01. December 2025
Retail Spending Spiked Again on Black Friday—Yet Turnover Fell Below 2024 Levels on Black Friday Itself and in the Black-Friday Week
Black Friday marks the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. Data from Monitoring Consumption Switzerland in the merchant category Retail: Other Goods reveals that sales in the…
28. July 2025
British Fans Score Big for St. Gallen Restaurants
The UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 in Switzerland brought us great football, packed stadiums, and an incredible atmosphere across the country. Besides leaving lasting memories, the tournament might…
8. July 2025
Resilient Retail Spending: Tracking Swiss Consumer Spending After Trump’s Trade Shift
2025 has been a turbulent year so far. On April 2, 2025, the US president announced Liberation Day, promising import tariff increases for many trading partners. The…
28. May 2025
Urban decline due to parking costs? Do the costs and availability of parking spaces impact expenditures in retail stores and restaurants in inner cities?
28. May 2025 A large literature has analyzed the determinants of urban growth and urban decline. Recent policy measures of the city of St.Gallen targeting the costs…
28. May 2025
Wasted love but no wasted money? The effect of the Eurovision song contest on local spending
28. May 2025 The song wasted love of the Austrian singer JJ won the Eurovision song contest, which took place on May 10-17, 2025, in Basel. The…
11. February 2025
Does the January gift hangover become smaller? Refunds across time, category, and transaction channel
11. February 2025 After the holiday season, some people return gifts which they have received.[1] Using electronic payment data, we want to find out how pronounced the…
2. December 2024
Spreading out the spending: Retail spending surges by 5.2% year-on-year during the Black-Friday week, with less spending concentrated on the Black Friday itself
2. December 2024 Black Friday marks the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. Data from Monitoring Consumption Switzerland in the merchant category Retail: Other Goods reveals that…
9. July 2024
Match days of the Swiss national team during the EURO 2024: a mixed blessing for bars and restaurants
09. July 2024 Large events such as the EURO 2024 football tournament obtain sufficient attention so that they affect expenditure patterns, particularly on match days. We use…
20. May 2024
The closure of the Gotthard base tunnel had only a temporary negative effect on the growth of expenditures for hotels and restaurants in Ticino
20. May 2024 On August 10, 2023 an accident caused the closure of the Gotthard base tunnel, a key connection for travel between the North of Switzerland…
13. March 2024
Payment methods and payment channels of transactions in Switzerland since 2019
13. March 2024 A new dashboard on payment methods and payment channels on the MCS website provides clues about payment methods, payment channels, and their recent trends.…
13. December 2023
Spending habits unveiled: stronger weekly seasonal patterns of TWINT payments
13. December 2023 It is well known that payments in Switzerland have striking weekly seasonality patterns within months. Expenditures increase towards the end of the month with a subsequent decrease at the beginning of the month. Data from Monitoring Consumption Switzerland (MCS) reveal that this pattern is most pronounced for payments with TWINT and can…
27. November 2023
Black Friday 2023: Retail Spending Surges, Yet Overall Turnover May Be Disappointing
27. November 2023 Black Friday marks the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. Data from Monitoring Consumption Switzerland in the merchant category Retail: Other Goods reveals that sales in the Black Friday week increased by an impressive 44% relative to the previous week, reaching the highest weekly turnover for this year. On Black Friday itself,…
22. May 2023
Much Ado About Nothing? Daily consumption patterns of 2019 and 2023 in Switzerland
22. May 2023 (in Deutsch / en Francais) Two years of the pandemic have left their footprint in our work life. Flexible working hours, work from home, and cyber conferencing are the post-pandemic buzzwords. But did they also leave their mark on daily consumption patterns? With data derived from Monitoring Consumption Switzerland (MCS), we investigate…
Viel Lärm um nichts? Das tägliche Konsummuster von 2019 und 2023 in der Schweiz
22. Mai 2023 (in English / en Francais) Zwei Jahre Pandemie haben ihre Spuren in unserem Arbeitsleben hinterlassen. Flexible Arbeitszeiten, Arbeit von zu Hause aus und Cyberkonferenzen sind die Schlagworte seit der Pandemie. Aber haben sie auch ihre Spuren im täglichen Konsumverhalten hinterlassen? Mit Daten von Monitoring Consumption Switzerland (MCS) untersuchen wir, ob sich das…
Beaucoup de bruit pour rien ? Modes de consommation quotidiens en Suisse en 2019 et 2023
22. mai 2023 (in Deutsch / in English) Deux ans de pandémie ont laissé des traces dans notre vie professionnelle. Horaires de travail flexibles, télétravail et cyberconférences sont les mots à la mode de l’après-pandémie. Mais ont-elles également laissé leur empreinte sur les modes de consommation quotidiens ? A l’aide des données du Monitoring Consumption…
3. April 2023
Expenditures for restaurants increase more than for hotels, and expenditures on these items in cities catch up
