Retail EDIFACT — Migros, Coop, Denner, Aldi, Lidl, Manor

Long before any e-invoicing regulation, Swiss retail already exchanged its orders and invoices over EDI (Electronic Data Interchange). For the newcomer: EDIFACT is the "language" Migros, Coop and their suppliers use to send each other orders, dispatch advices and invoices with no paper at all. This B2B rail is the oldest and most massive in Switzerland.

History — EANCOM and the Migros/Coop duopoly

Swiss retail is dominated by two cooperative giants, Migros and Coop, which rolled out EANCOM EDI with their suppliers from the 1990s to automate the order-delivery-invoice chain. German discounters Aldi Suisse (entered 2005) and Lidl Schweiz (2009) imported their EDI requirement, generalising the practice.

Alongside, Denner (Migros group), Volg (fenaco agricultural cooperative) and the department store Manor round out the landscape. All rely on the GS1 EANCOM 2002 subset — a stable legacy, parallel to debates on structured e-invoicing.

1990s      | Migros and Coop, the two cooperative giants of Swiss retail,
           | roll out EANCOM EDI with their suppliers to automate orders,
           | deliveries and invoices.
           |
2002       | EANCOM 2002 — the reference version of the EDIFACT subset for
           | retail, maintained by GS1.
           |
2005-2015  | Generalisation to suppliers: Denner, Volg, plus the arrival of
           | German discounters Aldi Suisse (2005) and Lidl Schweiz (2009),
           | which impose EANCOM EDI from onboarding.
           |
2018-2026  | Coexistence of EDIFACT (historical retail B2B rail) + QR-bill
           | (payment) + structured flows. GS1 Switzerland pushes data
           | quality (GTIN, GLN, GDSN/data pool).

Governance — GS1 Switzerland

GS1 Switzerland governs the identification standards (GTIN, GLN, SSCC) and the EANCOM subsets in Switzerland. It runs the sector working groups, publishes the implementation guides and operates the national data pool for product-data synchronisation (GDSN).

Schema — ORDERS, DESADV, INVOIC

The retail EDI cycle chains several EANCOM messages, each referencing the previous one by order number:

• ORDERS — order from the chain to the supplier.
• ORDRSP — order acknowledgement/response (confirmations, shortages).
• DESADV — dispatch advice (with SSCC of cartons/pallets).
• RECADV — receiving advice on the warehouse side.
• INVOIC — invoice, with VAT breakdown and party GLNs.

UNH+ME000001+INVOIC:D:01B:UN:EAN010'
BGM+380+FAC-2026-44219+9'
DTM+137:20260616:102'
NAD+SU+7610000000005::9'        ← supplier (GLN, code 9 = GS1)
NAD+BY+7611234500004::9'        ← buyer (Migros/Coop GLN)
CUX+2:CHF:4'
LIN+1++7612345678901:SRV'       ← article (GTIN-13)
QTY+47:240'
MOA+203:1200.00'
TAX+7+VAT+++:::8.1'             ← VAT 8.1%
MOA+124:97.20'
UNS+S'
MOA+86:2030.21'                 ← gross total
MOA+176:105.21'                 ← VAT total
UNT+15+ME000001'

Retail EDIFACT vs structured e-invoice

Adoption — chains and volumes

• Migros + Coop: nearly all supplier flows over EANCOM EDI — it is the condition for being listed.
• Aldi Suisse + Lidl Schweiz: EDI imposed from supplier onboarding, a legacy of their German parents.
• Denner, Volg, Manor: EDI widespread, with capture/portal for small suppliers.
• Volumes: tens of millions of EANCOM messages per year in Swiss retail (orders + deliveries + invoices).

Common pitfalls

• Wrong GLN. An incorrect delivery-point GLN physically routes the goods to the wrong warehouse.
• GTIN missing from the data pool. An article whose GTIN is not synchronised (GDSN) blocks order/invoice integration.
• Wrong EANCOM version. Mixing D.96A and D.01B, or a chain-specific subset, gets the message rejected.
• Forgetting the dispatch advice. Many chains require the DESADV (with SSCC) before the invoice; without it, the receipt does not reconcile.

Cross-links

• Switzerland hub — full view
• Industrial & pharma EDI
• VAT — breakdown on the invoice
• No mandate — voluntary adoption
• GS1 Switzerland