Case Study: Electronic Shelf Labels Transform XXL All Sports United

Navigating today’s rapidly evolving retail world, Agile Real-time Price Updates are no longer a luxury but a necessity. XXL All Sports United, deeply entrenched in northern Europe’s sporting goods sector, swiftly embraced this shift. Founded by Tore and Øivind Tidemandsen in 2000 in central Oslo, XXL’s trajectory has been nothing short of remarkable. Their expansive growth across Europe is commendable, but it’s their innovative mindset in adopting the latest technologies that truly differentiates them, ensuring continual enhancement in operational efficiency and customer satisfaction.

The Challenge

In an age of real-time information, XXL’s Arninge shop in Stockholm was facing an operational challenge. The issue at hand? Maintaining accurate and efficient pricing in the shop. Johan Ljung, XXL’s VP of Strategy & Business Development, highlighted the two primary drivers pushing them towards Electronic Shelf Labels (ESL): “The biggest drivers for changing to ESL from old paper signs were two-sided. We have the shop operations where we save a lot of time for the shop staff and routine tasks. They can now spend that time handling customers and improving the customer experience, that’s super important. But from a company point of view, it’s also very important to have that agile, fast-moving pricing.”

SoluM Newton ESL

The Solution

SOLUM’s Newton ESL was their chosen solution. As a brainchild of Samsung with over 45 years of expertise in wireless communication, SOLUM has been consistently redefining the retail space. This ESL system offers a digital and centralised pricing system, eliminating inefficiencies tied to manual price labelling. As Johan Ljung puts it, “When the headquarters changes the price on a product, that price will change on the ESL signs in the shops and also on the website. And also at the cashier, of course. So the customer always sees the same pricing in all of our communication.”

The Results

The benefits of installing the SOLUM Newton ESL were immediate and manifold:

1. Agile Real-time Price Updates: Gone were the days of waiting for printed prices or the arduous task of manually replacing shelf labels. The prices on ESL screens, website, and cashiers changed simultaneously in real-time.
2. Enhanced Customer Service: The elimination of manual tasks meant that the staff had more time to cater to customers. Dennis Fagerström, the Workshop Manager, revealed, “It has changed a whole lot to not be stressed out to see if there are the right prices with the right product.”
3. Rapid ROI: Despite the initial investment in this technological shift, the ROI was quick. “In not even two years we have full payback on all of the investments and we have also the additional gains in higher customer satisfaction and the softer values of the ESL,” Johan added.

Conclusion

The move towards Electronic Shelf Labels has not only revolutionised XXL’s operational efficiency but has also cemented its reputation as a forward-thinking and customer-centric brand. The journey they embarked on is just the beginning. In Johan’s words, “We have started a journey at XXL with the basic showing of pricing and product information, which is very valuable. But this is only the start from what we see as a connected product in the future.”

In a rapidly evolving retail landscape, agility is paramount. And for XXL, Electronic Shelf Labels are an indispensable part of a future-proof strategy, making them more equipped to navigate a global competitive market.

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RTS | Retail IT Execution