Switch to Data-Driven Electronic Shelf Labels Drives Productivity | Grocery

1/18/2021 RRD

Client able to obtain complex product labels on-demand using a single data feed provided by RRD 

CHALLENGE

A major Canadian grocery retailer was considering migrating from traditional paper labels to new electronic shelf labels (ESL). However, the ESL’s system at hand would only show one data point: price. 

If they were going to go digital, the client wanted to leverage the potential of these electronic labels as an important in-store customer touchpoint. The grocer needed a partner who could provide a system for new digital labels that would display more data and yield substantial new efficiencies.  

SOLUTION

With each store stocking 15,000 to 25,000 products — as well as five different sizes of electronic labels for various positions throughout the store — RRD Canada’s solution program would be a massive undertaking.

RRD was able to customize new electronic labels for the client, pulling data from multiple sources (e.g., price, discounters, supplier coupons, and its marketing rewards program), resulting in a rich information display on each label. Since the display devices were initially designed to show price only, the project also involved significant coding to manipulate the amount, size, and color of the information displayed on the screen. 

Using real-time data composition and data exchange over VPN alongside MQ Websphere messaging, the client can request a change to label information. RRD composes the change and pushes it back to a targeted ESL screen in an individual store in less than a few seconds. 

This solution will allow the grocer to quickly update each and every ESL screen throughout an entire store, saving a team of employees several hours of hand-applying traditional printed labels.

This ability to generate real-time, rapid price changes with the flexibility to include virtually any content desired sets the stage for this grocer to deploy dynamic price changes, at the store level and driven by market trends or product inventory rather than only promotional pricing campaigns.