| Industries and technologies

Trade and consumer goods

Hundreds of companies that make consumer products are based in the Basel Area

All sorts of consumer goods, food supplements and retail companies call the Basel Area home. These include American lifestyle company Fossil, the largest travel retailer worldwide Dufry, fashion label Tally Weijl, and Europe’s market leader in retail distribution and small-outlet retail, Valora Group. Nutraceuticals and food companies are also represented in Basel.

Part of the Basel Area’s vibrant life sciences cluster are several ingredient and nutritional health product companies. For instance, Evolva, a fast-growing Swiss biotech company, develops stevia, vanillin, and resveratrol, and specializes in fermentation (baker’s yeast). The Dutch-based multinational life sciences company DSM runs the world’s largest vitamin E production facility in the Basel region.

The Basel region is the production and distribution location of choice for many food and beverage companies. For example, Switzerland’s second largest retailer Coop is headquartered here and operates several production divisions such as Sunray (dried fruits, nuts and spicy nuts), Bell (meat) or the brand new production site of Chocolats Halba. In addition, companies like Delica (coffee & natural food) Haecky (food specialities & wines), Efico (green coffee), Thomy, from the Nestlé family (mayonnaise and mustard), Manor (department stores) Ricola, which has its origin in the Basel Area (herbal drops) and Holle baby food are headquartered in the Basel region and benefit from the ideal location and infrastructure.

Cosmetics brands are in good company in the Basel Area, as well. Basel is home of numerous successful companies in the cosmetic sector: Doetsch Grether, Henkel, Beiersdorf, Pierre Fabre, Weleda and Jacob Holm.

The Basel Area is also home to many companies which focus on natural products. One is Weleda, a multinational company that produces beauty products and naturopathic medicines with natural ingredients. Jungbunzlauer, one of the world’s leading producers of biodegradable ingredients of natural origin, is another.

 

Main fields of focus

Food products

Cosmetics

Nutritional health

Fashion

Retail

Key benefits

Infrastructure

The many retail and consumer goods companies in the Basel Area benefit from the excellent logistics infrastructure and the tri-border location bordering European Union.

Here, unique supply chain solutions are possible. Many companies base their management in the Basel region and the warehousing/distribution right behind the border in Germany or France. This allows them to serve the European market most efficiently.

Unique density

The Basel Area has a wide variety of consumer brands from fashion to cosmetics to food to health and wellness products. The Basel Area is home to consumer and retail companies such as:

  • Bayer
  • Bell
  • Carhartt
  • Colgate-Palmolive
  • Coop
  • Delica
  • Dufry
  • Fossil
  • Haecky
  • Henkel
  • IKEA
  • Manor
  • Oris
  • Ricola
  • Tally Weijl
  • Thomy
  • TransGourmet
  • Valora

Talent pool

Recruit your employees from the EU market as well as from a workforce of commuters. The Basel Area cosmetics industry for example, enjoys substantial benefits from pharmaceuticals expertise. You can find experienced workers and specialists with deep expertise in formal and regulatory requirements, manufacturing and production methods, as well as distribution and sales of cosmetic products.

  • 3 million working people, within a one-hour drive, spread over 3 countries
  • 46% of workers use foreign languages at work in Basel-Stadt
  • 25% speak English at work in the Basel Area
  • One third of the population has a university degree, in the Basel Area

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