E-commerce study: online shopping is part of everyday life in Switzerland

According to the study, around a third of respondents now store online every week, with men showing a higher frequency on average. The main driver of digital consumption is the "convenience" associated with online shopping: home delivery of products is the main reason for shopping online, closely followed by the fact that purchases can be made 24 hours a day and are therefore not tied to store opening hours. Another advantage is the ease with which products and prices can be compared.

The older ones are pragmatic, the younger ones aesthetic

When Swiss shoppers encounter a new online store, they pay most attention to the range of different payment options on offer and also to whether the website is displayed as secure. Young online shoppers (14-24 years), on the other hand, pay most attention to a visually appealing and trustworthy appearance. Online stores must take the different needs of their target groups into account accordingly.

Where and how to buy online

We never take our eyes off our smartphones, but we still do most of our shopping on our computers or laptops, and we prefer to do it from home. But this could soon change: One in five people plans to shop more often via smartphone in the future. The current obstacles to smartphone shopping are small screens and the difficulty of operating stores. Both criteria to which technological answers can be found in the near future (for example, responsive web design).

Now goes app

On average, around two out of three people use shopping apps on their smartphones. In the youngest target group (14-24 years), the figure is as high as three quarters. Thus, apps can prove to be a promising sales channel for digital companies. The top 5 most-used shopping apps in Switzerland are Zalando, SBB, Wish, Amazon and Aliexpress.

Multi-optional paths - customer journeys in the age of e-commerce

In order to analyze the customer journey, information search and purchase were surveyed for different product and service categories. There are already major differences between the individual categories when it comes to searching for information: For example, information on airline tickets or event tickets is predominantly searched for online, whereas information on food and medicines is predominantly searched for offline.

In a second step, the channel of purchase is included. This clearly shows that the boundary between off- and online is blurring and the customer journey is becoming increasingly hybrid. Even in online-dominated categories such as airline tickets. 72% of the people who buy airline tickets obtain information online in advance, of which 85% also buy the tickets online. In total, however, only 59% people buy their tickets purely online.

How Covid-19 catalyzes Swiss e-commerce

One-third of people changed their online shopping as a result of Covid-19. Clothes and shoes were the most popular shopping category during the lockdown. And sometimes stereotypes are confirmed: women bought twice as much in this category as men. How sustainable the increase in online shopping will be after the Covid-19 pandemic remains to be seen. However, 38% of respondents plan to maintain their online shopping behavior during the lockdown in the future or even increase their online shopping. Other international studies see great potential for retailers here, especially for the Christmas season.

The current E-commerce study by Wunderman Thompson Switzerland provides relevant insights into current topics, trends and the online shopping behavior of the Swiss, especially against the backdrop of the current Covid 19 crisis. By means of a representative online survey, around 2,000 people between the ages of 14 and 69 were asked about various aspects of online shopping. Further information and current data can be found at Wundermanthompson.ch can be retrieved.