Drive-by shopping: REWE now also offers Drive&Go

Drive up, open the trunk, drive on: With a new Drive–In–Pick-Up service, REWE is bringing a piece of the future of shopping to Euskirchen. At the REWE–Center on Narzissenweg, the pick-up service Drive&Go: another REWE offer where customers can have their online–order delivered directly to their car. Without getting out of the car, without going to the store, in just three minutes.

We listen very carefully to what customers want in their everyday lives, says Lars Klein, Chairman of the Management of REWE Region West. Time is a decisive factor. The Drive&Go pick-up service is our answer to this: a real pit stop moment while shopping. Fast, convenient and perfectly integrated into the daily routine.

How Drive & Go works

Orders are placed as usual in the REWE online store or via the REWE app. Customers select the Drive&Go pick-up service in Euskirchen, add their shopping cart and book a time slot. For pick-up, they drive to the designated, covered drive-in lane at the market, scan a QR–Code and log in with their name. The store team automatically receives a notification and takes the order directly to the car. Payment is made cashless and conveniently from the driver’s seat.

The difference to the already known pick-up service is the procedure: The collection takes place entirely directly at the car. There is no need to go to the store or to a separate collection room. The service is designed for quick and convenient delivery. The food prices at Drive&Go are at market level, and the REWE low price also applies at Drive&Go: 4,000 products always at discount prices, including many well-known brands, REWE Bio, fruit and vegetables and everything from ja!. The new service is free from a purchase value of 70 euros, below that there is a charge of 2 euros.

Pilot with a regional focus

Euskirchen is one of three pilot locations in the REWE Region West. The new offer is being tested over a period of twelve months in each case – deliberately in stores with different starting situations and customer structures. In addition to the REWE-Marktplatz in Hachenburg in Rhineland-Palatinate, the REWE CENTER in Alfter will be the third store to follow in the course of the year.

The pilot sites provide important insights for the further development of the REWE‑E‑Commerce‑Ecosystem – from optimized processes to new convenience–offers. Drive&Go is therefore not just an additional service, but a further building block to further strengthen REWE’s role as a leading local supplier and driver of innovation in the German food retail sector.

Services with tangible added value

With Drive&Go, REWE is also setting another milestone in its omnichannel strategy. The aim is to design the shopping experience for customers according to their needs and seamlessly connect digital services with the brick-and-mortar store. After all, if customers who have previously only shopped in bricks-and-mortar stores also use an online channel, they will increase their revenue by around 30% in the long term. We see Drive&Go as another strategic online channel in our diverse e-food segment, which already has very successful offers for customers with the delivery and pick-up service, says Clemens Bauer, Director REWE E-Commerce. Our goal is to develop innovations that not only work technically, but also offer our customers real added value in their everyday lives and can also be scaled up in the long term.

Strong market, strong team

The REWE–Center Euskirchen is run by store manager Markus Brand and employs around 80 people. They are also the ones who implement the new service on a day-to-day basis.

Our customers are very diverse and range from commuters and families to business owners, says Brand. “The Drive&Go pick-up service gives us the opportunity to respond even more flexibly to these needs.“

During the pilot phase, customer acceptance, satisfaction, processes and technical components will be evaluated, among other things. The aim is to further improve the shopping experience and strengthen REWE’s role as a pioneer in omnichannel–retail. For customers, this means one thing above all: more flexibility in everyday life.