Number of Swiss shops increases despite online competition

Over the past ten years the number of bricks-and-mortar retail stores in Switzerland has increased. However, online retail has experienced an even greater boom.

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From 2014 to 2023, more stores opened in Switzerland than closed, according to the financial information service Crif on Wednesday. Specifically, 5,349 bricks-and-mortar stores were opened during this period, which corresponds to an increase of around 17%. In contrast, more than 31,000 stores disappeared in the period from 2009 to 2018.

The strongest growth was recorded by stores in the food, perfumery, beverage retail and flower and plant retail sectors. In contrast, retail outlets selling consumer electronics, computers and software disappeared particularly frequently. However, fewer bakeries, butchers and clothing stores were also counted.

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While more stores disappeared than opened in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2019, the balance was positive in 2017, 2018 and from 2020 to 2023.

Online stores are booming

However, online stores recorded by far the highest growth rates. In the past ten years around 42% net growth was recorded. There was a real growth spurt in 2020 and 2021 in particular due to the Covid pandemic.

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In total figures, however, online stores are still clearly lagging behind. Only around 800 online stores opened in 2023, compared to almost 4,000 brick-and-mortar stores.

Crif’s survey took into account all retail businesses and online stores entered in the commercial register that were created or deleted during the period under review.

Translated from German by DeepL/ts

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