introduction
If you’ve walked into a supermarket recently and noticed that the price tags look a little different—crisper, cleaner, somehow uniform—you’ve probably seen an electronic shelf label without realizing it.
Retail is in the middle of a quiet display revolution. And at the center of it is e-paper technology.
Let’s look at what’s happening on the shelf edge, what’s moving onto the walls, and why retailers are making the switch.
Why Retailers Are Turning to E-Paper
Before we get into the specific applications, it’s worth understanding what makes e-paper attractive to retail operators in the first place.
Consommation électrique. An e-paper display only uses energy when the image changes. Once it’s set, it holds the image with zero ongoing power draw. Compare that to an LCD screen that needs constant backlighting, and the difference is dramatic.
Lisibilité en plein soleil. E-paper is reflective—it uses ambient light to show an image, just like real paper. The brighter the environment, the easier it is to read. This matters in retail spaces with large windows or bright overhead lighting where traditional screens wash out.
The paper look. There’s something about e-paper that feels right in a store environment. It doesn’t scream “digital.” It sits quietly on the shelf or the wall and does its job without distracting from the products.
Sustainability. Less paper waste, lower energy consumption, fewer batteries replaced over time. For retailers under pressure to hit ESG targets, this adds up.
Electronic Shelf Labels: The Shelf-Edge Transformation
What Is an ESL?
An electronic shelf label is exactly what it sounds like—a small écran e-paper that sits on the edge of a retail shelf, showing the price and product information for the item directly above it.
But it’s not just a display. It’s a complete system: the e-paper module, a wireless communication chip, and a battery that lasts for years. The whole thing connects to a central management system that lets the retailer update every label in the store simultaneously.
The Numbers Tell the Story
The ESL market is growing fast. In 2025, it was valued at roughly $1.97 billion. By 2030, that figure is expected to hit $3.78 billion, growing at a compound annual rate of 13.9%. Other estimates put the growth even higher—some project the market will expand from $2.17 billion in 2025 to $4.8 billion by 2030, and reach $10.8 billion by 2035.
What’s driving this? Retail automation, the push for omnichannel operations, and the simple fact that retailers are tired of paper.
One number that stands out: e-paper displays made up 64% of ESL demand in 2025. Retailers prefer e-paper because of its low power consumption and its ability to hold an image without continuous energy input.
What ESLs Actually Deliver
Time. Updating paper labels across a store used to take two days. With ESLs, it takes minutes. One grocery store owner saved up to 50 labor hours per week after switching.
Labour. East of England Co-op deployed ESLs across about 40% of its stores and reduced printing costs by 50%. The same retailer saved £1 million in labour costs in the first year alone. Company Shop, a UK surplus supermarket, saw a 5% productivity improvement after rolling out ESLs.
Accuracy. No more pricing errors from misprinted or miscounted tags. Updates are centralized and automated.
Dynamic pricing. Retailers can change prices in real time—for promotions, for markdowns, or to match competitors.
Who’s Doing It
The list of retailers adopting ESLs keeps growing.
Morrisons is rolling out 10.8 million ESLs across all 497 of its UK supermarkets, making it the first large UK supermarket group to go fully digital at the shelf edge.
Tesco is rolling out ESLs across its stores over the next two years, working with Chinese firm Hanshow to reduce labour costs and improve pricing accuracy.
Waitrose is deploying ESLs nationwide with SOLUM, with completion planned for 2026.
Walmart has been a major driver of ESL adoption. The retailer announced plans to introduce ESLs across 2,300 stores globally. In the first half of 2025 alone, e-paper shelf label module shipments totaled 324 million units—a year-over-year increase of 244.4%.
Decathlon has equipped 700 stores with connected shelf labels.
Lincolnshire Co-op is investing £4 million to roll out electronic shelf edge labels across all 100 of its food stores.
Carrefour is digitizing all of its hypermarkets and supermarkets in France by 2030, with ESLs as a key part of the plan.
The ROI Picture
Most retailers see a return on their ESL investment within 18 to 24 months. One Forrester study found that Pricer’s ESL solution delivered a five-year ROI of 277%. The labour savings alone typically run between 60% and 90% of the time previously spent on tag changes.
For a mid-market grocery store, that translates to freeing up 45 to 50 hours per week—the equivalent of more than one full-time employee.
E-Paper Digital Signage: Beyond the Shelf Edge
ESLs are just the beginning. Retailers are now looking at the rest of the store.
The Problem with Paper and LCD
Paper signage is static. You print it, you put it up, and if you want to change it, you print another one and put that up instead. It’s wasteful and slow.
LCD signage is dynamic, but it’s hungry. It needs constant power for the backlight, generates heat, and requires maintenance. For a poster that only needs to change once a day or once a week, LCD is overkill.
E-paper sits in the middle. It’s dynamic enough to update remotely, but it consumes power only when it changes. It looks like paper, reads like paper, and doesn’t glare under store lighting.
Color Changes Everything
Black-and-white e-paper is fine for price tags. But for signage, retailers want color.