03. April 2023 (in Deutsch / en Francais) Expenditure for travel and tourism picked up in 2022 and this trend has continued in the winter season 2023, albeit at a different pace for restaurants and hotels, and with large differences between cities and more rural areas. The card-expenditure data of Monitoring Consumption Switzerland reveals that…
Les dépenses pour les restaurants augmentent plus que pour les hôtels, et les villes rattrapent leur retard pour ces deux catégories
03. April 2023 (in Deutsch / in English) Les dépenses pour les voyages et le tourisme ont repris en 2022 et cette tendance s’est poursuivie durant la saison d’hiver 2023, mais à un rythme différent pour les restaurants et les hôtels, et avec de grandes différences entre les villes et les régions plus rurales. Les…
Ausgaben für Restaurants steigen stärker als für Hotels, und die Ausgaben für beide Posten holen in den Städten auf
03. April 2023 (in English / en Francais) Die Ausgaben für Reisen und Tourismus sind im Jahr 2022 gestiegen und dieser Trend hat sich in der Wintersaison 2023 fortgesetzt, wenn auch in unterschiedlichem Tempo für Restaurants und Hotels und mit grossen Unterschieden zwischen Städten und ländlicheren Gebieten. Die Daten von Monitoring Consumption Switzerland zeigen, dass…
1. December 2022
Retail expenditures on Black Friday 2022 excel again but no new record
01. December 2022 Black Friday is the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. Data from Monitoring Consumption Switzerland in the merchant category Retail: Other Goods reveals that sales in the Black Friday week increased by 43% relative to the previous week, reaching the highest weekly turnover for this year. On Black Friday itself, November 25,…
25. October 2022
A tale of two expenditure types in 2022
25. October 2022 (in Deutsch / en Francais) Stairway to heaven for hotels and restaurants “All that glitters is gold, And she’s buying a stairway to heaven…” says the famous song of Led Zeppelin, and this is how much of the hospitality sector must have felt over the past year: With the pandemic restrictions and…
L’histoire de deux types de dépenses en 2022
25. Oktober 2022 (in Deutsch / in English) Stairway to heaven pour les hotels et les restaurant “All that glitters is gold, And she’s buying a stairway to heaven…” (“Tout ce qui brille est de l’or et elle achète un escalier pour le paradis… “) dit la célèbre chanson de Led Zeppelin, et c’est ce qu’une…
Was erzählen uns unterschiedliche Ausgabentypen über 2022?
25. Oktober 2022 (in English / en Francais) Stairway to heaven für Hotels und Restaurants “All that glitters is gold, And she’s buying a stairway to heaven…” heißt es in dem berühmten Lied von Led Zeppelin, und genau so muss es sich für viele im Gastgewerbe dieses Jahr angefühlt haben: Mit der Aufhebung der pandemiebedingten…
2. May 2022
Invasion de l’Ukraine par la Russie et les données MCS
02. May 2022 (in Deutsch / in English) Le 24 février 2022, la Russie a envahi son pays voisin, l’Ukraine. En réponse à cette attaque non provoquée, les pays occidentaux ont imposé des sanctions de grande envergure dans le but d’entraver l’économie russe. Les sanctions ont également exclu les principales banques russes de SWIFT, le…
Russlands Krieg gegen die Ukraine und MCS-Daten
02. Mai 2022 (in English / en Francais) Am 24. Februar 2022 marschierte Russland in die benachbarte Ukraine ein. Als Reaktion auf diesen unprovozierten Angriff verhängten westliche Länder weitreichende Sanktionen mit dem Ziel, die russische Wirtschaft lahmzulegen. Die Sanktionen schlossen außerdem große russische Banken von SWIFT, dem globalen Nachrichtennetzwerk für internationale Zahlungen, aus. Anfang März…
Russia’s war on Ukraine and MCS Data
02. May 2022 (in Deutsch / en Francais) On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded its neighboring country Ukraine. In response to the unprovoked attack, Western countries imposed wide-ranging sanctions with the aim of incapacitating the Russian economy. The sanctions also excluded major Russian banks from SWIFT, the global messaging network for international payments. By early…
14. March 2022
Une «Journée de la liberté» sans impact ? Un coup d’œil sur le chiffre d’affaires des restaurants, des hôtels et du commerce de détail.
14. Mars 2022 (en Allemand / en Anglais) Le mercredi 16.2.2022, le Conseil fédéral a décidé d’abroger une grande partie des mesures Corona existantes à partir du jeudi 17.02.2022. Par exemple, les masques n’étaient plus obligatoires dans les magasins de vente. De même, les restrictions d’accès dues à la règle 3G, 2G ou 2G+ aux…
A «Freedom Day» without impact? A glance at sales turnover in restaurants, hotels and the retail sector
14. March 2022 (in German / en Francais) On Wednesday 16.2.2022, the Federal Council decided to repeal a large part of the existing Corona measures as of Thursday 17.02.2022. For example, masks were no longer mandatory in shopping stores. Similarly, access restrictions due to the 3G, 2G or 2G+ rule to cinemas, theaters and indoor…
Der «Tag der Freiheit» ohne Effekt? Ein Blick in die Umsatzentwicklung von Restaurants, Hotelgewerbe und den sonstigen Einzelhandel
14. März 2022 (in English / en Francais) Am Mittwoch 16.2.2022 beschloss der Bundesrat, einen Grossteil der bestehenden Corona-Massnahmen per Donnerstag 17.02.2022 aufzuheben. So galt bspw. keine Maskenpflicht mehr in Einkaufsläden. Ebenso entfielen Zugangsbeschränkungen durch die 3G-, 2G- oder 2G+-Regel zu Kinos, Theatern und Innenbereichen von Restaurants. Transaktionsdaten von Monitoring Consumption Switzerland, die von den…