Russian retailer X5 Group is transitioning to automating customer service at the point of purchase decision. Two million electronic price tags from a Chinese vendor, which X5 Group does not name, have appeared in 100 stores of its Perekrestok supermarket chain across Russia.
Electronic price tags are small displays with three-color electronic ink and a large font that even customers with visual impairments can distinguish. White and black colors are used for regular price tags, and red is chosen for promotional offers.
The prices of goods on them change automatically online via connection to the internal network. The software of electronic devices is integrated into the existing architectural IT solution of the store, and updates occur in just a few seconds. The devices require almost no human involvement in their operation, consume little energy, and can last up to five years without battery replacement.
Currently, an average of about 12 hours of working time per day is spent on working with paper price tags in a supermarket, plus 4 hours on their verification and compliance with the chain's promotions and discounts. In addition, additional funds have to be constantly spent on printing them.
The company assures that freeing Perekrestok employees from working with price tags will help improve the quality of service.
By reducing the labor intensity of the manual price tag changing process by even 10%, we get 5% of the staff's net time saved, which can be used to greater effect. We invest this time in improving the customer experience – working in the hall, laying out goods, communicating with customers. The implementation of the technology on the scale of 100 supermarkets, the largest implementation on the market, will help Perekrestok achieve ambitious financial goals this year.
A survey of our customers showed that poorly designed price tags are the main factor that affects their loyalty. If the price tag is designed incorrectly, the buyer will certainly be dissatisfied with the store. A quarter of people will not take the product from the shelf at all if there is no price tag, or will pass by the product if it does not indicate a promotional price. Electronic price tags help us avoid such situations.
The company also decided to reduce routine work for staff in distribution centers. Up to 20% of the work on transporting, sorting, selecting goods for order fulfillment and moving them to the shipping area is planned to be transferred to robots.
The first laboratory-testing ground for this project opened in mid-March at the X5 distribution center in Podolsk. Two types of robots are currently being tested there: AMR (autonomous mobile robots) and FMR (autonomous forklift robots). They move without human intervention and can perform various tasks depending on the program.