Online shopping via smartphone on the rise in Switzerland

Online shopping via smartphone is becoming increasingly popular in SwitzerlandInternet use dominates everyday life in German-speaking countries. This is shown by the latest media usage study for the DACH region by the Bundesverband Digitale Wirtschaft (BVDW) e.V., iab austria and IAB Switzerland. According to the study, mobile internet consumption via smartphones and other mobile devices continues to increase.Mobile use at a high levelThe most popular devices for Internet use remain desktop or laptop computers (D: 89%, A: 88%, CH: 86%). Mobile online usage in Germany has risen by six percentage points to 69% compared to the previous year. In Austria and Switzerland, mobile usage remains at an already high level of 72% (2015: 70%).instant messaging is one of the most popular applications on cell phones: in all three markets, more people communicate via WhatsApp and similar services than via email on a daily basis, with a share of 33% in Germany, 40% in Austria and 42% in Switzerland (D: 26%, A: 35%, CH: 39%).one of the most attractive interaction options via smartphone from a brand's perspective is offering location-based vouchers: The Swiss show the highest interest in this (CH: 61 percent very interested or interested, A: 55 percent; D: 52 percent). Social media are important communication platforms for brands, especially in Austria: More than half of respondents (A: 52%) use social networks to find out about products, compared to 47% in Switzerland and 41% in Germany.Shopping becomes more mobileThe fact that the internet is not only suitable as a source of product information, but that customers are also "picked up" directly to make a purchase, is shown by the focus on e-/m-commerce in the DACH media usage study. The proportion of people who make at least one purchase per month via PC remains consistently high (D: 69%, A: 60%, CH 69%; 2015: 68/62/54). With growth of 28%, digital shopping via PC in Switzerland recorded a strong increase. Mobile shopping is also on the rise, particularly in Switzerland and Austria. With 36% of monthly m-commerce customers, Switzerland not only had the highest mobile share in 2016 (D: 29%, A: 31%), but also the highest growth rate of 27% compared to the previous year (D: +2%, A: +23%).Number of Internet-enabled devices continues to riseOn average, around a third of respondents from the DACH region use a tablet to access the internet (D: 33%, A: 35%, CH 44%). There was significant growth in smart TVs in all three countries (D: 25%, A: 20%, CH 23%; 2015: 19/16/18). On average, this corresponds to an increase of almost 30%. Compared to the previous year, however, wearables are gaining the most ground. The prevalence of fitness trackers in particular has increased (D: 10%, A: 9%, CH 10%; 2015: 5/6/9). However, providers of smartwatches, fitness trackers and data glasses need to emphasize the benefits of their devices more clearly. The benefits of such devices are not sufficiently clear to consumers. The spread of connected household appliances (keyword: smart home) or cars (connected car) is on a par with wearables.Increased video consumption via smartphoneThe demand for music videos, video clips and video podcasts is similarly strong in all three markets with values between 51% and 54%. However, there are major differences between the countries when analyzing video content in more detail and comparing the different end devices: In Switzerland and Germany, for example, longer formats such as those from media libraries are also used in almost equal proportions on desktop/laptop (D: 28%, CH: 31%) and smartphone (D: 22%, CH: 29%). In Austria, on the other hand, usage on cell phones (9 percent) is not even half as high as on larger screens (22 percent). In Austria, on the other hand, short videos on social media platforms are viewed significantly more often on cell phones than in the other two markets.Roger Baur, Managing Director of IAB Switzerland: "The new media usage study on the DACH region gives us a very good insight into the behavior of users in the three countries. As we can see from the study, we are still a growing e-commerce country and this also confirms our assessment of the market. The development in mobile usage is also pleasing for us and we also see that users are consuming a lot of video content here."To the DACH Media Usage Study 2016The research agency d.core in Munich surveyed a total of 3,004 Internet users in Germany (1,000), Austria (1,009) and Switzerland (995) between May 18 and June 2, 2016 for the third joint study by BVDW, iab austria and IAB Switzerland. The sample was selected online-representatively by age and gender from Internet users aged 16 to 69. Socio-demographics, general media use, Internet use in particular, e- and m-commerce behavior and brand reception were surveyed. Interest in wearables and associated applications was also investigated. The detailed results can be viewed and exported via a dashboard for a fee.