How do you pay at a Swiss supermarket?

As of June 2026. At a Swiss supermarket till you can pay with almost anything: cash, a debit card (Maestro, V Pay, Debit Mastercard, Visa Debit), a credit card (Visa, Mastercard, and at some chains American Express), contactless by card or phone (Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay), and Twint. At Coop and many other tills you can also use Reka money. This guide sorts out what works where, and where visitors fall into the exchange-rate trap.

What is accepted at a Swiss supermarket checkout?

The short answer: almost every common payment method, but not every credit card at every till. Twint, per Twint’s 2024 figures, has over five million users and is the third most-used payment method in Switzerland after cash and debit cards (source: twint.ch, watson.ch, as of 2024). It is accepted at Migros, Coop, Aldi, Lidl, Denner and more. At Migros, per support.migros.ch, Twint is built into the card terminal: you scan a QR code shown on the terminal. The table below summarises typical acceptance at the till.

On the contactless logic: Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay are not separate accounts. They load your debit or credit card onto your phone. Per Mastercard Switzerland they work wherever contactless payment with the underlying card is accepted, that is at Coop, Migros, Aldi, Lidl and others (source: mastercard.com/ch). In practice: if the terminal shows the contactless symbol, your phone will work.

Twint, Reka and the retailer apps: what is worth it?

Twint is a joint venture of the largest Swiss banks and SIX Group, linked directly to your bank account (source: twint.ch). At the till you scan the QR code on the terminal and confirm in the app. There are two routes: the general Twint app from your bank, or the Twint version built into the Migros or Coop app, which bundles payment and loyalty points (Cumulus, Supercard) in one tap. If you want to collect Cumulus or Supercard points, the retailer app is handy because otherwise you scan the loyalty card separately.

Reka money is a Swiss particularity. Per reka.ch, at selected Coop outlets you can buy Reka-Pay credit at a 3% discount by showing your Supercard, then pay for your shopping with it. Reka is accepted at over 6,000 acceptance points across Switzerland (source: reka.ch). The Reka Card is not accepted at every Migros branch, per support.migros.ch, so check in store.

Want to know before the till where your basket is cheapest? Rappn is the only neutral Swiss price-comparison app, comparing the offers of Migros, Coop, Aldi, Lidl, Denner, Aligro and Otto’s with no advertising deal with any chain. More on our price comparison page.

Self-checkout, cash-back and foreign cards

At self-scanning and self-checkout lanes you usually pay cashless, that is by card, Twint or phone; some stores have separate cash machines. Lidl Switzerland, per corporate.lidl.ch, offers cash withdrawal at the till in all branches: from a CHF 10 purchase you can take CHF 10 to CHF 300 with a Maestro, Debit Mastercard or Visa Debit card, at no extra cost. Aldi Suisse, per aldi-suisse.ch, has also offered free cash withdrawal at the till since March 2025: from a CHF 10 purchase you can take CHF 20 to CHF 300 in CHF 20 steps (your bank may charge its own fee depending on the card).

It gets tricky with foreign cards. If the terminal asks whether you want to pay in francs or in your home currency (for example euros), always choose CHF. Otherwise so-called Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) converts at an unfavourable rate (source: moneyland.ch). Paying with euro cash is possible in some large, touristy branches, but change comes in francs and the rate is usually poor (source: moneyland.ch). If you are tempted by euros, read paying in euros at Swiss supermarkets first. For the full picture on cards, Twint and the rest, see our Swiss supermarket payment methods page.

See it live in Rappn: open the app, compare the offers at your favourite chains, then choose at the till, relaxed, how you want to pay. Compare prices now and start for free.