Permanent low prices and shopping tourism: stinginess is also in demand in Switzerland

The "Future of Retail" study, in which the consulting firm Oliver Wyman surveyed 2400 Swiss, has not yet been published and is available to the NZZ on Sunday ago. The conclusion: the longer Swiss customers shop, the more they shop by price and perceive the various retailers as being very similar.

This leads to a quarter of respondents shopping abroad to save money. Particularly popular products for shopping tourism are care products, children's articles and clothing. Or in other words: product groups where the price difference and consequently also the savings potential is particularly large.

Even though the Swiss franc has since recovered against the euro: The exchange rate shock at that time seems to have been the starting signal for a kind of foreign shopping ritual for many people. The various expenses caused by shopping tourism (e.g., the higher time expenditure) play a subordinate role as long as savings at the checkout beckon. In addition to the most important driver, price, products that are not available in Switzerland also attract shoppers abroad.

The authors of the study warn the local industry that retailers need to pay more attention to the price issue. Whereas Germans used to be called "penny-pinchers," the term now applies to many Swiss as well.

In addition, loyalty to certain retailers is waning. The influence of customer cards and discount programs is waning - people are shopping where it's cheapest. The days when many people shopped at Migros or Coop almost out of principle and pride are over. Consumers have become flexible and are experimenting with different suppliers. The "Retail Trade Monitor 2019" by Nielsen and Fuhrer & Hotz recently found that customer loyalty is waning. (Werbewoche.ch reported).

On the other hand, the Swiss tend to be more conservative when it comes to another question: Compared to other countries, a large proportion of customers (two-thirds) still store mainly in stores. Just under 60 percent say they would shop online more often if the prices were cheaper there. As long as this is not the case, many people find it too tedious and too much effort. In addition, many people would like to touch and try on, or get personal advice, says study author Nordal Cavadini to the NZZ am Sonntag. And: For a quarter of customers, it simply takes too long for the packages to be delivered.

Accordingly, there is still a lot of potential in e-commerce, says Cavadini. Competition for retailers will continue to intensify. However, local retailers cannot hope for a great deal of goodwill and loyalty on the part of customers. "Unfortunately, customers are not very interested in the fact that the costs for Swiss retailers are 50 percent higher than in neighboring countries," says Dagmar Jenni, Managing Director of Oliver Wyman.