German supermarket chain REWE Group has introduced autonomous store technology at a 4,300-square-foot Schönhauser Allee location in Berlin’s Prenzlauer Berg neighborhood, using Tel Aviv, Israel-based Trigo frictionless checkout. For now, only store employees and loyalty card customers will have access to the autonomous shopping experience, but the store will open to the public by late summer, with traditional checkout available if shoppers prefer.
This is the second Trigo-powered autonomous grocery store that REWE has launched among its 6,000 shops in Germany and 3,500 global locations. In 2021, the grocer unveiled an approximately 2,150-squre-foot location in downtown Cologne, Germany that offered a checkout-free experience.
While the Cologne store is designed to support convenience shoppers, the full-sized Berlin location caters to weekly customers who are likely to build larger baskets, including bulk purchases. Additionally, the technology allows shoppers to purchase items according to weight rather than limiting them to per-unit purchases.
The Trigo technology allows shoppers to enter the store, choose their groceries and walk out without using a checkout or scanning items by relying on AI-powered computer vision and off-the-shelf hardware. By using algorithms within ceiling-mounted cameras, the Trigo solution learns and uploads anonymized customer information regarding shoppers’ movements and the products they choose. Payments are collected and receipts are issued digitally.
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“Trigo is immensely proud and honored to be rolling out its frictionless grocery shopping technology with Rewe, one of the world’s biggest and most innovative grocery retailers,” said Michael Gabay, Trigo Co-Founder and CEO in a statement. “REWE has placed its trust in Trigo’s privacy-by-design architecture, and we look forward to bringing this exciting technology to German grocery shoppers.”
