Swiss retail trade slightly down: non-food sector remains cautious
The GfK Market Monitor Switzerland shows a mixed picture for the first three quarters of 2024: the food/nearfood sector is growing, while the non-food sector is declining. Key trends in the leisure sector and online retail are supporting the market.
The GfK Market Monitor Switzerland, published by GfK Switzerland AG in collaboration with over 40 leading retailers, documents an overall subdued picture in the Swiss retail sector for the first three quarters of 2024. With a slight decline of 0.2%, the market as a whole fell just short of the previous year's figure. A differentiated view shows that the food/nearfood sector is performing robustly with growth of 1.3%, while the non-food sector is down 2.8%.
The consumer mood remains subdued and consumers increasingly prefer to make purchasing decisions on promotional days such as Black Friday. Despite the popularity of premium products, restraint and recourse to discounted offers still seem to dominate. The home electronics sector in particular is saturated, which explains the decline in this segment. Only niche products such as hair styling appliances and electric toothbrushes are showing positive trends.
Only the leisure segment recorded a slight increase. Sports products such as e-bikes, treadmills and sports nutrition are in particular demand and are supporting the segment. The fashion sector also benefited from an early fall and rising demand for warmer clothing, although this was unable to compensate for the summer's losses.
The online business, on the other hand, recorded solid growth of 4% and continues to demonstrate stability in the market. Despite the subdued economic forecasts, the growth potential of the online segment remains unbroken.
The expert group's forecasts for Swiss GDP adjusted for sporting events in 2024 are for expected growth of 1.2%, followed by 1.6% in 2025.
GfK Market Monitor Switzerland is a service provided by GfK Switzerland AG in cooperation with over 40 major Swiss retailers. These generate around 40-50 percent of total retail sales. Specialty retailers are not included. The GfK Market Monitor does not claim to be representative of the market as a whole. GfK makes various overall market estimates for this purpose.
