ESL 101: Understanding Automated Price Tag Labelling

With the advent of automation, various aspects of life have undergone a much-needed transformation, and the retail sector is not an exception. For global retailers, the priority is to build an engaging customer experience that takes into consideration a lot of things, such as personalization, rewards, and profit. But since retail is a section that is best known for its constantly changing preferences, it requires one to be able to change the prices and promos on a batch of products available on any shelf. An electronic price tag allows one to introduce a seamless change in product prices whenever needed.

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The concept of electronic shelf labeling is a timesaver that improves the overall efficiency of retailers around the world. In Europe, and several other nations, ESL has already been applied in retail stores, which helps one to change prices for a product (due to promos) on any shelf and a lot more. ESL improves in-store efficiencies by allowing customers to find what they are looking for in an incredibly easy way, i.e., by getting the information via their smartphones.

How does an electronic price tag function?

If you are starting to get confused about how ESL even works, then go through the following:

An electronic price tag works through an advanced technology that automatically updates across hundreds of thousands of displays seamlessly. The one handling ESL can always check for such changes occurring in real-time and thus keep an eye on them.
An electronic price tag looks like a normal paper-based tag for any product, but it is more than what meets the eye. The substance used to create an electronic price tag for the purpose of electronic shelf labeling is either liquid crystal paper or any other electronic paper. Such a tag would display information on a screen connected via a local network.
Since an electronic price tag connected to a screen exists on the same LAN, it becomes possible for an operator to modify as well as update the price tags effortlessly. In case there are any promotions going on, the store can introduce modified prices on thousands of products with just a few clicks through a remote server for buyers’ convenience.

Reasons for preferring ESL

In a world where we all aim for perfection, the need for ESL has been constant. Electronic price tags are used to receive the following benefits:

It works seamlessly to save time.

The best reason to depend on electronic shelf labeling is its seamlessness. The retail sector is known for its sheer capacity and reiterative tasks. During seasonal sales and promotions run by a store, you can find retail employees working overtime to introduce price changes, which ESL could do seamlessly. Hence, ESL is the best solution for saving time in retail.

It saves operation costs.

Using paper-based tags and labels means having to maintain printing costs as well as logistics costs. Furthermore, there are several in-store tasks like restocking that end up being costly if done using paper labels and employees. But with electronic price tags, it is easier to change pricing information on labels, which reduces paper waste and operation costs once and for all.

Changes Are Made Effortlessly

If you wish to make price changes in a retail store with super agility, then it is obvious that paper-based labels won’t be sufficient. Considering the use of electronic price tags, on the other hand, could be productive because, once it is connected with a LAN and an operational screen, anyone could implement error-free changes on several shelves within seconds.

It Is Built To Be Customer-Friendly.

The worst customer experience in a retail store is when a customer does not get the attention and shopping assistance they need from employees. This happens more frequently than ever when employees are busy changing labels that could have been handled using ESL. By implementing electronic price tags, you can free up your employees to have them build a customer-friendly environment.

Expands The Growth Margin

In every single business, strategies to increase profit margins are necessary. Similarly, in the case of the retail sector, prices keep changing, and it is necessary to consistently increase those price tags by keeping a certain profit margin. Using ESL, introducing price changes that protect the seller’s margin becomes effortless. It can also protect retailers from flash sales.

It Provides Data To Make Buying Decisions

It is wrong to think that electronic price tags only provide cost-related data to customers. Based on how you want to use it, any kind of information can be displayed on an ESL, such as nutritional facts for food items and the number of remaining stocks to guide buyers. In this way, electronic price tags can help one to make purchase decisions.

Conclusion

There are several interesting ways to implement ESL in a retail scenario. All it takes is a thorough understanding of the language to make the most of it.