Queuing at the checkout will soon be a thing of the past for some Rewe customers.
After extensive testing, a technology is introduced that can revolutionize shopping.
Cologne - In the digital age, the transparent customer has long been a reality.
After all, a large proportion of people use the Internet to have products of any kind delivered to their home based on personal data.
The same applies to visits to supermarkets and discounters, for example when paying with a debit or credit card at the checkout.
After a test phase lasting several months, Rewe is using a new system in a Cologne branch that will make queuing at the cash register superfluous in the future - if customers want it that way.
As the first grocery retailer in Germany, the company enables cashless payment, which works according to the following principle:
Rewe introduces a new payment system - shopping without queuing at the checkout
Video cameras and sensors determine all the data from the tours that consumers make in the branch.
The artificial intelligence recognizes which products the customer puts in the shopping basket or trolley, including evaluating the information.
When leaving Rewe, you no longer have to queue at the checkout, nor is it necessary to scan the goods.
Extensive tests have shown that the new system at Rewe is reliable: Even when products are put back on the shelf, the cameras recognize this and do not incorrectly post amounts on the receipt.
Even fresh baked products, fruit and vegetables or hot meals and drinks are not a problem for recording, the company promises.
Customers can shop in the market in downtown Cologne (Zeppelinstrasse) and leave the store “without paying”.
Rival Aldi is also testing the innovative payment method, but initially outside of home.
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The Rewe Pick & Go app enables you to shop in Cologne without queuing at the checkout.
© Rewe
Rewe: Shopping without paying - this is how the technology works
How does the system known as “hybrid shopping” succeed in assigning individual customers?
The prerequisite is the use of the Rewe “Pick & Go” app, which customers can use to check in virtually before entering the store.
Identification is based on sequential numbers and skeletal features.
When leaving, the person is automatically checked out and the customer account is automatically debited with the corresponding value of the goods.
By the way, the Rewe Group claims that data protection is very important: The images captured by consumers are to be processed in a “data-saving manner” and used exclusively for purchase transactions.
Anyone who is skeptical of the new technology will in future also have the opportunity to “pay traditionally at the checkout”, the grocer describes in a message.
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(PF)
