Futurecom study shows: 100 percent of the Swiss shop online

The most important reason for this is convenience: online shoppers particularly appreciate home delivery and round-the-clock shopping. Online stores can convince customers primarily with good product information - high shipping costs, on the other hand, are a killer criterion. E-commerce is increasingly mobile commerce, and many customers prefer shopping apps. Here Zalando can hold its own in first place, but Wish has caught up massively, and with the market entry of Amazon the race is open again. This is shown by the Futurecom E-Commerce Study 2018.

1. e-commerce in general

Online shopping is part of everyday life

100 percent of the Internet-active population makes regular purchases online. On average, 40 percent click a digital payment button 1 to 3 times a month. Many even do so daily or several times a week.

Convenience remains the key driver for shopping on the web

Our shopping needs are as individual as our schedules. Online, many of these needs can be served better and better. For 58 percent of customers, home delivery is the strongest motive for shopping online. The unlimited availability of online stores (keyword "24/7") also appeals to the Swiss. Overall, the five most important motives for online shopping show that convenience is the most important argument for shopping online across all age groups.

Product information and free returns are crucial

Because products cannot be touched and tested in an online store, it is very important for 87 percent of online customers to find sufficient information about the product. Product images are also crucial for 74 percent of customers in order to be able to assess a product. The fact that these factors are somewhat less important in 2018 than they were in 2017 could be a sign that online shopping is becoming increasingly commonplace.

High shipping costs deter

65 percent of customers hesitate to make a purchase if an online store charges high shipping costs - that's slightly more than in the previous year. The trustworthiness of an online store is also becoming more important: 27 percent of respondents hesitate if this is not guaranteed.

2. customer journey

Online and offline channels have their champions

The product category determines the channel through which a consumer prefers to obtain information. Airline and event tickets, hotels and vacation trips are mostly researched online. In the case of food, medicines and wines, on the other hand, customers prefer to find out about products in the store.

People who research online also tend to buy online. This correlation is particularly evident when booking flights, events, hotels and vacation trips.

By contrast, food, medicines, wine and alcoholic beverages continue to be purchased predominantly offline. However, the appeal of online shopping has also increased in these product categories compared with the previous year.

E-commerce reaches the service sector

Insurance and financial services are also increasingly being purchased online. In the case of insurance, the willingness to take out a policy online is still significantly higher than for banking services. For example, 20 percent of the Internet-active Swiss have already taken out health insurance online. Online purchases of small loans and mortgages, on the other hand, are still at a much lower level. One exception in the case of banking services is stock market transactions, which 12 percent of respondents have carried out online.

3. mobile commerce

Shopping via smartphone is becoming a matter of course

"Mobile first" is something every e-commerce provider should take to heart. Well-optimized shopping apps and mobile-compatible web stores give them an important competitive edge. 27 percent of digital natives say they shop via a mobile device 1 to 3 times a month - that's an increase of 5 percent over the previous year. A significant increase can also be observed among digital immigrants and silver surfers. 17 percent of digital immigrants even say they make a transaction on their smartphone every day or at least several times a week.

Big screen shopping becomes small screen shopping

Consumers still prefer traditional devices such as PCs and laptops for online shopping. While the smartphone has become indispensable in many areas of our daily lives, the significantly smaller screen often makes online shopping a pain.

However, the potential for mobile shopping is enormous, which is why many providers are making an effort to make the shopping experience on the smartphone more attractive and simple. New technologies such as augmented reality are opening up new ways of bringing products to life on smartphones and supporting the advance of m-commerce.

While in China up to 90 percent of e-commerce sales are already generated via smartphones (for example on Alibaba "Singles Day" 2018), big screen devices still dominate in Switzerland. However, an increase in mobile shopping is clearly discernible, driven in particular by the younger generations. Incidentally, many have already tried it out: 82 percent of the Swiss say they shop via smartphone at least occasionally - that's an increase of 7 percentage points compared to the previous year.

Zalando app remains the shining star, China catches up

Many retailers want to provide a personalized and convenient mobile shopping experience with their own app and thus retain their customers. This strategy is increasingly successful: well over a third of the Swiss resident population already uses mobile apps for online shopping. Looking only at 14- to 29-year-olds, one in two online shoppers even uses an app. Zalando still holds on to first place, but Wish has caught up significantly compared to the previous year and is now in second place (2017: 4th place).

The smartphone always at hand

Even when shopping in stores, no one wants to do without their smartphone anymore. While digital natives primarily use them to compare prices, research product information or ask their friends for advice, older generations use their smartphones primarily to benefit from promotional measures: 38 percent of digital immigrants say they use their smartphones for discounts and promotions or for promotional codes and coupons - among silver surfers, the figures are still 22 percent and 24 percent respectively.

4. e-commerce brands

The undisputed big players in e-commerce

There are category leaders in most categories. In Switzerland, for example, Zalando, Digitec and Booking.com dominate in their respective product ranges. At Zalando, 47 percent of Swiss people shopped online in the last 12 months. Digitec continues to dominate the multimedia and electrical appliance market with 35 percent, and for hotel, vacation and flight bookings, 37 percent of travel enthusiasts choose Booking.com. It remains to be seen to what extent Amazon's entry into the Swiss market will shake up this ranking.

About the study

The Futurecom E-Commerce Study examines trends in Swiss online retailing. For this purpose, 2,000 people aged between 14 and 69 from German- and French-speaking Switzerland were surveyed online about their shopping behavior. For cross-comparison purposes, the study divides the online population into three generations: "digital natives" (14-29 years), "digital immigrants" (30-54 years) and "silver surfers" (55-69 years). The sample is representative according to official structural data for Switzerland. Y&R Group Switzerland is one of the leading communications agencies in Switzerland and is based in Zurich. It brings together under joint management the specialists from Advico Y&R (Modern Campaigning), Futurecom (E-Business Solutions) and Wunderman (Data Driven Marketing).