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

Electronics & Media: 31%
Fashion: 24%
Food & Personal Care: 21%
Furniture & Appliances: 14%
Toys, Hobby & DIY: 10%

Cross-border e-commerce

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

Top 3 cross-border shopping origin markets

Germany: 40%
China: 20%
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