With the help of VusionGroup’s (formerly SES-Imagotag) Computer Vision technology Captana, the independent Eurospar shop owner in Dublin’s Barrow Street has increased the shelf availability in certain categories by seven per cent. In Ireland, the Spar and Eurospar banner is owned by BWG Foods which was acquired by Spar Southern Africa. The Eurospar Store in Barrow Street has already equipped VusionGroup’s Electronic Shelf Labels (ESLs) in early 2022, as The Retail Optimiser reported. Captana’s AI-based solution, which is fed by 18 cameras, interacts with the ESLs to provide the required transparency for approximately 2,000 SKUs. The aim of the technology is to streamline ordering, improve on-shelf availability and boost overall retail efficiency while increasing customer satisfaction.
The Irish retailer was facing operational challenges with manual inventory management, resulting in time delays and reduced on-shelf availability. Inconvenient ordering processes and delayed restocking jeopardized potential sales. With Captana, the Eurospar shop owner has improved its efficiency through better and more timely inventory management. The retailer has transformed its ordering process, saving around 30 seconds per SKU. “Captana helps us increase our product availability, improve our revenue and enhance our customer satisfaction”, Neeraj Mathura Store Manager at Eurospar Barrow Dublin.
The solution’s role in improving product visibility and availability – as well as recommending the addition of facings – led to a significant increase in sales in the water and soft drinks category. In one particular case, Captana identified Ishka Irish Spring Water with two facings and frequent out-of-stocks. After analysing the data, the solution recommended increasing the number of facings from two to three to improve on-shelf availability. As a result, the brand benefited from a sales increase of 153 per cent.
Innovative independent merchant
In 2022, Eurospar store in Dublin’s Burrow Street became the world’s first live installation of VusionGroup’s four-colour e-paper labels. With the new generation of displays used on the labels, Eurospar has been able to increase the marketing impact of in-store campaigns and promotions, while monitoring the return on investment and boosting in-store sales.
Following the installation of the new ESLs, the sales levels of the products displayed on the end caps have increased by 61 per cent. “End caps are one of the key components of our marketing and promotional strategy, as well as one of the prime locations of any grocery stores. It is fundamental for us to have a technology capable of boosting our campaigns and giving premium exposure to the products we decide to place there,” said David O’Leary, Store Supervisor at Eurospar Barrow Street in 2022.
