Gidor Coiffure operates almost 100 branches in Switzerland. Process was commissioned with the rebranding of the website. The new look focuses on reduction and clear user guidance. Core of the new website, implemented with WordPress Gidor.ch is the store finder with geographical localization, dynamic display of opening hours and route calculation.

Parallel to the redesign of the website, a campaign was launched with the protagonist "Guido Gidor" - voiced by actor Erich Vock. In numerous Radio spots and pre-rolls on YouTube, the cheeky character explains the benefits of Gidor Coiffure. The spots are designed to humorously sum up the chain's value for money.

In the present case, the Press Council ruled clearly in favor of naming the magazine. The magazine K-Money was therefore entitled to point out the questionable practices of the one-man company Salfried and also to mention the name of the owner.

In the last few years, he has defrauded unsuspecting investors of their money under various company names and company constructs. He profits from the fact that Switzerland is an Eldorado for sellers of shares by telephone. Company owner Artan Qelaj and his employees called in particular seniors between 75 and 95.

It is not permissible to name names when it is a matter of ongoing legal proceedings - the Press Council has already stated this several times and is sticking to it. In the Salfried case, however, there is a clear public interest in naming names and facts, thus providing transparent information and warning of a current, significant danger.

Further growth: Discounters are increasingly perceived as fully-fledged retailers (Photo: Lidl Switzerland).

Switzerland is experiencing an economic upswing, which means that the retail sector can also report overall growth of six percent for everyday goods in 2018. The driver behind this development is the increased price level, which is reflected in all areas - from fresh produce, food and beverages to near-food. However, the stabilization of the euro/franc exchange rate and shopping tourism, which led to high price markdowns in Switzerland in 2011 and 2015 in particular, also supported the positive development. Despite these positive conditions, competition in Switzerland continues to intensify.

Discounters have arrived in Switzerland

Discounters are well established in Switzerland and continue to record strong sales growth. In recent years, they have been able to improve their image and are no longer perceived as just cheap shopping options. The discounters' investments in quality, advertising, shopping atmosphere and freshness expertise are slowly paying off and are increasingly appreciated by consumers. The discounters have been able to position their image away from an exclusive focus on price and more towards being fully-fledged retailers. The planned expansion into highly frequented locations in city centers will further help discounters to gain reach and frequency.

Supermarkets: shopping experience instead of price wars

For traditional supermarkets (such as Migros, Coop, etc.), the past has shown that a price war is not necessarily the optimal response to the growth of discounters. Instead, the focus should continue to be placed on the most important shopping criteria for customers, such as freshness, shopping atmosphere, good value for money and bonus programs. You need to understand what consumers want and which offers bind customers to your store. Knowing the consumer and meeting their needs is the key to future success. 

Nielsen, together with Fuhrer & Hotz, explores this potential in the study "Switzerland. Retail Trade Monitor 2019". More than 200 representatives from the retail and consumer goods industry will follow the results on Tuesday at this year's Retail Trade Conference in Horgen. Under the headline "Consolidation - digitalization - fragmentation: what lies ahead and how can we remain/become consumer-focused?", industry representatives will share their views on this question. Consumer focus and personalization - not an easy but increasingly important topic.

Competition is becoming tougher due to declining customer loyalty

In recent years, every second Swiss household has added another/new retailer to its "relevant set", despite the ongoing consolidation in the Swiss retail sector. Last year, a Swiss household visited an average of six different retailers for the purchase of everyday goods. This is the logical consequence of the ever-increasing choice of shopping locations and shopping options. Today, Swiss households can shop where and when they want. On the one hand, in addition to traditional retailers, more and more convenience formats with an extended range of consumer goods are opening their doors. Opening hours are usually very customer-friendly and flexible. On the other hand, the network of sales outlets is becoming ever denser due to the strong expansion plans of discounters in recent years. And although online retailing of consumer goods is still struggling in Switzerland, the majority of consumers say they would like to try online ordering with home delivery. This increase in shopping options is spreading household spending across the various channels. As a result, the battle for the frequency and size of the shopping basket is becoming increasingly fierce as customer loyalty declines.

