Swiss perspectives in 10 languages

Black Friday gets off to a slow start in Swiss shops

Black Friday gets off to a slow start in stationary retail
Black Friday gets off to a slow start in stationary retail Keystone-SDA

Black Friday has established itself as one of the biggest shopping events in Switzerland in recent years. This year, however, business was rather slow, especially in the stores.

+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

There is still no sign of a major shopping frenzy on Black Friday, as an inspection by the editorial team of AWP Financial News in Zurich city centre showed. Although Bahnhofstrasse was already bustling with shoppers at lunchtime, as is usual in the run-up to Christmas, there were not yet many shopping bags to be seen.

The clothing and shoe stores in particular were rather empty. There were only a few customers there, although almost all stores were advertising Black Friday offers and discounts. The department stores and Europaallee were quite busy, but there were still no queues at the checkouts. Most visitors just seemed to be on the lookout for offers without making a direct purchase.

+ Switzerland’s priciest street makes room for a bakery shop

Only the Apple store on Zurich’s Bahnhofstrasse was very busy. However, Apple was not explicitly advertising Black Friday, but was only running a voucher promotion over the weekend. There are no special Black Friday offers there, an employee said when asked.

Shoppi Tivoli in Spreitenbach, on the other hand, is expecting an increased number of visitors this Friday, which will be roughly on a par with a normal Saturday, according to an inquiry. Other major retailers and shopping centres have not yet commented on the start of Black Friday.

+ Young Swiss make the most of Black Friday offers

Meanwhile, it is still too early for a definitive assessment. Discount campaigns often continue over the weekend, which is why the Shoppi is expecting significantly more visitors on Saturday. In addition, online retailers traditionally entice shoppers with special offers on Cyber Monday, which is why many customers are shifting their shopping online.

Translated from German by DeepL/ts

This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.

If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.

Popular Stories

Most Discussed

News

Swiss e-ID on the brink of parliamentary approval

More

Swiss e-ID on the brink of parliamentary approval

This content was published on Swiss citizens could have access to an e-ID from 2026 as parliament has agreed to the idea in principle despite still having to iron out some minor issues.

Read more: Swiss e-ID on the brink of parliamentary approval
Solar energy covers eleven percent of Switzerland's electricity needs

More

Solar energy covers 11% of Switzerland’s electricity needs

This content was published on Solar power covers eleven percent of the electricity demand in Switzerland. The industry's turnover for the current year is around CHF 3.7 billion, as shown by the first ever publication of the Swiss Solar Monitor.

Read more: Solar energy covers 11% of Switzerland’s electricity needs
Swiss purchasing managers' indices remain gloomy

More

Swiss purchasing managers remain gloomy

This content was published on The recovery in Swiss industry is a long time coming. The managers responsible for purchasing have lowered their assessments again. By contrast, the services PMI remained in growth territory in November.

Read more: Swiss purchasing managers remain gloomy
Switzerland expresses concern about the situation in Syria

More

Switzerland concerned about situation in Syria

This content was published on Switzerland is concerned about the escalation of hostilities in Syria. It calls on all parties to respect international law and protect the civilian population.

Read more: Switzerland concerned about situation in Syria

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR