Electronic Shelf Labels (ESL)

Electronic price labels, ESL for short (Electronic Shelf Labels) are digital labels that are attached to sales shelves and display price and product information. They are increasingly replacing printed shelf labels and - unlike their printed predecessors - can be controlled centrally and updated digitally.

The largest ESL manufacturers operating in Europe include Delfi, Hanshow, Partron ESL, SESimagotag (VusionGroup) and SoluM. The desired content is distributed to the ESL with the help of content management software. A connection to a product database, ideally to the merchandise management system, is essential for the speed and efficiency of ELS systems. 

There are also manufacturer-independent software solutions, such as PRESTIGEenterprise, which are used in particular by retail companies that manage a large number of branches. They are able to control ESL models from different manufacturers, which is particularly advantageous in the case of takeovers, but also when there is a change of manufacturer due to time or technical reasons. This avoids having to address the ESLs with different software systems and keeps everything in one hand.

The use of ESLs in retail enables fast price changes, always up-to-date product information that can be managed in real time and automated processes that reduce errors. ESLs support dynamic pricing and improve the customer experience by providing up-to-date information at the point of sale.