Christmas sales in Switzerland see upswing

Swiss retailers enjoyed a positive festive season, with some reporting solid sales growth despite cautious consumer sentiment.

For Manor department stores, Christmas sales were slightly up on the previous year, a spokeswoman told the AWP news agency, without disclosing any figures. Clothing retailer PKZ reported a 5% year-on-year increase in sales, thanks in particular to solid business in its Zurich shops.

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In supermarkets, Migros reported “particularly successful” Christmas sales, while its competitor Coop spoke of “a consistently positive trend” over the period, without divulging any financial details either.

Swiss Post delivered 23 million parcels between Black Friday at the end of November and Christmas, a volume 3.1% higher than the same period last year. The peak of activity was recorded on December 2. On that day, the yellow giant’s employees processed 1.3 million parcels, a figure never before achieved in a single day.

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However, the outlook is gloomier. According to market research institute management tools research, a good third of the Swiss population would like to reduce their household budget and spend less in almost all areas of daily life, particularly in French-speaking Switzerland and Ticino.

Half the population is worried about its budget. Thus, 30% of those questioned have already made budgetary adjustments to make ends meet, while 17% find the period difficult and 4% even speak of a crisis. The rest of the population is more optimistic: 42% of those surveyed consider their economic situation to be good, and 6% very good.

Adapted from German by AI/jdp