Bluetooth SIG Releases Wireless Standard for Electronic Shelf Label Market

Bluetooth SIG Releases Wireless Standard for Electronic Shelf Label Market

Industry leaders join the ESL ecosystem, standardization helps economies of scale and eliminates development barriers

Beijing, February 9, 2023 - The Bluetooth SIG, the industry association responsible for developing Bluetooth technology, today released a new wireless standard for the Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) market. ESL systems have always relied on private wireless communication protocols between manufacturers, which has posed a potential obstacle to global adoption. To meet this challenge, leaders in the ESL industry collaborated with the Bluetooth SIG to create a set of scalable, extremely low-power and highly secure ESL wireless standards based on Bluetooth technology.

“Interoperability and standardization are in the DNA of Bluetooth technology. Our members have a long and rich history of developing standards for market expansion and mass adoption of new product categories,” said Mark Powell, CEO of the Bluetooth SIG. “The emergence of a wireless standard for the ESL market will usher in the next phase of the digital transformation of the retail industry, benefiting stores and customers.”

Traditional retail shelves generally use error-prone paper labels and rely on manual price marking, which may require label replacement multiple times a day. Electronic shelf labels are small, battery-powered electronic displays that can replace paper labels, display product and price information on the edge of the shelf, and use wireless technology and central hub equipment to create a dynamic pricing automation network. The ESL system enables retailers to automatically set prices, improve store operating efficiency and customer satisfaction.

“More and more retailers are looking to adopt Internet of Things (IoT) technologies to help them improve operational efficiency, conversion rates, and attract customers back to stores,” said Andrew Zignani, research director at ABI Research . “However, some retailers have been hesitant to adopt ESL technology due to concerns about vendor lock-in, interoperability, scalability, and the ability to expand it to other smart retail initiatives. The introduction of the Bluetooth ESL standard will help reduce potential barriers for retailers to invest in IoT technology and accelerate adoption and innovation.”

“SES-imagotag is committed to helping the global retail industry realize the full potential of stores through digitization and electronic shelf labels. Standardization of ESL connectivity provides another way to achieve this goal. We are honored to use our expertise and play a leading role in establishing global standards together with the Bluetooth SIG,” said Philipp Maurer, Vice Chairman of the Bluetooth SIG ESL Working Group and Vice President of Engineering at SES-imagota. “We are excited to expand our platform capabilities with Bluetooth technology, enabling us to offer a broader portfolio of IoT solutions tailored to the unique needs of our customers.”

Shelf-edge standardization through Bluetooth technology also brings benefits to ESL developers including economies of scale and optimized allocation of development resources.

“We are proud to work with the Bluetooth SIG and its members to lead the standardization of ESL connectivity,” said Art Miller, vice president of business development and head of retail marketing at Qualcomm . “With a mature product certification program and unparalleled adoption, Bluetooth technology is the logical choice to build a frictionless, interoperable ESL ecosystem. The adoption of a standardized wireless communication approach can greatly reduce the complexity of ESL development, allowing development teams to focus on delivering higher value-added, differentiated features to customers.”

Bluetooth ESL products will use the new features in the Bluetooth Core Specification Version 5.4 released today, as well as the upcoming Electronic Shelf Label Profile specification, which will define how to use these new features to create interoperable ESL systems.