Business Insider has a story about how Kroger is rolling out a new technology, dubbed Kroger Edge, to almost 200 stores, with it being “installed on store shelves where paper price tags currently hang. It digitally displays pricing and nutritional information, as well as video ads and coupons for various products … The technology gives Kroger the ability to instantly change prices and activate promotions across its stores, enabling it to undercut sales at other chains and freeing up employees who would otherwise change prices by hand.”
In the future, the story says, the technology will allow Kroger to communicate to in-store shoppers via their smartphones, informing them about sales and product availabilities, and will even “light up underneath the product that shoppers are seeking” based on shopping lists they keep on their phones.
According to Business Insider, “Kroger Edge is currently deployed in only a handful of stores. For now, customers must use one of Kroger's handheld devices to communicate with the system,” but a smartphone app eventually “will enable customers to take advantage of the system with their smartphones.
“Kroger Edge will be available in 200 stores by the end of 2018, but mostly in stores' end caps — the industry's term for displays at the ends of store aisles. It could also start showing up soon in other retailers' stores. Kroger is marketing and selling the technology, which was developed with Microsoft Azure, Microsoft's cloud computing service, to other retailers globally.”
In the future, the story says, the technology will allow Kroger to communicate to in-store shoppers via their smartphones, informing them about sales and product availabilities, and will even “light up underneath the product that shoppers are seeking” based on shopping lists they keep on their phones.
According to Business Insider, “Kroger Edge is currently deployed in only a handful of stores. For now, customers must use one of Kroger's handheld devices to communicate with the system,” but a smartphone app eventually “will enable customers to take advantage of the system with their smartphones.
“Kroger Edge will be available in 200 stores by the end of 2018, but mostly in stores' end caps — the industry's term for displays at the ends of store aisles. It could also start showing up soon in other retailers' stores. Kroger is marketing and selling the technology, which was developed with Microsoft Azure, Microsoft's cloud computing service, to other retailers globally.”
- KC's View:
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Electronic shelf tags are hardly a new concept, but this certainly seems to be a significant step beyond that technology. The notion that such tags actually could be interactive screens, going beyond even dynamic pricing to offer services that create a more dynamic shopping experience … well, that’s kind of cool. And exactly the kin d of thing that retailers need to do to differentiate themselves.
