Retail sales in Switzerland are expected to drop slightly in 2012, after a 1.5 percent drop last year that included a 3 percent decline among apparel retailers.
A retail outlook released this week by Credit Suisse and the consulting firm Fuhrer & Hotz called the decline in apparel “the most significant contribution to the slowdown” in the retail sector, which it attributed to poor consumer sentiment.
Retail sales in 2010 were estimated at about 97.8 billion Swiss francs, or about $103 billion at current exchange, about 12 percent of which came from apparel.
In a survey of 200 Swiss retailers and their suppliers, 38 percent expect sales “to stagnate or decline” in 2012 compared with 2011, and 51 percent anticipate “stagnating or declining” profits. However, 55 percent expect their own sales to grow more than 5 percent this year.
Between 4 billion and 5 billion Swiss francs, or $4.2 billion to $5.2 billion, were estimated to have been spent abroad last year. Analysts have estimated that nearly a quarter of Swiss consumers shopping abroad buy apparel.
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Asked about the impact on apparel brands, Damian Kuenzi, retail analyst at Credit Suisse, said the study did not break down sales figures by different price segments for last year but that “high-end brands and cheap but fashionable brands,” such as Zara and H&M, did best. Those in the middle often struggled, he added.