Customer success stories

Partnerships

March 1, 2023

Coca-Cola to experiment SES-imagotag’s VUSION Ads technology in Japan

SES-imagotag, (Euronext: SESL, FR0010282822) the global leader in digital solutions for physical retail, is pleased to announce that Coca-Cola will be using the VUSION Ads technology to deliver digital advertising and media content at the shelf in retail stores in Japan. This solution is based on cloud operated full HD shelf-displays (V:rail) allowing CPG brands to synchronize marketing campaigns across channels and display engaging content in stores.

This in-store advertising solution, already implemented in several countries around the world, will first be deployed in 22 locations across Tokyo’s districts. Fully based in the Cloud, VUSION Ads will enable Coca-Cola to boost in-store visibility and presence through synchronized and contextualized messaging, by leveraging VUSION Rails (full HD LCD rail displays) and the associated Cloud platform.

VUSION Ads will help Coca-Cola to drive up sales and raise its brand awareness among shoppers, while at the same time reducing cost linked to campaign executions. Coca-Cola will also be able to monitor content and results in real-time thanks to the V:Cloud platform analytics.

Ritchie Huang, VP of Sales & Strategic Alliances APAC at SES-imagotag: “VUSION Ads is a solution designed to help brands to maximize in-store visibility, synchronize campaigns across channels, and to create sales uplifts. Being selected by Coca-Cola for a first roll-out in Japan is a clear sign that this technology will enable brands to achieve these goals, and that the platform that we have developed is providing them with a decisive marketing and advertising solution.”

MPK Garages selects SES-imagotag for the digitization and trading analytics of 30 stores across the UK

SES-imagotag (Euronext: SESL, FR0010282822), the global leader in digital solutions for physical retail, today announced that it has been selected to roll-out its cutting-edge technology in the stores of MPK Garages across the United Kingdom. MPK Garages is a leading independent operator of service stations, operating through the branded retail chains Morrisons, Pop-In Daily & Londis, with a total of 30 stores.

The implementation of the VUSION platform developed by SES-imagotag, including electronic shelf labels (ESLs), VUSION cloud services, and the Pulse pricing analytics and intelligence platform, will enable MPK Garages to deploy agile price automation and synchronization across all sales channels, while benefiting from advanced trading analytics and insights based on retail data.

MPK Garages’ selection of SES-imagotag’s VUSION platform is the result of a successful two-month pilot program in two MPK Garages stores, carried out in September of last year. The deployment of ESLs and the Pulse platform led to significant sales increase on spotlighted products. Overrides and refunds were also reduced heavily as a result of full pricing synchronicity between the shelf and the company’s POS system, CBE Software which has led to further margin improvements for the business. The optimized pricing enabled by the adoption of the VUSION platform will lead to improved cash margins in addition to cost savings related to waste & reduction, meaning MPK Garages are on course to see a full return on investment in under 12 months.

In addition to the roll-out of ESLs, Pulse and VUSION cloud capabilities, MPK Garages and SES-imagotag will implement a second pilot program to deploy VUSION platform tools Captana and Engage, enabling MPK Garages the ability to capture and analyze customer purchase data, and thus providing the company with critical information to minimize stock-outs and to improve the overall customer experience.

Wayne Harrand, MPK Garages’ Retail Director, stated: “The roll-out of ESLs and the implementation of Pulse has allowed us to evolve our business model. The VUSION platform enables us to centrally manage the timing and pricing changes as well as promotions across the estate seamlessly. It also eliminates the inefficiencies and execution problems inherent in paper tickets. Timely implementation of promotions, combined with the ability to track, measure and analyze the effectiveness of our promotional activity will add significantly to the efficiency — and ultimately to the profitability — of our business. We will also be able to act more dynamically on pricing, make improvements in our procurement processes, and optimize the timing and execution of our promotions. We are very enthusiastic about the adoption of SES-imagotag’s VUSION platform and the numerous advantages it will provide us going forward,” concluded Mr. Harrand.

Sébastien Fourcy, SEVP EMEA of SES-imagotag, added: “We are delighted and grateful to have been chosen by MPK Garages for the implementation of in-store digitalization, monitoring and sales data solutions across most of the MPK Estate. After the successful pilot and case study we conducted in two of MPK Garages stores we are confident that our digital and cloud-based solutions add significant value to MPK Garages operations, and we look forward to growing our relationship further via the roll-out of Captana and Engage in the near future.”

Exeger and SES-imagotag begin strategic collaboration to pioneer a more sustainable approach to commerce

As the retail industry continues its digital transformation journey, SES-imagotag, (Euronext: SESL, FR0010282822) the global leader in digital solutions for physical retail, today announced the launch of a strategic collaboration with Exeger, the Swedish deep-tech company behind the revolutionary solar cell technology Powerfoyle™.

