Country Focus: Switzerland

One for all, all for one

Known by many as one of the wealthiest countries in the world, Switzerland is an incredibly interesting market to analyse. The landlocked alpine nation in the centre of Europe has 4 official languages (German, Italian, French and Romansh), and many of its cities are home to offices of international organisations such as FIFA or WHO, located in Zurich and Geneva, respectively.

Of the close to 9 million inhabitants, roughly 25% are foreign nationals – Switzerland is an attractive place to work and live due to high quality of life, strong wages and reatively low tax. Read on for some fun and some hard facts about this scenic painting of a country.

Fun fact time

Economy

Switzerland is one of the world’s most advanced and highly-developed free-market economies. The service sector plays an important role here, especially in regards to the banking and tourism industry. With a nominal GDP per capita of roughly € 86.000, the country ranks 7th in the world.

Ecosystem

There are many large retailers in Switzerland, both in general and specifically for consumer electronics. Almost all of them are centralised, which creates a rather unique market. These are the main players:

Migros

MediaMark

Interdiscount

Manor

Fust

Online vs. Offline

Online retail accounts for approx. 12% of retail sales in Switzerland.

The online retail turnover development was 27% compared to the previous year. According to ecommerceDB, Digitec is the strongest online retailer followed by Zalando, Galaxus (which also belongs to Digitec) and foreign competitors such as Amazon and Apple (both USA). Digitec and Brack are main players in CE.

Digitec Galaxus

Competec Group (Brack, Alltron)

Influential Media

Computerworld is a major website for news and analyses. More names the Swiss population is familiar with and relies on include PC Tipp, Online PC, Inside IT, Netzmedien, CE Today, IT Markt and AV Guide.

In the world of social media, the following individuals have some of the most followers and biggest reach:

Leading Brands

Household items:

Sparkling water makers are an important market in Switzerland. Sodastream is the market leader here, with the highest level of brand awareness. The coffee market with Jura, Tassimo, De Longhi and Nespresso has to be noted as well.

TV:

The main players are Samsung, LG, Sony, Philips and Panasonic. Popular high-end brands for devices include B&O, Loewe, Metz and TCL.

Audio:

For new brands it can be quite difficult to get into stores and to compete with top players like Apple, Bose, Sony, Logitech and JBL.

DAB+:

Sony currently holds the #1 position in the DAB+ sector, but Pure is also considered a top brand. Compared to Germany, Austria and other Europen countries, DAB+ is already widespread in Switzerland. With the FM switch-off occurring at the end of 2024, more growth is expected.

Office communication:

Logitech is the preferred brand for webcams. Trust, Microsoft, Aukey and a few others are playing this field as well.

Action gear:

GoPro pretty much owns this category, followed by some b-brands like Kitvision and Rollei.

Findings from our Swiss gear gurus

To profile the biggest strengths and weaknesses of the Swiss market, we asked our specialists there two simple questions. Here’s how they sum it up:

If you had to define the one thing that really differentiates Swiss retail from other markets, what would it be?

It’s an enormously competitive market due to the multitude of retailers in CE/multimedia, where RPs and margins can cause a lot of pressure. In Germany, you have Media-Saturn, Amazon and Expert, whereas Switzerland has more main competitors, from Migros, to Fust to ID to MeMa to Digitec to Back and so on.

If you could wish for one thing to differentiate Swiss retail from other markets, what would it be?

A faster overall decision-making process. Lower MDFs and more courage to try new things and take risks.

Aqipa in Switzerland

Aqipa distribution in Switzerland is quite internally unique as we operate exclusively through our partner Thali there. Due to our many years of experience in retail and also partially self-implemented merchandising and rack jobbing work, we have come to know the markets pretty well and are proud to say we maintain strong business relationships and good contacts across all channels, especially the top CE channels Migros, Fust and MediaMarkt.

Thanks to the network and experience of our team in the CE sector, we know the buyers and the requirements placed on individual retailers, all of which have been active in the markets for many years. We can offer field service in all canton and language regions of Switzerland and have mastered short decision-making processes. In addition, we have a wide range of products for different types of customers (audio retail, toys, household, sports, etc.), modern IT infrastructure, IT connectivity options, drop shipment, VMI solutions and more. We are very service-oriented.

The following brands are distributed in Switzerland:

AQIPA x THALI

There are many roads to success. We know the direct one!

Thali AG is the leading wholesaler of trendy, technical and innovative products with above-average growth and unique services in the distribution process. We serve the whole of Switzerland with our own sales force and cover all language regions in the following sectors:

Between supply (manufacturers) and demand (consumers), the factors of time, availability and service are becoming increasingly important. Thali AG provides specialized trade with professional services that go far beyond the norm. Customized solutions in logistics and EDP benefit our partners in desired areas.

With a modular, intelligent service concept and a modern infrastructure, we can efficiently respond to your needs as a dealer and manufacturer

Our intelligent distribution services

We upgrade simple distribution services with consulting services provided by our sales force. You can also rely on our experience in the selection of product ranges (category management). If you require the full range of services, we will actively take care of merchandising and rack jobbing at your POS.

At all service levels, you benefit from transparent and fast online information (webshop/ userzone). To increase your efficiency even further, we can network our IT systems mutually on request, process your online store and automatically supply your merchandise management system with the relevant data. For online trade, we also take over complete fulfillment as a logistics service provider – we deliver directly to the end customer on your behalf.

With this service concept, we do not only operate on the sales front, we also provide manufacturers and suppliers with relevant market data regarding marketing, sales and through-sales (VMI/ PMIC). In this way, additional sales and additional turnover can be generated in the interest of retailers and manufacturers.

Data export? Category management? Rackjobbing? Fulfillment? No matter which services you require from us, one thing is certain: By working with Thali, you will have access to accurate market data and be able to react faster to market events. This frees up resources for your core business!

If you have any more questions, feel free to reach out to Ivo Vega, Sales & Marketing Director at Thali.