Women e-shoppers catching up with men

Nine out of ten consumers placed fewer than one order online a week Keystone

Train tickets, clothes and hotel stays are increasingly being bought online in Switzerland. Three out of four people ordered something via the internet at least once in 2017 – equivalent to 4.9 million people. 

Seven years ago, only one in two shopped online. The main online shoppers are men between 25 and 34 with a college education. However, consumers without a higher education, women and those not aged 24-55 are catching up, the Federal Statistical Office saidExternal link on Monday, based on the results of a survey of 3,000 people on internet usage. 

This catch-up effect was related to the general disappearance of the digital divide, the office explained. 

Potential for growth

 An analysis of the frequency of purchases shows that 40% of people shopped online once or twice within three months and 25% did so at least six times. In total, nine out of ten consumers placed fewer than one order online a week. 

+ Just one password? Swiss groups plan single online identity

Train and airline tickets are the most common purchase over the virtual counter, being bought by two-thirds of consumers. But the online purchase of clothes and shoes, holidays and events such as concerts is also popular. Items rarely bought online include loans, medicine, investment services, lottery tickets, insurance policies or films. 

While e-shoppers reported minor issues such as technical problems on websites and tedious customer complaints, more serious problems are rare. Less than 3% of respondents had to deal with merchandise fraud or payment fraud. But in absolute terms this still affects 120,000 people.