Walmart going digital with shelf price tags
Walmart said 2,300 stores across the U.S. will be saying goodbye to paper shelf price tags and making the switch to digital ones. It does not plan to use the technology for dynamic pricing.
Walmart is going digital with how it displays prices on in-store products at some locations.
Walmart said 2,300 stores across the U.S. will be saying goodbye to paper shelf price tags and making the switch to digital ones. The transition at those stores, which the Arkansas-based retailer announced this month, will occur within the next two years.
The technology enables workers to make price changes "with a few clicks" and do other things, according to Walmart.
News about the digital shelf labels gave rise to questions among some consumers about whether Walmart would implement dynamic pricing. However, a company spokesperson told FOX Business the pricing system in Walmart stores "does not support this and we have no plans to develop this capability."
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"Our pricing strategy remains Everyday Low Prices," the Walmart spokesperson said. "Digital Shelf Labels are simply a new method to communicate pricing to the customer and a technology tool that assists associates with various tasks."
In a press release, Walmart said the digital shelf labels will help trim down the time-consuming and laborious process of routinely updating prices for new items, rollbacks and markdowns to only a couple of minutes. Without them, doing it by hand can span two days due to the number of items in Walmart stores.
Other features associated with the digital shelf labels will make stocking shelves and getting together items for online orders more efficient. Walmart workers, for example, can use the "Pick to Light" capability to show them where an item needed for an online order is located by lighting up the digital shelf label, according to the company.
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Walmart has said the digital labels will give workers "more time to support customers in the store."
The retailer has conducted trials of the digital shelf labels, including at a location in Grapevine, Texas, according to the release.
Sixty-three Walmart locations have installed the digital shelf labels to date, with more currently in the process of getting them, the Walmart spokesperson also told FOX Business.
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Walmart has about 4,600 locations in the U.S. and nearly 5,400 abroad in total. It also has nearly 600 Sam’s Club locations in America.
Some other retailers that have taken up using digital shelf labels include Carrefour, Whole Foods and Schnucks, according to reports.