eCommerce, the attraction for Made in Swiss products

According to the latest Netcomm Suisse and ContactLab Observatory there are about 30 million consumers who are potentially interested in buying Swiss products. Now, The companies must think with a broader mind-set

Even in eCommerce there is a “CH factor”, a strong interest from customers living outside the Swiss borders, in buying Made in Swiss products. According to the research “The Swiss e-Commerce factor in international sales and deliveries” there are about 30 million consumers who are potentially interested in buying Swiss products. “The “Swiss addicted” customers who are not solely localized, as we can imagine, in the countries at the borders with Germany, France and Italy, or European ones such as Great Britain and Spain, but even in some extra-EU areas such as Shanghai, Guangzhu, New York and Los Angeles – Carlo Terreni, General Director NetComm Suisse e-Commerce Association, said – The companies who until now have only interacted with the 4,7 million Swiss buyers must now think with a broader mind-set to present themselves to a much greater public, attracted by Helvetian products”.
The research “The Swiss e-commerce factor in international sales and deliveries” is an analysis entracted from the second edition of the Observatry NetComm Suisse, realized by ContactLab and presented in October during “Swiss e-Commerce meets Expo”, an event promoted by NetComm Suisse, an association which has the goal to support the interests of the companies operating in eCommerce in Swiss.
“The data highlighted the strong habit Swiss customers have to buy online, demonstrated by the very high precentages related to the market expansion in all population ranges and in every industry”, Alessandro Marrarosa President of NetComm Suisse e-Commerce Association, commented.
“Generally speaking, today, e-commerce in Switzerland is a market in which the average online shopper spends almost 2.000 CHF per year.We should not forget – Terreni added – that this is a market which is very focused on the digital world, especially given that of a Country with just over 8 million inhabitants, 4,7 million of them are buying online”.
In fact, Switzerland has an high diffusion of ecommerce that grows steadily: today the 4,7 million online shoppers 16-65 years old represent the 85% of national population 16-65 years old. “Instead, the online eShoppers in Italy are about 17millions, but they are the 55% of Italian population. Also the annual expenditure of around 2,000 CHF per person among online shoppers in Switzerland as in Italy the average is around 1.000 Euro”, explained the General Director NetComm Suisse e-Commerce Association, who added as for the 3 Swiss factors to push e-Commerce, particularly on Italian online shoppers. “They are the high quality of products, the trustworthiness of online services and the payment security – he said – And following
our research the Italian already bought in Switzerland are 0,2 million, but potentially the Italian Promoters of Switzerland are 4.300.000”.

Swiss e-commerce export potential
As we were saying, there are about 30 million consumers who are potentially interested in buying Swiss products.According to the ContactLab study carried out in April there are 12.8 million Swiss Promoters in Germany, at least 6.2 in the UK, 4.6 in France, 4.3 in Italy, 3 in Spain. But also in China (Shanghai + Guangzhou areas) there are 5.5 million consumers who are interested in Swiss products and 2.3 million buyers in the US, if only the New York and Los Angeles areas are taken into consideration.
The companies that have so far been seeing Switzerland as a country with just 4.5 million high-level buyers can now consider it as country that is able to more than double its turnover, while rethinking it as an exporter of products.

The digital strategy to promote the Swiss eCommerce Factor
If, as we believe to have showed, there exists a Swiss factor in eCommerce, the first duty of the operators in this sector is to encurage the crossborder online shopping.
The digital strategy to promote the Swiss eCommerce Factor will gather different objectives: to enhance support to clients on the European markets, to give absolute guarantees on protection of personal data for the US market, to provide for quality products for the Asian markets, those striving for luxury products and products not easy to imitate.