Electronic shelf labels: a reference for retailers

An electronic shelf label (ESL) is a small, battery-powered display, usually e-paper, fixed to the shelf edge and showing a product’s price. It receives its data by radio from a central system, so changing a price stops being a trip around the store with paper tags and becomes a software operation.

This site gathers what a retailer needs to decide whether ESLs make sense, what they would cost and which rules apply. Here is the map; the detail lives in each guide. The full definition, with its parts and how it works, is in what an electronic shelf label is.

Pick your type of store

A supermarket and a DIY store share the technology but not the problems: the number of SKUs, how often prices change, which label size fits the shelf and who manages pricing all differ. Each sector guide starts from those differences.

• Supermarkets
• Convenience stores
• DIY and hardware
• Consumer electronics and appliances
• Fashion
• Wine shops
• Jewellery
• Bookshops
• Pet stores
• Fuel stations
• Logistics and warehousing
• Buffets and hotels
• Opticians
• Cooperatives

Pharmacies are outside this reference. They depend on their management software and on their own regulation, and are covered by farmaconnect.es, the Keonex site for that sector. A short pharmacy note here explains why.

All sectors compared side by side in one table are on the sectors page.

The four questions that keep coming back

Nearly every first-time enquiry falls into one of these four. Each has its own reference page.

Question	Where it is answered
What does it cost and when does it pay back?	Electronic shelf label prices
Which vendors exist and how do they differ?	Vendor comparison
What does the law require when displaying prices?	Price-display rules
How does it work inside?	Technology

One point on regulation is worth knowing now: Directive (EU) 2019/2161 requires that, when a price reduction is announced, the prior price is the lowest one the trader applied over a period of at least 30 days before the reduction. Spain and Germany set that period at exactly 30 days. The UK is no longer bound by the Directive and has no fixed 30-day rule; the was/now pricing page explains what applies there instead. A system that changes prices easily makes this simpler to meet if it keeps a price history, and easier to break if it does not. The regulation page develops this, including national transposition.

Calculate with your own numbers

The total cost calculator is there to structure the conversation with vendors using your own figures, not to replace a quote. If you lack a figure, leave it at zero rather than inventing one; the method is explained in the methodology.

Recent guides and monthly tracker

New guides appear in the guides section, newest first. Once a month we also update a tracker of which chains and stores have announced or expanded electronic shelf label rollouts in Spain: who uses electronic shelf labels in Spain. Every row carries its source and the date it was checked. Rollouts elsewhere, such as Kaufland and Edeka in Germany, go in the news section.

Who publishes this

This site is published by Keonex, which makes and installs electronic shelf label systems. That is a commercial interest, so it is declared here, in the footer and on About this site. Comparisons cite the source of each figure and do not hide competitors; when a verifiable figure is missing, we say so. The use of AI tools in writing is described on its own page.