Swiss online retail increases 11%

Online retail in Switzerland has increased in turnover in the first half of 2026. At the end of June, there was a cumulative growth of more than 11 percent. Overall, the Swiss total retail trade has increased 2.6 percent compared to last year.

This is according to the latest Swiss Market Monitor, published by NielsenIQ (NIQ), a global consumer intelligence company. The report is created in collaboration with more than 40 major retailers in Switzerland. The company notes that the report is not able to represent the entire market. However, NIQ does conduct market estimates.

Overall retail also grew

Compared to the first half of 2025, retail sales in Switzerland have increased by a nominal 2.6 percent in the first half of this year. Food/nearfood is growing by 2.5 percent, while nonfood is growing faster with 2.7 percent.

Other sources indicate online sales growth of 8%

Other research shows a different ecommerce growth in Switzerland than the monitor by NIQ. A monitor from Handelsverband.swiss said that online selling increased 8 percent cumulatively by the end of June. Compared to the first quarter of this year, this represents an increase of 0.4 percentage points. Carpathia, an ecommerce management consultancy, also estimates an ecommerce growth of 8 percent.

Online fashion sales decreased over 16%

The report from Handelsverband.swiss also looked at individual online industry segments in Switzerland. Fashion/Lifestyle is the only product group that showed a decline in the first half of the year. There was a significant decrease of 16.1 percent. The report did not include sales from Zalando, About You and Asian platforms.

‘Online fashion is losing market share to brick-and-mortar stores’

At the same time, overall fashion market has remained stable in Switzerland. The online decline suggests that local online sellers are losing market share to brick-and-mortar stores. Other segments showed increases, electronics grew by 8.1 percent, for example. Leisure/Sports, Home & Living and the ‘Other’ segment had double-digit increases.