German retail giant REWE Group keeps faith with Digital and Technology board member Christoph Eltze

REWE Group reports that it is extending the contract with its Digital & Technology board member Christoph Eltze through to 2029.

Eltze was appointed to the executive board in July 2022, and has been responsible for Digitalisation & Technology since then. Previously, he was responsible for Digital, Customer & Analytics and IT as Divisional Board Member for Retail Germany.

CEO Lionel Souque says: "Christoph is committed to driving forward the Digital & Technology area, which is very important for our business models, as part of the management board team, thus creating essential prerequisites for innovation, greater efficiency and group wide synergies in this strategically important field.”

“As part of our board team, he stands for passion and competence. In the previous, proven cooperation, we have become a well rehearsed team and rely on continuity. I would like to thank the supervisory board of REWE Group very much for the trust they have placed in us."

Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Erich Stockhausen, says: "Our company has developed rapidly in recent years. Numerous innovations on a large and small scale have positively advanced our bricks and mortar business models and at the same time created completely new formats.”

“Christoph’s area of responsibility is a decisive driver in this regard, which we are further strengthening with this decision. In the spirit of cooperative thinking, we rely on our successful board team, which has already proven its commitment and competence with successful work in recent years."

AI

Eltze recently took to social media to discuss the AI revolution in the retail space.

In a LinkedIn post, he said: “Is AI revolutionising today's (bricks and mortar) shopping? Since ChatGPT at the latest, there has been a real hype about AI applications.”

“But one in four retailers considers AI to be a trend that will soon be over, according to the results of a Bitkom survey at the end of last year.”

“My assessment: The effects of AI are sometimes overestimated in the short-term, but completely underestimated in the long-term.”

“Artificial intelligence offers numerous opportunities both to support our colleagues in the right places in the store and to continuously develop the shopping experience of our customers. However, we are still in the testing phase industry wide.”

Eltze went on to give various examples of how REWE Group is tapping AI solutions.

The HOLMES tool (Holistic Management of Exceptional Salespattern) is currently helping colleagues in around 100 PENNY stores to find items that are hidden on the shelf or are currently sold out, for example.

Together with tech firm, Catch, it is currently testing a digital shopping companion at the REWE Center in Cologne-Bickendorf. There are shopping carts that are equipped with special tablets.

"Assisted baking" is the name of a solution in which AI supported software uses a camera to record which baked goods are currently being pushed into the oven.

The system recognises around 100 items that it has learned in 300 to 400 baking processes each. Currently, around 600 REWE stores with 1,500 baking chambers are connected.

Both in REWE Pick&Go test stores and in a recently opened PENNY test store in Romania, customers' purchases can be recorded securely and in a data saving manner using camera and sensor technology and automatically settled after leaving the store without the checkout process.

In cooperation with startups, LastMile and Clevon, it is testing autonomous vehicles in Lithuania IKI.

Eltze concluded: “My assessment: the revolution has only just begun. Therefore, it is important to keep at it, develop and test. "Wait and See" is not a good strategy for us. Because we want to help shape the purchasing of tomorrow.”