Future of Invoicing

Together with the University of Applied Science of Lucerne, SIX provides an overview of the Swiss invoicing industry, highlighting its importance to the Swiss payment traffic and economy, both in terms of transaction volume and its role in the Swiss payments culture. The analysis also illustrates the trend towards increasing digitalization of the invoicing industry in Switzerland, with an increasing number of payments being initiated electronically and paper-based payments declining consistently.

The study outlines the three invoicing methods currently available in Switzerland: direct debit, eBill and QR-bill. It provides statistics in absolute figures, average amounts, a categorization within the industries, and the historical development of the number of eBill users and eBill transactions. The analysis shows that the absolute number of transactions has increased for all three invoicing types, with the average volume per transaction in 2021 being 1,113 Swiss francs. Additionally, the number of eBill users and eBill transactions has increased in recent years.

_{Breakdown of cashless payment transactions in Switzerland, absolute figures in millions. The figure is based on an illustration from BAK Basel with updated data sourced from the Swiss National Bank.}

Furthermore, the authors focus on sustainability and convenience, with an emphasis on political/environmental indicators and social indicators respectively. Electronic documents are seen as the more sustainable option as they reduce the consumption of natural resources such as wood. Furthermore, invoices that are designed for easy access to information (eBill or QR-bill) are considered more user-friendly. The results of the analysis also indicate that platform-based approaches that can offer seamlessly integrated processes and customer experiences are far ahead in many of the indicators analyzed in the study. This suggests the potential for further development of eBill, which represents such a platform system. However, invoicing standards such as the new QR-bill are also expected in the future due to their spread, coverage of different use cases, and high flexibility.

_{Historical development of number of eBill transactions from January 2015 to July 2022. Data source: SIX.}