Food waste is a pervasive issue in retail. The UN estimates that over 1.3 billion tons of food made for human consumption gets wasted every year. In the U.S., the EPA reports that retail stores, restaurants, and homes wasted about 66 million tons of food in 2019.
When you think about how much food one ton is, these numbers and statistics are alarming. Retailers must implement effective strategies like digital shelf label systems to reduce food waste, protect the environment, and boost their bottom lines. Read on to explore those strategies.
Strategies to Reduce Food Wastage within the Retail Industry
With certain effective strategies, it is possible for retailers to significantly reduce the amount of food waste occurring within their stores. Some key approaches that show promise include:
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Optimize Inventory Management
Closely monitoring supply and demand trends can help retailers better predict sales and purchasing requirements. This prevents overstocking of perishable food items and reduces surplus inventory that often ends up being wasted. Tools like inventory management software powered by AI and big data can optimize ordering volumes.
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Optimize Marketing Strategies
Promoting surplus or near-expiry products through targeted discounts is an effective strategy for selling excess inventory. Dynamic pricing allows the implementation of last-minute price drops to clear stock and reduce waste. You should also consider using digital signage for creative promotions to boost sales of food items that are approaching their sell-by dates.
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Adopt Digital Shelf Labels
Advanced electronic shelf label systems enable remote, real-time pricing updates on shelves across stores. This provides you the flexibility to implement timely marketing strategies and fluid inventory management practices that are critical to minimizing food waste.
The Role of Digital Shelf Labels in Food Waste Reduction
Digital shelf label systems are electronic displays attached to physical shelves that can be updated remotely and in real-time. They communicate dynamic pricing and promotional information to customers on the sales floor. These digital labels play a key role in combating food wastage through the following features:
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Real-Time Updates
Digital shelf label systems allow the implementation of dynamic pricing for sales promotion with the push of a button from any location. With features like price tags for retail stores, retailers can have the prices of their near-expiry food items cut remotely and promoted to clear stock before products go bad.
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Multiple Display Options
In addition to pricing, the electronic shelf labels provide flexibility to display additional product details, ingredients, and recipes. Furthermore, they allow access to online stores through QR code displays. This helps market specific items, boost consideration, and sell surplus inventory.
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Aesthetic Appearance
Sleek modern designs of digital shelf label systems attract shoppers’ attention and increase sales. Customers are prone to purchase items on appealing electronic shelf labels.
Hanshow Offers Advanced Electronic Shelf Labels
Hanshow is a global leader in providing retail digitalization solutions. Founded in 2011, our brand has grown rapidly to serve over half of the top 100 retailers worldwide with a range of intelligent retail systems. One of our core solutions is the advanced digital shelf label systems that form the backbone of digitally transformed stores. The key advantages of our digital price tags include (but are not limited to) the following:
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Highly accurate to ensure price accuracy and eliminate pricing discrepancies
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Improved delivery order picking efficiency with LED lighting, navigation, and more
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Expanded display options to provide more product information to customers, e.g., details, recipes, recommendations,
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Promoting employee well-being by removing tedious tasks so they can focus on more engaging work
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Promoting wastage reduction by eliminating the need for paper labels
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Boosting the store’s appearance via a modern aesthetic to attract more customers and drive sales
Overall, food waste poses significant economic and environmental costs for retailers globally. Adopting strategic solutions like digital shelf label technology is the key to dealing with this severe issue. As a global leader in retail digitization, our brand Hanshow is poised to help combat waste with reliable digital shelf label solutions. Contact our experts today to outline tangible approaches customized to your specific needs.
