20 minutes – So much Austria is in Swiss companies

survey

Should Globus become a more luxury department store?

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The Secretary General of the Chamber of Commerce Switzerland-Austria-Liechtenstein sees the Austrian commitments in Switzerland positively: “Switzerland can benefit from the experience of Austrian companies in Central and Eastern Europe”, says Urs Weber.

Austria is in these companies and they plan to do so.

The new Globus owners around the Austrian René Benko with his company Signa Holding and the Thai Central Group want to position the department store in large Swiss cities in the luxury segment. If the buyers succeed in positioning Globus accordingly, this could be promising, says Matthias Geissbühler, Chief Investment Officer of Raiffeisen Switzerland. The retail trade is extremely competitive, the pressure from online trade is great. But in the luxury segment, customers wanted to physically inspect the goods in the store.

A good two years ago, the Austrian furniture retailer XXXLutz entered the Swiss market. The number 2 in the European furniture market then invested heavily in this country with the takeover of the Pfister and Interio furniture stores. As a result, XXXLutz is well positioned, says Geissbühler. In the extremely competitive and fragmented furniture market, the size of the company is crucial. So XXXLutz can withstand the price war.

The Austrian travel and long-distance bus company Dr. Richard has been represented in Switzerland for over ten years. With almost 20 buses, it is one of the larger Swiss coach companies, says Patrick Angehrn, Head of Business Development in Switzerland. He is aiming for further growth in coach travel, but is also seeking a license for national long-distance bus services. But it is a difficult undertaking. According to Thorsten Merkle from the Graubünden University of Applied Sciences, the domestic market is difficult. The excellently developed public transport is a strong competitor. Some bus providers tried to compete with SBB for the price, but were not as quick as the trains of SBB.

The Austrian entrepreneur Peter Schröcksnadel (78) started investing in the mountain railways in Savognin 10 years ago and over a year ago in the mountain railways in Saas-Fee as an investor. Schröcksnadel has also been President of the Austrian Ski Association since 1990. Since he has held the majority of the shares, the mountain railways in Saas-Fee have turned away from their strategy with cheap season tickets. For tourism expert Christian Laesser from the University of St. Gallen, the decision comes as no surprise. With the cheap season ticket, the mountain railways in Saas-Fee would have foregone income. The hotels in the region in particular would have benefited. “That was not sustainable for the mountain railways,” says Laesser.

Matthias Geissbühler believes that Austrian companies buy in Switzerland as “normal development in a globalized world”. Using the example of Globus and XXXLutz, Geissbühler also says that Austrians want to grow rather than cut jobs. He thinks it’s nice when Swiss companies operate locally, but the main thing for customers is good products at attractive prices.

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