A digital companion for in-store shopping has been trialled in Cologne since the beginning of the year. Efficient product searches, navigation and personalised product suggestions are intended to provide an intuitive experience that rethinks grocery shopping.
A surprise is currently waiting for customers at the REWE Centre in Cologne-Bickendorf: tablets have been attached to some shopping trolleys to make weekly shopping easier with the help of AI technology. Customers can use the display to search for specific products or even scan in their own handwritten shopping list. The system then navigates customers through the store and guides them to the desired products as quickly as possible. On the way, discounted products or special offers in the neighbourhood are suggested in real time that might be suitable for the purchase. This is possible because the technology behind Catch learns the customer's shopping behaviour and predicts their route through the store - without permanently storing personal data.
The tablets are the result of a collaboration between REWE digital Research & Innovation and the Israeli company Catch Retail INC. The digital shopping assistant is designed to enable a completely new shopping experience by allowing customers to do their shopping in the most convenient and time-saving way possible. This gives brick-and-mortar retailers a unique opportunity for digitalisation and personalisation.
The Catch pilot project will be tested for four months at the REWE Centre run by retailers Boris and Daniel Dugandzic in Cologne-Bickendorf. After final evaluation of the customers' reactions, a decision will be made on a possible continuation.
Both German and English comments appear here.
A really cool thing! I haven't tested it yet, but I imagine that the technology is a great help, especially in markets where you don't shop regularly. Not to mention the additional revenue... The only point can be seen in the video at second 11: It should be "Find" instead of "Find", "Spare" instead of "Spar" and "verpasse" instead of "verpass";)
Yes! As a customer, I've been wishing for this for years! I hope the project is successful and can be extended to other stores - at least for the large BILLA Plus stores, where you search forever as a customer .... Wobi
Dear Wobi, thank you very much for your valuable feedback and your interest in this topic. We also share your hope that the project will be successful. Once the first test phase is completed, we will evaluate the results and make appropriate decisions about the next steps. Yours sincerely, Alina Arunova
A great thing - searching for items takes a lot of time if you don't always shop in the same store and I've often wished for a sat nav (or built an Excel macro for my favourite store that sorts my shopping list by route). I fully support the suggestion to implement this in the REWE app. I prepare my shopping digitally at home and then want to get started quickly on site without having to scan the list first and then go into a detailed product selection. My ideal scenario: click on "Start shopping" and the optimum route through the store appears on the display, where I can collect all my items. A mobile phone holder on the shopping trolley would be great :-)
Dear Mrs Krauthäuser, thank you very much for your valuable feedback and your interest in this topic. We firmly believe that providing efficient navigation is crucial for our customers, especially in our large markets. Implementing a feature for the optimal route is entirely possible. Our approach is to test two different options to find out which is most used and best received. Adapting all the features of the REWE app for tablets requires a significant effort. That's why our focus in Research & Innovation is on quickly testing ideas and evaluating whether they offer added value and are well received by our customers. Instead of immediately embarking on major product developments, we look for solutions that bring direct benefits. In this context, we are working on a solution for integrating the app on tablets in order to optimally benefit from both products. We value your ideas highly and attach great importance to receiving direct feedback from our customers. Yours sincerely, Alina Arunova
Instead of developing expensive innovations, how about adopting successful concepts from neighbouring countries? A good example of this is the drive-in service offered by supermarkets in France: customers can do their shopping online and then pick it up at an agreed time in a car park at the store. This makes the shopping experience more customer-friendly and efficient. From an economic perspective, this would also be extremely worthwhile for supermarket chains in Germany. In fact, revenue from drive-in shops in France has almost tripled since 2013, totalling around 11 billion euros in 2022 (source: Statista). Such an implementation would therefore be a win-win situation for customers and stores. It would be desirable for supermarkets in Germany to adopt this concept too. :)
Hello Mrs Arunova, thank you for your reply. In contrast to the French drive-in concept, your pick-up stores do not provide for employees to load purchases into the customer's car, I assume? Best regards Jochen Fischer
Dear Mr Fischer, thank you very much for your valuable feedback and your interest in this topic. At REWE, we have more than 1,800 pick-up stores and their development is continuously progressing. Yours sincerely, Alina Arunova
I often shop in this store - the first time I shopped I found the screens annoying, I had a child in a car seat with me who now has this screen in front of his head. With a smaller child, I would actually be worried that they could hurt themselves. Last time I was there without children and had the peace and quiet to look at the technology. I was able to take a photo of my shopping list and the device recognised that it was a to-do list and gave me the option of ticking off/crossing out the individual items, which I found very helpful. I found the pop-ups rather annoying - but that's probably where the money is to be made :-) Perhaps it would be possible to integrate the REWE recipe world: I see an item in the store and think what nice thing can I cook with it? Hold it in front of the camera, it recognises the product and then suggests recipes, I choose one (which I can then email to myself) and the other ingredients are immediately added to my shopping list on the screen. Alternatively, the ChatGPTs of this world can already create very good weekly meal plans if you feed them with information such as child-friendly / without certain allergens etc. and think "what's on the menu? and the thought of "what's for dinner" is a not inconsiderable burden for many families, so the possibility of combining this with the REWE recipe world directly when shopping and getting the shopping list (sorted according to the market schedule) directly from it would be something nice!
Dear Anna, thank you very much for your valuable feedback and your interest in this topic. Your comments are extremely valid. We are currently looking for solutions as to how a digital shopping companion can also be used optimally in the presence of children. For this reason, we have started to offer some shopping trolleys without tablets. We are constantly reviewing the situation and ensuring that there are sufficient shopping trolleys without tablets available. These are usually located directly at the entrance to the sales area, opposite shopping trolleys with tablets. With regard to pop-ups with offers, the system is still in the training phase and is constantly learning. Our aim is, of course, to display suitable offers and find an appropriate balance so that their use is not perceived as disruptive. Thank you also for your suggestion regarding the integration of recipes for inspiration. We have this topic on our radar and are currently testing various functions step by step. The integration of GenAI is being considered in relation to numerous topics. We are carefully considering which features to test next and what value they will have for our customers. We greatly appreciate your ideas and it is especially important to us to receive direct feedback from our customers. Yours sincerely, Alina Arunova
Hello, perhaps it would be more expedient to place these functions in the Rewe app. This would keep the high investment and maintenance costs within reasonable limits... Best regards Jan Klingenberg
Dear Mr Klingenberg, Thank you for your feedback and interest in the topic. Of course, we took a close look at a placement in the REWE app before the pilot and also included current UX studies in the decision. For this test, we decided against implementing it directly in the app for the time being, partly for cost reasons. Our goal at Research & Innovation is to test ideas quickly and decide whether they add value and are well received by our customers. We are looking forward to the first results so that we can test our hypotheses. Yours sincerely, Alina Arunova