Swiss Payment Research Center
"The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the shift toward cashless payments in Switzerland. Mobile payments, in particular, have seen significant growth. At the same time, cash remains a popular payment method in everyday life due to its tangible nature, anonymity, and resilience in the event of technical disruptions."
Marcel Stadelmann
Head of the Swiss Payment Research Center
Swiss Payment Research Center: Switzerland's independent national research center for cashless payments.
About Us
ZHAW is one of Switzerland's leading universities of applied sciences. It combines an applied and research-based approach across teaching, research, executive education, services, and consulting.
Since 2012, the ZHAW School of Management and Law's (SML) Institute of Marketing Management (IMM) has been home to the Swiss Payment Research Center (SPRC), a center of excellence that connects the IMM's marketing expertise with the payments industry and investigates research questions relevant to the payments industry.
The Swiss Payment Research Center aims to serve as an independent national center of excellence for researching specific aspects of cashless payments. In collaboration with the financial industry, associations, and other stakeholders, the SPRC defines and explores key questions related to payments and publishes its findings wherever possible.
Research
The Swiss Payment Research Center (SPRC) focuses on strategic, microeconomic, macroeconomic, and behavioral research related to payments.
The payments industry is constantly evolving. Technologies such as Near Field Communication (NFC), which enables contactless payments with smartphones and other devices, as well as digital wallets, have fundamentally changed the way people pay. New business models and use cases continue to drive innovation, making cashless payments more seamless, faster, and increasingly invisible. As purchasing and payment processes become more integrated, the choice of payment method is often determined automatically through default settings rather than by an active decision. This reflects the growing preference among consumers for payment experiences that are fast, simple, and frictionless.
Research Topics
The SPRC conducts research in the following areas:
| Consumer Behavior Research | What influences consumer behavior? How do people make payment decisions? How do they perceive the benefits of different payment methods? What drives their choices? |
| Strategic Research | What are the optimal pricing strategies for different payment methods? Which network strategies, CRM applications, and point-of-sale (POS) processes are most effective? |
| Economic Research | What role do different payment methods play in the economy? What are the economic costs associated with different payment methods? |
Methods
The SPRC operates its own testing laboratory, where new payment technologies can be evaluated under realistic conditions. The lab also enables research into consumer behavior and behavioral change using established behavioral change models.
The SPRC applies the following research methods:
| Specialized Methods | Laboratory experiments, field experiments, online experiments, eye tracking |
| Qualitative Methods | Focus groups, qualitative one-on-one interviews, in-depth interviews, qualitative telephone interviews, expert interviews, business-to-business (B2B) interviews |
The SPRC also uses quantitative research methods, including online surveys.
Projects
Swiss Payment Monitor
The Swiss Payment Monitor has been tracking the payment behavior of the Swiss population since 2018 through an ongoing longitudinal research program. By combining nationally representative survey data, collected twice a year, with publicly available data on digital payments, the study integrates consumer insights with a macroeconomic perspective. The result is a comprehensive view of payment behavior in Switzerland.
The Swiss Payment Monitor is a joint research project of the University of St.Gallen and the ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences. It is supported by the Swiss Payment Association (SPA) and its industry partners Nets (Nets Switzerland Ltd.) and Worldline.
Swiss Payment Monitor | Payment Behavior Switzerland | ZHAW & HSG
Tipping Behavior
Tipping is voluntary in Switzerland and represents a fascinating phenomenon from both an economic and societal perspective. Through several studies, the SPRC has examined consumers' tipping habits and motivations, as well as how tips are distributed. The findings were published in two research reports in 2022 and 2025. Tipping behavior is also tracked as part of the Swiss Payment Monitor and analyzed from a scientific perspective.
Retailer Survey on Cashless Payments
As part of a retailer survey conducted in collaboration with the payment service provider treibauf AG, the SPRC surveyed more than 100 retailers in Switzerland in August and September 2022 on a range of topics related to cashless payments. The full results were presented at the Swiss Payment Forum 2022. Selected findings are available in this blog post.
Publications, Conferences & Presentations
Swiss Payment Forum
Highlights of the Swiss Payment Forum 2026
Zurich, November 16 to 17
- The Swiss National Bank's perspective on current developments in payments
- Payments in Europe: The forces shaping the future of the European payments landscape
- The future of pan-European payments: A discussion featuring Vipps MobilePay, Bizum, and other leading initiatives
- How AI is transforming the payments industry
- Cross-rail fraud prevention
- Instant Payments and Verification of Payee
- Payment innovations and their legal challenges
- New revenue models: Premium and luxury payment cards