Retail Scantastic
by Tom McCole
Retail and grocery shopping technology has advanced dramatically in the past few years. Retailers are embracing new in-store technologies throughout their operations to reduce labor costs and streamline the shopping experience. Since the COVID pandemic, online ordering and self-checkout systems have led to the replacement of nearly a third of the cashier lanes at many large retailers and this is filtering down to smaller venues as well. Amazon and European retailers have implemented “smart cart” technology with built-in scanners for item sales and NFC tap n’ go card payments for items right at the cart bypassing the traditional checkout process entirely.
Another significant technology advance in retail is ESL. You may ask the lyrical question what the hell is ESL? And the answer is….Electronic Shelf Labels! Currently, the retail pricing label model is a painstaking manual process. It requires employees to print and place one-off paper labels on every inventory hook, shelf, and bin location in the store. The labels display product name, item price, location ID, and potentially a QR code to access more product information. Today’s shelf labels are often generated using a portable on-site label printer directly in the aisle. The process is highly inefficient, labor-intensive, expensive, and subject to perpetual updates as inventory changes and prices vary.
ESLs are battery-powered wireless shelf displays that replace legacy printed price labels. They are designed to inform and engage shoppers with an interactive digital experience. For retailers, ESLs eliminate the extensive labor costs required for manual label maintenance and optimize inventory management for retailers. The ESL labor savings are so significant that Walmart has committed to implement them in 2300 stores by 2026 and they are already in use at Best Buy, Amazon Fresh, Schnucks, Lowes and a growing number of other retailers. European retailers like Carrefours are leading the ESL implementation charge not only for the efficiency and cost savings, but also because of the EU sustainability mandates reducing paper usage.
ESLs are centrally managed by the retailer either in-store or remotely from a central location. ESLs can display dynamic data for product info, pricing, promos, inventory count, and more. ESLs also enable dynamic pricing which translates into changing prices predicated on market conditions, nearing expiration dates, event sales, and other short-term opportunities. Some of the units can display up to 7 pages of product data and offer attention-getting color screens. The ESLs are available in multiple sizes and color formats. The efficient ESLs can operate from 2-10 years before needing a battery replacement.
Newly evolved generations of ESLs can contain QR codes to provide detailed product information, features and benefits, product reviews, nutritional values, recipes, and even competitive price checks. Some devices with NFC tags can even accept contactless payments directly for consumer self-checkout. The use cases are vast and cover most any retail environment including: grocery, electronic stores, pharmacies, car dealers, liquor stores, hardware stores, and numerous others. ESL implementation speeds the online shopping process as well by providing benefit to both the retailer and consumer with faster and more accurate order picking. ESLs with built-in color lighting can quickly direct order personnel to select the correct products eliminating aisle search time.
