Payments and e-commerce in Switzerland

Discover how the Swiss like to shop and pay online

Switzerland

General Information

  • Population 8.7 m
  • Population 15 + 7.4 m
  • Online population 8.2 m
  • Area 41,285 km2
  • Currency CHF
  • GDP 810.8 bn $US
  • GDP per capita 93,038 $US
  • Card-based payments
  • Cash-based payments
  • Bank transfer
  • Wallets
  • Other
[{"label":"Card-based payments","value":"30"},{"label":"Cash-based payments","value":"2"},{"label":"Bank transfer","value":"50"},{"label":"Wallets","value":"17"},{"label":"Other","value":"1"}]
Banked population
  • Switzerland 99%
  • Western & Central Europe 96%
  • World 67%
Credit card penetration
  • Switzerland 63%
  • Western & Central Europe 47%
  • World 19%
Internet penetration
  • Switzerland 94%
  • Western & Central Europe 92%
  • World 62%
Smartphone penetration
  • Switzerland 87%
  • Western & Central Europe 81%
  • World 70%

The Swiss social commerce sector is forecast to grow from 2,299.3 m $US in 2022 to 11,941.1 m $US in 2028, a CAGR of 32.5%.

Swiss consumers are slowly moving away from using cash. In 2017 70% of transactions were paid for by cash, by 2020 that had dropped to 43%.

The most popular mobile payment method in Switzerland is Twint which is used by 64% of Swiss in store and 56% online.

The most popular Swiss e-commerce store in July 2022 was ricardo.ch with 13.2 m visits.

Future e-commerce trends (2021-2026)

B2C e-commerce ($US billion)
2022 24.2
2023 27.7
2024 31.3
2025 34.8
2026 38.0
E-commerce spending per capita ($US)
2022 2749
2023 3134
2024 3518
2025 3894
2026 4227
E-commerce spending as % of GDP
2022 2.9%
2023 3.2%
2024 3.5%
2025 3.9%
2026 4.1%

Switzerland

The E-Commerce Market

Top e-commerce segments

  1. Electronics & Media: 31%
  2. Fashion: 24%
  3. Food & Personal Care: 21%
  4. Furniture & Appliances: 14%
  5. Toys, Hobby & DIY: 10%

Cross-border e-commerce

  1. Cross-border proportion of total e-commerce – 11%
  2. Value of cross-border e-commerce – 2.2 bn $US
  3. Online shoppers who have shopped cross-border – 65%

Top 3 cross-border shopping origin markets

  1. Germany: 40%
  2. China: 20%
  3. France: 14%
B2C e-commerce growth 20->21
  • Switzerland 15.4%
E-commerce % of total retail
  • Switzerland 14%
  • Western & Central Europe 17%
  • World 20%
E-commerce completed on a mobile device
  • Switzerland 33%
  • Western & Central Europe 44%
  • World 53%

The Credit Card Split

  • Visa
  • Mastercard
  • American Express
  • Local Schemes
[{"label":"Visa","value":"17"},{"label":"Mastercard","value":"64"},{"label":"American Express","value":"2"},{"label":"Local Schemes","value":"17"}]
  • E-commerce market size 20.5 bn $US
  • E-commerce spending per capita 2,348 $US
  • E-commerce spending as % of GDP 2.5%

The information on our Insights pages has been compiled by us in cooperation with Datamatics and Wright & Brown. The data shown is partially owned by us and partially owned by GlobalData. © 2021 by PPRO Financial Ltd. No data and information can be used for any further publication without the explicit approval of PPRO.

Switzerland

Local Payment Methods

BitPay Type Cryptocurrency Wallet Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Hyperwallet Type Bank transfer, Gift card, Prepaid voucher Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance High PayPal Type Wallet Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance High Paysafecard Type Prepaid voucher Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Paysafecash Type Cash Regions Eastern Europe & the CIS, North America + 1 Paysera Type Wallet Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance High PostFinance: E-finance Type Bank transfer Regions Western & Central Europe Market relevance High SEPA Direct Debit Type Bank transfer Regions Eastern Europe & the CIS, Western & Central Europe Market relevance High Skrill Type Wallet Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance High Allied Wallet Type Wallet Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance High UnionPay SecurePay Type Local payment card Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance High Apple Pay Type Wallet Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance High Amazon Pay Type Wallet Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, North America + 1 Market relevance High DaoPay Type Carrier billing Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance High Google Pay Type Wallet Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance High Klarna Type Bank transfer, Buy Now, Pay Later, Instalments Regions Asia Pacific, North America, Western & Central Europe Market relevance High Masterpass Type Wallet Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance High Mobiamo Type Carrier billing Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance High Razer Gold Type Wallet Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance High Samsung Pay Type Wallet Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance High SEPA Credit Transfer Type Bank transfer Regions Eastern Europe & the CIS, Western & Central Europe Market relevance High SWIFT Type Bank transfer Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance High MyOne Type Local payment card Regions Western & Central Europe Market relevance Medium PowerPay Type Buy Now, Pay Later Regions Western & Central Europe Market relevance Medium Secure Remote Commerce (SRC) Type Wallet Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance Medium SEPA Instant Credit Transfers (SCT Inst) Type Bank transfer Regions Eastern Europe & the CIS, Western & Central Europe Market relevance Medium TWINT Type Wallet Regions Western & Central Europe Market relevance Medium BBVA Type Bank transfer Regions Middle East & Africa, North America, South & Central America + 1 Boloro Type Wallet Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 G2A Pay Type Wallet Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Market relevance Medium Microsoft Pay Type Wallet Regions North America, Western & Central Europe NETELLER Type Wallet Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3 Oxygen Wallet Type Cryptocurrency Wallet Regions Western & Central Europe Market relevance Medium Sofort (Klarna) Type Bank transfer Regions Western & Central Europe Market relevance High Splitit Type Instalments Regions Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe & the CIS, Middle East & Africa + 3

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