Behind the scenes

How price-conscious are Swiss online shoppers?

15.9.2021

Translation: Jessica Johnson-Ferguson

Two thirds of Swiss residents would like information on price trends in online retail to be more transparent. Young people and men are particularly price-conscious. But the nation's biggest bargain hunters are in French-speaking Switzerland. These are the results of a representative survey conducted by the GfK polling institute and carried out on behalf of Digitec Galaxus.

One person’s sorrow is another person’s joy: online retailers often change product prices daily or even several times a day. This means that the TV in your shopping cart might suddenly be 50 francs cheaper or more expensive. The reasons for this can be the online retailer’s purchase prices, availability from the supplier or competitors making price adjustments.

A representative online survey carried out by GfK polling institute for Digitec Galaxus now shows: residents of German- and French-speaking Switzerland want more transparency when it comes to price trends. Two out of three respondents would appreciate a price overview of the last few months – by means of a line chart, for example. Only one in five respondents said they would hardly ever use this feature if it were available. Around 15 per cent weren’t sure what to think of this type of price transparency.

Replies mainly varied by gender and age. The results show that men and young people are more likely to pay attention to past price developments compared to women and older online shoppers. By contrast, differences in replies were only minor between residents of German- and French-speaking Switzerland.

Digitec Galaxus has been testing a price transparency feature since June 2021. The price overview has been well received on social media and by the Digitec Galaxus Community. «That’s why we’ll be making the price development of each product available from us visible for all customers in the next few days,» says Zara Hegemann, Product Owner and responsible for this feature.

Western Switzerland on the hunt for that perfect bargain

What do online shoppers do with this added information on prices? The GfK polling institute also has the answers to this. For one, Digitec Galaxus wanted to know how customers would react if they knew for certain that a retailer was offering the product they wanted at the lowest price to date. Four out of ten respondents said they would purchase that product immediately. Just under half said they would continue to wait. Around ten per cent said that the price trend would have no influence on their decision to purchase or not. The biggest bargain hunters live in Western Switzerland. Over 60% said they would wait to see if the product became even cheaper, even if the price was at an all-time low.

And what if a product was formerly available at a lower price? When presented with an example item priced at 100 francs, around a quarter of respondents said they would delay their purchase or look for other offers if the price difference was 6 to 10 francs or 11 to 20 francs. 14 per cent already turned their noses up when the example item was priced 5 francs higher than the previous record low. Residents of French-speaking Switzerland were also more price-conscious in this example. They were more likely to feel put off by rising prices than residents of German-speaking Switzerland.

How and when do you take a close look at prices or their development? What's the best bargain you’ve ever made? Do you ever buy things secondhand? And what do you think of sales days such as Black Friday or Cyber Monday? Let us know in the comments!

Visuals: made with Flourish.

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Alex Hämmerli

Senior Public Relations Manager

Alex.Haemmerli@digitecgalaxus.ch

At Digitec and Galaxus, I’m in charge of communication with journalists and bloggers. Good stories are my passion – I am always up to date.

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