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~ MS Direct ~

trade, customs borders must be crossed. To provide seamless • Payment Methods: The most popular payment
deliveries, it is crucial to understand the relevant regulations methods in Switzerland, including Twint,
to prevent unexpected costs and delays. Key aspects include PostFinance, and debit and credit cards, should be
customs and VAT processing and correct invoicing. offered.

Beyond administrative efforts, understanding Swiss consumer Recommendations for Delivery
habits and expectations is essential. These include product • Delivery Time: Deliveries should reach Swiss
quality and post-purchase services such as fast delivery customers within five working days. It is essential to
times, carrier options, payment methods, and local returns keep the delivery promise.
processing. • Customs Formalities: Strict adherence to customs
and VAT regulations minimises the risk of delivery
If a foreign retailer succeeds in delivering parcels to delays and prevents unexpected costs for customers.
Switzerland in the same way as local retailers, their chances • Tracking: Reliable tracking that displays the order
of success increase. Customer-friendly delivery and returns status and the estimated delivery date creates
processes build trust, which can lead to higher sales. transparency and builds trust.

Post-Purchase Excellence for Greater Success Recommendations for Returns
The post-purchase experience refers to the customer’s journey • Return Periods: A generous return period of at least
and additional services after placing an order, including 30 days is recommended. Particularly customer-
shipping, delivery, tracking, returns processing, and refunds. friendly Swiss shops even offer a 90-day return
window.
Online shops that deliver excellence beyond the point • Local Processing: Providing a local returns address
of purchase not only stand out more effectively from the saves customers considerable time and effort with
competition but also strengthen customer trust. Satisfied customs declarations while allowing retailers to
customers are more likely to make repeat purchases and inspect goods more quickly, resulting in faster
typically spend more than new customers. response times to potential issues.
• Refunds: Customers should receive their refunds
In collaboration with the University of Applied Sciences within a week. Partnering with a local returns
Northwestern Switzerland, MS Direct has developed practical provider can shorten this process to just a few days.
recommendations and benchmarks for online stores operating
in Switzerland. The study highlights how online retailers Expanding Successfully into Switzerland with
can optimise their post-purchase experience and increase MS Direct
customer satisfaction in the long term. Online retailers choosing to expand into Switzerland can
look forward to a customer base with strong purchasing
power. While shipping to Switzerland involves longer delivery
times and crossing a customs border, one factor remains key
POST PURCHASE EXPERIENCE STUDY to success: the customer experience. MS Direct supports
Optimise your customer experience in Switzerland online retailers with seamless shipping to Switzerland,
with recommendations and best practices from handling everything from master data management and fiscal
the MS Direct Post-Purchase Experience study. representation to customs clearance, transport, integration
into the local carrier network, and returns processing. This
saves retailers costs and enables them to offer their customers
Recommendations for Checkout a seamless shopping experience.
• Cost Transparency: Transparent pricing is essential.
Shipping costs, return fees, VAT, and import duties With an API connection to MS Direct, online shops can
should be clearly and understandably displayed at leverage the proprietary cross-border platform. Upon request,
the latest during checkout, ideally already on the MS Direct prepares product data for export and translates
product page. customs tariff codes using an AI-based Tariff Translator. The
• Delivery Options: It is advisable to offer express process is as follows:
deliveries for an additional charge and, if possible, • Orders are automatically imported into the cross-
Saturday deliveries. Standard deliveries from the EU border tool.
to Switzerland typically take an average of five days. • A carrier collects the shipments from the warehouse,
• Multi-Carrier Capability: Providing a selection of consolidating multiple orders where possible to
local parcel delivery services, such as Swiss Post, reduce costs.
Planzer, or DPD, allows retailers to better meet • Packages are registered for export customs clearance
customer needs. during loading.

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