Spar Austria digitises shelf communication with VusionGroup
Spar Austria Group is putting more digitalisation to its stores by implementing VusionGroup’s four-colour electronic shelf labels (ESLs) across its network. The roll-out will enable the retail organisation to provide accurate, real-time product and price information at the shelves. Spar Austria Group is already rolling out the solution in Spar and Interspar stores in Austria as well as Aspiag stores internationally.
This week, Andreas Kranabilt, Managing Director of Spar ICS, the IT devision of Spar Austria Group, emphasises in a LinkedIn post, that Spar is not planning any form of dynamic pricing through the introduction of the ESLs. Claims on social media, “that ESLs will bring dynamic pricing in no time are not only false, but also misleading and annoy me. Dynamic pricing is not on our agenda”, he stated: “Our customers enjoy price transparency and price certainty. Our employees are freed from the burden of having to replace paper labels.”
The four-colour label solution enables the retailer’s operations and independent shop owners to deploy sales promotions at scale and display enhanced product content at the shelves. Spar Austria, which is managing over 3,500 stores nationally and internationally, was already using the three colours of the labels to increase awarness of price reductions. With Vusion Group’s technology, the entire store can be managed and monitored from anywhere using VusionCloud.
No need for new wireless hardware
Because of the retailer’s existing wireless infrastructure, VusionGroup’s technology could be integrated without the need for additional hardware infrastructure in the stores. In addition, Spar Austria can use the solution to communicate additional product information directly to its customers’ smartphones at the shelf via NFC or QR codes. The ESLs also have integrated flashing LEDs for replenishment productivity, price reduction before expiry date and online order picking.
“Thanks to the native integration of our technology into Spar’s existing store wifi infrastructure and our user-friendly VusionCloud, the step towards electronic price labelling is now much easier for Spar than ever before,” says Alexander Hahn, Country Manager DACH at VusionGroup.
Freeing up staff’s time
The solution will also improve the employee experience for Spar store associates as price updates are automatically and centrally managed through VusionCloud. Thus allowing staff to focus on higher-added-value tasks such as customer service.