Retailing in Switzerland - Players, Strategies and Developments

Dirk Morschett (), Thomas Rudolph, Johannes Bauer, Annett Donath and Niklas Meise
Additional contact information
Dirk Morschett: University of Fribourg
Thomas Rudolph: University of St. Gallen
Johannes Bauer: University of St. Gallen
Annett Donath: University of Fribourg
Niklas Meise: University of St. Gallen

A chapter in European Retail Research, 2009, pp 163-190 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract Retailing in Switzerland differs significantly from its European neighbours. The major reasons for these differences are trade-barriers, governmental regulations and certain consumer specifications. This paper introduces the main players in the Swiss grocery and non-food retail market. It shows current developments of concentration and market entrance of foreign retailers. As the Swiss retail market is highly saturated, there is little room for expansion within Switzerland. The consequent responses in the grocery sector are increasing competition between the established Swiss players and German hard discount retailers; vertical expansion into the production level of the food industry; and slight internationalisation tendencies. With the grocery sector being protected by trade barriers, the paper further presents the situation in non-food retailing, which is open to European competitors. Consequently, foreign players are much more present and stronger in the non-food sector. In a second step the paper presents the situation in different retail formats. Furthermore, it shows current developments in these formats and explains them by looking at European trends and also at Switzerland specific factors. After having portrayed the situation and developments in Swiss retailing, the paper then looks at changes in the strategic positioning of Swiss retailers. Growth in Switzerland’s retailing is limited for the two market leaders due to restrictions imposed by the Swiss Competition Commission. Therefore the paper provides a view on other growth and expansion opportunities for Swiss retail companies.

Keywords: Switzerland; Vertical Expansion; Retail Market; Internationalisation; Format Development; Hard Discount (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-8349-6344-4_9

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9783834963444

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-8349-6344-4_9

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Springer Books from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().