Social commerce reaches the majority of Swiss e-shoppers
Six out of ten people in Switzerland regularly order via social media platforms - significantly more than the European average. Facebook leads in direct purchasing, while YouTube dominates as a source of inspiration. TikTok is gaining in importance and impresses with high conversion rates.
Social commerce has reached a milestone in Switzerland: 59% of regular or occasional e-shoppers make purchases on at least one social platform - either directly or via links to an external online store. This rate is well above the European average of 44%. Only Romanian e-shoppers are slightly more active at 62%. This is shown by DPD's E-Shopper Barometer 2025, for which over 30,500 people in 22 European countries were surveyed between May and July 2025.
Social media as a source of inspiration
Three quarters of the more than 1,000 people surveyed in Switzerland state that they use social media to find inspiration for online purchases. They are not just looking for product information from suppliers. They are interested in comments and reviews from other users or video demos and "unboxings" by Youtubers. 35% of e-shoppers are encouraged to make purchases by recommendations from relatives and friends on social media. Only 25% state that influencers have a comparable influence on their purchasing decisions.
YouTube inspires, Facebook sells
YouTube is the most popular source of inspiration for Swiss e-shoppers. 40% use the video platform, followed by Instagram (37%), Facebook (35%), TikTok (30%) and Pinterest (18%). As a sales platform, Facebook is ahead with 30 percent, followed by Instagram (28 percent), YouTube (26 percent), TikTok (22 percent) and Pinterest (13 percent).
A different picture emerges when looking at the conversion rates, i.e. the relationship between the frequency of use of a social medium and the actual purchases on this platform. Reddit and Pinterest perform best here, with a clear lead over X, TikTok, Facebook and Snapchat. For example, 48% of people who use Facebook at least once a week say they would also make purchases on this platform. The figure for YouTube is only 32%.
Switzerland leads in second-hand sales and returns
The study also provides interesting insights into online shopping behavior beyond social commerce. While 45% of private individuals in Europe sell second-hand products on online platforms, the figure in Switzerland is 60%. On average, they sell 20.5 items online per year - a European record.
36% of Swiss e-shoppers say they have returned the last parcel they ordered online. That is more than twice as many as before the coronavirus pandemic. In no other European country is the returns rate as high as in Switzerland.
New services for private customers
The regularly compiled E-Shopper Barometer also serves DPD as a basis for optimizing customer service. Since this year private customers and small businesses have been able to send their parcels flexibly via the DPD Web Parcel Tool. The parcel label can be created, paid for and printed out online. For an additional charge of five francs, the parcel is collected from the customer's home.
The new myDPD app makes it possible to adjust the delivery location or delivery day with just a few clicks or to enter a drop-off preference. "At DPD we are keeping a very close eye on how the behavior of e-shoppers is changing. The C2C business - parcel shipping between private individuals - is growing rapidly," says Tilmann Schultze, CEO of DPD Switzerland. Customers are also benefiting from the expansion of out-of-home locations in cooperation with Valora. Anyone sending a parcel with DPD Web Parcel can post it at over 1,000 locations in Switzerland.
The study focuses on "regular e-shoppers": people between the ages of 18 and 70 who shop online at least once a month. This corresponds to 80 percent of the population.
