“Regionalprodukte 2022”: Why do the Swiss buy locally produced goods – and how much are they willing to pay for them?

Swiss consumers like locally produced goods and are willing to pay more for them than for conventional or even organic products. But how does this perception of regional products come about, and what previously untapped potential is still waiting to be discovered in this segment?

The answers to this question have now been provided by a collaborative study by htp St. Gallen and LINK in cooperation with the HWZ University of Applied Sciences in Business Administration Zurich. The “Regionalprodukte 2022” study was launched to find out what role the regional connections of products plays in the purchase decision and how much consumers are willing to pay for locally produced goods. The study, which is representative of the Swiss population, describes the purchase situation of regional products in 2022 both at present and in comparison with previous studies.

More than a third of the Swiss population views regional products very positively

The positive perception of locally produced goods has improved since 2017. For example, while 37% of the population now considers such products to be very positive, only 24% shared this opinion five years ago. What’s more, two in five Swiss consumers now purchase locally produced goods virtually every time they go food shopping, compared to just one in four back in 2017. It can generally be said that regional products have now broken out of their niche and are favored by the majority of the population, for example over organic products.

Regional products are viewed as more attractive than organic products in many aspects

A detailed observation of the buying public reveals that women, older people (compared to younger), residents of German-speaking Switzerland and consumers with high incomes are even more likely to purchase locally produced goods. Regional products are rated higher than conventional and even organic products in the association fields of “attractiveness”, “sustainability & fairness”, and “social issues”, while the field of “ecology” is the only area in which they are on a par with organic products.

You can download the entire study containing more information via the link below (free of charge). Discover further findings such as how consumers perceive various retailers with regard to the regional connections of their products, what factors are the concrete driving forces behind the purchase of regionally produced products or how the regional connections of various product groups influences the willingness of Swiss consumers to pay more:

An overview of the study

Method: Online survey conducted with the LINK panel

Population: 1,321 language-assimilated respondents aged between 15 and 79 and resident in German, French and Italian-speaking Switzerland, a representative cross-section of the Swiss population

Study period: February 24 – March 1, 2022