Electronic Shelf Labels are gaining traction in many retail spaces, opening up new pricing and display options for retailers. With digital ticketing, the initial set-up is crucial to get right in order to minimise disruption for the store and have the least effect on the shopper’s ability to purchase goods during installation. With these complex systems, Invicium has developed a process that helps ensure a smooth rollout, efficient and responsive problem-solving during testing phases, and ongoing support for all of the stakeholders.
Let’s take a look at one of our recent projects, ESLs for The Railway Hotel. We coordinated a collaboration between The Railway Hotel, their major supplier Thirsty Camel, and the creators of the ESL system, Ticket-IT, to ensure this system would be an effective tool for The Railway Hotel, and an upgraded shopping experience for their customers.
What are ESLs?
Electronic Shelf Labels (ESLs) are innovative digital price tags that replace traditional paper labels, offering a modern and efficient solution for retail environments. These electronic displays are wirelessly controlled and can instantly update pricing, product information, and promotional details across an entire store with just a few clicks. Key features of ESLs include real-time price adjustments, enhanced inventory management, reduced labour costs, and an overall improved shopping experience for customers. Additionally, ESLs are eco-friendly, as they minimise paper waste and contribute to sustainability efforts.
The Railway Hotel:
The need for a better system
The Bottle Shop is a thriving part of The Railway Hotel, and for a number of years has utilised an Electronic Shelf Label system for shelf pricing. The business model relies on the fluctuating margins that an ESL can offer; prices are shifted for evenings and weekends to align with customer shopping habits.
In need of an upgraded system, The Railway Hotel was able to collaborate with their major supplier, Thirsty Camel, to seek out a solution that would offer great displays, smooth pricing changes, and reliable back-end technology.
The new Ticket-IT ESL system has allowed The Railway Hotel the much-needed flexibility of price updates through the software system, so management can schedule price changes resulting in shelf display adjustments for thousands of products twice a day. This would be impossible to achieve by staff changing paper price tags.
Peter McCormack, General Manager of The Railway Hotel, has been monitoring the response to the new ESL system. “Customers have received the new tickets really well, there has been a very positive response. The labels have a better quality and clearer font, so they are easy to read even at a distance. The colour changes and branding makes it easier for people to find the items on special. And having an electronic, centralised system frees our staff up from keeping paper labels updated, allowing them to run the bottle shop more effectively.”
Thirsty Camel:
Benefits of Dynamic Pricing
For Thirsty Camel, supporting their wholesale customers, such as The Railway Hotel, with structures, systems, and technology that make business better is one of their core values. They supply hundreds of products to The Railway Hotel, and wanted to assist them in making bottle-shop sales a smoother process for their staff, and a more pleasurable experience for customers.
“One of the features of the ESL system that makes shopping easier for customers is the ability for one label to display pricing for different sizes or volumes of the item. For instance, it can show the price for a single bottle, a six-pack and a slab; the prices flick around on rotation, so the customer can easily see the price for the option they would like. And the aesthetic is neat, uniform, and very dynamic.” Damian Slater, Thirsty Camel’s Business Development Manager, has been pleased with the results of the new roll-out.
“When we deliver stock to The Railway, we can also send the pricing of core items so the venue can upload them directly into the digital tickets. It’s a great labour-saving system.”
Retail’s Unsung Hero:
Clear and consistent shelf pricingPricing on shelves cannot be underestimated in its impact on shopper habits, and retailers ignore this humble customer courtesy at their peril.
Without clear pricing, up to 60% of customers will abandon the purchase at the shelf.
For a task that can be detailed and time-consuming for retailers, the benefits have immediate effect on not only sales, but customer relations as well.
Clear pricing builds consumer trust in the shopping process, affecting purchase decisions as customers can buy quickly and confidently with easily visible prices.
In the long term, transparency in pricing fosters brand loyalty, encouraging repeat business from satisfied customers.
Ticket-IT:
Creating ESLs
Ticket-IT is the development company behind the digital ticketing product that was used for this project. From a shopper’s perspective, the Ticket-IT labels look clear and striking, presenting a compelling and attractive shelf experience. Behind the scenes, Ticket-IT’s software platform allows retailers to change prices and details from a central digital point. This can be store-centric, controlled from a management hub, or even controlled by more than one operator. In the case of the Railway Hotel, the Hotel can control the ESLs, and Thirsty Camel can also change shelf prices of their products.
ESLs look brighter and sharper than their paper cousins, and they also allow for the display of recognisable logos and branding, adding to brand identification and consistency. Updates and price changes can be scheduled ahead of time, or changed instantly. This makes it possible to schedule price changes for different times of the day, or days of the week. For businesses that wish to increase pricing for evenings and weekends, this technology is a gamechanger.
Part of the Ticket-IT system is to offer both electronic and paper tags managed from the same backend system, allowing retailers to have electronic shelf prices and paper A4 and large paper posters for display.
Craig Polley, the Commercial Director of Ticket-IT, has been rolling out ESL systems for retail stores, including some further Thirsty Camel bottle shops. The accuracy of the pricing system, reactivity to competitor pricing, and labour-saving costs make a logical return on investment for Ticket-IT’s customers. “We focus on advanced, integrated retail solutions that streamline operations, improve pricing accuracy, and enhance customer engagement. It’s all part of our commitment to delivering cutting-edge technology to the retail sector in Australia.”
Invicium:
Delivery, Response, and Support
Bringing our expertise in promotional products and systems to the table, Invicium’s role in this project, and many like it, has been to coordinate operations between the stakeholders, smoothing the process as much as possible, and ensuring a successful outcome.
Our secret sauce is the personalised attention we give each project, and direct contact we have with each stakeholder. We believe that our customers should be able to call us directly, speak to the same person over the course of a project, and have fast and effective responses to their concerns.
We warehouse ESLs so that we can offer next-day delivery to customers, rather than them waiting for stock to be sent out from China. Furthermore, our local service means local-time calls, quick responses, and an end-to-end service from the one local company.
We’ve been privileged to work with such great customers over the course of this project.
“Invicium is an awesome company with amazing people, they are helpful and encouraging, attentive to what we want and they are very reassuring. No question was too hard, they worked hard to solve any problems and were quick to respond. We greatly appreciated their support during the ESL rollout.” Peter McCormack, General Manager, The Railway Hotel.
“Invicium is very collaborative and extremely easy to deal with. Nothing is too much trouble for them, and it’s easy to see they always have the client at heart. We see them as a partner in many of the things we do.” Damian Slater, Business Development Manager, Thirsty Camel.
“We have been very pleased to partner with Invicium over the long-term to expand our market reach. We appreciate their local expertise, logistical strength, and established network, and plan to continue to collaborate with them to ensure excellent service to our customers.” Craig Polley, Commercial Director, Ticket-IT
