REWE Group once again teams with Trigo as it opens first autonomous PENNY store in Bucharest, Romania

REWE Group has opened its first autonomous PENNY store in Romania.

The 349 square metre location can be found in Bucharest.

In a LinkedIn post, Christoph Eltze, Chief Digital and Technology Officer at REWE Group, said: “After more than 80,000 hours of work and 4,000 hours of testing with a team of more than 50 colleagues, the time has finally come: the first autonomous PENNY store has been launched in Bucharest – not only in Romania, but worldwide.”

Eltze added that in Germany, REWE Group are pioneers with hybrid test stores in Cologne, Berlin, Hamburg and Düsseldorf as well as a store with fully autonomous check-out via REWE Pick&Go in Munich.

In Lithuania, it was the first to launch autonomous stores with IKI Go a year and a half ago – and to this day is the only one in the country with five locations.

On the latest opening, he said: “As with our REWE test stores in Germany, the technical partner of the 349 square metre store is Trigo. So the technology works in a very similar way. However, there is one difference:”

“There is no identification/registration at the entrance to the PENNY store – for example, by app or card – necessary. All items are automatically recorded, our customers only have to pay at a self-checkout checkout.

“The PENNY store will be in operation around the clock - in other words, our customers will be able to shop with maximum flexibility.”

“Although the technology used offers a 100% digital shopping experience, the team in the stores is ready to answer questions from our customers or – if necessary – support them in the automated process.”

He concluded: “We are proud to contribute to the digitisation of Romanian retail with our test – especially thanks to the great team behind it.”