Industry Expert Blogs

Retail stores communicate basic product information and price to browsing shoppers through shelf labels placed near each product. Commonly these are printed labels in plastic holders or metal stands. Now we’re starting to see electronic shelf labels providing more information, quickly updated as price or other details change. Store clerks reprogram these electronic shelf labels using an NFC or RFID based device. But that approach is still slow and labor intensive. Shouldn’t a grocery store chain be able to update prices and other details from a central location? Of course, to scale out electronic shelf labels across large stores they must be very low cost and should consume little to no power.

Retail challenges and opportunity

Brick and mortar retailers everywhere are under significant pressure. They face competition from other stores and on-line options and must be able to respond quickly and uniformly with pricing changes and special promotions. They also battle with familiar challenges for us all – rising labor costs, high turnover and a tight labor market, inflation and supply chain problems. Yet retail stores still have unique advantages through an in-person product and shopping experience. They want to keep those advantages but more effectively manage costs and flexibility with automation. Electronic shelf labels are a good way to help meet that goal.

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