Countdown Papatoetoe is the hundredth Countdown/Woolworths store to convert to electronic shelf labels – getting rid of paper and reducing pricing mistakes. Stores that have already converted to Electronic Shelf Labelling have reported a significant reduction in ticketing errors and issues for customers.
The milestone means there are over 1.2 million electronic shelf labels in operation across Countdown/Woolworths stores. Another 33 Countdown/Woolworths stores are lined up for conversion to Electronic Shelf Labelling by June 2024.
Price has never been more important to New Zealanders and with the hundredth Woolworths supermarket now moved to electronic shelf labels, the retailer is accelerating its commitment to accuracy for customers.
The milestone has been years in the making with an accelerated plan to introduce the electronic shelf label system into its network launched earlier this year. Stores that have the electronic shelf labels have seen a reduction in errors with very little paper printing and manual changing of price tickets required under the new system.
Woolworths New Zealand Director of Stores, Jason Stockill says it’s critical the retailer gets its on-shelf prices right and introducing electronic shelf labels is a key part of that.
“We’re privileged to serve over three million customers every week, and we need to make sure the tickets they see on the shelf are accurate and reflect the price they will be charged at checkout.
“Our team works very hard and takes a lot of care to achieve this but our stores are busy places and we have thousands of products that are on special at any time – so unfortunately mistakes do happen.
“Whether it’s a paper ticket getting knocked out of place or a missed ticket changeover, we know errors are occurring and that’s unacceptable to us, which is why we’re investing in electronic shelf labels and committing to getting it right,” says Jason.
Woolworths is also asking customers to report mistakes when a shelf price isn’t right. The supermarket’s refund policy is that if the price charged for a product is higher than the price shown on the ticket, a full refund is provided and the customer can keep the product free of charge.
“Even if the error is only a couple of cents, we want to hear about it and make it right. It’s about to be a very busy time in our stores with the holiday season, and our priority is still to get our price labelling right, so please let us know if you see something incorrect,” adds Jason.
Woolworths New Zealand has also calculated and displayed unit pricing for a number of years to make it easier for customers to compare prices and make informed shopping choices.
Woolworths New Zealand’s electronic shelf labels are connected to centralised pricing through a cloud-based solution that receives and transmits pricing updates. This works via access point receivers installed around the store, which allow the electronic shelf labels to refresh automatically whenever a price update is made through the central system.
