It is the first hybrid supermarket in Germany: In Cologne, customers in a Rewe branch can simply walk out of the store with a full shopping trolley. You can find out how this works here.
European premiere for the first hybrid supermarket with cashless payment options, as Rewe calls it. 300 employees tested the new supermarket over a period of several months. Around 3,000 purchases were simulated and more than 15,000 products were bought without the cash register. Now the time has come: The supermarket in Cologne's Zeppelinstraße is now also starting the payment process without a cash register for its customers.
Hybrid supermarkets primarily refer to the fact that the customer is given the choice: payment process at the checkout or automated recording of the selected products and invoice afterwards via an app.
The supermarket is basically no different from other shops of its kind. Only the numerous data protection notices at the entrance and the new-fashioned entry barrier indicate a new type of supermarket.
Those who prefer it more classic can pay at the checkout as usual – putting goods on the conveyor belt and waiting in line is included.
How does cashless shopping work?
According to Rewe, the autonomous check-out, shopping without an active checkout process at the checkout, is made possible by the "Pick&Go" app. You have to download this onto your smartphone before you buy it from the Google Play Store or the App Store. Important here: Before you enter the supermarket, you have to decide on the desired payment process. If you choose the variant without paying at the cash register, you have to check in with the app at the entrance to the market.
Before entering: Check in with the "Pick&Go" app (Source: Stephan Ortmanns)
From then on everything goes as usual: grab the shopping trolley, put the products in the basket and shop as you please. When you're done, you simply walk out of the store with the full cart. You will then receive the invoice in the app.
Rewe also offers complaints up to 24 hours after purchase: if a product has been billed incorrectly, you first complain in the app. But then you still have to contact customer service, which will help with the final problem solution. That seems unnecessarily cumbersome.
And how exactly does that work now?
Technically, the concept works as follows: Intelligent cameras and sensors on the shelves record and scan the goods. Around six kilometers of internet cable then ensure that the recorded data is passed on to the app correctly and immediately.
Anika Vooes, project manager from the Research & Innovation at Rewe digital:
"The system records each user as a consecutive number and their skeletal characteristics. Every arm movement when reaching for the shelf is recognized and evaluated as an action: Does the customer reach for the bananas or does the customer put a yoghurt back again, all that is detected. Even when products are incorrectly returned, which can be a common occurrence when shopping."
What sounds like a nightmare for data protection officers is not quite as dramatic in practice: Captured images are processed in a data-saving manner and are only used to enable the checkout-free shopping process. Only products that you have removed or put back yourself are recorded visually.
Rewe assures: The customer's facial recognition or other intrusions into privacy do not take place.
Not everyone will like the fact that the last remaining personal contact with employees is lost here. But those who like it impersonal and fast will be happy. Because shopping in the supermarket is usually not as exciting and popular as strolling through fashion stores, hardware stores or electronics stores.
