Black Friday in Switzerland: CHF 450m expected, and one institute says everyone loses
Per the Ticino report, Swiss non-food retail expects around CHF 450 million on 27 November; the GDI estimates CHF 196 million in extra sales against CHF 291 million in lost value.
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Swiss Black Friday falls on 27 November with cautious expectations: according to the report of 13 November, non-food retail should generate around CHF 450 million, a figure that would end two years of decline without marking a real recovery in spending. A study by the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute questions whether the whole exercise pays off, describing a "lose-lose" situation in which purchases are merely pulled forward. Every figure is in Swiss francs, and none of it measures the Italian market.
The shopping day itself is 27 November, but per the account published on 13 November Swiss retailers expect little growth compared with 2025, with the cost of living higher. The Blackfridaydeals.ch platform estimates about CHF 450 million in non-food retail turnover. If confirmed, that would interrupt two years of decline without signalling a genuine recovery.
What changes most is where people buy. A September 2026 survey by the Demoscope institute for the same platform, polling just over a thousand people, forecasts CHF 130 million in online sales, CHF 10 million more, and an equal contraction in physical retail, left at CHF 320 million. Just under a third of respondents plan to shop on 27 November itself, and among 15- to 34-year-olds more than half do.
The two accounts read the same figure slightly differently: the Ats note says the estimate would "halt" the decline of the past two years, while the English version from Switzerland's public service broadcaster calls it stagnation. Either way, the word is caution.
Does the discount pay?
A study by the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute, a Zurich research centre named after the founder of a Swiss retail group, says the day produces a "lose-lose" outcome for shops and shoppers alike. Its point is duration: discounts no longer sit on a single day but spread across a week or the whole of November, so purchases are pulled forward without lifting total consumption.
The figures the institute puts on the table matter to anyone holding a card: against CHF 196 million in extra turnover, retail would have lost value of around CHF 291 million. In plain terms, many customers use the discount for something they would have bought anyway. A survey of more than a thousand people in Switzerland adds the shopper's side: 32% found the Black Friday 2025 offers disappointing, and only 10% found them interesting.
Before you buy
The season has already started: the 11 November Singles Day, the platform notes, met retailers that were not ready, and after 27 November the calendar runs on to Cyber Monday on 30 November. Two pieces in this network are useful on tech deals: November's Pixel Drop and the Black Friday Week with its declared discounts.
Source note: the estimates, figures and the institute's findings are taken from Ticinonline, which cites an Ats despatch, and from SWI swissinfo.ch, in its Keystone-SDA English version; neither explains the method behind the CHF 196m and CHF 291m calculations.