Beginning early next year, Morrisons will roll out 10.8 million smart electronic shelf labels (ESLs) across its 497 stores, eliminating traditional paper labels and automating the repetitive manual tasks of repricing and relabeling products. The technology from VusionGroup will be integrated with Morrisons’ digital shelf-edge cameras to help efficiently guide associates to product gaps, speeding up shelf replenishment and integrating with ecommerce applications to streamline online picking.
Additionally, the ESLs will communicate Morrisons More Card savings and offers to shoppers directly at the shelf edge, and Morrisons said it plans to work closely with VusionGroup to leverage the valuable data these technologies will generate. The ESL project, which is part of a general digital technology initiative at Morrisons, also will include upgrades to Morrisons’ WiFi infrastructure.
“As digital innovation reshapes the retail landscape, we’re constantly evaluating new technology that can help us serve customers better,” said Gordon Macpherson, Group Productivity Director at Morrisons in a statement. “We’re excited to be the first large supermarket group in the UK to introduce digital shelf edge labeling across our entire supermarket estate.”
Walmart is in the midst of rolling out digital shelf tags from VusionGroup to all 2,300 U.S. stores, a process that began in June 2024 and is slated to be completed by 2026. In July 2024 Hy-Vee rolled out VusionGroup digital shelf tags in its 230 stores.