Shelf Edge Technology: Digital Price Tags Using Renewable Energy

Impulsive purchases are usually made at the shelf-edge, usually while browsing which makes up about 76 percent of consumers. The use of shelf-edge placement is a classic marketing tool usually used in retail.

Paper printed labels have been the staple in most retail stores, providing information on the price of goods. However, about 1 billion trees worth of paper are generally thrown out each year, a portion of this from the retail industry causing the ever-growing problems of deforestation. 

Digital technology has entered this contemporary society, readily integrating itself in the majority of the industry especially the fashion and retail industry to connect the best of both the online and offline shopping scene. Shelf-edge technology is one of the few up-and-coming technologies that could change the whole experience of shopping.

As of now, the most to gain from shelf-edge technology is mainly grocers and retail as large stores spend a huge budget and time in changing the paper tags manually, between 5 to 10 million labels a week for huge retail stores.

Taking the next step with digital transition could easily solve this problem. Retailers understand the pros entailed in undergoing a digital transition as it increases price sensitivity amongst customers (57%) and promotional intensity among competitors (41%). Aside from this, about 55% of retailers focus on general industry price change which is important in the industry. 

Digital tags from edge technology are basically electronic shelf labels that are able to showcase the price per row. Allowing more opportunities for retailers to become more sensitive to pricing strategies.

Enabling brands to create different campaigns and strategies that could help with both internal and external problems. Enabling brands to change pricing of seasonal collections such as Zara to certain offers and markdowns. The ability of brands to quickly update prices into a more centralized and enterprise-like approach could easily reduce labor and operational costs.

The growing industry of retail is not only restricted to the idea of a digital price tag as an alternative to increase operational advantage and build customer loyalty. The battery life is another factor that must be accounted in the study of digital price tags as it does not only accommodate floor automation use, but also improvement of electronic shelf labels.

Digital price tags can easily help retailers and businesses provide a more centralized experience and focused experience. Allowing fashion brands to showcase a different approach of pricing that could be graphically pleasing and high-performance based. 

Edge digital shelf display technology is not only a highly performative pricing and operational strategy it is sustainable. Its sustainable benefits provide a more interactive shopping experience according to partner Microsoft. Using renewable energy and lessening the current use of printed tags. As Microsoft has stated: Edge is designed to use a low voltage, direct current that meets the standards of emerge alliance, an organization that promotes sustainable power usage in commercial buildings. Edge sustainability goals which is cutting down 40% of electricity consumption of its entire system is pushed through the companies principles and forward-thinking strategies

Currently, about 16 stores are using ESL (electronic shelf labels) or Digital Tags through Edge which will steadily expand to 120 by 2022 as Microsoft has exclaimed. Although digital labels aren’t literally new, it has not been clearly adopted commercially as a whole. However, we encourage businesses and retailers to consider the possibility of its benefits, as a typical store requires about 20,000 price displays and tags.