Consumer focus should set the direction

Not all purchases are the same. Nielsen came to this conclusion by analyzing almost half a million shopping acts over the course of a year. Instead, the shopping files can be divided into seven different "shopper missions". The shopper missions differ from one another in their shopping frequency, their purchase value and the composition of the shopping basket. In this respect too, fresh produce plays a decisive role in the shopping behavior of households. For Migros and Coop, large shopping baskets with a high proportion of fresh produce are still very important. For discounters, on the other hand, shopping baskets that can be defined as supplementary purchases are of central importance. Even though consumers in Switzerland state that their price sensitivity has increased in recent years and that they are looking for a good price/performance ratio, this study shows that there are other important needs that need to be addressed when making purchasing decisions. These factors must be known and pursued accordingly in order to increase customer loyalty and continue to positively influence value creation. Instead of being led in the wrong direction by the competitive environment, the consumer focus should lead the way. 

The majority of the 135 retail and industry experts surveyed share the view that the point of sale of tomorrow should develop in the direction of "smart shopping" and "omniexperience" in order to continue to meet (new) consumer needs. This means that the point of sale must enable a seamless shopping experience that focuses on simplicity, efficiency and individuality. In addition, the various shopping worlds (offline and online) should be linked together and offer consumers a holistic shopping experience. Retailers are already taking the first steps in this direction. Sales areas (e.g. shelves) are being reduced in favor of service and dwell areas, while at the same time increasing investment is being made in digital technologies and omnichannel concepts (linking offline and online).

Is the couple above me married? Where is the family in the house next door on vacation? What job does the woman on the first floor have? Many Swiss people find the private lives of their neighbors fascinating. One in five Swiss people are particularly curious and even search the Internet for information about the person next door. This is the result of a representative study by immowelt.ch, one of the most popular real estate portals in Switzerland. Traditional search engines are particularly popular for research. Most of the curious Swiss (83 percent) stated that they search for their neighbors via Google, Bing or Yahoo. Social networks are also used in particular. On Facebook (56%) and Instagram (16%), curious Swiss people find private data such as date of birth, relationship status or vacation photos - provided the neighbor's profile is public. In professional networks (29%) such as LinkedIn or Xing, searchers come across information about their career and current job. Only dating apps such as Tinder are not used by the Swiss for research. It seems that interest in neighbors doesn't go that far after all.

However, the majority of Swiss people do not believe in spying on their neighbors. 60 percent believe that their neighbors' lives are none of their business and therefore do not search the Internet. A further 20 percent are simply not interested in their neighbor's life.

There are major differences in the comparison between Swiss people who own their own property and those who rent. Property owners are more interested in the lives of their neighbors than tenants. While 24% of property owners look for information about the people next door to them, only 17% of those living in rented accommodation do so. As home buyers often buy a property for life, a good neighborhood is more important to them than to tenants. Many of them only spend a short period of their lives in the same apartment and move more often.

In addition to homeowners, high-income earners in particular want to know who their neighbors really are. 25 percent of respondents with high incomes have already searched for information about other residents. Among low-income earners, the figure was only 13 percent. Here too, the fact that higher earners often live in property and want to know who their neighbors are probably plays a role.

Have you ever searched the Internet for information about your neighbor?

• No, the lives of my neighbors are none of my business: 60 percent
• No, I'm not interested in my neighbors: 20 percent
• Yes, I want to know who I live next door to: 20 percent

Which sites/platforms did you use for this? 
(Subset: only those who have already searched for information about their neighbors; multiple answers possible)

• Search engine (e.g. Google, Bing, Yahoo): 83 percent
• Facebook: 56 percent
• Professional network (e.g. LinkedIn, Xing): 29 percent
• Instagram: 16 percent
• Special people search engine: 16 percent
• Dating apps (for example Tinder): 0 percent

The sales and distribution world is undergoing a profound transformation. Ever-shorter innovation cycles, the shift towards multi- and omnichannel, new technologies, the way personal selling is changing, and increasing price pressure are all demanding a lot from the sales and distribution departments of Swiss companies. To survive in this fast-paced environment, organizations in sales and distribution need to constantly realign themselves. This requires innovation, creativity and the courage to do the unusual.

