Electronic Shelf Labels (ESL) have been around for the past few decades. So why is now the right time to implement this solution?
First, the labor shortage and cost of labor are two main drivers in the equation. However, ESLs do more than automate pricing. They are a vital component in your store’s digital transformation. Out-of-stock monitoring, video advertising, operational efficiencies, and consumer information, and are just some of the many benefits that ESLs provide to the digital side of your digital store. ESLs are the first step to becoming a part of the ever-increasing portal of cloud-based applications focused on store automation, shopper engagement, and data analytics.
From a customer standpoint, product price is becoming one of the most important purchasing factors. To follow market trends and increase competitiveness, grocers need to regularly update their in-store pricing. However, when done manually, this task can be very tedious and may increase price errors. This is where ESLs come into play.
In this white paper, we will explore the main drivers for a positive ROI when implementing ESL solutions.
The drivers include:
- Labor savings from shelf digitalization (implementingESLs)
- Increased profits enabled by pricing agility
- Enriched consumer satisfaction/experience
- Operational efficiency from out-of-stock shelf monitoring
Labor Saving
Retail organizations, especially in grocery, spend an enormous amount of time and labor on changing price labels in the stores. For every 1000 SKUs, the typical grocery store spends about 1 –1.5 hours per week on keeping the right prices on the shelves. Being able to change the price of items from a corporate or regional location saves between 35 –80 hours per week per store when switching from paper tags to electronic shelf labels. Electronic shelf labels free up employees’ time on low-value tasks and allow them to focus on customer service or merchandising tasks.
Another benefit of ESLs that grocers can deploy is the pick-to-light feature, where flashing LED lights that can be programmed for several use cases. For example, when flashed by the retailer the light can draw attention to a product offer or special, alert store employees of low-stock items, help employees be more efficient in picking online orders or help stockers quickly find the right spot to place specific items.
Increased Profits
With the ability to make price changes automatically, grocers can increase the frequency of promotion campaigns, surge pricing, or respond to market/competitor conditions. Shelf digitalization and electronic shelf labeling enable stores to become more agile in their promotion and pricing tactics. This is especially critical for fast-moving items or price-sensitive items. These price changes can be made without having to worry about the strain on employees’ time and capacity.,
Enrich Customer Engagement
The ESL technologies allow for consumer personalization such as product reviews, health preferences (vegan, gluten-free, etc.) recipes, and other information to enhance engagement. ESLs positively empower consumers with better products, nutritional, and traceability information at the shelf, and enable a frictionless in-store shopping experience with features such as product search, or scan and pay features.
Operational Efficiency
The digital transformation of connecting your shelves to the cloud provides real-time accurate information on product availability and location at scale, allowing for reduced inventory, out-of-stock, and waste, as well as improved on-shelf availability and merchandising compliance. Shelf cameras such as Captana can aid in planogram compliance and alert/report on out-of-stock items.
Other Benefits of Electronic Shelf Labels
- Active NFC instant LED flashing (7 colors)
- Pricing automation/intelligence product geolocation and real-time planogram management
- Digital advertising and promotion
- Shopper connectivity and in-store digital services
- Automated shelf monitoring and stock-out detection
- Picking and replenishment optimization
Contact AWG or your local POS/back-office provider for more information or a customized ROI on the SES-Imagotag Electronic Shelf Labels.
