Posted on 07/11/2024 8:05:40 PM PDT by yesthatjallen
Grocery store prices are changing faster than ever before — literally. This month, Walmart became the latest retailer to announce it’s replacing the price stickers in its aisles with electronic shelf labels. The new labels allow employees to change prices as often as every ten seconds.
“If it’s hot outside, we can raise the price of water and ice cream. If there's something that’s close to the expiration date, we can lower the price — that’s the good news,” said Phil Lempert, a grocery industry analyst.
Apps like Uber already use surge pricing, in which higher demand leads to higher prices in real time. Companies across industries have caused controversy with talk of implementing surge pricing, with fast-food restaurant Wendy's making headlines most recently. Electronic shelf labels allow the same strategy to be applied at grocery stores, but are not the only reason why retailers may make the switch.
The ability to easily change prices wasn't mentioned in Walmart's announcement that 2,300 stores will have the digitized shelf labels by 2026. Daniela Boscan, who participated in Walmart's pilot of the labels in Texas, said the label's key benefits are "increased productivity and reduced walking time," plus quicker restocking of shelves.
Walmart's not the first major grocer to make the change, as you can already find electronic shelf labels at Whole Foods, Amazon Fresh stores, and the Midwestern chain Schnucks. Digitized shelf labels are even more common in stores across Europe.
Another feature of electronic shelf labels is their product descriptions. Lempert notes that barcodes on the new labels can provide useful details other than the price.
SNIP
(Excerpt) Read more at opb.org ...
It will also allow the store to cover themselves when they scan a mispriced item at the till. When you go back to check, the shelf label will be that new price.
You will need to apply for a mortgage to buy groceries.
“But this was only $2.50 when I placed it in the cart.”
I’m going to have to start taking photos of prices when I’m in the aisle now.
Electronic shelf tags have been available since 1985 and tested in select stores and rejected widely. Easily damaged and still more costly than replacing fixed tags
Surge pricing? Sounds a lot like price gouging to me. No sale if I can avoid such chicanery.
This idea is horrible.
If I get an item, and it is more than it was, once I get to checkout.... then effing keep it.
I thought these electronic labels have been out for years. Guess they are going mainstream now.
Phil sounds like such a wonderful persin.
Going to have to keep records between the shelf and checkout. Wonderful.
Yep. This is the first thing that came to mind.
Already thinking about ways to game the system. Shopping at off-peak hours, (which I do anyway), for example. Or photographing the shelf label with your phone for evidence. Declining to buy an item if it scans higher than the shelf label showed, which forces the store to expend labor to return the item to the shelf.
This will drive grocery apps.
You grab your items off the shelf, scan the bar codes with your phone, bag everything up (in the bags you brought) and click the "pay now" button on your screen.
As you walk out the door, you'll show a clerk the Q-code on your phone screen. He'll scan it with his phone to see that you paid for everything.
It's gonna be a brave new world.
Wonder if those gizmos you see when you walk in the grocery that let you scan items as you shop would lock in the current price.
The label system they have had is certainly inaccurate quite often. My Walmart used to offer to reduce scanned prices to shelf prices, but don’t do this much anymore. This article also tells me that they can now raise prices a LOT quicker than you can ever determine if it is “justified”.
Yeah, but will they start making sure that the tag matches the item on the shelf above it? That’s a constant problem.
Yeah, you pick it off the shelf, while you are shopping they roll out a new price. This is gonna suck.
You’re lucky if the item is in the vicinity of the tag and you can figure out whether FN MSP D is the item you have in your hand. The local Walmart also got rid of the scanners in the aisle so you can check the price.
can -> can’t
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