Staying ahead in retail requires embracing technological innovations that improve operational efficiency and enhance the customer experience. That's why shelf-edge technology is gaining more and more traction. Retailers can unlock numerous benefits that transform their operations by integrating digital displays, electronic shelf labels, and real-time data management systems.
Dynamic Pricing and Promotions
Shelf-edge technology allows stores to implement dynamic pricing and promotions with ease. Electronic shelf labels (ESLs) replace traditional paper tags, enabling retailers to update prices remotely, display personalized offers, and launch targeted promotions in real-time.
This flexibility ensures accurate and consistent pricing across various channels, eliminates pricing errors, and allows for swift response to market changes and competitor pricing strategies. Leveraging dynamic pricing optimizes sales, increases customer engagement, and drives revenue growth.
Companies are losing $89.7 billion in sales annually* due to price changes on shelves not being implemented, including price changes for weekly promotional items. Additionally, retailers can potentially receive fines of up to $1,000 for each inaccurate shelf label. ESLs make the updating process easier without requiring staff to change each tag, becoming especially beneficial in stores that need more staff to manage those manually.
Improved Store Operations
Efficient inventory management is a crucial challenge for retailers, but shelf-edge tech is vital in streamlining this process. By integrating with inventory management systems and using shopper information processed through mobile payments, shelf-edge technology can provide real-time stock information, including quantities, product locations, and replenishment alerts.
As shoppers interact with the store's digital infrastructure, their preferences, purchase history, and current interactions are used to tailor price updates and promotions in real-time. This means that as a customer walks down the aisles, the digital price tags adjust, displaying current inventory status and offering personalized discounts and recommendations. This nurtures a shopping environment where every aisle becomes a space for curated experiences.
Enhanced Customer Engagement
Personalized offers and recommendations displayed at the shelf edge can enhance cross-selling and upselling opportunities, increasing average transaction values. This engages customers, provides valuable product insights, and influences purchase decisions.
Digital displays integrated with ESLs can showcase product information, images, and interactive content, delivering a more engaging and personalized shopping experience. Electronic shelf labels can also be NFC-enabled and display QR codes that allow customers to shop and buy directly from their mobile devices, creating a more convenient, contactless shopping experience.
Real-Time Data Insights
Shelf-edge technology doesn't just enhance customer interactions; it also provides retailers with valuable real-time data insights. Through the collection and analysis of customer data and product performance, retailers gain the ability to identify trends and tailor personalized offerings based on customer preferences.
These data-driven insights help retailers have a deeper understanding of their customer base, enabling them to create more personalized and targeted shopping experiences for shoppers.
Time and Cost Savings
The traditional manual efforts associated with shelf labeling and pricing updates are drastically reduced through ESLs. Retailers can now remotely manage pricing and promotions across multiple stores, eliminating the need for individual tag or label updates by staff members.
By automating these processes, employees can allocate their time to higher-value tasks, such as creating better customer experiences. Additionally, the reduction in pricing errors and improvements in inventory management can help minimize losses.
Shelf-edge technologies are continuing to revolutionize retail and offer many benefits that enhance operational efficiency and elevate the customer experience. As the retail landscape continues to evolve, the value of shelf-edge technology becomes increasingly essential for companies striving to thrive in a fast-paced and technologically driven market.
*Source: "True Cost of Out-of-Stocks & Overstocks Can Retailers Handle the Truth?" IHL Group, 2022.
