Digitec Galaxus is looking westwards. Switzerland’s online market leader is investing in French-language services and locations – a move that is much appreciated in western Switzerland. This is reflected in last year’s sales figures, which grew by 28% in the French-speaking cantons.
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Digitec Galaxus is definitely making a splash in the Lac Léman area, parcels are sent out à gogo throughout Romandy. The online retailer is growing considerably faster in French-speaking Switzerland than it is on German-speaking home turf. Sales went up by 45 per cent in Geneva; by 39 per cent in Neuchâtel; by 32 per cent in Jura and by 29 per cent in Valais, while the cantons of Fribourg and Vaud each saw an increase of over 20 per cent. Overall, customers in the French-speaking part of Switzerland created 28% more sales than in the previous year. To put things into perspective: last year, Digitec Galaxus increased its total sales by 15 per cent across Switzerland.
«Although it wasn’t love at first sight between western Switzerland and Digitec Galaxus, it’s turned into an amour fou,» says Florian Teuteberg, CEO of Digitec Galaxus. «Every fourth person in Switzerland lives in the French-speaking part. That’s why we’ve been investing in the west for years.» In the summer of 2017, the online retailer opened its second store in Geneva – its tenth store in Switzerland. What’s more, to improve the customer satisfaction of French speakers, the online department store ramped up its Lausanne call centre established in 2016. In addition, the growth in sales in western Switzerland is going hand in hand with the advertising measures. Today, Digitec Galaxus invests a fourth of its advertising budget in the west. In 2017, it was a sixth.
And it doesn’t stop there. digitec didn’t merely translate its ads into French but hired local actors to present real French-speaking customer reviews with the charm and humour of the region. The current ad campaign is about mobile phone cases, notebooks and the public’s opinion on digitec ads so far. «If we’d simply dubbed the spots, both the wordplay and linguistic details would have been completely lost,» says Nadine Widmer, Head of Brand Management at digitec. «Now that’s something our fellow citizens in French-speaking Switzerland do not appreciate.»
Digitec Galaxus has been active in four languages since 2012. Customers can get inspired and interact in German, English, Italian and French. The translation of content is a matter close to the company’s heart. The team of translators is made up of ten employees who work closely with the editorial department and product management. Four of the team members are in charge of French content. The translators work together with freelancers and get a bit of extra help from machine translation software. «I’m convinced that our French-speaking customers sense the effort we’re putting into our multilingual presence,» Florian Teuteberg adds. «Satisfaction surveys have confirmed this, and our customers are enthusiastic about recommending us to others.»
