EDIFACT in Austria — grocery retail

Austria is a mature EDI market: ~180 million EDIFACT/EANCOM messages exchanged yearly in grocery retail. The sector is dominated by three groups (Spar Österreich, REWE Austria with Billa and Penny, Hofer / Aldi Süd) and three powerful regional discounters (MPreis in Tyrol, Sutterlüty in Vorarlberg, Unimarkt in Upper Austria).

Banners and their EDI portals

Banner	Group	EDI portal	Typical GLN
Spar Österreich	S-Group / SPAR International	Spar EDI Center via SEEBURGER + in-house Salzburg	900011 1 000 007
Hofer	Aldi Süd	Hofer EDI via SEEBURGER / TIE Kinetix	900011 2 000 003
Billa	REWE Austria	REWE EDI Center (Wiener Neudorf) via Comarch + Generix	900011 3 000 099
Billa Plus (ex-Merkur)	REWE Austria	shared with Billa EDI	900011 3 100 002
Penny Markt	REWE Austria	shared with Billa EDI	900011 3 200 005
Lidl Österreich	Schwarz Gruppe (DE)	Lidl EDI Austria via SEEBURGER (Salzburg)	900011 4 000 008
MPreis	Independent (Tyrol, Innsbruck)	MPreis EDI via T-Systems Austria	900011 5 000 022
Sutterlüty	Independent (Vorarlberg)	Sutterlüty EDI via E-Procurement Austria	900011 5 100 075
Unimarkt	Independent (Upper Austria)	Unimarkt EDI via Comarch	900011 5 200 044
Adeg	REWE Austria	shared with Billa EDI	900011 3 300 008

GS1 Austria EANCOM 2002 subset

GS1 Austria maintains an Austria-specific EANCOM 2002 subset. Notable specifics:

Austrian GLN (Global Location Number): systematic 900 prefix for Austrian companies, followed by issuer number + check digit.
Austrian GTIN-13 products: 90 or 91 prefix for Austrian manufacturing. International compatible (EU GTIN).
UNECE Recommendation 20 codes: common Austrian units — kg (KGM), litres (LTR), pieces (PCE), consumer units (PR), trays (BX), packs (PK).
Currency: EUR only since 1 January 2002.
Languages: product descriptions (IMD) mostly in German. English common for international flows Spar International, ITX (Carrefour), Schwarz Gruppe.
SSCC convention: 18 digits GS1 — 0 prefix (Extension) + supplier GLN + sequential reference. Maintained by AS-AT (GS1 Austria) in coordination with ECR Austria.

Messages used day to day

Message	Direction	Typical use
ORDERS	Banner → Supplier	Warehouse or store delivery order
ORDRSP	Supplier → Banner	Order acknowledgment (quantity confirmation, refusals, delivery date)
DESADV	Supplier → Banner	Despatch advice (pallet SSCCs, ASN)
RECADV	Banner → Supplier	Receipt acknowledgment (quantitative/qualitative discrepancies)
INVOIC	Supplier → Banner	Commercial B2B invoice
PRICAT	Supplier → Banner	Price catalogue / new items
INVRPT	Banner → Supplier	Stock report — VMI replenishment
SLSRPT	Banner → Supplier	POS sales report (weekly)
REMADV	Banner → Supplier	Remittance advice / payment notice
QUOTES	Supplier → Banner	Promotion quote (Aktion) — Spar, Billa usage

Anatomy of a Billa ORDERS

Typical Billa order (EAN 010 ORDERS D.01B subset), two lines — national brand classic:

text billa-orders-eancom.txt

UNB+UNOC:3+9000111000007:14+9000112000003:14+260519:0830+BIL00091210'
UNH+1+ORDERS:D:01B:UN:EAN010'
BGM+220+BILLA-2026-21-000119+9'
DTM+137:20260519:102'
DTM+2:20260521:102'
DTM+10:20260521:102'
RFF+CT:BILLA-FRAMECONTRACT-2024-7821'
NAD+BY+9000111000007::9'
NAD+SU+9000112000003::9'
NAD+DP+9000111900037::9'
NAD+IV+9000111000007::9'
CUX+2:EUR:9'
LIN+1++9001234567890:EN'
PIA+1+10001234:SA'
IMD+F++:::Wiener Knödel 5er-Pack 350g'
QTY+21:288'
PRI+AAA:1.49'
LIN+2++9001234567906:EN'
PIA+1+10001235:SA'
IMD+F++:::Manner Schnitten Original 75g'
QTY+21:480'
PRI+AAA:0.99'
UNS+S'
CNT+2:2'
UNT+18+1'
UNZ+1+BIL00091210'

