ESL Benefit Analysis 2: Operations

Last week we looked at Labour, specifically how automating price updates so staff no longer have to implement them, can have multiple benefits aside from the obvious; including, better staff retention, compliance, increased margins and more.

This week we’re focusing on Operations and how Electronic Shelf Labels can create multiple efficiencies for retailers.

1.     Price Management is streamlined. Although this is the most obvious operational efficiency, I’d still like to quickly run through it, as it’s also the most important.

Electronic Shelf Labels effectively digitalise pricing updates at the shelf edge. In the same way that it’s important to invest in the right POS to manage the backend, ESLs enable digitalisation of the front-end of a shop.

When working with an experienced supplier (such as FutureShelf :) ), the ESL solution will be integrated with your existing POS/ERP system. This enables further efficiency, as new promotions and price changes don’t need to be entered into 2 different systems. They are automatically rolled out based on the data entered (i.e. promo start date, promo price etc) and the rules or strategies enabled in the Pricing Management software.

This is a huge operational time saver, just think of all the manual hours that go into changing price tickets, for that all to be automated is a real game changer! Read last week’s post for a detailed look into all the downstream effects this can have on a retail business.

2.     Omni-channel pricing. Using Electronic Shelf Labels / Digital Price Tags, is the only way to truly enable omni-channel pricing. When prices change online, prices change in-store. This is not the strategy all retailers employ but for those that do, ESLs will be an essential part of the toolkit.

3.     Best price guarantees. Similarly to omni-channel, retailers that want to use marketing strategies such as ‘Best price guaranteed’, must utilise Electronic Shelf Labels, as prices will be constantly updating to keep up with competitors.

This also applies to retailers that want to show competitor pricing on the price ticket. Some retailers with a higher end feel, such as Waitrose in the UK, employ this strategy to reassure customers that they’re still well priced within their sector.

4.     Access to back-end data on the shop floor. A lesser-known feature of ESLs is that they have multiple pages available that data can be displayed on. You can use these for displaying customer facing messages, for example a page flip to draw attention to an offer; but you can also use them to display operational data on the shop floor. Staff with access can activate the relevant page and view inventory information, such as stock levels, next delivery date etc. This improves customer service, as questions can be answered without the staff member having to take the product to a till or check information in the back office.

Using call outs on staff-facing pages can also assist in other operational tasks, like restocking or other specific actions that may be required, such as adding shelf talkers or watering plants.

5.     Order picking. For retailers that offer click and collect or online order delivery that is fulfilled by the nearest store, as often supermarkets do, order picking can be a timely task.

It has been shown that the time to find and pick an item can be reduced by half, when Electronic Shelf Labels are used to guide the staff member to the product item. This is done by activating flashing LED lights on the label, to highlight the exact item/s required in the aisle.

This benefit is especially important for new staff members, who are unfamiliar with the exact store layout. Using the flashing lights can help new staff be efficient much quicker, giving them a better and more rewarding onboarding experience, and of course, enabling them to pick more orders in the same amount of time.

6.     Restocking. Similarly, restocking products can be done more efficiently by highlighting the products to staff via the LED flashing lights. Again, this is especially true for new staff members who are still learning the shop layout.

With 7 LED colour options on our labels, you can assign a different colour to each staff member replenishing the shelves, to avoid confusion.

As you can see there are many efficiencies that can be gained from an Electronic Pricing solution, far beyond the pricing updates themselves. These should all be factored into any data modelling, aimed at determining the ROI of an ESL project investment.

Next week we’ll be analysing our 3rd key benefit Customer Experience.