Swiss among Europe’s top e-shoppers

With a credit card online shopping is a snap Keystone

The Swiss like a bargain online – they rank third in terms of internet shopping in Europe, a survey by the Federal Statistics Office has shown. But they are less keen on selling things online.

In all, 62% of those polled, who were aged 16-74, said they had bought something online at least once in the three months before the survey was carried out, according to the results published on Tuesday.

Only in Denmark (66%) and Britain (72%) was e-shopping more popular, the statistics office said. The European Union average was 41%.

Swiss neighbour Germany came in at 61%, but southern European countries like Portugal and Italy were way behind, with Italy featuring at the bottom on the list.

The Swiss lagged behind when it came to selling goods and services online. At 16% of those polled, the figure was under the European average of 19%. Coming out on top again was Britain at 34%. Germany figured high with 28%.

In general there was a big difference between the number of people buying and selling online across all the countries, with buying being more popular.

The statistics office said that e-shopping had seen a sharp rise in popularity over the past decade. Also gaining ground is e-banking. In 2004 21% of those surveyed said they had done some e-banking or checked their bank balance online in the past three months. In 2014 it was half of respondents. 

The survey also showed, however, that the number of consumers reporting technical problems with a website, scams or difficulties getting feedback on  their complaints had risen, from 6% in 2010 to 8% in 2014.