Kaufland is expanding the use of electronic shelf labels to its range of unpackaged baked goods. The more than 170,000 additional digital price tags come from two different technology vendors: As The Retail Optimiser learned, Kaufland has selected SoluM for this product range in its more than 770 German stores, while Hanshow’s technology is being used in around 780 stores abroad.
Previously, the large-scale discounter had only equipped its fruit and vegetable range with digital labels across the board. These were supplied throughout by the British provider Displaydata. No decision has yet been made as to whether Kaufland will also equip entire stores with electronic shelf price labels in the future.
Kaufland is continuing to make independent decisions on this technology, according to insiders, unlike its sister company Lidl, which is equipping its entire store network in all product ranges with electronic labels, partly from VusionGroup and partly from SoluM, and is well advanced with the rollout.
Live in Romania and Czech Republic
At Kaufland, the rollout in the unpackaged baked goods range in Germany is already well advanced, according to the company. Only a few stores still require some additional work to convert their in-store bakeries to the new technology. According to information of The Retail Optimiser, the bakery sections of stores in Romania and Czech Republic are also already equipped with digital labels. The other six foreign markets served by Kaufland are now set to follow at a rapid pace.
Kaufland has so far used digital labels specifically in areas where price adjustments are frequent due to seasonal changes in the product range, promotional campaigns or end-of-day discounts. “With the labels, we can process daily price reductions much faster than before,” explains Matthias Weinreuter, ESL process expert at Kaufland, on the company’s website: “We use this to reduce the price of fruit, vegetables, and baked goods shortly before closing time and sell them off. In this way, we combat food waste.”
Targeted use against food waste
Matthias Weinreuter emphasises that Kaufland uses dynamic pricing exclusively for markdowns in order to reduce food waste: “Many people think that we use digital price tags like those at petrol stations for hidden price increases,” Matthias Weinreuter is quoted as saying on the company’s website: “That is definitely not the case. In the interests of our customers, we only use price tags during the day for price reductions.”
Kaufland has been using electronic labels in its fruit and vegetable range for around five years. Among other things, Kaufland deploys large labels with full graphic support in a width of 18.2 centimetres from Displaydata. The labels feature the three colours red, black, and paper white, which Kaufland uses to draw attention to offers and display more product information.
