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>it costs basically nothing to implement too, Eh. Don't be so sure of this. Yes, this technology exists. No, it's typically not feasible to implement. The ROI

>it costs basically nothing to implement too, Eh. Don't be so sure of this. Yes, this technology exists. No, it's typically not feasible to implement. The ROI simply doesn't make sense. Each store houses about 250,000 unique products. That means you'll need that many digital price tags. If they're $4 a peice (highly unlikely), thats 1M per store - and that's only in the new hardware. You also need to test different environments - will it work in freezers, coolers, and under heated lamps (150F temperatures)? Do those places have wifi access? Then you need to test and update the wireless infrastructure. Adding 250k devices to a network is not a small task. Then update whatever software exists to send out price updates. This is honestly the cheapest part, all things considered. And it can be applied to the whole chain / store by store, depends on the roll out strategy. All in all, it's at least 1 million per store. A brand new store costs the same amount. So you'd also be paying for the opportunity cost of not opening a new store. So you'd also lose out on the potential revenue of that new store. There's other factors to consider, but the math never shakes out positively. There are bigger fish to fry than price tags.

sigstoat 9y ago
> Each store houses about 250,000 unique products. https://corporate.walmart.com/_news_/news-archive/2005/01/07/our-retail-divisions https://corporate.walmart.com/_news_/news-archive/2005/01/07... "Supercenters average 187,000 square feet, employ 350 or more associates on average and offer 142,000 different items." > If they're $4 a peice (highly unlikely) looks like they're maybe $10 per on alibaba, in lowish volumes. > You also need to test different environments - will it work in freezers, coolers, and under heated lamps (150F temperatures)? they can just go check out any of the many places that already use such tags, and note that they work fine. > Do those places have wifi access? > Adding 250k devices to a network is not a small task. they use 433MHz ISM, and don't screw around with IP networking. here's an example device on alibaba https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Wireless-digital-price-tags-lcd-display_60338580763.html https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Wireless-digital-pric... > There's other factors to consider, but the math never shakes out positively. There are bigger fish to fry than price tags. they're used in hazel's in boulder, co. pretty sure i've seen them used in some other stores, though names aren't coming to mind at the moment.
wpietri 9y ago
Would you be so kind as to source some of your numbers? Here it says that a store has 120,000-142,000 products: https://corporate.walmart.com/_news_/news-archive/2005/01/07/our-retail-divisions https://corporate.walmart.com/_news_/news-archive/2005/01/07... And doing the math here, it appears to be circa $3m in just capex per new store: https://corporate.walmart.com/_news_/news-archive/2014/02/20/walmart-us-accelerates-small-store-growth https://corporate.walmart.com/_news_/news-archive/2014/02/20... I'm also suspicious of your claim of opportunity cost. Walmart has circa 6k stores and has annual profits in the $15 billion range, and the ability to tap the capital markets as needed. They appear to be able to afford both new stores and price tags.
pattle 9y ago
It would be a huge waste of money because I think the need for electronic price tags will be obsolete in around 5 years max. I think soon a lot of supermarkets will do same day delivery so you order your food during the day and it gets delivered to you at home the same evening. Or they may implement a system where you order online and you've given a collection time. Either way going into a supermarket and browsing up and down the isles will become less and less popular so it wouldn't make sense for supermarkets to invest in electronic price tags. I don't know for sure but that's how I see it going.

sigstoat 9y ago

> Each store houses about 250,000 unique products. https://corporate.walmart.com/_news_/news-archive/2005/01/07/our-retail-divisions https://corporate.walmart.com/_news_/news-archive/2005/01/07... "Supercenters average 187,000 square feet, employ 350 or more associates on average and offer 142,000 different items." > If they're $4 a peice (highly unlikely) looks like they're maybe $10 per on alibaba, in lowish volumes. > You also need to test different environments - will it work in freezers, coolers, and under heated lamps (150F temperatures)? they can just go check out any of the many places that already use such tags, and note that they work fine. > Do those places have wifi access? > Adding 250k devices to a network is not a small task. they use 433MHz ISM, and don't screw around with IP networking. here's an example device on alibaba https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Wireless-digital-price-tags-lcd-display_60338580763.html https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Wireless-digital-pric... > There's other factors to consider, but the math never shakes out positively. There are bigger fish to fry than price tags. they're used in hazel's in boulder, co. pretty sure i've seen them used in some other stores, though names aren't coming to mind at the moment.

wpietri 9y ago

Would you be so kind as to source some of your numbers? Here it says that a store has 120,000-142,000 products: https://corporate.walmart.com/_news_/news-archive/2005/01/07/our-retail-divisions https://corporate.walmart.com/_news_/news-archive/2005/01/07... And doing the math here, it appears to be circa $3m in just capex per new store: https://corporate.walmart.com/_news_/news-archive/2014/02/20/walmart-us-accelerates-small-store-growth https://corporate.walmart.com/_news_/news-archive/2014/02/20... I'm also suspicious of your claim of opportunity cost. Walmart has circa 6k stores and has annual profits in the $15 billion range, and the ability to tap the capital markets as needed. They appear to be able to afford both new stores and price tags.

pattle 9y ago

It would be a huge waste of money because I think the need for electronic price tags will be obsolete in around 5 years max. I think soon a lot of supermarkets will do same day delivery so you order your food during the day and it gets delivered to you at home the same evening. Or they may implement a system where you order online and you've given a collection time. Either way going into a supermarket and browsing up and down the isles will become less and less popular so it wouldn't make sense for supermarkets to invest in electronic price tags. I don't know for sure but that's how I see it going.