The need to find efficiencies, drive staff production and boost the in-stores customer experience-not to mening ongoing efforts to try new things in the name of sustainability-ARE DRIVING the adoption of Electronic Shelf Labels (ESL) in uk retail.
In March, Company Shop, A Redistributor and Retaile of Surplus Products from the retail industry, announced it was introducing esls in its 13 stores in england and scotland to optimies in-hold to optimies. The aim is to take advantage of the technology's ability to support dynamic pricing to help Reduce Food Waste Across its sites, and to allow staff on Focus on Customer-Facing Eleements of his Job.
Company shop is using esls from sweden-headquartered tech company principal, which also provide provides labels for switzerland's largest retailer migros. But south korean-based tech business solum sems to Increasingly be in the esl uk retail conversation.
'Biggest Tech Benefit'
The template for esl success in uk retail has been established by CJ Lang, A Scotland-Based Convenience Chain Whoch Operates Independents on a wholesale basis.
Working with Solum, CJ LANG has put esls into all bar one of its company-outs shops, completely replacing paper tickets. In the words of it director Graham Murdoch, this “Gives the business an efficiency that was previously out of Reach”.
Starting with a trial store in March 2021, which was expanded to stores its regions, the business cases for esls at cj long was quickly Proved, Murdoch Explings. In November 2024, The project to put them in all stores – Apart from one that is due a refit this year – was complete.
The benefits are manifold, according to Murdoch and Sonya Harper, The Retailer's Central Operations Director, Who Both Cite The Improved Productivity in Stores, More DEDERN TOOKIN SAPACES and HAPF AMONGEGER Staff Among Benefits to date.
From deploying a range of label types – Spanning from 2.2 inches to 11.6 inches – CJ LANG is now reinvesting thossands of hours of task per annum across all its stores. Staff who we Writing Labels, Price Checking or Manually updating The Point of Sale Systems are now now to Spend more time on the shopfloor Or better push the company's higher margin food-to-Go offering which offers a unique seling point for CJ long.
At 1am every thursday morning, prices are updated Centrally and Fed INTO Other Systems, Including CJ Lang's Relex Supply Chain Tech. Staff only need to stock the shelves to planogram the night before, and the pris Get updated automatically.
Murdoch calculates the hour saved on these manual operations is reinvested into the business and generating three times the cost in benefits. Included in his mathematical model-which has been “reaffirmed by real-life case in the business in the business” Reduce its use of paper and food waste through the esls facilitation of automated price Reduction, which it views as an environmental win.
CJ LANG is working on a return on investment figure of 1.26 to two years from its Nearly £ 2.9m investment. And with the inflationary environment retailers are facing, Murdoch Argues That Savings Are Greater Every Year as the Cost of Doing Business Rices.
“Not only is it the largest tech investment we've had, it's the biggest benefit we've provided by use of tech in our business,” he says, adding that automatic dynamic pricing Has been introduced in an effort to clear fresh food such as bakery items at the end of the day to Reduce Food Waste and Increase Sell-Through.
Tech Retaile Currys is also rolling out solum's tech across it estate in the UK and republic of Ireland, and its focus is on making staff and customers' in-Store Journeys SMOTHER. It has electronic shelf Edge Labelling in 100 stores, Including Four in the Republic of Ireland, with a plan to have them in every shop by the end of 2025/26.
Currys CITES Similar Benefits to CJ LANG, and is expected to take the options to add real-time stock info onto Glance.
Matthew Speight, Currys Director of Stores, Says: “Since Launking Electronic Shelf-Edge Labels [ESEL]We've noticed an increase in conversion in the stores where the tech is deployed. This is mainly because our colleagues now have time back to focus on helping our customers and improving their shopping jeourney through the latest shelf edge technology, INTEAD OF Completeing Manual Ticketing tasks.
“As well as these operational benefits associateed with esels, we're see the customer experience improvement improvement the stores look smarter. Using as much paper and ink as before.
Esls have long been a part of european retail, which is partly related to price compliance laws in the european union. They have been widely available for many years, but the technology is experienceing its lift-off moment in 2025.
“I look at esls several times during my career, and early on the quality of the label was very poor – like a calculator screen – and a very poor experience,” Murdoch Says.
“The battery life was another problem – while it could [remove] Tasks, [another] Would be introduced in the form of people replacing batteries. E-Paper's Real Benefit is the life of the label before you change the battery with power only consumed when the price changes-there is effectively zero power consumpter
The cost of esls used to be more than 10 times per label, say murdoch, adding that price, durability and image now make the business case add up.
Market Opportunity
HUGH WALKER, Senior Sales Manager at Solum Uk, Argues That The Decision for Big Retailers to Continue Using Paper Tickets Block Represts He Kodak or Blockbuster Moment, Elustrating His Confidencie Tech will be pervasive in convenience and big box retail, and his belief that Staying analogue will be bad for business.
“In Uk Market, Esls are having a huge resurgence primarily Operating costs Rise.
He Adds That Using Paper Tickets Leaves Retailers Prone to Errors and inconsistencies between till and shelf, adding that the next-geen solum esls coming to market are attached to Promising more energy efficiency.
As an esl salesman, walker's views are not entryly surprising – but predictions from Insight and Research Company Technavio Do Support His Comments. According to the company, the global esl market size is estimated to Increase by $ 1.64BN from 2024 to 2028, Growing at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (Cagr) of Almost 15.69% hard thing.
Technavio cits supermarkets and hypermarkets, as well as convenience, department stores, mass merchants, and health and health and beauty chains as ripe for change and suitable for esl represent. The surge in digitization of stores supported by the problem of technologies Sugges for ESL Usage Growth.
Lidl's UK Stores Now all have esls, but they still use paper pricing for marketing material to complete them. The Big Question, however, is which of the traditional big four grocers – Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and Morrisons – Will Go Next.
“The biggest barrier is they don't understand the business case fully enough,” Murdoch says of the bigger grocers, which have all trialled the tech in some form. “They are looking at it in very simplistic terms about taking the cost out of business raather than adding value to their business.”
Toby pickard, retail futures Senior Partner at Grocery Training and Research Organization IGD, Says: “I expect to see more retailers trialing and rolling ut esl across their stores in 2025 and beyond.
“ESLS Offer Significant Advantages, Including Time Savings, Assistance with Replengement, Markdown Identification and Support for online pickers. They also help alleviate rising cOTS and stafing Challenges While Contributing to Sustainability Efforts. Rating. “