No walk is too far for the Swiss for a special shopping experience
Swiss consumers value a special shopping experience: 58 percent will take a trip to various stores for this. Clothing stores and DIY stores are among the top 3 specialty stores. This is shown by a new Nielsen study.
Excellent customer service, a special shopping experience and the best possible quality are among the general expectations consumers have of a specialty retailer. Nielsen, a global performance management company that provides information and insights on consumer media and consumption behavior, has conducted a global study on the topic of "Specialty Retailers" to investigate what motivates the Swiss to visit a specialty retailer and how they generally feel about specialty stores.
The top 2 among specialty stores
Among the specialty stores, clothing stores & electronics markets are particularly popular. 50 percent of Swiss consumers say they intend to visit a clothing store, including shoes and accessories, in the next three months, compared with only 47 percent in Europe. Electronics stores follow in second place (33 percent). In a European comparison, however, clothing stores (47 percent) and drugstores/perfumeries (34 percent) are ahead.
Health trend attracts consumers to organic stores
Looking at grocery shopping, there are numerous reasons why organic stores are preferred. "The wide selection of organic products, the one-stop shopping principle for a healthy lifestyle, and the strict sustainability standards of food and beverages prompt consumers to shop in organic stores," Judith Kuiper, Managing Director Nielsen Switzerland, summarizes the findings.
No distance is too far for a better shopping experience
"Consumers generally perceive the often more appealing design as well as the feel-good ambience at specialist retailers as positive," says Kuiper. Although many consumers (58 percent) are not afraid of going to different stores for a special shopping experience, they are still rarely willing to spend more money for this experience. 66 percent of the Swiss estimate that prices at specialty retailers are more expensive than at other stores. 40 percent even state that specialty stores are for those consumers who have an above-average income (Europe: 39 percent).
"The attraction of specialist retailers is often also their specialized product range as well as better customer service," Judith Kuiper summarizes. More than one in two visits a specialist retailer because of a product that can only be purchased there. This also includes new product launches (52 percent), which are also only available in specialized stores. Customer service is generally perceived positively by consumers. 63% of respondents believe that specialist stores offer better customer service, compared with 52 percent across Europe.
About the Nielsen Global Survey
The Nielsen Global Survey was conducted between October 31 and November 18, 2016. Nielsen surveyed more than 30,000 consumers in 63 countries in the Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America, Middle East, Africa and North America regions. The sample is quota-weighted by age and gender for each country based on their respective Internet users. It thus represents the country's Internet users and has a maximum global variation of ±0.6 percent. This Nielsen online survey is based exclusively on the behavior of respondents with Internet access. Internet penetration varies by country. For a country to be included in the survey, Nielsen requires that at least 60 percent of the population, or ten million people, have Internet access.
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