Behind the scenes
Top sellers: 4% of our range generates 80% of our turnover
by Alex Hämmerli
Most popular products by canton: we’re swimming in ink
1.3.2022
Translation: Jessica Johnson-Ferguson
At digitec and Galaxus, shoppers’ product preferences are quite different depending on the canton they live in. While the best-selling product type in French-speaking Switzerland is diapers, it’s headphones in Basel-Stadt and mobiles and charging cables in Zug. In the rest of Switzerland, printers seem to have an unquenchable thirst for ink.
Swiss shopping habits are changing. But at online retailer Digitec Galaxus, there’s one product that’s been among the top three best-selling items for years: printer ink. In the home-office years 2020 and 2021, infamously pricey ink cartridges were in fact the most sought-after product type of all. And this was the case in almost every part of Switzerland. Only in five cantons did online shoppers buy other items more frequently.
In the French-speaking cantons of Geneva, Neuchâtel and Fribourg, diapers proved more popular than printer ink. Meanwhile, people in Zug bought USB cables by the boatload. And shoppers in Basel-Stadt can probably be spotted dancing in the streets sporting their new headphones.
The map of Switzerland becomes more colourful when you take a look at the second best-selling products. In western Switzerland, the comparatively high demand for diapers remains unchanged. In the East, printer ink is followed by toner – another product printers tend to run out of on a regular basis. As for Zug, we can see why USB cables are so much in demand. Namely, to charge the second most popular item in the canton: smartphones.
Taking a look at the third most popular items throws yet more product types into the mix. While Valais was in the grip of handicraft fever in 2021, Glarus and Appenzell Ausserrhoden rode out the pandemic playing parlour games. Various headphone models were also very popular last year. Particularly in central Switzerland, Geneva, Zurich and Schaffhausen.
See below how the sales ranking throughout Switzerland has changed at digitec and Galaxus over the last eight years: diapers, parlour games and power adapters made the top ten for the first time in 2021. And Queen Ink ascended the throne two years ago. Meanwhile, the two biggest climbers in the top ten are USB cables and headphones. By contrast, tablets and external hard drives appear to have lost all appeal except with quasi-boomers like the author of this article.
How many USB charging cables do you have lying around at home? Does your printer also guzzle ink like there’s no tomorrow? Which cutting-edge headphones do you wear to listen to your favourite tunes? Thanks for joining the discussion in the comments field!
Graphics: made with Datawrapper and Flourish.
Alex Hämmerli
Senior Public Relations Manager
alex.haemmerli@digitecgalaxus.chAt Digitec and Galaxus, I’m in charge of communication with journalists and bloggers. Good stories are my passion – I am always up to date.