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Swiss go ‘binge-shopping’ in Germany amid fears of border closures

As 10 Swiss cantons are now on Germany’s ‘high risk’ list, many in the region worry that cross-border shopping may be in peril.

Published: 19 October 2020 14:02 CEST

Swiss go ‘binge-shopping’ in Germany amid fears of border closures

Swiss residents like shopping g in Germany and other bordering nations. Photo by AFP

The cantons currently on Germany’s quarantine list are Geneva, Vaud, Fribourg, Jura, Neuchâtel, Nidwalden, Schwyz, Uri, Zurich and Zug.

These regions have been added to the list because reported infection rates there are higher than Germany's threshold of 50 new cases per 100,000 residents in seven days. This means that anyone from one of these cantons must be tested on arrival in Germany.

READ MORE: Eight further Swiss cantons added to Germany's 'high risk' list

Given the restrictions in place, as well as fears that the border between the two countries may close, “many Swiss are going shopping in Germany, causing long queues at parking lots and supermarket checkouts”, 20 Minutes news portal reported.

Tram line number 8, which connects Basel to Weil am Rhein in Germany, was also saturated over the weekend, the newspaper reported.

A photo taken in the tram by a local news channel TeleBasel, shows a man from Switzerland who bought at least 100 rolls of toilet paper in neighbouring Germany.

Photo by TeleBasel

However, there is no need for panic-buying in Germany, local officials say.

Authorities in Baden-Württemberg, the region which borders Switzerland, said that residents of Appenzell, Aargau, Basel, Basel-Country, Jura, Schaffhausen, Solothurn, St. Gallen, Thurgau and Zurich can come to Germany without being tested, as long as they stay no longer than 24 hours — more than enough time to shop.

Making a quick dash to Germany, France or Italy to do some shopping is common practice for many people living in Switzerland’s border regions.

READ ALSO: Hamsterkauf – toiler paper disappears from German supermarket shelves as panic buying returns

That’s because most things are cheaper across the border: a study conducted in 2019 shows that Switzerland’s residents pay 168 francs (156 euros) for a basket of consumer goods costing on average 107 euros in Germany, 109 euros in France, and 98 euros in Italy.

But Switzerland is not the most expensive country in Europe — Iceland and Norway are even costlier, the study found.

Member comments

Anonymous - 19 October 2020 at 20:13 CEST

Stupid article about stupid people.

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REVEALED : Are ‘discount’ supermarkets in Switzerland really cheaper?

Common consumer goods (except one) are typically more expensive in Switzerland than in neighbour countries — sometimes by much.

This includes food.

READ ALSO: Why Switzerland is the most expensive country in Europe

That is especially the case of largest Swiss chains, Migros and Coop, while Denner, Lidl, and Aldi say their food prices are significantly lower.

To find out whether this claim is actually true, journalists from RTS public broadcaster’s consumer programme went shopping in each of these supermarkets.

They purchased the same 30 products in each of the five supermarkets on the same day, to ensure that the price comparison is as accurate as possible.

Not what you’d expect

In each of the stores, the investigators purchased only the lowest priced items from the supermarkets’ budget lines.

It turned out that most money was spent at Denner, widely considered to be one of the lowest-priced supermarkets.

The total for the 30 items came to 181.67 francs — more than was spent at the country’s more expensive stores, Migros and Coop, where identical basket of goods cost 170.37 and 167.82 francs, respectively.

(That, in itself, is surprising as well, because Migros typically has lower prices than Coop).

As for the other two supermarkets, these purchases cost 166.59 francs at Aldi and 162.05 at Lidl.

So the difference in price between Migros and Coop versus Aldi and Lidl is minimal. But what is even more surprising is that the cost of groceries at ‘cheap’ Denner is actually highest of the lot, by between 11 and nearly 20 francs.

Migros and Coop performed quite well in the comparison survey because most of the items purchased in those stores came from their budget lines, M-Budget and Prix-Garantie, respectively, both of which were introduced to compete with Aldi and Lidl.

But how important is price? Patrick Krauskopf, a professor of anti-trust law, told RTS: “German, French, English, Spanish and American consumers pay a lot of attention to price. In Switzerland, consumers place more emphasis on quality of service. Price is almost secondary.

“Distributors have realised this and have stopped competing fiercely on price.”

Big versus small

While this particular analysis focused on supermarket chains, another survey, conducted at the end of 2023, looked at prices in small grocery shops.

Common logic has it that it is cheaper to shop in supermarkets than a local corner store, because big retailers purchase products in large quantities, which means lower prices for consumers.

However, prices in some local shops were found to be “up to 30 percent cheaper than Migros and Coop.”

The reason is that in order to cut costs, small grocers may buy their products from the most cost-effective suppliers, a tactic which includes importing some items.

Another reason for lower prices is that unlike major supermarkets, which ‘pretty up’ their stores for better presentation of products, these small retailers are ‘no-frill’ shops. This means little money is invested in décor, so there are no extra costs to pass on to consumers.

READ ALSO: Why it might be cheaper to avoid the big supermarkets in Switzerland

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