I've used this method for paying back friends for minor loans, or suchlike, and also for paying my rent. And once for buying physical goods from a website: they gave me an invoice with a payment reference number and an IBAN, and I sent the amount requested to that IBAN with the reference number supplied, after which they shipped the goods.
Maybe SEPA has both push and pull models, and this article neglected to mention the push one? (I do have direct debits on my account, for a few charities, which are a pull transaction. And standing orders, which I think are also a push transaction.)