Behind the scenes
How Switzerland cleans: spring start trends and figures
by Alex Hämmerli
BBQ season off to an early start: Switzerland, what’s cooking in 2025?
14.4.2025
Translation: Jessica Johnson-Ferguson
Thanks to a warm and sunny March, Switzerland has been hitting the barbie early this year. As Galaxus sales figures reveal, people in Switzerland can’t get enough of grilled food. While gas barbecues have been proving particularly popular, charcoal models have lost market share in recent years. Interestingly, electric barbecues seem to be all the rage with women.
March 2025 has been a paradise for all sun worshippers, with meteorologists calling it too mild, dry and sunny. Towards the end of the month, several regions had already cracked the 20-degree mark.
As a result, flowers have been blooming early and Switzerland has been throwing steaks and halloumi on the grill well ahead of time.
Short hibernation for BBQs
Galaxus’s barbecue-crazy customers are literally firing on all cylinders. This year, over 70 per cent more gas barbecues have been added to digital shopping carts than in 2024. Their electric and charcoal counterparts have also experienced a boost in sales, but at a noticeably lower level in absolute terms.
Not everyone’s been getting a completely new BBQ, though. In some cases, all it took was replacing the grate (+60 per cent). And to make it last, it takes the right cleaning utensils (+64 per cent). Switzerland’s population has also been quick to upgrade its BBQ setup with accessories including barbecue cutlery and thermometers.
Gas instead of coal
After the pandemic, coal was still booming in Switzerland. Back in 2022, almost two out of five barbecues bought on Galaxus were the charcoal kind. Fast-forward three years and just over one fifth is the kind that shrouds the neighbourhood in smoke. And this might well be the cause for the increasing popularity of alternative types of BBQs. After all, many property managers prohibit the use of charcoal grills on balconies if the smell bothers the neighbours.
In 2025, two out of five barbecue enthusiasts have ordered gas barbecues to date. With a market share of 16 per cent, electric barbecues are roughly playing in the same league as charcoal grills.
In contrast, demand for fire bowls remains stable, accounting for around one fifth of all barbecue sales. The bowls are typically used as decorative items, but also for cooking food. For many of them, matching grills can be bought separately, but a skewer also does the trick.
Manly gas barbecues
«Real men barbecue with charcoal.» At least that’s according to real men. However, Galaxus sales figures seem to suggest that there are either fewer real men these days or men have taken a shine to gas BBQs in 2025. Just under four out of five gas barbecues are ordered by male customers. For charcoal barbecues and fire bowls, it’s three out of five.
The above quote should probably be changed to «Men prefer charcoal», as four out of five bags of coal are ordered by guys. Proportionally, electric barbecues are most likely to end up in the shopping carts of female customers, namely two out of five.
Whether you swear by gas, coal or electric, the barbecue season has definitely begun. And should snow make an appearance again, this probably won’t be stopping anyone in Switzerland from firing up the barbecue.
Have you already embraced the 2025 barbecue season? Which is your grill of choice? And the most important question: what do you put on the grill without fail? Thanks for leaving a comment.
Header image: Shutterstock
Tobias Heller
Communications Manager
Tobias.Heller@digitecgalaxus.chGarden
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