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Rising prices have not had a negative impact on this year’s Christmas business. On the contrary: from 1 December to 24 December, Swiss retail business made more profits than ever before through cashless payments. This is shown by an analysis by the AWP news agency based on Swiss Consumption Monitor data dating back to 2019.
Overall, Swiss retailers recorded 3 percent more sales than the previous year for payments made via credit, debit card and mobile payment in the lead-up to Christmas. The increase compared to 2021 was 13 percent.
Sales figures on December 24 were significantly lower than previous years due to Christmas Eve taking place on a Sunday. But customers did their Christmas shopping earlier than ever. They spent the most money on December 22 and 23.
It is noteworthy that payment for Christmas gifts is mostly made via smartphone: sales via mobile payment increased by more than half compared to the previous year. Overall, the mobile share of all cashless payments from December 1 to 24, 2023 was over 12 percent. In 2022, this rate was significantly lower at 8 percent.
Mobile payment in Consumption Tracking includes all payments transferred directly from customers’ bank accounts via smartphone applications such as Twint, Alipay and WeChat Pay. However, payments made through Google Pay, Samsung Pay and Apple Pay are not included in this category as they are processed by credit card.
As with Black Friday this year, customers are increasingly using their credit cards in stores for Christmas shopping. In the week before Christmas, the share of all credit card payments made at points of sale was over 90 percent and therefore significantly higher than in previous years.
Christmas business remains the most important sales driver in Swiss retail. December and especially the week before Christmas have the highest sales figures.
The information provided by Monitoring Consumption Switzerland includes cashless payments made through the network of financial services provider Worldline in Switzerland. They are made available to the public for research purposes. Cash payments are not included in the statistics. Absolute numbers are not shown for data protection reasons.
(SDA)
Source :Blick
I’m Tim David and I work as an author for 24 Instant News, covering the Market section. With a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, my mission is to provide accurate, timely and insightful news coverage that helps our readers stay informed about the latest trends in the market. My writing style is focused on making complex economic topics easy to understand for everyone.
