Walmart is set to ditch price stickers and bring in ‘digital shelf labels’ in thousands of stores.
It means the company can update – in minutes – the prices on the 120,000 items each store stocks. Weekly updates to paper shelf labels typically took a store worker about two days.
The grocery giant said the new technology will give customers ‘an even better shopping experience.’
Retail experts in the past have pointed out that such digital labels – and the speed that prices can be altered – could usher in an era of dynamic pricing.
Uber is famous for this, but Amazon also uses it on its website. The site tweaks prices – up and down – on some items dozens of times a day based on demand and costs at competitors.
But one retail expert told DailyMail.com that Walmart, at least, was very unlikely to roll out surge-style pricing – as it goes against it policy of everyday low prices.
Walmart will introduce digital price shelves to thousands of stores
The grocery giant hopes that using digital shelves will streamline updating prices
The ditching of paper labels will be rolled out to in 2,300 stores of it’s 4,500 stores by 2026. It is the biggest roll-out of the new digital labels by a major retailer.
Given the need for constant price updates, rollbacks and markdowns significant labor is required to keep these stickers up to date.
The chain hopes that using digital shelves will streamline this process and free up staff’s time.
The digital shelf labels can be easily updated with a few clicks using an app, Walmart said in the release.
‘A price change that used to take an associate two days to update now takes only minutes with the new DSL system’ the release states.
‘This efficiency means we can spend more time assisting customers and less time on repetitive tasks’ it explained.
Retail expert Neil Saunders, from analysts Global Data, told DailyMail.com: ‘In moving to digital shelf-edge labels, Walmart will cut down on the huge amount of time and effort that goes into changing labels by hand.
‘It also ensures that Walmart can match pricing across channels, such as online and stores, quickly and easily.
‘As digital shelf edge labels allow changes to be made very rapidly, it may encourage Walmart to adjust prices more often.
‘However, Walmart won’t move to dynamic pricing by changing loads of prices depending on what time of day you shop. That goes against the company’s philosophy of providing everyday low prices and it would annoy their consumers.’
As well as pricing, the digital shelves can also indicate when stocks are running low of a particular product.
The shelves’ “Stock to Light” feature allows a store worker to flash an LED light on the tag using their phone and the shelf will signal locations that require attention.
‘The transition to digital shelf labels is a game-changer for Walmart, our customers and our associates’ Walmart said in the release.
It added: ‘It is not only about improving efficiency and customer satisfaction, but also about integrating into our work, in this case, to help reduce operational waste.’
As well as pricing the digital shelves can also indicate when stocks are running low
It comes after customers were outraged by another recent change at Walmart.
The grocery giant rolled out taller carts to stores nationwide over the last year.
The new shopping aides include extra features such as a cup holder, popular with Stanley cup fans, and an area to place cell phones or a grocery list.
Whilst the convenience of specific storage went down well many consumers were left angered by the rise in height of the carts.
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