 18 to 33 percent. What sets Puissance apart from other combos is that subjects and placements can be varied completely flexibly and according to the target group. This gives a brand the necessary scope to address its customers with differentiated products and advertising messages in each of the four titles.

After Kertész Kabel awarded the contract to Zurich-based advertising agency BMB Baertschi, Meroni & Bolleter in the spring, a new image was jointly developed for Switzerland's most efficient cable dealer. The Rümlang-based company supplies numerous local and large national customers from the retail, industrial and construction sectors. Day after day, Kertész Kabel delivers high performance in the electricity sector. This should be communicated unambiguously, both to the layman and the professional. The claim: Beware of high performance!
The appearance is striking and independent and has a wide range of possible applications. In addition to a classic advertising campaign, the entire product documentation, the vehicle fleet, posters on construction sites and many other contact points were integrated into the new website.

On Friday, the Zurich District Court sentenced the managing director of Star TV to a fine of CHF 2,500 and two other media entrepreneurs to CHF 5,000 each. The ruling imposes a duty on advertising media to monitor the offers of their advertising clients. SDA describes the ruling as a burden on Swiss media freedom. The trial had already taken place in August and concerned nightly broadcast advertising spots for downloading porn clips. The public prosecutor's office had accused the defendants, Star TV managing director Paul Grau and the porn providers Televox and Lawa, of accepting that minors could also download porn as MMS on their cell phones. The charge was based on a test carried out by the cantonal police.
The conviction of the managing director of Star TV, Paul Grau, is a dangerous extension of media criminal law, writes the SDA in a report on Friday. Although Grau himself has no influence on the services provided by advertising clients, he was fined because two of his advertising clients allegedly offered services without sufficient protection of minors. The ruling contradicts the prevailing doctrine and practice, which only applies the media privilege to editorial contributions, but not to commercial advertising.
Advertising in Switzerland is subject to a clear legal framework, and the advertising media are responsible for complying with it. Extending this responsibility to the content, quality and distribution of their clients' offers and services means that editors and publishers whose media publish advertising will in future always be quasi-criminals. Paul Grau is also considering taking the ruling further for fundamental reasons.

M-Real launches EuroArt Plus, a new generation of fine papers for sheet-fed offset printing. The new paper adds value to printed products, guarantees reduced light transmission and ensures even faster printing.  
The specially developed paper meets the highest demands, even when paper and printing budgets are tight. According to M-Real, the new paper gives print products a valuable impression and a pleasant feel thanks to its high volume and stiffness. M-Real is committed to the guidelines for economic, ecological and social forest management. The wood used to produce the pulp for the EuroArt Plus papers comes from ecologically cultivated forests.