The objective of the companies is to set a new light-powered standard in retail. This has the potential to reduce both maintenance need and carbon footprint.

The importance of sustainability in the retail industry continues to rise. According to research from IBM and the National Retail Federation (2022), nearly 70% of consumers in the U.S. and Canada believe it is important that a brand is sustainable or eco-friendly. The study shows retailers and brands need to lead with purpose—and use technology as a differentiator—to enable customers to build their own shopping journeys. They also need to help consumers live their values through the products they buy, including how they’re sourced, manufactured, and delivered.

Sustainability will also fuel innovation in the years ahead for the retail industry. With its long-standing history of pioneering new technology, SES-imagotag is today leading the charge on innovation with a purpose: creating a positive impact on society by enabling sustainable and human-centered commerce. Leading provider of solutions to modernize physical stores and streamline daily operations through digital shelves and IoT management, SES-imagotag’s core pursuit is to enable a more sustainable retail. Partnering with Exeger intends to allow both companies to further explore alternative power sources for retail applications.

Andreas Rössl, CTO of SES-imagotag, comments: “We believe in the potential of combining Exeger’s indoor light-charging technology and SES-imagotag’s electronic labels and IoT devices to help reduce the need for batteries, which would be a major environmental breakthrough. We are looking forward to exploring this path together as we are convinced that digitizing physical retail can contribute tremendously to sustainability. With our technology, retailers are pioneers in building a low-carbon, sustainable and socially positive retail development model by harnessing the power of digital technologies.”

Powerfoyle is a new solar cell technology, invented and produced by Exeger on industrial scale using environmentally friendly, non-toxic materials. The technology, which is based on a breakthrough nanomaterial innovation, with organic dyes that convert any light energy to electrical energy. Powerfoyle has been optimized to cater to the growing IoT and smart home markets, which typically have products that are placed indoors and are primarily exposed to artificial light.

“We are always looking for markets where Powerfoyle has the potential to have a significant impact. In the retail sector there is a huge appetite for technological transformation,” says Giovanni Fili, CEO and Founder of Exeger. “By integrating our ground-breaking technology seamlessly into physical stores, we believe that together with SES-imagotag, we can set a new standard by creating a more sustainable approach to commerce.”

HowGood Announces its Climate Impact Labels will be Displayed on Food Products at COP28 to Drive Sustainability Transparency and Carbon Footprint Awareness

Through a partnership with Majid Al Futtaim which operates Carrefour in the UAE, and SES-imagotag, the global leader in digital solutions for physical commerce, HowGood’s research-backed impact labels will be digitally displayed on 2,500 food items across five stores including at COP28

Stone Ridge, N.Y., November 28, 2023 – Today, HowGood, a sustainability intelligence platform with the world’s largest ingredient and product sustainability database, announces a partnership with Majid Al Futtaim which operates Carrefour in the UAE, to bring its climate labels to food products at COP28 in order to highlight sustainable choices for shoppers and celebrate product impact transparency. Starting on November 28, those visiting the Carrefour stores located at Mall of the Emirates, City Centre Deira, and City Centre Mirdif, Dubai International Airport’s Terminal 3 and its store at COP28 will be able to identify the environmental and social impact of their food purchase through three labels provided by HowGood, including product carbon footprints and comprehensive sustainability attributes.

HowGood’s sustainability insights on over 33,000 food ingredients provide both retailers and food brands with the granular data required for sustainability storytelling that resonates with consumers. The Carrefour stores featuring HowGood labels will utilize SES-imagotag’s digital shelf edge tags for 2,500 food products, allowing for seamless visibility where consumers are making purchasing decisions. The three labels bring transparency to areas of global concern with regard to reducing the food industry’s impact on climate change, including:

Product Carbon Footprint: A measure of the greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) of a product, from cradle-to-shelf.
Comprehensive HowGood Sustainability Rating: Products that receive HowGood’s “Best” rating have a social and environmental impact better than 95% of all products assessed by HowGood. Those rated “Great” are better than 85%, and those rated “Good” are better than 70%. Sustainability ratings are also part of Carrefour’s “Choose Better” program, which is also launching at COP28.
Product Sustainability Attributes: Shoppers looking for insight into additional areas of climate concern can use HowGood’s attributes to identify products that: use less water than average in their production (Water Smart), have lower greenhouse gas emissions than average (Climate Friendly), have a simple formula with seven or fewer ingredients (Clean Label), are made with ingredients that are not dependent on commercial or industrial processing (Minimally Processed), and respect workers’ rights and dignity (Fair Labor).

HowGood’s labels have been proven to help guide shoppers toward more sustainable offerings. For example, in a recent engagement with SES-imagotag in London, the use of HowGood attributes increased product sales on average by 25.8%, and the use of the Fair Labor attribute, in particular, saw a lift of 45.1%.

