Three Reasons Why Retailers Are Shifting to Bluetooth® for Electronic Shelf Labels
The next generation of electronic shelf labels will be more cost-effective to deploy while offering a wider range of features
The Technology Horizon for Electronic Shelf Labels
As retailers focus on ways to optimize store operations and improve customer experiences, electronic shelf labels (ESLs, also referred to as Digital Shelf Labels or DSLs) have become increasingly strategic in the evolution of the physical store. The number of ESLs deployed globally is expected to grow by 15-18% annually through 2030, and the use cases go far beyond simple price updates.
But for retailers and ESL manufacturers with a 5+ year technology horizon, an interesting choice has emerged. Should they center their strategy around legacy proprietary technologies, or transition to a standards-based approach? Increasingly we are seeing companies pursue the Bluetooth technology path, sometimes at very high scale.
Let’s look at three key factors driving this shift:
1. A Standards-Based Approach Benefits Retailers
Standards create a competitive ecosystem that benefits the consumer, in this case the retailer. Consider how WiFi standards have created interoperability, performance, and security for local area networks. Additionally, standards enable more companies to build tools that support the technology, like spectrum analyzers and protocol sniffers to help identify issues. While proprietary technologies can help prove early feasibility, standards help move an entire industry forward and encourage investment at all levels, such as chip vendors creating new processors that support that standard.
For the emerging electronic shelf label market, the Bluetooth® Electronic Shelf Label Profile Specification brings similar benefits and will establish an ecosystem retailers can rely on for years to come.
2. Bluetooth® Technology Lowers Deployment Costs for ESLs
While the benefits of moving from printed labels to ESLs is strong, retailers can’t overlook the upfront cost and maintenance required to make the transition. The cost of each ESL is similar (typically in the $5-10 USD range) regardless of technology. The difference comes when you look at the cost of connectivity for 10,000+ devices.
To connect each shelf label to the cloud for management and price updates, you need gateways or hubs. Depending on the type of space, it could be a few gateways for a small store, or in a large grocery or department store over 50. The gateway represents an up-front cost for hardware and installation, which could be $1000-2000 each.
This is where Bluetooth technology has a huge advantage, because there are already Bluetooth networks deployed in most retail environments in the form of Wi-Fi access points. So the same network that has already been installed to connect video cameras and other devices probably has Bluetooth technology available and can facilitate ESL connectivity with just a software update.
As a simple example, a retailer deploying ESLs in 1000 stores, each requiring 10 gateways for connectivity, will need to spend $10M just for the installation (assuming $1000/gateway). For infrared, there is no getting around this, whereas with Bluetooth technology you may be able to leverage existing network infrastructure. There may be cases where using existing network infrastructure isn’t practical, and a new dedicated network is required. The technology comparison in that case brings us to our final and perhaps most important reason why Bluetooth technology is gaining momentum in ESLs...
3. Bluetooth® Technology Enables Use Cases Beyond Shelf Labels
Whether you use existing network infrastructure or roll out a dedicated ESL network, maximizing the up-front investment is important. Deploying a traditional infrared-based ESL solution will certainly get the job done as far as price labels are concerned. But if you could spend the same amount of time and money, and in the process create a whole new set of capabilities for the store operations team, wouldn’t that be the ideal path? This is where Bluetooth technology separates itself from proprietary methods.
Whereas Infrared (IR) has been widely used for ESLs, when it comes to other IoT use cases with sensors, asset tags, and controllers, Bluetooth® is by far the leading technology for commercial applications. Temperature monitoring, asset protection, and customer traffic analysis are examples of IoT use cases that can also be powered by a unified IoT network. As these new in-store applications requiring wireless connectivity and edge processing emerge, having a standards-based and extensible approach could result in millions of dollars of annual savings for IT and operations teams.
Bluetooth® ESLs: Bringing Innovation to Retail
The transition to the Bluetooth® standard for ESLs provides retailers flexibility and confidence in their investment, which will drive additional growth for all IoT applications. For ESL vendors, this means more opportunities to introduce new devices and additional services. And while every store environment is different, adopting a standards-based approach will make it easier to provide a consistent experience for store operations teams and customers across the entire footprint.
To learn more about Rigado's role in ESLs, download our electronic shelf label solution brief and visit rigado.com/retail.
About Rigado
Rigado is leading the retail IoT transformation with unified networks that run on IoT Gateways, Wi-Fi Access Points, telematics equipment, and more. Contact us today to learn how you can lower your cost to develop and deploy a unified sensor network using existing infrastructure in any enterprise environment.