MARKET INSIGHT SWISS With the winter season coming to an end, you could say that the situation in Switzerland is pretty merry. Although it was really dry from a business point of view, the season was a big success. Let’s look at why: SPAIN PORTUGAL FRANCE UK GERMANY ITALY
Firstly, as I said, the winter was dry… but with the snowfalls in December and a few more here and there, there was enough snow coverage to ensure the pistes stayed in good nick all season long. Also, it should be noted that it was sunny every weekend as well as during the main holiday weeks. As a result, the mountains were overrun by our compatriots. As well as all that, we were finally able to count on the arrival (en masse) of our beloved English, Dutch and Belgian tourists and obviously this was pleasing for our resort-based shops for whom it was a record year. Rentals and sales as well as peripheral activities were all on the up. Customers showed up in good numbers and clearly didn’t have too much wallet trouble or didn’t pay as much attention as they normally do when it comes to the cost of activities and their stay. Shops in towns also showed positive results, visitation numbers were good and once again it seems as though outdoor activities are back in fashion. As already mentioned and probably as a result of the pandemic and its lockdowns, what was once considered a peripheral activity for the majority of the Swiss population seems to have new-found importance. The call of the open air has become a necessity and the equipment associated with it is no longer a luxury but a need. Looking for reasons, we can add the ‘savings’ that some people made through not being able to
carry out their (sometimes costly) pastimes during the pandemic. Buying power for a large number of Swiss has not decreased much and we are now seeing very different buying habits. This is much more orientated towards immediate need than to searching out the best price. On the other hand, we can see that payments were sometimes taken through gritted teeth and like so many other sectors - for fear of what’s to come - bosses decided to take on less workforce, so shop staff and in particular those in resorts bore the full brunt of customers arriving in their droves without as many colleagues as normal to deal with them. Add to this the lack of staff caused by the quarantines and sick leave and you can easily imagine the state of exhaustion that our seasonnaires and shop employees found themselves in. Many have made the same observation, visitations numbers were so steady that as a joke they’re saying that the January lull happened in mid-March this year… that shows how intense it has been. In towns, life has also picked up again, people are going out and, as I mentioned before, are hesitating less to make a purchase than normal. With the winter having such pleasant weather, it was particularly suitable for skateboarding whose sales practically never dipped, or otherwise picked up again very quickly. Now we are happy to have Spring poking its head out; this is associated with a rest for the players in the alpine business and the start of the season for those active in the watersports sector. Now we just have to hope that the peak season works normally so that we can replenish the coffers a bit.
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