What Are PDI Electronic Shelf Labels?
PDI Electronic Shelf Labels (ESL) replace paper price tags with a digital system connected directly to a retailer’s ERP pricebook. When a price changes in the pricebook, every shelf label updates automatically across the store network: no printing and no staff pulled off the floor to swap tags. The system connects to all certified POS systems in North America, so the price on the shelf always matches the price at the register. The electronic labels are also built to hold up in coolers, freezers, and other high-moisture areas throughout the store.
Key Takeaways
- Update prices across the entire store network directly from the pricebook, with no printing or manual label swaps
- Keep shelf and POS prices in sync automatically, closing the gap that could lead to mismatched totals and fines
- Automate promotions, time-of-day pricing changes, and mix-and-match deals
- Protect margins by passing through vendor cost increases network-wide the same day, instead of waiting for the next label run
- Generate new revenue through in-store advertising and loyalty promotions displayed on the labels themselves
Read the transcript
For the longest time, PDI customers who operate large chains of convenience retail stores had to rely on printing paper shelf labels and manually changing them out whenever they needed to make an item level price change. This equates to costly labor, hours on prem printers and printing supplies, and inevitable human error that can result in fines. Every price update required pulling staff off the floor, which negatively affects service. Still, customers would find mismatched prices between the shelf and the register.
But now, with PDI’s electronic shelf label solution, our customers can update every price tag through their fully integrated ERP pricebook. The ESL solution connects to all certified POS systems in North America, so pricing is always accurate, always in sync, and completely hands free, whether it’s a quick promo on the fly, a scheduled system wide update, a present time of day change, or a mix and match combo deal. The result is real time execution and pricing flexibility that gives enterprise customers a competitive advantage against anyone still operating on paper shelf labels. No more printing, no more peel and stick, no more pricing errors, no more pricing disparity between the shelf, the POS, and the pricebook
The pricing flexibility of PDI’s ESL solution can influence consumer purchasing patterns and help maximize profitability. For a hard cost and real world example, our customers constantly see major brands increasing their item level costs. This often creates a very expensive margin loss across the span of days until the weekly shift comes to change out the pricing on the paper labels to match the raising costs. With PDI electronic shelf label solution, when item level costs increase, enterprise customers can now preserve their profit margins by making their item level price changes across their entire network of stores in real time.
This real time pricing and cost flexibility creates a highly measurable ROI, with most PDI customers realizing their ROI in 12 months or less when they deploy our ESL solution across their entire store network. PDI enterprise customers are also seeing new revenue opportunities. These electronic shelf labels support in store advertising and loyalty program promotions.
From a ruggedized and theft proof standpoint, they’re built to connect on sleek looking railings, and they’re certified to handle it all, moisture, temperature, you name it. PDI’s electronic shelf label solution creates a better experience for retail convenience consumers with a more modern, accurate, visually engaging, and appealing store. Your teams are now freed up to focus on customer service and store performance, not chasing down outdated stickers.
If you’re looking to preserve or boost profit margins, cut labor costs and manual error, and future proof your operations, PDI Electronic Shelf Labels are the next step in the evolution of convenience retail.