Pricing Better

Electronic shelf label (ESL) is an emerging price display technology around the world. While these new technologies require non-trivial investments by the retailer, they also promise significant operational efficiencies in the form of savings in material, labor and managerial costs. The presumed benefits of ESL, for example, tend to be focused around lower price adjustment costs (PAC), also known as menu costs. However, ESL not only can save PAC but may also enable the retailer to price “better,” generating greater value for the transacting parties. Thus, ESL’s strategic impact for retailers occurs between claiming these presumed efficiencies and realizing the value generating potential. Using transactions data from a longitudinal field experiment, we assess such impact of ESL by studying how it shapes retail pricing practices and outcomes.