Log on and buy: shopping online has become quick, easy and fun. Swiss News looks at how this industry has finally taken off.

AuteurVenning, Mona M.
Fonction Business

More and more of us are logging on and buying online these days. The industry that seemed to be doomed a few years ago has risen from the ashes and is fighting back so much so that European online sales had overtaken those in the US at Christmas for the first time.

The success of eCommerce must be attributed to that of the Internet. In Switzerland half the population are considered regular Internet users, surfing the web more than once a week or daily. They go online for email (28 per cent), search engines (64 per cent), daily news (42 per cent), banking (11 per cent) and train schedules (16 per cent).

More Shoppers

Online shopping popularity has therefore also reached new heights. The new study conducted by WEMF research institute shows that 64 per cent of the men and 59 per cent of the women interviewed (aged over 14 years) have made an online purchase in the last 6 months and 40 per cent of all participants make at least one online purchase every three months.

Most purchased items are books (42.9 per cent), tickets (39.7 per cent), music (35.6 per cent), hotel bookings (34.7 per cent), holidays (27 per cent) and clothing (25.4 per cent).

LeShop.ch

One of the eShop success stories is LeShop.ch. It was founded in 1997 as Switzerland's fast online supermarket.

After the dot com bust the Swiss lost their appetite for online shopping. At the end of year 2002 LeShop, then owned by the Bon Appetit Group, was threatened with closure after failing to meet projected turnover targets. Around 70 jobs were at risk.

Soon after, however, it was taken over by ShoppingNet Holding, led by a group of Dutch investors. ShoppingNet formed a strategic alliance with the Swiss supermarket Migros and since 2004 eShop has been successfully selling up to 6,000 Migros products on its website.

Swiss News talks to Catherine Crowden, a market researcher from the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute (GDI) about this phenomenon.

Swiss News: What is the secret behind the success of online shopping these days?

Shoppers have become more accustomed to the Internet medium; there is more bandwidth for private home users and faster connections. Such factors make online shopping easier, more fun, and less tiring, eShops have become user-friendlier and are attracting more customers.

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