What retailers are using electronic price tag system?

The integration of electronic price tag (EPT) systems has emerged as a transformative trend in modern retail, driven by the imperative for operational efficiency, real-time pricing flexibility, and elevated customer experiences. As of 2025, a growing array of global and regional retailers are adopting this technology to streamline operations and maintain a competitive edge in an ever-evolving marketplace.

Prominent Retailers Leveraging Electronic Price Tag Systems

Walmart: A Global Trailblazer
Walmart, the world’s largest retail conglomerate, has been at the forefront of EPT adoption. In the United States, the company plans to deploy these systems across 2,300 stores by 2026, enabling real-time price updates for over 120,000 stock-keeping units (SKUs) via its Me@Walmart mobile application. This initiative not only reduces manual labor costs but also empowers dynamic pricing strategies—such as adjusting prices based on regional competition or inventory levels. In China, Walmart is rolling out EPTs in 60 pilot stores by early 2025, aiming to minimize operational errors and expedite order fulfillment for its expanding online-to-offline (O2O) business model.

CR Vanguard: China’s Retail Giant Modernizing Operations
Chinese supermarket chain CR Vanguard has utilized electronic price tag systems since 2019, replacing traditional paper labels across more than 10,000 product categories. Integrated with Huawei’s IoT infrastructure, their system achieves a refresh rate seven times faster than conventional EPTs, updating 20,000 labels in just three minutes. This efficiency allows CR Vanguard to synchronize prices seamlessly across physical stores and e-commerce platforms, reducing customer complaints and enhancing inventory accuracy—a critical advantage in China’s fast-paced retail landscape.

Lawson and T11: Innovating in Convenience and Specialty Retail
Japanese convenience store chain Lawson employs EPTs to optimize inventory management and pricing for perishable goods. By linking these tags to AI-driven demand forecasting systems, Lawson automatically reduces prices for near-expiry items, significantly minimizing food waste. In China, specialty retailer T11 uses electronic price tags to enhance customer engagement, displaying detailed product information—such as origin, ingredients, and personalized promotions. This strategy has boosted customer satisfaction by 20%, demonstrating the dual operational and experiential benefits of the technology.

Xiaomi Youpin: Blending Tech and Retail Seamlessly
Xiaomi’s lifestyle brand, Xiaomi Youpin, utilizes electronic price tag systems in its offline stores to create a unified shopping experience. Each tag displays real-time pricing and includes QR codes that allow customers to access additional product details or make direct purchases via the Xiaomi app. This integration aligns with Xiaomi’s strategy to merge online and offline retail, enhancing convenience while enabling data-driven inventory management—a hallmark of its tech-centric approach.

Core Advantages of Electronic Price Tag Systems

Real-Time Pricing Agility: EPTs empower retailers to adjust prices instantaneously in response to market fluctuations, promotional campaigns, or inventory changes. For example, Walmart’s dynamic pricing hub has increased sales conversion rates by 23% in price-sensitive categories, showcasing the system’s ability to drive revenue through strategic pricing.

Cost and Labor Efficiency: By eliminating manual label printing and replacement, retailers like CR Vanguard save millions of yuan annually on operational costs. The technology’s payback period in China now averages just three years, a significant reduction from earlier iterations, driven by advancements in connectivity and battery life.

Data-Driven Decision-Making: EPT systems collect valuable data on customer interactions, such as shelf dwell time and price-check frequency. Retailers leverage these insights to optimize product placement, marketing strategies, and inventory turnover. T11, for instance, reduced out-of-stock rates by 85% using data analytics from its EPT network, improving both supply chain efficiency and customer satisfaction.

Enhanced Trust and Accuracy: Accurate, real-time pricing eliminates checkout discrepancies, a common source of customer frustration. Historically, retailers like Carrefour faced challenges with price mismatches, but EPTs ensure consistency between shelf labels and point-of-sale systems, fostering trust and loyalty.

HIGHLIGHT’s HA290: A State-of-the-Art Solution

HIGHLIGHT’s HA290 represents the next generation of electronic price tag technology, designed for large-scale retail environments. Key features include:

Ultra-Low Power Consumption: With a battery lifespan exceeding five years, the HA290 minimizes maintenance requirements and environmental impact, ideal for retailers seeking long-term, sustainable solutions.

High-Contrast E-Paper Display: Utilizing electrophoretic ink technology, the display ensures excellent visibility in all lighting conditions while supporting multi-language content and rich media, such as promotional graphics or product specifications.

Seamless Integration Capabilities: The HA290 connects effortlessly with existing POS, inventory, and CRM systems, operated through HIGHLIGHT’s cloud-based platform. This enables centralized management of complex pricing strategies, such as tiered discounts for loyalty program members or location-based promotions.

Scalable Performance: Suitable for both small convenience stores and large hypermarkets, the HA290 supports simultaneous updates across thousands of tags with minimal latency, as proven in Walmart’s U.S. pilot stores. Its robust architecture ensures reliability even in high-traffic, high-data environments.

The Future of Electronic Price Tag Systems

The global market for electronic price tag systems is projected to surpass 370 billion Chinese yuan by 2025, fueled by advancements in IoT, AI, and 5G connectivity. Retailers are increasingly recognizing EPTs not just as pricing tools but as foundational components of digital transformation. Future applications may include AR-powered product recommendations, automated inventory audits, and even real-time engagement with shoppers via interactive tags. As consumer expectations evolve and competition intensifies, EPT systems are set to become indispensable for retailers aiming to balance operational excellence, customer-centric innovation, and long-term profitability.

In summary, electronic price tag systems have transitioned from a niche innovation to a strategic necessity in retail. Solutions like HIGHLIGHT’s HA290 exemplify how cutting-edge technology can drive efficiency, enhance experiences, and future-proof businesses in an era defined by digital disruption. As more retailers embrace this shift, the industry is poised to redefine what it means to operate efficiently and engage customers in a connected world.