AI in the Supermarket: What Rewe Digital Chief Eltze Really Plans

TVS News AI, editorially supervised, presents AI in the Supermarket: What Rewe Digital Chief Eltze Really Plans.

For many people, the supermarket still presents the familiar scene: fruit, refrigerated shelves, checkout counters and little technology. At first glance, the shopping experience has hardly changed in decades. Behind the unassuming facade, much more is already happening at Rewe, says the company's Digital and Technology Chief Christoph Eltze.

According to Eltze, artificial intelligence has long determined which walnut oil is available at a particular store. It also decides whether a customer sees cat food advertising in the Rewe app. And it ensures that enough beer is in stock ahead of the barbecue weekend. These examples show where AI is already influencing processes that are directly connected with your shopping.

In the latest episode of Handelsblatt Disrupt, podcast host Larissa Holzki speaks with Eltze about AI's influence on margins and revenue, the lessons grocery retailers can learn from Amazon, and the discontinued drone tests. He states his goal clearly: Artificial intelligence should make shopping easier.

Artificial intelligence should make shopping easier.

Walnut Oil, Cat Food and Beer Show Where AI Is Already at Work

Three examples from everyday life

Walnut oil, beer and cat food are not abstract carriers of technology. They represent concrete questions in day-to-day business: Is the right product available at the right store? Is there enough stock for the approaching barbecue weekend? And which advertisement is shown to a customer in the app?

The beer example in particular makes the practical effect tangible. According to Eltze, AI is supposed to ensure that enough beer is in stock before the barbecue weekend. For walnut oil, the technology even determines at which store it should be bought. For cat food advertising, it controls whether the customer sees the advertisement in the app at all.

What Eltze answers in the podcast

Larissa Holzki asks Eltze not only about technical applications, but also about their economic significance. Her questions concern the influence of AI on margins and revenue and what grocery retailers can learn from Amazon. However, the available preview does not provide any specific figures on revenue, margins, implementation costs or the timing of an AI rollout.

The direction is nevertheless clear: Rewe is not using AI for its own sake. Eltze describes the practical benefits for customers, controls, inventories and advertising. The available information does not reveal how measurable these benefits are or how the systems mentioned operate in detail.

Amazon Is the Reference for Digitally Organized Shopping

What Rewe can learn from the online retailer

Eltze is explicitly focusing on Amazon as a model for grocery retailing. The Handelsblatt preview places the two side by side: Rewe wants to make shopping easier with AI, while Eltze explains what the supermarket of the future can take from the online retailer.

For Eltze, Amazon is therefore more than a technology company he happens to mention. He points to digitally organized shopping in which AI and the app also determine which products are foregrounded, for which goods advertising is delivered, and what stock should be available ahead of a specific occasion. The everyday examples from the podcast make this approach more tangible than a general promise about the future of retailing.

What the preview leaves open

The preview does not describe specific functions in detail. It does not explain whether Eltze describes personalized offers, automated orders or targeted campaigns. Start dates, reach and technical systems also remain unclear. The only firmly documented examples are those already mentioned: selecting walnut oil by store, controlling cat food advertising, and securing beer stocks before the barbecue weekend.

The Drone Test Failed Because of a Crate of Beer

Why Rewe discontinued the tests

Eltze does not describe the drone test in abstract terms. His exact wording is: “I cannot attach a crate of beer underneath a drone” — at least not beneath the drone Rewe had tested. Handelsblatt therefore explicitly asks why Rewe discontinued its drone tests.

The podcast thus provides a counterpoint to technological confidence. AI can control goods flows and content at Rewe. A drone is supposed to transport a physical crate of beer. The tested attempt failed at this task. The preview does not reveal which specific technical or organizational limitation was the cause.

What the failure reveals about the AI strategy

The drone test proves neither that AI is ineffective at Rewe nor that Amazon is an ineffective model. It does show, however, that practical proof is required between a clear goal and a functioning implementation. The drone makes it particularly clear how concrete the requirements are: The machine must be able to pick up and transport a real crate of beer, not merely fulfill an abstract promise.

For assessing Eltze's ambition, this means: The software is the visible part. Whether a system works reliably in shopping only becomes apparent through concrete tasks such as availability, inventory planning, advertising selection or transport. The source provides examples for the first three applications. In the case of the drone test, it documents a concrete failure and the resulting discontinuation of the tests.

Eltze Places the Benefits at the Center

What is firmly established

• AI already determines at Rewe which walnut oil is available at a particular store.
• It controls whether customers see advertising for cat food in the app.
• It is supposed to ensure that enough beer is in stock before the barbecue weekend.
• Eltze cites Amazon as a model for digitized grocery retailing.
• Rewe has discontinued its drone tests; Eltze cannot transport a crate of beer beneath the drone being tested.

What remains open without the full episode

The available information contains no specific figures for margins or revenue. Start dates, reach, technical details and an explanation of whether Amazon's approach has been adopted concretely are also missing. Neither the scope of the drone tests nor the precise technical cause of their failure is given.

For you as a customer, the potential benefits are nevertheless tangible: Rewe wants AI to enable less searching, better-fitting inventories and more targeted content. The examples of walnut oil, beer and cat food show the direction. The failed drone test provides a sober limit: An idea only becomes part of a better shopping experience when it works reliably in practice.