Stores have begun to use electronic price tags tied to product expiration dates

In mid-April 2021, it became known that Iper grocery stores in Milan (Italy) began to use electronic price tags tied to the shelf life of products. The longer perishable products are on the shelf, the cheaper they become, since the electronic price tag is automatically adjusted using the algorithm. This store was one of the first to introduce the technology of the Israeli startup Wasteless, the purpose of which is to reduce the amount of food waste in supermarkets, selling food before they have to be discarded.

The main idea is not new - in many stores there are sections or shelves with discounts on which the store is trying to sell goods with expiring shelf life. But these sections usually include only a few items, since it is difficult for stores to manage the change of price tags, and many customers ignore them.

Stores in Italy have begun to use electronic price tags tied to the shelf life of products

Thanks to the new system, products receive a discount automatically, remaining in the same place. Yogurt, which expires tomorrow, can stand next to yogurt, which expires in two weeks, and electronic labels or a special application automatically reflect this difference.

Instead of cunning interest rates, we offer a transparent offer for the buyer - to save money by buying slightly less fresh products, "said Oded Omer, founder and CEO of Wasteless. - Consumers can easily calculate when they plan to eat this product and whether they need the product at a discount.

It turns out that many customers are more than willing to save. When the Italian store Iper began to use this technology in pilot mode, 41% of customers began to choose an item with a shorter shelf life. Wasteless believes that expanding the system will help stores reduce the amount of food waste by 80%. In addition, the application will help stores with a very thin margin to earn more money, since the algorithm constantly optimizes the price, based not only on the expiration date, but also on factors such as the time of day and the popularity of a particular product.^[1]

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