Belgium is the first country in which Aldi Nord is introducing electronic shelf labels in all stores. Outlets in East and West Flanders are currently being converted. By the end of the year, all 445 Aldi Nord stores in Belgium are to be equipped with digital labels.
Unlike Aldi Süd, which surprisingly equipped all of its about 6,520 stores in all of its countries with labels from a single manufacturer – the Chinese supplier Hanshow – Aldi Nord will rely on more than one technology provider. Competitor Lidl also works with more than one supplier, having introduced digital labels from market leader VusionGroup and SoluM.
In Belgium, Aldi Nord relies exclusively on SoluM, the supplier that once entered the market as a spin-off from Samsung. Aldi Nord is currently still negotiating with other technology suppliers. Ultimately, at least two providers will be allowed to supply the Essen-based discounter, with only one technology supplier being selected per country, according to employees of the discounter who spoke to The Retail Optimiser without wanting to be named.
Yellow colour for bonus points
Aldi Nord uses four-colour labels in Belgium to display information in red, white, black and yellow: red for special offers or price reductions, white for regular prices in the fixed range and yellow for products for which customers can collect bonus points in Aldi Nord’s new loyalty programme in Belgium.
In a press release, Aldi Nord quotes its Belgian sales manager Céline Rotthier as saying: “The advantage for our customers is that we can respond even more quickly to price reductions and special offers.” It is not entirely clear whether this really means more dynamic pricing in competition with Lidl or simply new efficiency in price communication on the shelves.
