THE WHISKY EXCHANGE

In 2018, The Whisky Exchange signed an agreement with Solum ESL for the provision of electronic shelf labels to its stores. By implementing SOLUM's ESLs, The Whisky Exchange can synchronize their online and offline prices, improve their shelf management, improve the efficiency of their staff when finding products for orders, save on high marketing costs, and provide their patrons with a better buying experience. 

Requirements

Managing an inventory of alcoholic drinks of all kinds and from different countries can be very complex yet extremely crucial. In particular, all products in TWE stores should have a corresponding shelf label which would give the customer essential information that they need to select the right product according to their drinking preference and budget. 

Aside from the required special handling, but the variance of products in terms of alcohol content, special ingredients, types of barrel used to ferment, and age of liquor and spirit, among other factors, warranted a shelf labeling system that is capable of displaying all this information accurately and clearly to the customer. 

Results

By implementing ESL, TWE has been able to cut the process of updating the prices of their products in both stores from 8 weeks to just 1 hour. This provided the management as well as the store staff with the much needed time on more essential aspects of their operations such as catering to numerous customer inquiries and assisting in-store clients especially when they need to know more about a particular item on the shelf. The staff also now spend less time locating products in the store through the NFC feature of the ESLs.

With ESL in place, the management is now capable of conducting promotions or sales regardless of the time and day of the week. Because the prices can be updated in real-time, it will allow the TWE to maximize profits by timing their sales during peak days of the week or holidays when the demand for wine and spirits are higher than usual.

Ultimately, the newly-installed ESLs have aesthetic value and functions designed to engage the customers in the same way that TWE’s website is capable of. The SOLUM ESL team in the UK headed by Mr. Mark Duckworth spent at least three weeks engaging and understanding TWE’s unique aesthetic preferences and desired business benefits they want to obtain from the ESLs.

Such time allocated for planning has resulted in the successful installation of ESLs that not only adds a modernized look and feel inside the stores but also provide customers with a more interactive liquor shopping experience.