Train station sampling in Switzerland: the complete guide

460'000 people pass through Zurich Main Station every day. That's more than the population of Zurich itself. No other location in Switzerland offers you access to so many potential customers in eight hours. That's why the train station is the most important sampling location for many brands.

But train station sampling is also one of the most complex formats. Permits, zones, timing, foot traffic flows. Mistakes here burn budget. This guide explains everything you need to know.

The top Swiss train stations compared

Not every station fits every campaign. Here's the comparison of the key locations:

Station	Passengers/day	Location fee/day	Target audience	Best deployment time
Zurich Main Station	460'000	CHF 1'500 – 3'000	Broad, urban, affluent	07:00–09:00 / 16:00–19:00
Bern	100'000	CHF 800 – 1'500	Commuters, politics, administration	07:00–09:00 / 16:00–18:00
Basel SBB	95'000	CHF 800 – 1'500	International, cross-border	07:00–09:00 / 16:00–19:00
Zurich Stadelhofen	80'000	CHF 600 – 1'200	Young, urban, trend-aware	07:00–09:00 / 17:00–19:00
Lausanne	75'000	CHF 600 – 1'200	French-speaking Switzerland, students	07:00–09:00 / 16:00–18:00
Zurich Oerlikon	55'000	CHF 500 – 900	Business commuters	07:00–09:00 / 17:00–19:00
Winterthur	50'000	CHF 500 – 800	Families, commuters	07:00–09:00 / 16:00–18:00
Lucerne	45'000	CHF 500 – 900	Tourists, commuters	09:00–12:00 / 15:00–18:00

Our recommendation: start with Zurich Main Station for maximum reach. If you have a specific audience (e.g. young urbanites), a smaller station like Stadelhofen can be more efficient because there's less waste.

Permits: how to obtain SBB authorisation

Without a permit, nothing happens. SBB actively patrols, and unauthorised actions are stopped immediately. Here's the process step by step:

Step 1: contact SBB Real Estate. All promotional activities on SBB property go through SBB Real Estate ([email protected]). You need an application that includes: type of action, preferred and alternative location, date and time, number of people and equipment, product description (for food: food information).

Step 2: plan for processing time. SBB needs 4 to 6 weeks for processing. In peak season (spring and autumn) it can take even longer. Anyone planning at short notice has a problem. PROMOKANT routinely submits applications 8 weeks in advance.

Step 3: location assignment. You don't always get the location you want. SBB assigns space according to availability and compatibility. Popular locations such as the ShopVille passage in Zurich Main Station are often booked months ahead.

Step 4: insurance and liability. You need third-party liability insurance with a minimum coverage of CHF 5 million. That's standard for any professional agency.

For food sampling, the cantonal food authorities are also involved. For the canton of Zurich you need to file a notification with the cantonal laboratory. Processing time: 2 to 3 weeks. An experienced agency handles all of this for you.

Zones and locations: where exactly to set up

A station is not just a station. The position within the station decides whether your campaign succeeds or fails.

Main flows vs. side flows. The main passage between platforms and the exit is the high-frequency corridor. You get the most contacts here, but also the highest speed. People are in a rush and take samples while walking. Ideal for high-frequency distribution. Too hectic for tastings with conversation.

Waiting and lounge areas. Near cafés, waiting areas and departure boards, dwell time is higher. Here you can have longer conversations and supervised tastings. Fewer contacts, but higher quality.

Entrance areas and forecourts. Outside the SBB property (Bahnhofplatz, forecourt), different permit rules apply, namely those of the city. Often cheaper, but less sheltered in bad weather. eCargo bikes work especially well here because they're mobile and eye-catching.

Our practical tip: book two locations at the same station. Mornings in the main flow for high-frequency distribution, afternoons in the lounge area for supervised tastings. That way you hit both goals with one team.

Timing strategy: when to reach the most contacts

Foot traffic at Swiss train stations varies sharply throughout the day. Our deployment data shows clear patterns:

• 07:00 to 09:00 (morning rush): highest frequency but lowest attention. Commuters want to catch their train, not stop. Ideal for high-frequency sampling of small, easy-to-carry products (bars, drinks cans, sachets).
• 09:00 to 11:30 (mid-morning): declining frequency but rising openness to conversation. Good for tastings and products that need explanation.
• 11:30 to 14:00 (lunchtime): moderate frequency. Many people are buying lunch. Perfect for food sampling.
• 16:00 to 19:00 (evening rush): the second peak. Commuters are heading home and are more relaxed than in the morning. The best time for a combination of reach and quality.
• After 19:00: frequency drops sharply. Only useful for Friday-evening events or stations with a hospitality zone.

The golden tip: Tuesday through Thursday are the best days for product sampling at train stations. Monday is hectic (start of week), Friday is unreliable (many work from home). On weekends, foot flows change completely: fewer commuters, more leisure travellers and tourists.

Real example: beverage launch at Zurich Main Station

Last autumn, we ran a launch at Zurich Main Station for an international beverage manufacturer. The numbers:

Metric	Value
Duration	5 days (Tue–Sat)
Team	4 promoters + 1 supervisor
Location	ShopVille passage + cross hall
Samples distributed	18'500
Qualified contacts (conversation > 30 sec)	4'200
QR code scans (contest)	1'850
Total cost	CHF 38'000
Cost per qualified contact	CHF 9.05

The key insight: through real-time reporting via kyoX we saw after day one that the cross hall was performing significantly better than the ShopVille passage. On day two we redeployed the team. Contact counts rose by 35 percent. Without real-time data we'd only have noticed after the campaign ended.

Four weeks after the campaign, retail data showed: sales of the product in Coop stores in the Zurich area were 22 percent above the national average. A clear effect of the sampling campaign.

Checklist: planning train station sampling right

So nothing goes wrong with your next campaign, here's the complete checklist:

• ☐ Submit SBB permit 8 weeks in advance
• ☐ Define an alternative location (if the preferred one is taken)
• ☐ Food permit from cantonal laboratory (for food sampling)
• ☐ Check liability insurance (min. CHF 5 million coverage)
• ☐ Plan team size (min. 2-person team, 3-person team recommended)
• ☐ Prepare equipment (table, branding, cool boxes, waste)
• ☐ Calculate samples plus 20 percent buffer
• ☐ Build briefing (product, target audience, key messages)
• ☐ Define bad-weather plan
• ☐ Configure reporting setup
• ☐ Plan on-site supervisor for quality control
• ☐ Build waste disposal concept (SBB requires it)

Sounds like a lot? It is. That's exactly why most brands work with an experienced agency. Let's talk about your project and we'll take over planning, permits and execution of your train station sampling campaign.