E‑commerce in Switzerland

With 52,566 euros per capita, Switzerland ranks in second place compared to other European countries - only Liechtenstein is 70,018 euros higher per inhabitant.

Incidentally, both markets are covered in the CH package with exportos cross-border shipping.

Switzerland is part of the most digitally savvy countries in Europe. Around 85 % of the population regularly shop online, of which around 20- 25 % do so on German websites.

In Swiss e-commerce, around 47 % of sales in 2024 will be accounted for by purchase on account - typically via providers such as PowerPay, Klarna or availabill - followed by credit cards at 23 % (including Visa, Mastercard, Amex) and TWINT at 20 %, which is still integrated in around 80 % of online shops.

Swiss marketplace trade is strongly positioned: eight of the ten top-selling online shops are marketplaces. The leading platforms include:

• Local delivery preferences play a central role for Swiss end customers - reliability, personal pick-up options and flexible delivery options such as pickup points or time slots are expected as standard.
• Swiss Post enjoys a particularly high level of trust: over 70 % of consumers prefer it over other providers.

As a non-EU country, Switzerland levies its own import duties. In addition to the customs duty on goods, import VAT is also levied.

When importing, Switzerland imposes import duties for many groups of goods, which are based on the gross weight and the Swiss customs tariff. This is based on the goods tariff number (HS code), which must be assigned to each shipment.

Shipments with a customs duty value of less than 5 CHF are considered duty-free. Individual customs clearance allows duty-subject items to be processed in a differentiated manner - and in many cases costs can be optimised.

Returns from Switzerland are considered re-imports under customs law. In order for them to be processed correctly, they must be declared as returned goods and labelled with a reference to the original export.

The returns rate is over 20 % making it one of the highest in Europe.