Against this backdrop, the sales and distribution experts of the Swiss Marketing Forum, WATC Consulting and the Hochschule für Wirtschaft in Zürich (HWZ) are launching the new Sales Excellence Award. Its primary goal: to identify and spotlight individuals and teams who are pioneering new and creative sales and distribution projects, and to promote exchange between sales and distribution professionals. The means to this end: the Sales Excellence Award, which in future will be presented once a year for outstanding sales and distribution achievements.

The Sales Excellence Award is presented in two categories: "Small and medium-sized companies with fewer than 500 employees" and "Large companies with more than 500 employees". In addition, there is a special jury prize and an audience award that is not tied to categories.

The jury will judge the projects entered according to four criteria: Sales strategy, sales management, information management and customer relationship management. Several dimensions are included in the assessment: the degree of innovation of the submitted project, its benefit for the organization, its relevance beyond the company and its concrete implementation with the accompanying accompanying measures. The jury is composed as follows:

• Marc Baumgartner, CEO, Würth
• Paul-David Becker, Managing Partner, BSP International
• Daniel Binkert, Market Area Manager, Member of the Management, CSS Versicherung
• Katrin Brunner, Retail Manager, Lacoste
• John Charles, Head of Strategic and Key Account Management, Post CH
• Gregor Doser, Industry Leader Retail, Telco, FMCG, Agency, Google Switzerland
• Séverine Dröhnli, Head of National Sales and KAM, Bayer (Switzerland)
• Patrick E. Koller, Managing Partner, WATC Consulting (Jury President)
• Martin Limbeck, Managing Director, Martin Limbeck Training Group
• Marcus Schögel, Director, IfM-HSG Institute for Marketing, University of St. Gallen
• Monika Schulze, Global Head of Customer Experience & Digital Strategy, Zurich Insurance
• Thomas Schwertje, Head of Marketing, Coop Switzerland

The awarding of the Sales Excellence Award will take place in a festive setting on November 12, 2019 at the Sales Power Conference at the GDI Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute. In addition to the award ceremony, the event will focus on networking among guests and learning from each other. The prizes awaiting the winning teams are also in this spirit. In addition to a monetary prize, each winning team will receive a customized Sales Excellence Impulse Day with a workshop to discuss sales and sales-specific challenges and issues.

The rapidly advancing digitalization can only be mastered with the appropriate hardware and software. The market is clearly dominated by US companies, with China in the fast lane and a few global players in the hardware and software sector, for example from Korea, Russia and Germany. The potential access to ICT manufacturers by the respective home countries leads to questions about how to deal with these risks. The 28th MELANI semi-annual report focuses on this issue and addresses other current topics such as those described below.

With the Internet of Things (IoT), all kinds of devices such as heating and air conditioning systems are connected to the internet for remote control. This is practical, but also harbors certain risks. According to a study published by Princeton University in 2018, it is entirely possible that malicious actors could hack inadequately protected IoT devices, combine them into a botnet and misuse them for cyber attacks, such as a power outage. The semi-annual report sheds light on the problem and contains recommendations.

Countless "fake sextortion" emails have been circulating since March 2018. In an email, the attackers claim that they have compromising images showing the recipient consuming pornographic websites. As "proof" of the authenticity of the claim, the email often mentions passwords or cell phone numbers from previous data leaks. The semi-annual report deals with this problem and shows the development of the various "fake sextortion" waves.

With over 100 million monthly users, Office 365 accounts have become a popular target for attackers. In the second half of 2018, "Office 365" access data obtained in this way was increasingly used for so-called transfer fraud. This is when fraudsters search for existing electronic invoices in compromised accounts, then copy them, add a different IBAN and send them again.