Walmart has announced that it will implement digital shelf labels (DSLs) in 2,300 stores by 2026.

The US retail giant has been testing the technology, which will replace paper price tags, at stores in Texas.

There are around 120,000 products on shelves in its stores, with each item needing an individual price tag that must be changed regularly to reflect offers, reductions and pricing updates.

The DSLs, which have been developed in partnership with Vusion Group, allow employees at Walmart to update prices at the shelf using a mobile app. Walmart said this reduces the need to walk around the shop to change paper tags by hand and gives employees more time to support customers.

The company estimates that a price change that used to take an employee two days to update now takes only minutes with the new system.

The move comes after several UK retailers have recently adopted electronic shelf-labelling technology, including Co-op, which in March announced it had partnered with Pricer to install a new digital shelf labelling platform in over 120 food stores in the east of England.

German discounter Lidl also said in February that it will switch from paper pricing tags to electronic shelf labels following a successful trial in over 35 stores. The supermarket estimates the move will save around 206 tonnes of carbon through paper and packaging reductions.

Last week Alphamega, the largest grocery retailer in Cyprus, announced plans to install electronic shelf labels across its store network. The shelf labels, which have been installed in partnership with technology company Pricer, are managed through a cloud-based platform.

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