Leshop.ch: Megatrend Mobile Shopping
The share of mobile orders at the Swiss online supermarket Leshop.ch is growing: Every fifth order is already placed via smartphone or tablet. The company attributes this trend to the successfully launched iPad app.
The Swiss online supermarket has felt a market recovery since June, this after sales in the 2nd half of 2011 affected by price pressure and the weakness of the euro and a difficult first half of 2012 (-4 percent). This writes Leshop.ch in a statement. The positive trend is confirmed by the sales figures in the third quarter: Leshop.ch processed around 140'000 orders from July to August and delivered over 8'400 tons of food to more than 56'000 customers in all Swiss language regions. Quarterly sales of 32 million Swiss francs were 4 percent higher than in the same quarter of the previous year.
Christian Wanner, CEO and co-founder of Leshop.ch: "The grocery market is under enormous pressure. But innovative online grocery shopping offers consumers time savings and a new shopping experience. This brings us market share." This is reflected in the strong development of purchases via mobile devices, which today already account for 21 percent of all orders. The Migros subsidiary plans to set another strategic milestone with the opening of the first Leshop.ch Drive in October (Werbewoche.ch reported).
iPad innovation as a growth driver
As an important channel for mobile online shopping, Leshop.ch launched the application developed specifically for the iPad at the beginning of September. The app was among the most popular iPad apps in the Swiss app store in September, with over 10'000 downloads, according to the release. Dominique Locher, Director of Marketing and Sales, said, "The tablet is becoming a very important sales channel - alongside smartphones and PCs. Our survey shows: Over a third of our customers already have a tablet, and around a fifth of them want to buy one in 2012. So by the end of the year, over half of our customers will own a tablet." This brings Leshop.ch numerous new customers, he says, because grocery shopping via couch shopping is simple and convenient. Well over half a million devices are already in use in Switzerland. By the end of 2013, this figure is expected to double to around 1.2 million tablets.
