Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer, is set to replace traditional price stickers with electronic shelf labels in its 2,300 U.S. stores by 2026. This move is expected to increase productivity and reduce walking time for employees, who currently spend considerable time each week adding price tags on new items, rollbacks, and markdowns.
The digital shelf label technology will allow Walmart employees to update prices with a mobile app, transforming a task that used to take two days into one that can be completed in a few minutes. The labels also have the potential to provide more information about the product, such as its sourcing or whether it’s gluten-free or keto-friendly when scanned with a mobile device.
While the ability to easily change prices wasn’t explicitly mentioned in Walmart’s announcement, the new labels do allow for prices to be changed as often as every ten seconds. This has led to speculation about the potential use of dynamic pricing, a controversial strategy where higher demand leads to higher prices in real-time.
However, Walmart has not confirmed whether it will use dynamic pricing. The company’s focus appears to be on the increased productivity and quicker restocking of shelves that the digitized labels enable. Walmart is not the first to make this change, with electronic shelf labels already found in Whole Foods, Amazon Fresh stores, and the Midwestern chain Schnucks.
As labor becomes more expensive due to higher wages, retailers big and small can benefit from the increased productivity that digitized shelf labels enable. This move by Walmart is seen as a significant step towards modernizing retail and enhancing the shopping experience for customers.
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