What are Electronic Shelf Labelling and the top 10 use in Retail?
Updated: Jan 22
Retail is reaching a tipping point as digital and physical purchase channels converge and as shopper demands change. 60% to 70% of consumers expect digital product content throughout their shopping experiences, and shoppers are looking for more to earn their loyalty. Adaptive and evolving brands and retailers will not just survive but thrive.
As the Future of Retail takes shape, traditional brick-and-mortar stores face a new challenging problem: adapt to satisfy the needs of the next generation of consumers and compete with e-commerce platforms or become a thing of the past of past generations' consumption habits.
We are changing our shopping habits. Surely you have experienced or heard that your community members search online for coupons before they step up to the checkout, use their phones to compare competitor prices while in a store, or buy online and pick up in-store. This is just one example of how the e-commerce world on the internet is influencing the retail world on the ground.
Physical retailers and brands that rely on brick-and-mortar channels are making significant investments to keep up with the pace of digital innovation and shifting shopping behaviours. With more product content available than ever before, increased competition for brand loyalty, and an ever-increasing rate of change, new shelf technologies are being applied to:
For improved shopper experiences, combine the best of digital and physical shopping.
Give brands insight into shopper behaviour at the shelf, where 85 per cent of transactions take place.
Give merchants a more agile platform for delivering real-time pricing and product information.
What is the change inside the retail store?
Can you imagine a local grocery store retailer adjusting the prices of products for a happy hour deal with the click of a mouse, and then reverting to normal prices with a second click? It's quite difficult to believe! However, it is not difficult to believe because retailers are adopting IoT technologies to do so.
Many countries' global retailers have implemented this new-generation technology for improved price management. In India, we are witnessing a change, and many retailers are in the process of evaluating the Electronic Shelf Labeling (ESL) technology, which has gained popularity in developed countries.
ESL is a modern technique that retailers use to display product pricing on shelves that are affixed to the front edge of retail shelving. ESL units are typically small, credit-card-sized devices that are used to replace traditional paper shelf labels or individual sticker pricing. The ESL technique uses digital paper devices to replace paper shelf labels at the retailer's shelf edge.
Every week, thousands of paper shelf labels need to be changed, a task that is both time-consuming and costly. The price changes are always subject to error because they are made manually, and the process is time-consuming and inconvenient. To increase their productivity and profitability, retailers have to compete in today's competitive market.
So, they have begun to focus on both the pricing function and the purchasing function to achieve better management. Changing this direction will be detrimental to paper shelf labels.
Stores need a sophisticated look to fit their image when frequent promotions or price changes are available, or when large numbers of SKUs are managed.
In comparison with paper labels, ESL offers several advantages. One of the advantages of ESL over paper labelling is that it is a wireless, paperless, accurate technology. Using this system, retailers can update pricing instantly on shelves and checkout stands of one or more stores, enabling them to run real-time promotions like a regular price, a promotional price, comparative shopping, promotional information, and so on. Increased sales and lower overall operating expenses result from this action, resulting in additional impulse purchases from customers.
What is Electronic Shelf Labeling (ESL)?
Electronic shelf labels, commonly referred to as digital price tags, are digital wireless display systems used in retail businesses to display product pricing. ESLs are typically affixed to the front edge of store shelves.
When you install ESL on your shelves, it will be instantly linked to your store's ERP and POS, reducing price management labour expenses, improving pricing accuracy, and enabling dynamic pricing.
Why should you use ESL?
Aside from driving sales and engagement, some IoT-enabled shelves can keep track of goods stock and quality. Furthermore, these labels are capable of much more than simply communicating contents and genetic information.
Shoppers who are involved in a company's customer loyalty programme and have their app downloaded may be treated to a tailored experience in-store in some situations. When you approach, a smart shelf will come to life with customised information. Besides the above-mentioned advantages, below is the different top 12 use of ESL on retail store shelves.