Retailers and super markets are looking at new ways to cut labour expenses and improve customer experience in general, including innovative ways to show price information. Electronic Shelf Labels (ESLs), also known as “digital price tags,” have been one of the industry’s most intriguing recent developments. Given that these digital price tags for retail have been available for almost couple of decades, it would be simple to assume they will never become widely used. However, it may seem that their initial idea was possibly ahead of its time because current market forces have only recently enabled them to realise its full potential.
Electronic shelf labels are the commercial automation systems that allow for dynamic pricing of goods in retail stores and provide customers with a better buying experience. Retailers in supermarkets, specialty shops, and department stores have mostly adopted these labels. Electronic shelf labels are frequently used in retail establishments around the world to improve operational effectiveness and lower labour costs. These labels connect the shelf pricing to retailer scanning databases immediately. Additionally, they provide the option of automatically adjusting prices of goods.
In practically all retail establishments across the world, electronic shelf labels, which are compact wireless display devices, can take the place of conventional paper pricing systems. Together, these elements provide numerous benefits above and beyond conventional price tags.
- Tailor your customer interactions
One of the other pieces of information that ESLs may display are QR codes. With the option to add items to a Wishlist, read customer feedback, and share products on social media, these enable shoppers to interact further with products. Additionally, it enables them to save the item for later online ordering. This enables ESLs to participate actively in an omnichannel purchasing experience, giving customers exposure to your company’s products after they’ve left a retail shop.
- Improved precision
Printed product labels frequently fade or simply show outdated information. The ESLs increase label accuracy significantly by two ways. First, because they are connected to the shelf, they cannot fade away like paper labels do. Secondly, because pricing and information are provided to the electronic label via a centralised system, ESLs always show the most recent, accurate information for each and every item.
Because it’s so simple to modify prices throughout the business, there’s less chance for mistakes, and even if something goes wrong, it just takes a few seconds to fix a digital price tag.
- Inventory data
Digital price tags have the capacity to offer additional information, such as how many of the products are still available in the warehouse, despite only appearing to be a sophisticated way of displaying retail prices. By integrating point-of-sale and inventory management solutions, stores may address out-of-stock products before they happen, saving even more manual effort.
For instance, a clothing store can show every size that is offered immediately on the display, eliminating the need for workers to travel to the stockroom and check for stock. ESLs can be used to display a product’s nutritional data, product size, price per weight, available stock, and other information. These not only benefit clients but also assist personnel in providing more precise customer advice.
- Optimise working hours
Updating numerous labels around the clock not only decreases labelling accuracy but also takes a lot of time and extra labour. This labour can be reduced when product labels can be modified from a centralised digital system, enabling workers to work on other projects or actively serve customers.
- Optimising the pricing
You can modify the prices your customers pay using price algorithms depending on their purchasing habits, vendor prices, and much more. In order to increase sales and growth and improve profit margins, you can make rapid price changes using ESLs. Price changes are frequently time-sensitive, but with hundreds of products to update and paper tags to deal with, it can be difficult to carry them out successfully. Your employees can quickly modify prices and promotions for any number of products using ESLs.
- Monitor foot traffic
ESLs with movement sensors allow you to monitor customer flow around your business. With the aid of these clever add-ons, you can create a virtual heatmap of your retail property that shows where you have more or less foot traffic.
- Increased sales
Reports show that using ESLs in stores dramatically increases sales. This is advantageous for your company as well as proof that using ESLs may give clients a seamless and satisfying experience.
Conclusion
Profitability depends on effective purchasing and internet marketing, as well as measures to boost customer service and business operations. This can be achieved using electronic shelf labels. It is safe to say that, for this reason, the next development in the growing trend of retail digitalization will be electronic shelf labels.