New in Electronic Shelf Labels: Tweets?

The Venture Lab reports on funding work they are doing with an Electronic Shelf Label  (ESL) startup called Tagnetics.   I had worked with the predecessor of this firm in our innovation labs.  I have also worked with the concept of shelf price labels, testing the idea both in the laboratory with consumers and with retailers.     The idea has been around for some time, but still is not widely implemented.  Due to issues like cost, device maintenance, required store infrastructure and ensuring accurate data. All retailers I talked to were interested, but concerned about these issues.  The potential use of the same infrastructure to get the attention of the shopper, creating a shelf-edge display, or even selling this micro ad space to manufacturers, was often brought up. 

The content of an ESL is far simpler than a store display.  Traditionally just a price and description.  Could this evolve into a tweet at the shelf edge, with tailored, varying messages? 

Read the full article from Venture lab below:

Electronic Shelf Label Systems: Coming To Your Grocer’s Aisle 
In a recent poll, Industry trade publication Progressive Grocer found that independent grocers rank Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) systems as one of the most important technologies for retail stores in the next few years. Some see ESLs as possibly the greatest single change in retail since the checkout scanner. What is an ESL? Electronic Shelf Label Systems or ESLs are used to display product pricing on shelves; they replace the printed paper or vinyl labels that are prevalent today. Typically, electronic display modules are attached to the front edge of retail shelving. With an ESL in place, a retailer can change prices on all products throughout the store from a single location, virtually instantaneously ... "