Hy-Vee Rolls Out Digital Shelf Labels at Most Stores
Midwest-based grocery chain Hy-Vee has rolled out digital shelf labels (also known as electronic price labels, or ESLs) to most of its 300-some stores.
Hy-Vee tapped the VusionGroup (formerly SES-imagotag) platform to digitize and reduce waste at more than 230 of its stores, which are now able to update product prices and data automatically and in real time, rather than manually printing and hanging paper price tags.
This technology also gives Hy-Vee employees more time to focus on other tasks such as replenishment, merchandising and customer service, according to a joint statement from the two companies.
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Additionally, Hy-Vee will also leverage other associated solutions designed by VusionGroup to enable a more sustainable retailing model, including:
- Intraday promotions to reduce waste on perishable items. By leveraging the ESLs and the VusionCloud platform to lower prices in stores automatically, products with a shorter shelf life can quickly be marked down. (Intraday pricing is the ability to change prices multiple times within a single day.)
- In-store fulfillment through the flashing LEDs on each ESL that help guide employees prepare online orders and increase productivity.
Hy-Vee also automatically connects VusionGroup IoT to existing wireless access points, which eliminates the need for additional hardware in the store and reduces the carbon footprint and operational costs to deploy the solution.
“Partnering with VusionGroup helps us streamline multiple operations in our stores, and makes the labeling process significantly better for both our customers and our employees,” Brian Young, senior vice president and chief information officer of Hy-Vee, said in the statement.
“The digitalization of its stores enables Hy-Vee to create a richer experience for employees and shoppers, led by human-first innovation,” Philippe Bottine, CEO North America and Group Deputy CEO for VusionGroup, added. “Through automation, the retailer has more time to connect with today’s consumer where and when they need it,” particularly as physical commerce evolves.
Diving Deeper in ESLs
While the U.S. is no stranger to ESLs, Europe has actually led the charge, currently with the highest installed base at almost 600 million ESLs, according to an April report from ABI Research. The region also hosts the two largest ESL vendors, VusionGroup and Pricer, holding a combined market share of over 60%.
However, increasing interest in North America and a sharp growth of smaller ESL vendors based in Asia is shifting the market, with a higher compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in shipments expected across these two regions at 16.1% and 27.7% respectively, per ABI.
Retail giant Walmart, which has been exploring ESLs as early as 2019, just expanded its own partnership with Vusion in June to roll out the technology to 2,300 stores by 2026.
“It is not only about improving efficiency and customer satisfaction, but also about integrating sustainability into our work, in this case, to help reduce operational waste,” Daniela Boscan, food and consumable team lead, Hurst, Texas, wrote in a June post to Walmart’s corporate blog.