The leading retail solutions provider collaborated with the East of England Co-op to develop and produce new ESL rail designs, maximising ongoing display quality.
The challenge
In recent years, ESLs (Electronic Shelf Labels) have been viewed as the next big thing for accurate price communication and inventory management for retailers. Retailers have appreciated the greater workplace efficiency ESLs provide over manual pricing, with recent studies estimating the market will be valued at $2.8 billion by 2028.
ESLs allow for real-time price updates across stores, eliminating the need for employees to manually change paper labels. This saves time, reduces labour costs and minimises pricing errors, ensuring greater consistency between shelf prices and checkout prices. ESLs also enable dynamic pricing strategies for retailers, allowing price adjustment based on factors like demand, inventory levels or competitor pricing. Retailers can further enhance their customer experience through the ability to display additional product information, promotions and even QR codes for reviews.
Strenuous conditions within retail stores often leave ESLs damaged by trolleys, customers, or even falling products. As their replacement can be expensive, addressing the challenge with the best POS defence solutions can help protect them from irreplaceable damage. Only with the right defences is an ESL upgrade going to work without fail, as upgrading systems without giving them protection and durability means that after a week your store will be back to square one.
As part of a multi-store ESL upgrade, the East of England Co-op required a rail system to display POS material effectively, allowing POS insertion behind the ESLs whilst still accommodating shelf talkers and click sign holders for shelf-edge promotion.
The solution
As a leading provider of profiles and accessories for ESL systems in the UK and internationally, Harrison was in the best position to help. Its official partnership with major ESL tag manufacturers has helped ensure the design and distribution of the highest-quality, UV-stable systems across the retail industry.
The Harrison design team developed six new rails for a variety of store areas. These rails were designed to be more easily installed on shelf edges and compatible with the client’s existing ESL systems. Additionally, the rail designs included a feature to prevent the ESL tags from sliding.
The team acted fast and deployed on-site teams to help with problem-solving and unique store challenges, going the extra mile to provide the right solutions to answer several problems faced across different locations. Working with Pricer, Harrison was able to collaborate in redesigning aisle experiences, creating display units to elevate the consumer shopping experience through dynamic retail communications.
The result
Despite a tight timeline, the Harrison team designed and produced new moulds within three weeks, receiving immediate client sign-off before delivering the first batch to five stores within eight weeks. The remaining pallets were delivered to Pricer, who then distributed and installed the equipment across 120 East of England Co-op stores.
East of England Co-op reported a 70% increase in staff productivity due to ESLs since their initial rollout, as the added technology allowed staff members to refocus their efforts towards customer-facing tasks. The move to proper ESL implementation also was reported to reduce store printing costs by 50%, saving paper use and waste from traditional labels.
As the East of England Co-op continues to implement Electronic Shelf Labels (ESLs) across their stores, Harrison maintains an ongoing collaboration with them to enhance their display fixtures.
