In February 2021 Pricer’s CEO Helena Holmgren was interviewed in the Swedish trade magazine Fri Köpenskap about the growing ESL market and new technology.
Below is a summary in English. Click here to read the full article in Swedish. /Pricers vd om ny teknik och den hisnande tillväxten - Fri Köpenskap (fri-kopenskap.se)
Pricer is in a good position for growth, not just because only a few percent of the stores globally have electronic shelf labels (ESL). The company has also broadened its product portfolio and is well positioned for future technology development.
Pricer has increased its’ turnover in recent years and in the latest quarterly report, net sales rose despite the pandemic by 186 percent. Operating profit also increased to SEK 69 million compared to 24 during the same period the year before.
Helena Holmgren does not want to comment on how much she thinks Pricer can grow, but if you look at the annual reports you can see that the workforce is increasing rapidly, from 115 to 151 between December 2018 and December 2020.
The company's core business is electronic shelf labels, a market that is increasing with the in-store digitalization. Retailers and store managers are embracing solutions that save time and offers an alternative to paper labels, which must be changed as soon as the price changes.
But the biggest advantage according to Pricer are the use cases that are connected to the platform. One example is the flash on the label that can be used for various tasks, and for instance help e-commerce pickers to quickly find the right product on the shelf.
One customer has calculated the time saving to nine seconds per picked item, which is a lot of time when you sum up all online orders picked every day. Another customer has concluded that online picking is done 30–35 percent quicker with our solution”, said Helena Holmgren.
Another new hardware that Pricer has spent a lot of time developing is a shelf camera. The camera takes a few pictures per day, enough to keep track of how many items there are on the shelf to identify empty shelfs.
The penetration of electronic shelf labels in Sweden is difficult to calculate, but an estimate is approximately 15 percent. Pricer’s main markets are Western Europe, where Sweden is a very small part, and North America. In total, only a few percent of the stores globally are equipped with electronic shelf labels.
“We have a unique technology that differentiates us. Instead of radio waves, our system uses infrared light to communicate with the labels, which provides speed, reliability, and a significantly longer battery life than any of our competitors can offer”, said Helena Holmgren.
In five years, she anticipates in-store processes to be more algorithm driven based on real-time information, and Pricer wants to be part of that solution.
