Electronic Price Labels: The Essential Tool for the Rise of New Retail

The Rise of Electronic Price Labels

Driven by the rapid growth of the new retail sector, electronic price labels have emerged as a powerful tool for retail businesses in the internet era. Through technological innovation and the integration of omnichannel business models, electronic price labels—digital display tags used extensively in supermarkets and department stores—have gained widespread adoption since their debut in Europe in 1993.

As the new retail market surges forward, the adoption of electronic price labels has accelerated. In response to the challenges and opportunities of the internet age, new retail players have adopted a comprehensive model that combines online traffic platforms, offline retail assets, and mobile internet. Meanwhile, the advancement of technologies such as modern logistics, big data, and cloud computing has profoundly transformed traditional retail.

Compared to traditional paper price tags, electronic price labels offer a distinct advantage by seamlessly connecting online and offline data. These digital tags link to in-store databases via wireless networks, enabling real-time and accurate display of product prices. This makes it easy to handle frequent price changes, reduce labor costs, and boost operational efficiency—making electronic price labels a must-have tool for new retail enterprises.

Against this backdrop, ZKONG, a pioneer in the electronic price label industry, has cultivated a strong customer base and gained a first-mover advantage through years of deep industry engagement.

Advantages and Applications of Electronic Price Labels

As a critical tool for data interaction in new retail, electronic price labels have witnessed the evolution of the industry. Although earlier phases of retail development and high labor costs once limited their application, the emergence of new retail has opened up vast opportunities.

For instance, for a convenience store of around 100 square meters, the cost of implementing a full electronic label system mainly depends on the number of SKUs (Stock Keeping Units) rather than the physical size of the store. As SKU-level intelligent hardware, electronic price labels offer a compelling return on investment.

The functional advantages of electronic price labels lie in improved efficiency, customizable displays, and adaptability to diverse scenarios. For example:

• One-click price updates eliminate the tedious process of manual price adjustments, regardless of SKU quantity.

• The display screen is customizable, allowing it to show membership prices, promotional prices, coupons, graphics, and even QR codes.

• They are also equipped with features such as low-temperature resistance and waterproofing, making them suitable for a wide range of retail environments.

The Potential of Unmanned Retail

As labor costs continue to rise and the demand for online–offline integration increases, unmanned retail is emerging as a future trend. In this context, electronic price labels play a key role in improving operational efficiency and enhancing the consumer shopping experience.

Unmanned retail can be understood from two perspectives:

• From the consumer's viewpoint, it refers to a fully automated, staff-free shopping experience.

• From the service perspective, it means reducing dependence on human labor in retail operations.

However, achieving fully unmanned management—covering checkout, shelf-stocking, and operations—still faces significant challenges. These are mainly due to the high costs of new technologies and the current limitations in data infrastructure and adoption.