Behind the scenes

How the rain is shaping our shopping cart

17.8.2021

Translation: Jessica Johnson-Ferguson

Storms, hail, floods – instead of sunglasses, bikinis or swim trunks, this summer’s go-to accessory has been the umbrella. This is what an analysis of all purchases made at digitec and Galaxus in June and July shows. Those living in French-speaking Switzerland in particular suffered with the miserable weather.

The first half of this summer was downright depressing. Since 1950, Switzerland has only seen more rain in June and July twice, according to Meteo Schweiz. Namely in 1993 and in 2016. The bad weather is also reflected in interim sales figures of both online shops digitec and Galaxus.

For example, e-bike sales were down 61% and city bike sales down 58% in the past two months compared to the same period last year. Not to mention a 23% drop in sales of bike computers. This may be partly down to the tight supply as many models have been out of stock since spring. Another reason could be that many people in Switzerland invested in a new bicycle at the beginning of the first wave of covid and won’t be needing a new one anytime soon. However, the wet and cold weather undoubtedly played a decisive role in the sales slump.

Swimming and leisure accessories including swim + surf shorts (−33%), swim trunks (−26%), bikinis (−23%), inflatable boats (−37%), roller skates (−41%), drones (−23%) and sunglasses (−7%) have been a lot less in demand this summer. Add to that a large part of the garden range as well as outdoor toys. The perfect examples here are infrared BBQs (−43%), children’s tractors (−35%) or lawn sprinklers (-24%), which would only make the muddy swamp behind the house worse. Further unpopular products included non-waterproof footwear such as lace-ups (−61%), espadrilles (−38%) and sneakers (−26%).

Of course, many other things became more attractive with every drop of rain. Things that keep us dry and warm. Umbrellas (+149%), rain jackets and rain pants (+79%), stockings (+231%), sleepwear (+340%), htermos flasks! (+155%), raclette grill accessories! (+190%), heating pads (+67%) and dehumidifiers (+210%), for instance.

The weather also meant keeping the kids busy indoors a lot more. This greatly boosted sales of toy hair styling stets (+269%), for example. But also exercise books (+510%), crafting supplies (+269%), foosball tables (+241%), colouring books (+204%), comics and mangas (+195%), children’s and teenage books (+169%) and science kits (+160%) were more in demand than last year.

Meanwhile, those lucky individuals who went on a beach holiday did not let the Swiss weather rain on their parade and stocked up on beach games (+140%), beach towels (+54%) and flippers (+27%) eingedeckt.

Western Switzerland under the weather

The French-speaking part of Switzerland struggled most with the miserable summer. Those living in the West bought over 300 times as many stockings at Galaxus as they did in June and July 2020. Increased sales of thermos flasks (+242%), radiant heaters (+155%) and accessories for raclette grills (+583%) are further indicators that Western Switzerland is longing for a dry summer even more than the German-speaking regions.

Challenges for purchasers

The freak weather also posed a challence for the purchasers at digitec and Galaxus. «As we were anticipating at least a standard summer, we stocked up on items that have been far less in demand than we had hoped,» says Hendrik Blijdenstein, Digitec Galaxus Chief Commercial Officer who is responsible for purchasing at Digitec Galaxus. «While we still have piles of inflatable boats in stock, we keep having to reorder umbrellas and stockings.»

What was your go-to product during this rainy summer? Let us know in the comments!

Graphics: made with Flourish.

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Alex Hämmerli

Senior Public Relations Manager

Alex.Haemmerli@digitecgalaxus.ch

At Digitec and Galaxus, I’m in charge of communication with journalists and bloggers. Good stories are my passion – I am always up to date.

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