VusionGroup talks electronic shelf labels and digital transformation in UK grocery retail

VusionGroup, a French tech firm that develops IoT and digital solutions for retail applications, has rolled out its new labeling technology across different grocery retail chains. Focusing on modernizing physical stores and improving consumer experiences, the company’s solutions are set to “reshape the future of retail.”

The company is in discussion with major UK and Ireland grocery retailers to introduce electronic shelf labels (ESLs) in more than a thousand stores. Roy Horgan, SEVP for strategy, marketing and communications at VusionGroup, sits down with Packaging Insights to discuss the growing expansion of e-services in the digital marketplace.

Horgan says that the digitalization of physical commerce is an economic, social and environmental imperative. 

“Our mission is to transform stores through our Vusion technologies into intelligent, connected and long-lasting digital environments to enable a sustainable, positive and human-centered commerce business model. ”

Data-driven approach

By integrating its digital shelf labels (ESLs) and a suite of cloud-based, AI-driven platforms, VusionGroup is empowering retailers to create efficient stores while addressing growing consumer demands and contributing to sustainability goals.

“Our SES-imagotag ESL solution is designed to streamline pricing operations and ensure consistent, accurate and up-to-date information for retailers and customers. We are committed to transparency and fairness in pricing as a cornerstone of our mission,” says Horgan.

“The ability we provide retailers to update prices automatically is about ensuring that customers always see the most relevant and accurate prices, reflecting promotions and discounts in real-time.” 

He highlights that discounters from different parts of the world are adopting this technology to ensure accurate prices are reflected at the shelf edge, optimizing the shopping experience for consumers.

VusionGroup partnered with Walmart to enhance a software solution to optimize merchandising, inventory management and e-commerce order preparation. As part of this partnership, VusionGroup aims to expand its digital shelf labels to 2,300 Walmart stores by 2026.

Last month, the company announced a new rollout of its solutions with company L’Abbondanza, an Italian grocery retailer associated with Selex Group, to implement a full-chain upgrade of its 43 stores in Umbria, Tuscany and Marche regions.

Scalability and pricing transparency

One key advantage of VusionGroup’s solutions is its integration with existing retail systems, including point-of-sale and e-commerce platforms. The ESL technology is said to enable real-time synchronization across physical and digital channels.

The automated price changes may spell the end of the traditional reduced-price sticker.“One of the challenges we’ve overcome in large-scale rollouts, such as with Walmart or Hy-Vee, for example, has been ensuring scalability and reliability across hundreds or even thousands of stores,” Horgan explains.

“However, our solution’s cloud-based architecture is designed to handle these challenges quite seamlessly, offering retailers centralized control, reducing the complexity of deployment and providing comprehensive support through all phases of the Vusion integration.”

Recognizing that some shoppers may be concerned about the implications of dynamic pricing and the shift from traditional sale indicators, VusionGroup is particularly mindful of consumer concerns regarding pricing transparency.

“Our ESLs are designed to display markdowns, promotions, and reduced pricing clearly and attractively in a way that captures shoppers’ attention with our three- and four-color labels that can display content in black, white and red.”

“Our ESLs are highly customizable, allowing retailers to maintain the visual appeal or branding they prefer whether they mark a sale or discount as yellow or other,” Horgan highlights.

“We also have Engage Retail Media solutions that provide dynamic content at the shelf edge in rails as well as custom multi-color e-paper solutions in a variety of sizes to accommodate any location or product in the store. ”

Last month, VusionGroup and Médiaperformances, a company for omnichannel Retail Media in France and shopper activation media, signed a strategic partnership to enhance retail media capabilities through IoT technologies.

Real-time information

Another feature of VusionGroup’s ESL platform is its ability to provide product information, such as ratings, reviews, and nutritional data. 

“The VusionCloud system allows real-time data synchronization, ensuring that information like product ratings, nutritional data, and pricing are constantly updated across all touchpoints to the retailers’ specifications.”

The company recently joined forces with HowGood to initiate assortment work and enables real-time, medium-term projections and studies of consumption shift effects, providing a new solution for retail decarbonization. This ensures retailers have complete autonomy in understanding the impacts on revenue and margin, store by store.

“Accuracy is one of the cornerstones of our ESL platform, which runs on our VusionCloud IoT cloud management platform. This level of synchronization guarantees that customers always have the most current information at their fingertips, enhancing trust and the overall shopper experience,” Horgan concludes.