A €100 Billion Retail Giant with Startup DNA

REWE Group, one of Europe’s largest grocery retailers with over 10,000 stores and €90 billion in revenue, has not stood still in the face of disruption. Instead, it's leaned in — investing early in digital infrastructure, spinning out startups, and building a scalable, microservice-driven architecture to power next-gen retail operations.

In this session, REWE’s CDIO Robert Zores joins fulfillmenttools’ Linda Kuhr to explore how innovation at REWE is less about splashy bets and more about patient, long-term architecture that delivers compounding advantage.

From Aerospace to Groceries: A Tech-First Mindset

Robert Zores’ background — spanning aerospace, Java platform architecture, and startups — uniquely positioned him to lead REWE’s digital evolution. What began in 2013 with just four team members has since grown into a robust ecosystem of services, from self-service stores to AI-led warehouse automation.

REWE’s innovation journey was triggered by a hard truth: traditional retailers were being outpaced by digital-native competitors. This realisation led to a decade-long commitment to re-architecting the business — not just adding tech, but transforming how the business operates.

Building, Buying, and Scaling the Smart Way

A core principle for REWE: build what makes a difference, buy what doesn’t. This pragmatic approach underpins decisions across their fulfilment stack. Key internal innovations, like the fulfillmenttools platform, were spun out to serve not just REWE, but the broader market — delivering innovation dividends both inside and out.

Meanwhile, for commodity software and services, REWE increasingly looks to best-in-class external providers. This hybrid architecture strategy ensures flexibility, scalability, and alignment with operational needs across multiple countries and retail formats.

Next-Gen Retail Formats: Pick & Go and Sensor Fusion

REWE has embraced sensor fusion technologies — combining AI, computer vision, weight sensors, and user apps — to enable a new breed of cashierless stores. Much like Amazon Go, these ‘Pick and Go’ stores allow customers to grab items and leave, with seamless post-checkout billing.

The goal isn’t to eliminate staff, but to elevate them — freeing up human labour for higher-value tasks while solving for workforce shortages. But customer psychology remains a challenge: many still feel like they’re “stealing” when they walk out without a cashier interaction. REWE is responding with nuanced, customer-centric UI/UX approaches and behavioural nudges.

Human-Centric Innovation in a 400,000-Person Company

REWE’s innovation isn’t tech-for-tech’s sake. It’s rooted in deep understanding of employee workflows, store diversity, and customer trust. With 400,000 employees and cultural variation across Europe, the innovation team tailors pilots and rollouts to each local market’s needs — from Hamburg to Hungary.

To support this, REWE built an internal research and innovation team that not only monitors global tech trends, but actively creates startups, collaborates with universities, and partners with leading AI companies from Israel to South Korea.

What’s Next: Digital Twins and Domain-Specific AI

Zores notes that general-purpose AI isn’t the goal. Instead, REWE is focused on domain-specific AI — trained models in logistics, payments, and warehouse control that deliver tangible ROI. They’re exploring digital twins for store and warehouse environments, in collaboration with top-tier tech firms.

The long-term vision is not a robotic takeover, but deeper human-machine collaboration: AI agents that can explain decisions, guide customers, and unlock new efficiencies without compromising trust or control.

Why Startups Love Working with REWE

Startups typically expect proof-of-concept trials to be fast and metrics-driven. REWE takes a different route: it offers three-year commitments, meaningful funding, and long-term collaboration. This makes it one of the most attractive large enterprise partners in Europe’s retail and logistics space.

Conclusion

REWE’s innovation story is a rare example of large-scale transformation done right. By combining architectural foresight with startup-style agility, it is future-proofing its retail empire — not just to survive, but to lead.

With partners like fulfillmenttools and an internal culture that rewards experimentation, REWE is proving that even the largest players can move fast — with the right leadership, long-term vision, and tech-first DNA.