Marks & Spencer (M&S) will introduce new digital shelf edge labels across a number of new stores as it continues to invest in modernising store operations and improving the in-store experience for customers and colleagues.

Deployed in partnership with IoT technology company Vusion, M&S will use Bluetooth-enabled digital infrastructure to connect store systems, product information and colleague activity across the shop floor. M&S said the rollout could expand to additional stores in the future.

The first phase of the roll out will focus on improving daily store operations. The retailer said the technology will help employees locate products more quickly through location-aware features such as flashing shelf labels, improve the management of product information and simplify inventory processes and shop floor execution.

M&S said the deployment will also create a digital foundation to support future store technology and innovation.

Roy Horgan, chief executive officer for the UK and Ireland at Vusion, said: “We are pleased to be working with M&S as it continues to invest in its store estate and colleague experience. Our Connected Store platform is designed to help retailers improve operational execution while providing the infrastructure to support future innovation.”

In September, Asda announced it had completed the rollout of similar electronic shelf edge labels across all 517 of its Asda Express convenience stores as part of a £7.5 million investment in in-store technology.

The rollout replaced the need for employees to manually change more than 120,000 paper shelf-edge price tickets every week and allow them to spend more time serving customers, improving product availability and maintaining store standards.

In February Carrefour announced it will digitise all its hypermarkets and supermarkets in France by 2030 and will deploy electronic shelf labels, smart rails and AI-driven cameras to improve operational efficiency and the in-store customer experience.

The company will also roll out IoT infrastructure to provide real-time price updates and assist employees, Bluetooth-connected rails that enable automatic product geolocation to optimise e-commerce order preparation and shelf restocking and micro-cameras to continuously analyse shelves to detect stock and pricing errors.

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