Electronic Shelf Label Market (ESL Market) - Global Outlook and Forecast 2019-2024

This market research report on the electronic shelf label market (ESL market) covers sizing and forecast, share, industry trends, growth drivers, and vendor analysis. The study includes insights on segmentation by display (LCD(TN LCD, TFT), EPD, and OLED), technology (vendor facing (RF and IR) and customer facing (BLE, NFC, others), end-users (supermarkets and hypermarkets, departmental stores, convenience stores, drugstores, others), and geography (North America (US, Canada), APAC (China, Japan, and Singapore), Europe (UK, Germany, France), MEA (UAE, Saudi Arabia, South Africa), and Latin America (Brazil and Mexico).

Market Dynamics

The rise in the retail environment is one of the prominent factors driving the global ESL market. The growing trend of retail stores to reduce the number of paper sheets to label price tags is driving the global electronic shelf label market. The introduction of dynamic pricing in-store through ESL has led retailers to provide a holistic experience to consumers, thereby driving the demand in the global market. Also, the replacement demand from retailers in developed economies is a major growth factor.

Miniaturization and decreasing cost of smart sensors are further accelerating the smart sensor and display industry, which, in turn, affect the global ESL market.  The use of e-ink technology in EPDs increases the efficiency of EPD shelf labels, thereby influencing their adoption. In addition, the increase in the ‘click and collect’ trend, where customers make the purchase online and collect the purchase from the store is increasing the growth of the global market.  The combination of ESL solutions with data analytics and competitive intelligence in providing pricing is one of the main digitization techniques witnessed in the e-retailing market.

The increase in minimum wages is likely to drive retailers to strategize their labor costs. Therefore, ESL stands as one of the avenues, which retailers can contain their labor costs as it ensures the removal of the manual processes around paper shelf label changes, price audits, printing, and transportation of paper labels.

Hence, the expanding retail market along with increasing labor costs is expected to drive retailers to switch to a centralized labeling system, thereby increasing the demand for electronic shelf labeling. Further, the growth in urbanization, changes in the retail landscape, and advancements in the technology are expected to boost the ESL Market during the forecast period. The electronic shelf label market (ESL Market) is expected to reach over $2 billion by 2024 and is expected to grow at an impressive CAGR of around 27%, during 2018–2024.

Electronic Shelf Label Market (ESL Market): Segmentation

This research report includes a detailed segmentation of the market by display type, technology, end-user, and geography.

Insights by Technology

The expanding retail market is driving retailers to adopt customer-facing technology

The vendor facing segment held the largest share of the electronic shelf label market in 2018. Europe was the largest market for vendor facing technology, which was followed by the APAC region. Radiofrequency, which is a subset of vendor facing technology, has universal application and is regulated through agencies such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the US and the Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) in Europe.

In terms of value, Europe was the leader in the customer-facing ESL market in 2018. The expanding retail market coupled with increasing labor costs is driving retailers to adopt a centralized labeling system, which is driving the demand for customer-facing shelf labels in the region. However, Latin America is likely to witness fastest growth rate during the forecast period. The increased automation in the retail industry, along with expanding organized retail, is driving the demand for customer-facing ESL in Latin America.

Insights by End-user

Hypermarkets and supermarkets are primary adopters to capitalize on evolving consumer preferences

The end-users is segmented into supermarkets and hypermarkets, departmental stores, convenience stores, drugstores, and others. The adoption of ESL is currently driven by hypermarkets, supermarkets, and convenience stores, which are looking for better leverage technology to capitalize on evolving consumer preferences and tackle the growing threat from the e-commerce sector. The high presence of stock keeping units and high distribution stores across locations makes the implementation of the shelf labels more favorable than other retail store formats.

Convenience stores are widely adopting ESLs. They operate with minimal manpower and need a centralized control system to dynamically change the price and reflect the same across other centers. Further, Germany, France, Italy, Denmark, and the UK have widely adopted ESL labels, thereby driving the market globally.

Insights by Display Type

The adoption of EPD is expected to grow faster than other display technologies during the forecast period

LCD, EPD (E-Paper or Electrophoretic Displays), and OLED are the three major display technologies. Currently, the LCD segment is dominating the market in terms of volume. However, the adoption of EPDs has been growing, and they are expected to grow faster than other display technologies during the forecast period. 

Manufacturers have started to adopt EPD displays due to low-power consumption, high visibility, and paper-like display. They are widely used in e-reader applications. EPD displays are also available in extra color pigments. Chroma red and Chroma yellow of Display Data, and SES-Imagotag G1 retail 1.6 red are the examples of colored EPDs. Colored EPDs have high impact at the shelf edges, especially for product promotion.

Insights by Geography

Latin America is expected to be the fastest growing electronic shelf label market

Europe accounted for the largest share of the ESL market in 2018 due to the high presence of multi-store format retailers in the region. Further, factors such as high average wages, multi-format retail operations with massive sourcing and sales operation, and a highly competitive retailing market have significantly contributed to the growth in the region. France, the UK, and Germany are the highest revenue generators as well as the most important markets both in terms of potential and proliferation.

Further, Latin America is expected to become the fastest growing market for electronic shelf labels during the forecast period. The increased automation in the retail industry, coupled with the presence of the most dynamic retail sectors with continually evolving consumer preferences that are receptive to new purchasing formats and products, is expected to drive the market.

The market in North America is witnessing a paradigm shift as consumers rely on multichannel buying, leverage smartphones for the best bargain both online and offline, weigh-in social decisions and peer reviews, and ready-to-try guided purchases. These factors are expected to increase the dominance of online retailing over offline retailing in the coming years.

Key Countries Profiled

• Brazil
• Canada
• China
• France
• Germany
• Japan
• Mexico
• Saudi Arabia
• Singapore
• South Africa
• UAE
• UK
• US

Key Vendor Analysis

In terms of sales, revenues, and innovation, the electronic shelf label market is dominated by two major players − Pricer and SES Imagotag. Price, replacement, and integrated services, portfolio depth, and brand reach are the major factors that help vendors to remain competitive. Many ESL installation contracts often turn into a multi-year arrangement wherein the service includes the supply of tags (electronic price tag, digital price tag), price, and supply analytics, POS hardware, and software. Further, the competition is expected to intensify during the forecast period with an increase in product/service extensions, technological innovations, and mergers and acquisitions.

Key Vendors

• SES-imagotag
• Pricer
• Displaydata Ltd.
• Altierre Corp.
• DIGI

Other prominent players are E-Ink Holdings Inc., Samsung Electro Mechanics (SEMCO), Mirador Marketing, M2COMM, Powershelf, SoluM, CEST Ltd., LG Innotek, NZ Electronic Shelf Label, Opticon Inc., Hanshow Technology, Pervasive Displays Inc., (PDI), Wincor Nixdorf, Dana Industries, ifLabel, UBIIK, Huawei, Omni ID, MpicoSys, TroniTAG and LG Innotek, and Wuxi Vision Peak Technology Co. Ltd.

Key Market Insights

• Offers sizing and growth prospects of the ESL Market for the forecast period 2019–2024.
• Provides comprehensive insights on the latest industry trends, forecast, and growth drivers in the market.
• Includes a detailed analysis of growth drivers, challenges, and investment opportunities.
• Delivers a complete overview of segments and the regional outlook of the market.
• Offers an exhaustive summary of the vendor landscape, competitive analysis, and key strategies to gain competitive advantage.