Digital Price Tickets in Australia - Who uses them?

December 2024

Digital pricing tickets commonly knowns as Electronic Shelf Labels or ESL have become increasingly popular since they first started to appear on our shores back in 2020. So who uses them now and should retailers invest into the technology or not?

ALDI Australia has deployed all stores with electronic shelf labels made by Hanshow. The ones ALDI uses are 3 colour display tags operating on radio technology and in 3.5 inch size.

BWS, seen here using Vusion ESL in 2.6 inch size seems to be only testing the solutions on the market as only a handful of stores have been spotted using electronic tickets.

Dan Murphy's was one of the first Australian Retailers to adopt the technology. Currently all stores seem to be fully digital with various sizes from 2.1 inch all the way to big 10 inch digital tickets.

Cellabrations stores have been seen switching from paper to digital in 2024 however the approach hasn't been consistent, perhaps due to the franchised nature of the business. Some stores in Queensland are using Pricer 4 color tickets with infrared technology while some have been seen in Victoria using the latest radio technology by Vusion or Hanshow.

Coles seems to be playing with the technology for years now but still very few stores have it installed. This store in Melbourne uses Vusion (SES-imagotag) 4 color new radio technology tickets.

Woolworths was one of the early adopters of the technology with stores deployed with Vusion ESL as far back as 2019. Currently hundreds more Woolworths stores have installed Hanshow tickets.  

Total Tools has installed digital tickets by Hanshow in most its stores over the last year. Use of small f 1.5 inch sizes allows for a neat display in high density areas.

JB Hi-Fi has started installing Electronic price tickets in the past year. These tickets seem to be the latest technology by Vusion group also known as SES-imagotag. The ESL are showing various vibrant colors and seem to operate without any transmitters on the ceilings.

DFS was an early adopters of ESL technology, using Vusion ESL in their luxury department stores in Sydney and Brisbane.

IGA stores seem to using various vendors as they are independently owned. Some of the stores we found are:

MagaFresh IGA in Brisbane using multicolor Vusion ESL in various sizes up to 9.7 inch.

IGA Circular Quay NSW using Solum:

Which companies supply digital tickets in Australia?

There are at least 4 active and global vendors of electronic shelf label technology in Australia, it seems that the following are the most successful at the moment:

Hanshow - A successful Chinese company known for supplying Woolworths and Aldi, they seem to have a large range of hardware available.

https://www.hanshow.com/

VusionGroup (SES-imagotag) - The largest and best know global manufacturer of ESL, originally from France and known for supplying the biggest retailers in the world such as Walmart and Lidl.

https://www.vusion.com/

Solum - A Korean company with good references in Asia and somewhat new to Australia. They are known for their robust tickets with buttons.

https://www.solumesl.com/

Pricer - A well known Swedish company active since the nineties and popular in Europe and New Zealand.

https://www.pricer.com/

Should I buy digital tickets for my store?

It seems that the technology has become very mature and affordable. In 2024 Vusion announced a full deployment of hundred of millions of ESL to all Walmart stores in the US. Hanshow has also deployed thousands of stores in Asia pointing to the affordability of the technology.

in 2024 we also saw many smaller independent stores (IGA, Spar, Pharmacies,...) starting to use them in Australia, again pointing to the fact the technology must be easy to setup and use.

Overall ESL is definitely worth investigating in 2025 as it can significantly reduce your labor cost, allow staff to perform value added tasks, ensure pricing compliance, allow quick price changes for better margins and help you reduce waste in the store.

How can we help?

Hang and Display can help you with fixtures and fittings related to ESL. We are part of the international ISD group with decades of experience in fixtures and fittings for all major brands. At the end of day, an ESL deployment needs robust and neat fixings, that's our expertise.