Shop Switzerland!

Dear Yodelers,

It’s that time of year again. The one of two times a year that the rules of Swiss economics need not apply and The Frau goes shopping.

Running shoes for less than the
price of a mortgage payment?
Yes, Switzerland can. 

Yes. There are two sides to every “I just got Switzerlanded” story and they are called January and July. The Frau brings this up because, well, it’s July. And July will be over soon.

So hurry and get your Swiss watches for half the price, your clothing for 70% off (in otherwise, jeans at normal American prices), and that set of wine glasses you’ve been putting off which are now being offered new for less than they're selling for at the Swiss flea market. What's more, you'll also be able to buy a pair of running shoes for less than the price of a mortgage payment and when else is that possible in this country?

Yodelers, it’s time not only to hunt. But to gather. And if you miss the deals, don’t worry, the travel agency across the street is advertising shopping vacations in New York City. See you there when desperation strikes in mid-November.

Love,

The Frau

The Frau's New Fashion Find

It can be challenging to live in the world’s most expensive city when you are used to shopping at the biggest sale ever at Kohl’s 365 days a year. Not only are things in Zurich triple the price, but there just aren’t that many choices.

Coupons and discounts are few and far between in Switzerland, so the Frau grabs what she can. For instance, last week, she clipped out a coupon from Blick am Abend for 5X the Cumulus points at Migros. So needless to say when she was offered a voucher for Zalando, a virtual mall that delivers anything fashion-related right to your door for free, she couldn’t pass that by.

Over 23,000 shoes. The Frau isn't used to such choices!

First of all, fellow yodelers, there are over 23,000 pairs of shoes to choose from on the fr.zalando.ch website. Imagine the Frau’s dilemma. She hadn’t seen this much selection in Switzerland ever. It was almost like shopping at Target. She could search by size, color, heel size, type of shoe, and more. The only catch was, she had to do this in German or French as the site delivers practically everything except the English language.

Kein Problem. If she ever needed an excuse to improve her French or German, being able to shop on a site that offers no worries of customs tax is it.  And also no worries if the shoes or the almost 32,000 clothing items you can choose from don’t end up fitting. Because you can return them within 30 days for free. Free. The Frau likes free.

Speaking of free, Zalando even offers a toll-free customer service number. The Frau asks you: what other Swiss entity offers this? Call the SBB and you'll get charged CHF 1.19 a minute. You know the drill. In Switzerland, if you’re a customer and want help, it’s usually 1-800-PAY-US-MORE.

The Frau also likes sales. But why wait until July or January? If you’re an American cheapskate like her, you can go to Zalando just to search for sale items exclusively. Or for sale items and your favorite brand. 

Hint for all other shopaholics: if you sign up for the Zalando newsletter, you can get CHF 10 off your next purchase. The Frau already did, of course. Clip, clip. This coupon queen is in her glory.

Do you shop online in Switzerland? Any sites you like? Or other good deals to be had?

A Little Swiss Aktion

Hurry! A big sale!

Maybe you've noticed. Nothing in Switzerland is big. Small apartments. Small aisles. Small country.


So naturally, sales are small as well. 


Three per cent. Eleven per cent. Thirteen per cent. 


The Frau has seen it all. And none of these discounts are usually high enough to persuade her American-trained "take 80% off already reduced prices at Kohl's" mind to rush over to take advantage of them (especially, when, like this one pictured, they come from furniture stores with SFr 15,000 couches). 


Where do these stores get these numbers? Imagine if you will, a Swiss meeting to decide the discount.


"Well, what about 10% off?"


"Good, but that's really only saving people the 8% tax plus 2%."


"Well, how about 15% off?"


"What?! That's making things too cheap! People won't buy them. They'll think something is wrong with the quality."


"Well, then. The magic number must be 13%!" 


"Perfect. Let's now let's get a little Aktion going on that."

Shop online like it's 1989!

A few weeks ago, I wrote about five Swiss websites that could use a makeover. But this Swiss online experience perhaps tops it all:

My husband went to a photo workshop in Baden over the weekend and received a coupon for 15% off his online order at ProFot.

So naturally he wanted to shop since he needs very little incentive to buy photo gear.

He filled his virtual shopping cart and went to check out and realized something strange: there was no redemption code on the coupon.

Upon further investigation (i.e. contacting the company), he learned that to redeem the coupon, he had to either scan it and email it to them or get this...snail mail it to the headquarters in Baar.

Yes. Thanks to you, ProFot, people in Switzerland really can shop online like it's 1989.

Have you had any strange shopping experiences in Switzerland?

Big sale in Switzerland!

Hurry, yodelers. You don't get blockbuster deals like this very often in Switzerland: a savings of 11%? Now that warrants a huge ad.

And try not to faint, but there's a double bonus here, although they've hidden it by using white font on a yellow background. So I'll just tell you so you don't have to squint: The furniture store will even be open on SUNDAY.

Wow. A sale and a Sunday. I hardly know what to do with myself. Besides go shopping, that is.

Anything for Sun (and Sales)

When you live under a gigantic cloud (uh, I mean, in Switzerland), the summer can be stressful. Last week, the sun came out for maybe three hours. And when it did, I was desperate.

“Let’s go for a bike ride,” I told my husband on Friday night, when the sun decided to come out at 7 p.m. after an entire week of rain.

“Now?” he asked. We had just eaten dinner.

“Now,” I said, pointing at the blue sky, “Hurry.”

When you only see a few hours of sunshine a week, you have to get outside when it shines. Fast.

It’s kind of a stressful way to live, never knowing when your next bit of sun will shine.

The Swiss sun makes me drop everything I’m doing when it comes out. Speaking of dropping everything, Migros announced a 10% off sale last Thursday to celebrate the Swiss win. I hurried there. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think I was about to save hundreds rather than CHF 10.

Yep. That’s when you know you’re becoming Swiss: you’ll drop everything for a little sun. Or a 10% off sale.

Get 'em while they're cheap!

10% off. It's a sight to behold--and also a reason for celebration in Switzerland. Companies spend lots of money advertising such great deals. Stores eagerly place signs up in the windows. And customers rush in, excited to be a part of something so rare as a Swiss sale.

As the cheapskate American, used to the "biggest sale ever" being held every day of my life, I have to say, I find these rare 10% off sales in Switzerland rather amusing--and rather pointless. Yes, that SFr 179 Adidas running shoe will now be ONLY 161.10, but really, it's hard to be enticed when I'm used to getting the same thing at the every day greatest sale price of $39.99.

Instead, I wait until July and January, the two months of government approved sales and do all my Swiss shopping then. But for those of you looking for a little excitement for your dreary foggy Monday, make sure you pick up a free Blick am Abend, where a 10% coupon is sure to be waiting for you on the back page.

Yep. It's time to start not only hunting for those great Swiss deals. But gathering.