The UK market for electronic shelf labels (ESLs) has historically developed at a slower pace than other European counterparts. While retailers have been piloting the technology for decades, large-scale rollouts have often remained limited in scope. That picture is now changing as soaring costs drive retailers to expand the use cases of digital shelf labels.
As trade magazine The Grocer reported last week, Asda has started to introduce allergen information on digital shelf labels. In a first step for approximately 20 loose bakery products. Asda completed the implementation of Vusion’s ESL across 250 Asda Express stores and is now leveraging its infrastructure to improve access to product information.
The labels display allergen details alongside pricing, promotional information and nutritional data, helping customers make more informed purchasing decisions while supporting regulatory compliance. “This is a significant step forward in making food information clearer, more accessible and compliant for our customers,” said Tom Clark, Retail Operations Manager at Asda.
Morrisons starts picking by light
Morrisons has now started to use Vusion’s Pick-to-Light functionality, which uses flashing LEDs integrated into digital shelf labels to guide store staff directly to the required product location, speeding up online order preparation. “Flashing lights on the digital labels guide our online picking teams directly to the correct items,” details Charlotte Rush, Senior Productivity Manager at Morrisons.
The retailer has also reached a significant deployment milestone, announcing that 100 stores are now equipped with digital shelf labels. This represents 20 per cent of the announced rollout programme, highlighting the pace at which the technology is being scaled across its network.
Tesco prepared for enhanced use of ESLs
Market leader Tesco has just entered a multi-year agreement with Hanshow for the supply of electronic shelf labels, underscoring the retailer’s commitment to digital shelf-edge transformation. As The Retail Optimiser learnt, Tesco will be using Hanshow’s new Nebular Ultra product range, which the supplier unveiled in Europe for the first time at this year’s Euroshop in Düsseldorf. By deploying this new platform, Tesco is also laying the groundwork for precise product tracking and the further digitalisation of its stores.
As the largest grocers increasingly commit to the digital shelf-edge, competitors in both food and non-food sectors will be under mounting pressure to modernise or risk falling behind in operational efficiency.
