Store visit at Rewe Ready in Germany

By: Rennack Sebastian Date: 2025. 09. 10. 09:24

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Rewe Ready, German Rewe Group’s autonomous smart store at Kamener Kreuz has now been running for over half a year – long enough to evaluate its real-world role in digital convenience retail.

Sebastian Rennack
international retail analyst
Aletos Retail

Opened in November 2024, the ‘Smart Box’ concept is located at Germany’s largest electric vehicles (EV) fast-charging park, featuring 52 high-power chargers in partnership with energy company EnBW. The concept targets dwell-time created by e-mobility stops, combining ultra-convenient access with a high-traffic location.

Rewe Ready was developed by Lekkerland, the convenience specialist that became part of Rewe Group in 2019. The 18 sqm modular ‘shopping box’ houses around 250 SKUs, focusing on food-to-go missions such as chilled drinks, coffee, sandwiches, wraps, salads, ice cream, and selected ambient groceries.

Access is entirely autonomous, using credit card, and the store operates 24/7 without staff. While earlier locations used robotic retrieval systems, the Kamener Kreuz site introduces AI-powered, camera-based grab-and-go technology for the first time within the Rewe Ready rollout. The first Rewe Ready opened in Bispingen in September 2022, offering touchscreen ordering and automated pickup. Kamener Kreuz represents the next stage of evolution: smaller footprint, faster entry, and more intuitive shopping, all built for high-volume roadside sites.

Rewe Group continues to lead in the development of autonomous store formats. As of late 2024, the group operated eighteen unmanned outlets across Germany, including four Rewe Ready locations. Three of these – Bispingen, Unterhaching, and Kamener Kreuz – are placed at EnBW charging parks, signaling a clear strategic alignment between EV infrastructure and digital retail.

Other major grocery players have not matched Rewe’s momentum in this space. Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd are still testing smart stores abroad, in Eindhoven and London respectively, with no German deployments. Schwarz Group’s shop.box and collect.box prototypes remain confined to a campus in Heilbronn. Edeka Südwest has deployed two robotic stores in Renningen and Offenburg, but has not announced further expansion.

With Rewe Ready, Rewe Group has moved from experimentation to execution, positioning itself as the most advanced operator of autonomous retail in the German food sector.

The Rewe Ready smart store at Kamener Kreuz is embedded directly within Germany’s largest EV fast-charging park, run by EnBW

The modular container offers a sales area of just 18 square meters, optimized for ultra-compact convenience retail

The current promotional screen next to the entrance reads, “Ready for something fresh?”—inviting shoppers to grab snacks and recharge. In future, this space may be allocated to third-party partner messaging.

Entry is enabled via contactless credit card, smartphone, or smart watch — no app download or registration needed

The system now also supports Maestro and VPay, making store entry more accessible to European debit card holders

The compact interior offers a curated selection of snacks, chilled drinks, coffee, and tobacco – designed for high-turnover convenience missions

At the far end of the 18 sqm store, a dedicated coffee corner supports smooth shopper flow, while a separate unit offers age-restricted tobacco products

Electronic shelf labels eliminate the need for manual price changes, while a four-scoop POS system ensures automatic product-facing – key enablers for unmanned operations

Fresh pre-packaged sandwiches, salads, and wraps form the heart of Rewe Ready’s food-to-go mission

Rewe Ready combines its proprietary “Rewe to go” and Lekkerland’s “Go Fresh” brands to deliver a curated chilled drink assortment, including seasonal and themed items

The self-service coffee corner offers freshly ground options at the end of the customer journey

A separate automated tobacco unit enables age-restricted product access via digital ID verification

Thirty ceiling-mounted cameras enable AI-powered item recognition and loss prevention—forming the technological backbone of autonomous shopping

A floor sticker at the exit reinforces the grab-and-go logic: no checkout, no queue – ‘yes, you may just go…’

“Thank you for your purchase – yes, you may just go” signage at the exit reinforces the message that the store is fully autonomous

The EV charging park at Kamener Kreuz, operated by EnBW, forms the high-frequency anchor for Rewe’s ultra-compact, unattended store format. With 52 charging points, it is the largest electric vehicle fast-charging site in Germany

Located at Kamener Kreuz, just 500 meters from the A1 autobahn, the Rewe Ready store sits within a high-traffic industrial zone – ideal for testing autonomous retail near workplaces and transit routes