Sainsbury’s aisle change could signal end of an era for classic shopping feature

Sainsbury’s is making another change to its supermarkets (Picture: Bloomberg via Getty Images)

We’ve seen a number of changes being tested in supermarkets of late – from Tesco adding locked security cabinets to the introduction of Scan & Shop devices that let you skip the checkouts completely.

Many of these have prompted strong reactions from shoppers, with some baffled and others downright ‘horrified’ feeling like ‘big brother’ is watching them.

The most recent change being trialed shops isn’t likely to cause such a fuss though, although it could signal the end of a classic supermarket feature.

Retailers across the UK are trying out new electronic shelf-edge labels (ESLs), with Sainsbury’s being the latest to give them a go.

The retailer is trialing new electronic shelf edge labels, which would replace classic paper ones (Picture: Alex Segre/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Sainsbury’s is believed to have installed the new electronic labels in several of its bigger stores, across items such as wine, beer, spirits and health products. 

The technology allows staff to update prices for products remotely on a computer, removing the need to use traditional paper price labels and replace them each time a price goes up or down.

According to The Grocer, the new electronic labels are currently being trialed in the Witney store in Oxfordshire. This is one of the company’s ‘Future Stores’ in which they test new aisle and display formats as well as different technology. Another of its kind can be found at Kiln Lane in Epsom, Surrey.

The Epsom store was renovated in November 2024 and is known as a ‘Destination Plus’ supermarket as it stocks the retailer’s entire range of food, general merchandise and clothing, as such it’s a store that people travel for miles to get to. 

Speaking about the new labels, a Sainsbury’s spokeswoman confirmed they were being ‘trialed […] in a number of stores’ but they didn’t share any other information on them.

The technology isn’t new and has been around for 30 years, being used in various stores around the world (Picture: Lindsey Nicholson/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Sainsbury’s isn’t the only retailer opting to give ESLs a go, as several other supermarkets have also recently trialed them, including Asda, Waitrose, Co-op and Company Shop.

ESLs aren’t new as the first systems launched more than 30 years ago and supermarkets have trialed them before, but they’ve never stuck.

Tesco was set to roll them out back in 2017, but ended up not going ahead with this, and Sainsbury’s also previously tested digital pricing displays in 2015 in a bid to see if they could cut the use of paper and automatically update prices, and some were tested last year in three stores to discover the impact they would have.

Now they are once again being considered for use around the UK as executives believe they could prove more efficient and help cut costs.

It’s not clear yet what will happen with ESLs, but if supermarkets were to move ahead with using them in future, it would signal the end of an era for paper labels, which have been a feature in aisles for decades.

And it won’t be the only supermarket feature that will have been axed after a long time, as barcodes also look set to disappear after being used for 50 years.

GS1, the world’s only authorised provider of Global Trade Item Numbers (GTINs) believes barcodes will soon be replaced with pixel-based QR codes instead.

Anne Godfrey, chief executive of GS1 UK, claims almost half of British retailers have already updated their checkouts to prepare for the use of QR codes.

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