Australian supermarket chain Woolworths has implemented an electronic shelf label system in Countdown Papatoetoe, the 100th store in New Zealand to feature the new system.
Earlier this year, the retailer announced plans for electronic shelf labels as part of its commitment to accuracy for customers.
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Stores equipped with this feature reduce pricing errors, as it requires less paper printing and manual changing of price tickets.
The supermarket chain already has more than 1.2 million electronic shelf labels in operation across Countdown/Woolworths stores.
By June 2024, it plans to transition 33 Countdown and Woolworths stores to electronic shelf labelling.
Woolworths New Zealand stores director Jason Stockill stated: “We’re privileged to serve over three million customers every week, and we need to make sure the tickets they see on the shelf are accurate and reflect the price they will be charged at checkout.
“Our team works very hard and takes a lot of care to achieve this, but our stores are busy places and we have thousands of products that are on special at any time – so unfortunately mistakes do happen.
“Whether it’s a paper ticket getting knocked out of place or a missed ticket change-over, we know errors are occurring and that’s unacceptable to us, which is why we’re investing in electronic shelf labels and committing to getting it right.”
The supermarket chain also asks its customers to report mistakes on shelf prices.
Woolworths’ refund policy requires a full refund for customers if they are charged more than the price shown on the ticket.
Stockill added: “Even if the error is only a couple of cents, we want to hear about it and make it right. It’s about to be a very busy time in our stores with the holiday season, and our priority is still to get our price labelling right, so please let us know if you see something incorrect.”
Earlier this month, Woolworths launched Direct to Boot, its new grocery pick-up service in New Zealand.
