Specialist Sports Retailer: Pricing Speed and Efficiency with ESLs
The first stop was a Specialist Sports Retailer. We’re in the middle of a three-month Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) trial in their Coventry store, helping the team to determine the best technology fit for their business. Visiting the pilot store, we checked in to see how the ESLs are performing so far.
This project has involved many teams from within our business, including the marketing team who took on the design and format of their electronic shelf edge labels.
It was impressive to see the ESL live in-store and hear about the impact already being seen. Speaking to the store manager, he told how a nearby store without ESLs took an entire day to update their pricing, compared to the five minutes it took them. This shows just how fast the price change process is made with ESL, allowing staff to focus on customer service and other in-store tasks while significantly reducing time spent on labour-intensive pricing tasks.
ESL is a hot topic with our customers and in just a few weeks, we’ll be rolling out another large ESL project – a significant milestone as we continue to embrace new technology and push retail innovation.
Pets at Home: The Model of Retail Technology
Next, we visited one of our largest customers, Pets at Home, which has 450+ stores across the UK. A long-term partner, we supply everything from their handheld devices to printers and headsets. Pets at Home also use our Label IQ solution which has been built into their in-house developed software platform, Aurora, and we offer continual support through TotalSupport which ensures that Pets at Home get the most out of their technology investment.
It was particularly interesting to learn more about the work of our TotalSupport team, from licensing to performance reports on their devices and how this level of insight helps inform future technology decisions.
I was interested to hear about our ideas for further innovation in retail, like the use of digital screens, and Ben used Pets at Home as an example to explain how this attention-grabbing technology can be used in stores.
Since joining the marketing team, I’ve started to be involved in various sales support activities, helping to bring ideas to life. It was great to hear about how marketing has worked to support everything from concept creation to how-to videos, branded screen protectors and several technology days and conferences during our partnership with Pets at Home.
B&M: Modernising In-Store Processes
Our third stop was discount retailer, B&M. Operating over 700 stores across the UK, B&M is a newer customer, and they recently transitioned from their legacy labelling and stock management solution to Retail IQ. Running on the Zebra TC21 with two different Zebra Mobile Printers to suit their needs, this move was quite a big technology leap, but it has enabled B&M to take great steps forward in modernising its processes.
Such change posed challenges to store colleagues who needed to learn the new platform. A thorough training plan was put together and included a series of how-to videos which we created in marketing to be stored on the device for easy accessibility.
We also recently supported a technology day, creating a display that mirrored B&M’s in-store shelving while presenting what ESLs and augmented reality price checking could do for them.
Prospects with Great Potential
Wrapping up the day, we then visited two well-known retailers who are prospective customers we’re currently talking to. Looking around their stores was useful to help illustrate all I had learnt that day and notice improvements that could be made.
As we walked through these stores, there were some visible issues with their labels such as jagged edges caused by poor quality perforation. With plans to enhance their in-store labelling solutions and introduce new hardware to ultimately speed up operations and free up staff to focus on customer interaction, we’re confident that these partnerships hold great potential as we explore ways to help them improve their in-store experiences.
Spending time visiting prospective customer stores was useful as it helped me see where retailers can benefit from technology and how it makes life in retail a lot easier.
A Conclusion to The Day: A Learning Experience
A day spent visiting these stores was beneficial, offering a real-life view of how our technology impacts retail businesses and where we can help drive further innovation. From ESL trials to potential new partnerships with well-known retailers, it’s clear that the future is looking bright for TPP Retail and our customers.
Thank you to Emma and Ben, who gave me an insight into how our technology works in stores, how the marketing team plays a role in supporting new projects, and how we as a business can help retail businesses reach their technology goals.
