Austria Country Commercial Guide
Learn about the market conditions, opportunities, regulations, and business conditions in austria, prepared by at U.S. Embassies worldwide by Commerce Department, State Department and other U.S. agencies’ professionals
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Selling Factors and Techniques
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Trade Promotion and Advertising

Retail spending on advertising in Austria rose to $7.4 billion in 2024, a 2% increase over 2023. Traditional ad spending on television, radio, and billboards is still the largest category, followed by events, digital spending, and print. The spending on large international digital platforms like Alphabet, Meta, TicToc and Amazon reached $2.8 billion. Austria’s digital advertising tax of 5% equals the tax imposed on traditional (printed) advertising. This tax applies to companies earning EUR 750 million in annual global revenue, of which at least EUR 25 million are derived from online advertising in Austria. In 2024, this created $134 million in tax revenues for Austria. 

Pricing

Austrian cost of living ranks among the highest 30% among European Union countries with comparative price levels and 15 points above the EU average. Given the relatively high salaries and social infrastructure in Austria, citizens generally enjoy a comfortable lifestyle. The value-added tax (VAT) on most products and services is 20% and is charged at point of sale. Some products have a lower VAT of 10%, including books, newspapers, food products and some pharmaceuticals. Special taxes are levied on luxury goods, fuel, drinks, tobacco, and other items. These costs and taxes should be considered when pricing products for sale in Austria. Inflation fell to under 3% in 2024 after high single-digit inflation rates in 2022 and 2023. 

Sales Service/Customer Support

Business customers demand a high level of support and most wholesalers or distributors offer excellent customer service. Timely service and maintenance capacities are important selling factors. U.S. companies should ensure that their prospective partners have the capacity and the intent to provide service and replacement part warehousing capacities. 

Local Professional Services

The same type of professional services available in other highly developed market economies are readily available in Austria. In addition, the Commercial Service at the U.S. Mission to the European Union at https://useu.usmission.gov/ maintains a Directory of EU Service Providers focusing on EU law, consulting, and business development.

Principal Business Associations

Many of Austria’s leading business associations both at the federal and the provincial level are associated with political parties. The most important business associations are the Federal Economic Chamber (WKO - Wirtschaftskammer Österreich) and the Federation of Austrian Industries (Industriellenvereinigung).  

The WKO is a semi-official organization that all licensed Austrian businesses are required to join and to which they pay membership fees. It is associated with Austria’s center-right People’s Party (OeVP), which nominates its leadership. The WKO advises the government on legislation that will impact business and acts as the official representative of the business community for wage negotiations with official labor unions. They have offices throughout Austria and the world, with a broad scope of activity including the formulation of business certification requirements and export promotion. https://www.wko.at/.

The Federation of Austrian Industries, also associated with the conservative People’s Party, represents the interests of the manufacturing industry. This group differs from the WKO in that it has no official status, and membership of almost 5,000 industrial companies is voluntary. https://www.iv.at/.

Additional associations represent industries, professions, and labor organizations. The American Chamber of Commerce in Austria has a membership of approximately 350 companies of which 40% are U.S. subsidiaries doing business in Austria. https://amcham.at/.

Limitations on Selling U.S. Products and Services

None.

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Global Business Navigator Chatbot Beta

Welcome to the Global Business Navigator, an artificial intelligence (AI) Chatbot from the International Trade Administration (ITA). This tool, currently in beta version testing, is designed to provide general information on the exporting process and the resources available to assist new and experienced U.S. exporters. The Chatbot, developed using Microsoft’s Azure AI services, is trained on ITA’s export-related content and aims to quickly get users the information they need. The Chatbot is intended to make the benefits of exporting more accessible by understanding non-expert language, idiomatic expressions, and foreign languages.

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