UNB — Interchange header: issuer Billa GLN 900011 1 000 007, recipient supplier GLN 900011 2 000 003, date 19 May 2026, interchange ID BIL00091210.
UNH — Message header: EANCOM 2002 EAN010 for ORDERS.
BGM 220 — Commercial order. Billa internal number BILLA-2026-21-000119. Action code 9 = original.
DTM 137 — Issue date 20260519. DTM 2 / DTM 10 — Requested delivery 20260521 (D+2, classic "for Friday").
RFF CT — Annual framework contract reference BILLA-FRAMECONTRACT-2024-7821.
NAD BY/SU/DP/IV — Buyer (Billa Vienna Wiener Neudorf), Supplier, Delivery Point (Billa Wiener Neudorf platform), Invoice Recipient.
CUX 2:EUR — EUR currency.
LIN/PIA/IMD/QTY/PRI — Two product lines (GTIN-13, German label, quantity, negotiated price).

DESADV, SSCC and palletisation

The despatch advice (DESADV) carries SSCC codes uniquely identifying each logistic pallet:

text billa-desadv-eancom.txt

UNB+UNOC:3+9000112000003:14+9000111000007:14+260521:1410+DES000412'
UNH+1+DESADV:D:01B:UN:EAN005'
BGM+351+DES-2026-000412+9'
DTM+137:20260521:102'
DTM+11:20260521:102'
RFF+ON:BILLA-2026-21-000119'
NAD+SU+9000112000003::9'
NAD+BY+9000111000007::9'
NAD+DP+9000111900037::9'
CPS+1'
PAC+12'
PCI+33E+090001120000004127:SSCC'
LIN+1++9001234567890:EN'
QTY+12:288'
LIN+2++9001234567906:EN'
QTY+12:480'
UNS+S'
CNT+2:2'
UNT+15+1'
UNZ+1+DES000412'

CPS — Consignment Packing Sequence.
PAC 12 — EUR pallet (1,200 × 800 mm, GS1 code PAC type 12).
PCI 33E + SSCC — SSCC 18 digits: 090001120000004127. 0 prefix (Extension Digit) + supplier GLN 900011 2 000 003 + sequential reference 4127.

Austrian EDI networks and providers

SEEBURGER (Salzburg): ~30 % of the Austrian grocery EDI market. Strong on Hofer, Lidl, Spar International.
Comarch ECOD: ~20 %, dominant on REWE Austria (Billa, Penny, Adeg) and Unimarkt.
Generix: ~12 %, strong on Carrefour cross-border flows and some independent banners.
T-Systems Austria: ~10 %, focus MPreis, ÖBB (Federal Railways) and large industrial accounts.
TIE Kinetix: ~8 %, strong growth on international discount flows.
E-Procurement Austria (ECR Austria): ~5 %, collaborative hub maintained by GS1 Austria + ECR Austria.
EDITEL Austria: ~10 %, historic EDITEL Group joint venture (CZ/SK/AT/HU), strong on Visegrád flows.
In-house hubs: Spar Austria runs an in-house EDI hub in Salzburg for its S-Group International flows.
Dominant protocols: AS2 (~65 % since 2012), OFTP2 (~15 %, especially cross automotive flows), SFTP / proprietary VAN (~20 % declining).

Volumetry and market share

Total estimated volume: 180 million EDIFACT/EANCOM messages per year in Austrian grocery retail (2024).
Top messages: ORDERS (~25 %), DESADV (~22 %), INVOIC (~18 %), RECADV (~12 %), PRICAT (~8 %).
Top banner by volume: Spar Österreich (~55 million / year with its 800+ main suppliers), Hofer (~40 million), REWE Austria total (~50 million Billa + Penny + Adeg).
EDI penetration: ~93 % of suppliers of the top 7 food banners use EDIFACT. Small regional producers (< €1M turnover) often stay on light EDI (CSV) or web portal.
Cost ratio: €0.02 to €0.15 per message exchanged via provider, vs €1 to €3 per equivalent paper invoice.

Coexistence with USP / PEPPOL

The IKTKonG mandate covers only federal B2G flows. In B2B, EDIFACT remains king for grocery retail. Some nuances:

EDIFACT for ORDERS, DESADV, RECADV. No reason for near-term change. These messages carry a mature supply chain business grammar, not replaceable by PEPPOL.
EDIFACT INVOIC vs ebInterface vs PEPPOL UBL. Banners may ask B2B suppliers to switch to PEPPOL when they themselves are federal B2G suppliers (case Spar, REWE for public procurement). Otherwise, EDIFACT INVOIC remains dominant.
Gradual migration. Banners gradually integrate PEPPOL APs (peppol.at WKO or commercial) for reading, without abandoning EDIFACT in production.
ViDA 2030 horizon. For intra-EU operations, flows could switch to UBL / PEPPOL under Digital Reporting Requirements. For pure AT domestic flows, EDIFACT will most likely remain.

Foundations

Standards

Flagship messages

Tools