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Research - 26.01.2011 - 00:00 

Swiss online market booming

The latest study conducted by the IRM-HSG reveals that the Swiss online market generated almost CHF 8.7bn in 2010. With an increase of 48 per cent in comparison with 2008, it therefore registered a record growth rate.
Source: HSG Newsroom

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26 January 2011. In 2008, the biannual growth rate had still only amounted to 38 per cent. The increase was primarily accounted for by the average expenditure of online customers. Not all industries profit from this growth in equal measure. The most important results of the study on Swiss online trade will be presented by researchers of the University ofSt.Gallen (HSG) on the St.Gallen Internet Day on 29 March 2011.

Online booking of holidays and flights popular
For the purposes of the study, the researchers of the Institute of Retail Management (IRM-HSG) interviewed more than 1,000 people in the street in thirteen Swiss cities for the seventh consecutive time in late 2010. Particular increases in comparison with 2008 were again registered by holiday trips (+9.9 per cent online customers) and flight bookings (+9.3). But software (+8.7), tickets for events (+7.2) and music titles (+6.6) still remain popular on the internet. With products such as clothing, furniture, foodstuffs, books and second-hand articles, however, the focus is on a combined use of physical and online shops.

Shopping en route with the mobile phone
By now, about 44 per cent of the interviewees make use of their mobile phone to surf the internet when they are en route. This is 15 per cent more than in 2008. Owing to cost-efficient offers for data transmission – the so-called flat rates – distribution channels through mobile phones are gaining in importance. Thus more and more virtual impressions from the internet are influencing the assessment of the physical purchasing process in shops.

Foto: photocase / brainsheed

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