“With the COP28 Food Systems and Agriculture Agenda, there is no better time to partner with Majid Al Futtaim to help Carrefour shoppers choose products that align with their environmental and social values,” said Ethan Soloviev, Chief Innovation Officer at HowGood. “With more than a third of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions linked to the food system, food brands and retailers have an immense opportunity to drive transparency and empower more sustainable decision-making. Our launch at COP28 will be a clear signal of where the future of retail is headed with regard to sustainability. ”

Sheila Chaiban CMO at Majid Al Futtaim Retail

“Our launch of the Choose Better programme is not only a testament to our commitment to sustainability, it also aligns with our purpose to help customers shop smarter and live better by helping them make healthier, more sustainable shopping choices. Powered by HowGood’s product rating system and SES-imagotag’s smart labels, we’re excited to enable shoppers to find products that are better for the planet.”

Sheila Chaiban CMO at Majid Al Futtaim Retail

“We are delighted to partner with HowGood and Majid Al Futtaim during the COP28, to better influence Carrefour consumers’ decisions at the shelf-edge through sustainable information provided by our technologies. Moreover, after our successful collaboration with HowGood at Kavanagh’s Budgens Belsize Park in the UK, and now at Carrefour, it gives our partnership with HowGood significant scale and impact, moving from an independent retailer to a major retailer. We'll continue to offer this unique value proposition to more customers running on our VUSION Cloud next year, as our aim is to create a positive impact on society by enabling sustainable and human-centered commerce.”

Roy Horgan SEVP Strategy, Marketing & Communications of SES-imagotag

HowGood’s product labels for Sustainability Ratings, Attributes, and Carbon Footprint will be displayed at Carrefour’s COP28 store locations starting November 28 and will be live for the next three months, as well as in select Carrefour stores throughout the UAE. For more information about the partnership, HowGood’s impact labels, research and methodology, please visit https://howgood.com/carrefouruae-cop28/.

Prathibha Rajashekhar, SVP Automation & Innovation Walmart US, interview at NRF2024

At NRF2024, we had the privilege of hosting Omni Talk Retail’s Anne Mezzenga and Chris Walton on our booth as they interviewed retail executives throughout the show. Among them, Prathibha Rajashekhar SVP Automation & Innovation, Stores & Supply Chain at Walmart, talked about her background, the purpose of putting technology at the service of people, and the deployment of EdgeSense™, the highly innovative Digital Shelf System that reinvents the shelf-edge, across Walmart US stores.

“We want to be as accurate in our pricing for our customers but also, simplify those jobs for our associates. That’s why 2023 was the year when we said, we found the right technology through the right partner and then, we tested it and we have confidence that it can scale. Electronic shelf labels simplify the jobs of our associates, and they love it!” said Prathibha Rajashekhar, SVP Automation & Innovation, Stores & Supply Chain at Walmart.

Read the full Press Release about EdgeSense™ that explains all about this unique innovation running the recently launched VusionOX, a Bluetooth SIG-LE based protocol and VusionCloud. EdgeSense™ integrates centralized communications, precise geolocation, and device-to-device interactions to enable a wide range of location-based services at scale.

SES-imagotag introduces leading-edge Retail IoT infrastructure with Cisco Meraki

SES-imagotag, the global leader in Electronic Shelf Labels (ESLs) and Retail IoT solutions, today introduces a leading-edge IoT infrastructure for physical stores with Cisco Meraki.

As consumers continue to embrace new ways of shopping, the adoption of tech-enabled solutions will be crucial in accelerating digital transformation. By implementing Cisco Meraki cloud-managed wireless solutions, SES-imagotag is able to provide retailers with enhanced in-store efficiency and shopping experiences for its customers. Further, SES-imagotag will benefit from Cisco Meraki’s global network footprint of millions of devices to deliver a solution for physical retailers, at very limited cost.

By leveraging existing Cisco Meraki infrastructure, retailers will have the opportunity to connect seamlessly to SES-imagotag’s VUSION Retail IoT platform. As a result, allowing retailers access to a wide range of software services developed by SES-imagotag, such as pricing automation, product geolocation, automatic stockout detection, pick-to-light, in-store advertising, mobile payment, etc.

“This partnership will enable a quicker adoption of our solution in the world. The undeniable expertise that Cisco Meraki has accumulated, connected to SES-imagotag’s Retail IoT solutions, brings physical retailers a cost-efficient and an ESL infrastructure-light solution to help them achieve their digital transformation and get the most out of the current IoT revolution in physical commerce. I am delighted to partner with Meraki to turn physical stores into digital assets for retailers”, concludes Andreas Rössl, Group CTO of SES-imagotag.

SES-imagotag, the global leader in Electronic Shelf Labels (ESLs) and Retail IoT solutions, today introduces a leading-edge IoT infrastructure for physical stores with Cisco Meraki.