The Rewe Group is investing USD 17 million in OC Fulfillment GmbH, supporting the international expansion of its software platform "fulfillmenttools". The Cologne-based company was founded in 2020 from Rewe Digital's innovation sector and specializes in solutions for Distributed Order Management Systems (DOMS). With the investment, Rewe aims to expand the market position of "fulfillmenttools" and strengthen its position in global omnichannel retail.
The “fulfillmenttools” platform enables retailers to intelligently manage order processes across various sales channels. A central element is the so-called Order Routing, which calculates the optimal processing of customer orders based on individual user criteria and real-time data. This function helps companies to manage their goods flows more
efficiently and to offer their customers a consistent shopping experience across all channels. "Fulfillmenttools" is used across industries – including in the book trade, food sector, fashion, and electronics segment – and already counts well-known customers such as Thalia.
The Rewe Group sees the investment as more than just a financial one. They regard it as a strategic partnership to jointly develop digital trading processes further. "Fulfillmenttools" combines the technological expertise of a young software company with the retail experience of the Rewe Group. The goal is to provide globally scalable solutions for retail companies that can be seamlessly integrated into existing IT infrastructures.
Artificial Intelligence in Grocery Retail
At the
same time, the Rewe Group is intensifying the group-wide use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for data-based decision making. Initial AI applications started in 2018, such as for assortment optimization and offer personalization. As part of the company-wide analytics transformation in 2021, the role of AI was further expanded and embedded organizationally.
Current projects like "HOLMES" analyze sales data directly in the stores, recognize patterns, and provide recommendations for actions such as shelf placements or assortment gaps. The AI identifies missing or incorrectly placed items based on trained models, supporting market personnel without additional effort.
Artificial Intelligence at Rewe
The use of AI at the Rewe Group is based on extensive data
sets collected since 2002 through a data warehouse. Advances in cloud technology, freely available AI tools, and a growing number of qualified specialists have facilitated the widespread use of these technologies. Challenges exist mainly in data quality and the technical integration of analysis results into existing operational systems. Nevertheless, the Rewe Group sees AI as a crucial lever to automate processes, meet customer expectations more precisely, and use resources more efficiently.
In the long term, the Rewe Group expects another innovation boost from so-called AI agents that can independently gather, analyze, and communicate information. Thus, the reliability and timeliness of AI-generated information remain central topics in the further development of the
