End of fixed prices within five years as supermarkets adopt electronic price tags?

robin58

no1catman wrote: »

OTOH - less !!!!-ups over errors with SEL, with this system, when any new promotion starts, or old one ends, it won't have to be dependent on being changed manually.
It will just take a second or two from the SELs to match the tills.

So you use to work for Tesco's. I usally find they were the worst for SEL's on thier shelfs like 'buy 2 for £2 or 1 for 80p.'

If the procedures aren't updated they will still be c..kups. Just nationwide instead considering no doubt there will different prices in different parts of the country at different times.

As they say in IT, "rubbish in, rubbish out".

Weakest point will aways be the human involvement.

A._Badger

It's going to make it harder to check whether your bill is correct when you get home and suddenly have that nagging sensation that you might have been overcharged for something.

fredandwilma

http://www.goodhousekeeping.co.uk/consumer-advice/news-views/supermarkets-trial-new-surge-pricing-to-change-prices-as-you-shop

https://www.computing.co.uk/ctg/news/3012655/tesco-sainsburys-and-morrisons-all-considering-electronic-shelf-edge-pricing-but-not-for-implementing-surge-pricing

Although this implementation is meant to be 'efficiency driven', the main purpose of the retail industry (or any company,) is to make money and a certain Credit card firm has said earlier this month it had seen the first annual fall in consumer spending in nearly four years, in May.

If the proposals aren't 'surge pricing' (where rapid adjustments are made to price in response to changing demand), i don't know what is?

fredandwilma

jack_pott wrote: »

Trying to shop around for the cheapest prices will be a bit like this.

We all remember the original Candid Camera? :rotfl:

no1catman

robin58 - yes I used to work for Tesco (though not in-store), so what. My comment was derived from a comment by a 'consumer expert' on the BBC Breakfast programme on Saturday morning. Perhaps you missed it.

I think the first application of electronic pricing will be at Filling Stations,, where at different times of the day/night prices may vary within a band.

fredandwilma

no1catman wrote: »

robin58 - yes I used to work for Tesco (though not in-store), so what. My comment was derived from a comment by a 'consumer expert' on the BBC Breakfast programme on Saturday morning. Perhaps you missed it.

I think the first application of electronic pricing will be at Filling Stations,, where at different times of the day/night prices may vary within a band.

Interesting article here re 'flexible' electronic petrol pricing :

https://www.pressreader.com/uk/scottish-daily-mail/20170626/281998967465046

dlusman

Even if they are not used for flexible/timed pricing the use of electronic shelf edge lables must be better/money saving for stores.

Once the system is installed they dont have to pay for someones time to change the labels every day, save money in printing and paper costs and they can change all stores pricing from a central location.

Yes mistakes will still occur - but will be more accurate when part of the human element is removed.

Interesting story here about what is now possible to achieve on a SEL :
http://www.sfdsystems.com/waitrose-trials-sfd-systems-video-electronic-shelf-edge-labels/

molerat

It will be a massive time saver. I worked for a retailer with 450 stores. SEL changes were quite a large daily task. Added to normal price changing someone in HO with nothing better to do would make a small change to a SEL detail, as little as changing the spelling, then realise their mistake and change it back to how it was. Next morning the system would pick up their was a "change" in that SEL and each one of those 450 stores would have to change that ticket even though nothing had actually changed on it. Many times an erroneous price change was made and a non routine price change communication had to be sent to all stores mid trading, again time consuming.

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

The treat would still apply. If it's too much, the spotty mouflon will put it back on the shelf. End of.

A._Badger

dlusman wrote: »

Even if they are not used for flexible/timed pricing the use of electronic shelf edge lables must be better/money saving for stores.

Once the system is installed they dont have to pay for someones time to change the labels every day, save money in printing and paper costs and they can change all stores pricing from a central location.

Yes mistakes will still occur - but will be more accurate when part of the human element is removed.

Interesting story here about what is now possible to achieve on a SEL :
http://www.sfdsystems.com/waitrose-trials-sfd-systems-video-electronic-shelf-edge-labels/

As far as I can see the only real beneficiary of this introduction is going to be the retailer. It is simply not the case that people can always choose when they shop - work times, school runs, family and social commitments mean people have to shop when they can.

I'm not sure I can see much of a justification, either. Does it cost a filling station more to sell petrol at 11am than it does at 6pm? A premium for being open late, I can see, but the rest just sounds like opportunism to me.