Munich's first "Pick&Go" customer is Bavaria's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Affairs Hubert Aiwanger, who tested the autonomous checkout as part of the official opening at Karlstraße 36 on 14 December 2022: "I am delighted that REWE has chosen the Free State of Bavaria as the location for its first fully autonomous REWE Pick&Go store. The innovative concept shows how digitalisation can create concrete added value for customers in everyday life. It is a new, convenient shopping experience. If this technology catches on in the retail sector, queues at the checkout could soon be a thing of the past!"

With the opening of the fully autonomous store in Munich, REWE is living up to its guiding vision of making the shopping of the future possible today: "With the first fully autonomous REWE store, the REWE Pick&Go future project is entering an important second test phase. In the coming weeks, we will analyse exactly how the offer of shopping without a checkout process is received here in Munich. We are optimistic: the two hybrid test stores have shown that autonomous shopping with REWE Pick&Go is a convenient, exciting and time-saving alternative to conventional shopping for many customers," says Peter Maly, Divisional Director REWE Group.

As usual, store staff will be on hand to answer customers' individual questions and provide advice - because despite an autonomous checkout, the first autonomous "REWE Pick&Go" store has just as many employees as a conventional REWE shop. "Our team is made up of 11 employees in total. Our colleagues are increasingly involved in stocking goods, for example, which requires more effort due to the technologised "Pick&Go" shopping system. Specially trained store staff are also on hand to answer our customers' technical questions about autonomous shopping," says store manager Sarah Popovic, who manages the Munich REWE Pick&Go store in a dual leadership role with Sinthayhu Tadesse.

The product range at the Pick&Go store in Munich's Maxvorstadt district comprises around 4,000 items on a sales area of 289 square metres. These include fresh baked goods, fruit and vegetables, a comprehensive range of dry goods, frozen products, drinks and household goods. Regional products from Bavaria also form an integral part of the range. As in the two hybrid REWE Pick&Go stores, a fruit and vegetable scale and, as in the Cologne store, a reverse vending machine have also been integrated into the "Pick&Go" system landscape in Munich. Customers in Munich can also pay for their "Pick&Go" purchases via Paypal, Google Pay, Apple Pay or credit card.

Data protection was and is a key aspect in the development and operation of the system: the images captured of customers are processed in a data-saving manner and are used exclusively to enable checkout-free shopping in the store. The system only records data to recognise which products are taken out or put back. There is no facial recognition, nor can the system recognise customers after a visit to the store. Across Europe, the "REWE Pick&Go" stores in Cologne, Berlin and Munich are among the first supermarkets to enable customers to shop autonomously under real-life conditions.

The next REWE Pick&Go store is due to open at the beginning of next year: Final preparations are currently underway for another store with a hybrid shopping concept in Cologne. Here, customers will once again have the choice: traditional payment at the checkout or self-checkout - or use REWE Pick&Go.