E-commerce, Swiss crazy about fashion

The 52% of Swiss online shoppers made at least one fashion e-commerce purchase, against 45% of Italians. The details in the research promoted by the Observatory NetComm Suisse and carried by ContactLab

Fashion it’s the category of goods that leads online purchases in Swiss. According to the Observatory NetComm Suisse, the Swiss association of e-commerce operators and digital communication, the main category of goods bought online by Swiss shoppers in 2014 is “clothing and fashion items”, with a + 16.3% increase on the previous year as stated by users.
The research promoted by the Observatory NetComm Suisse and carried by ContactLab highlights the strong propensity of Swiss consumers for the online channel with a particolar focus on clothing.

The best practices and common data focused on fashion in the e-commerce sector have brought to light during the event “eCommerce meets Fashion in the Ticino Fashion Valley”, which was held on April 23 in Lugano, with the participation of Stefano Rizzi, Director of the Economics Division of the Department of Finance and Economics of Canton Ticino.

In the meeting, Alessandro Marrarosa, President NetComm Suisse e-Commerce Association, reported that “52% of Swiss online shoppers made at least one fashion e-commerce purchase, investing on average 463 CHF per year”.

“The fashion industry is clearly a driving force for the development of eCommerce in Switzerland”, Carlo Terreni, General Director NetComm Suisse e-Commerce Association, added.

Arianna Galante, Director of Agency Dept of ContactLab and Managing Director of ContactLab France, said: “In a rapidly growing digital world the most popular ecommerce category in Europe is fashion. The challenge for fashion brands is to meet the requirements and expectations of digital consumers, starting from existing clients and watching out for emerging consumer trends and segments”

In fact, the rally for the fashion is even more relevant in many European countries, where the penetration of fashion purchases online (according to a recent ContactLab research) is: 45% in Italy, 58% in Spain, 66% in France, 74% in Germany, 81% in UK.

The panel refers to “regular” internet users, connected to the net at least once a week from any device, Swiss and aged 16-65, composing 88% of the population of this age, which amounts to 4.8 millions. Among these, 90% made a purchase online in 2014 (4.2 millions).

But what are the channels preferred by Swiss fashion e-shoppers? “Basing on the frequency, the choice goes to brands also having a physical store, referred to as channels used by 41% of users who bought fashion online; following is the manufacturer’s website, chosen by 32% of online shoppers, and the websites specialized by type of service or product (23%) – Terreni explained – Only the fourth place we find the multibrand e-commerce portals, which gained a 14% preference in the choice, tied with the websites related to private sales”.

At last, coherently with the rest of Europe, the channels for seeking information before the act of purchase, show in the first place the manufacturer’s website (referred to as the main source of information for fashion products by 43% of e-shoppers), followed immediately by the newsletter, indicated by almost one over four online fashion e-shoppers as their favorite channel, (23%) and lastly the traditional word-of-mouth (16%).