French retail technology firm Vusion Group is deploying its multicolour smart electronic shelf labels (ESLs) and VusionCloud in 200 Spar supermarkets in Austria before the end of the year.

The rollout should help Spar elevate both the shopper and staff experiences, by digitalising shelves and providing accurate real-time product as well as pricing data at the shelf-edge. While consumers will benefit from accurate prices at all times, employees benefit from precise information displayed on the ESLs.

“In the case of technological changes, it is often wise not to jump on the first train,” said Spar CEO Hans Reisch. “Especially in such a sensitive area as food, special care is required when choosing technology. We are proud to be able to offer our customers and employees an innovative and forward-looking option with Vusion Group. The electronic shelf labels are an important step in the digitalisation of our company and a sign of our quality and service.”

The multicolour smart labels will also make promotions and marketing stand out in stores. Price and promotions updates will be automated and managed centrally, liberating staff from manual tasks to focus more on customer service, making the overall shopping experience more enjoyable and engaging.

Spar will be able to track, manage and monitor in-store IoT, in addition to the integration with existing wireless infrastructure leading to faster deployments.

“We are delighted and proud that Spar Austria, one of our long-standing partners in Europe, has chosen our technology as an essential part of its digitalisation strategy,” said Sébastien Fourcy from Vusion Group (www.vusion.com). “This represents an important step in our strategy and growth in the Dach region as we look forward to helping Spar Austria achieve its digital transformation towards a more sustainable and positive commerce model.”

Reisch added: “Care is essential when selecting appropriate technology, particularly regarding price labelling for food. We have thoroughly tested this and are pleased that we can offer our customers and employees an innovative and forward-looking option. The electronic shelf labels are an important step in the digitisation of our company and a sign of our quality and service. Through the four-colour ESLs, we offer our customers the most accurate price, advertising, and product information. Our employees now have a great option to quickly replenish shelves and retrieve information about the item at any time, leaving more time for our customers.”

The multi-year intensive test phase of ESL by Spar Austria (spar-international.com) led to a large portion of IT in-house work. During testing, certain products could damage electronic contacts and some power supply systems were prone to errors, leading to adjustments.

The ESLs have been installed in the Spar start-up market in Kufstein and the EuroSpar supermarket in Eugendorf, among others.