E Ink Spectra 6 is the platform designed specifically for this. It delivers a 60,000-color gamut with a contrast ratio of up to 30:1. It’s reflective, so it reads easily in bright light, and it has a nearly 180-degree viewing angle.
The technology has scaled up quickly. E Ink now offers a 75-inch Spectra 6 display—the largest full-color e-paper module to date. It’s designed to replace static posters in existing frames, turning dead space into dynamic advertising without the power bill of an LCD.
Samsung has entered the space with a 32-inch color e-paper display based on Spectra 6 technology, which can run for 200 days on a single charge. LG has also launched an ultra-low-power e-paper display for commercial spaces.
Where It Goes in the Store
Endcaps and promotional zones. High-traffic areas where messaging changes frequently. A display that updates remotely means no more running around with a stack of posters and a tape gun.
Menu boards. Restaurants and foodservice retailers can change prices and items instantly across all locations.
Point-of-sale and checkout areas. Promotional messaging, upsell opportunities, loyalty program sign-ups—all delivered on a display that doesn’t compete for attention with the product packaging.
Cold chain and freezer aisles. E-paper works in low temperatures where LCDs can struggle. Freezer doors with digital pricing and promotional content are a natural fit.
Windows and storefronts. Displays that can be updated after hours, showing new promotions before the store opens.
The Unified Store Display Network
Here’s where it gets interesting. ESLs and digital signage don’t have to be separate systems.
A single content management platform can push pricing updates to shelf labels and promotional content to in-store signage simultaneously. When a promotion goes live, the price changes on the shelf and the marketing message appears on the endcap display—at the exact same time, with no manual intervention.
This is what retailers mean when they talk about “connected stores.” It’s not about one piece of technology. It’s about a network of displays that work together.
Morrisons is already integrating its ESLs with digital shelf-edge cameras that guide workers to product gaps. The data from pricing updates feeds into inventory management. The signage reflects real-time stock levels. It’s all connected.
The Sustainability Angle
This matters more than it used to.
Retailers are under pressure to reduce waste, cut carbon emissions, and hit ESG targets. E-paper helps on all three fronts.
Less paper. A single grocery store can go through tens of thousands of printed tags per year. ESLs eliminate that entirely.
Less energy. An e-paper display uses zero power to maintain an image. Compared to LCD screens, E Ink’s e-paper is approximately 12,000 times more efficient in terms of CO2 emissions. Compared to traditional paper signage, it’s 60,000 times more efficient.
Less waste. ESL batteries last for years. Some systems are even moving to light-powered ESLs that eliminate disposable batteries entirely.
E Ink has pledged to use 100% renewable energy by 2030 and reach net zero carbon emissions by 2040. For retailers with their own sustainability commitments, working with suppliers that share those goals makes sense.
How to Choose the Right E-Paper Module for Retail
If you’re a product developer or procurement professional sourcing e-paper modules for a retail application, here’s what to consider.
Taille. ESLs typically range from 1 to 5 inches. Digital signage runs from 7 inches up to 75 inches. Match the size to the viewing distance and the amount of information you need to display. Common options include 1.54″, 2.13″, 2.66″, 2.9″, 4.2″, 5.83″, 7.5″, 10.2″, and 13.3″—but custom sizes are available depending on the manufacturer.
Couleur. Black and white is fine for pricing. Three-color (black, white, red) or black, white, and yellow adds promotional punch. Full color is becoming viable for signage, but it costs more and the refresh is slower. Grayscale options with 16 levels are also available for applications that need finer image detail.
Refresh frequency. An ESL that changes once a day has different requirements than a signage display that updates every hour. Standard refresh runs about 0.3 to 1 second. Fast refresh supports partial updates, and ultra-fast refresh can handle basic animation. More frequent updates mean more power consumption and shorter battery life.
Environment. Indoor versus outdoor. Temperature range. Humidity. Retail environments vary widely. Industrial-grade modules typically operate from -20°C to 70°C, with extended options reaching -40°C to 85°C for more demanding conditions.
Connectivity. What wireless protocol does your system use? SPI, I²C, and parallel interfaces are common choices. The module needs to integrate with your existing infrastructure.
Form factor and structure. Rigid, flexible, or bendable? Flexible e-paper works well for wearables, smart cards, and curved surfaces. Some retail applications benefit from ultra-thin modules, irregular shape cutting, or integrated front lighting and touch layers.
Additional features. Integrated temperature sensors help maintain display quality across temperature swings. Partial refresh control reduces power consumption. Built-in flash memory can store images locally.
Working with a Module Manufacturer
Not all e-paper module suppliers are the same. Here’s what to look for:
Customization capability. Can the manufacturer tailor the module to your specific size, resolution, interface, and shape requirements? A vertically integrated manufacturer can handle customizations that others can’t.
Technical support. Do they offer engineering assistance throughout your development cycle? Comprehensive technical support saves time and prevents costly mistakes.
Volume flexibility. Whether you’re running a pilot with low volumes or scaling to mass production, the supplier should accommodate your needs.
Lead time and responsiveness. A supplier that provides a tailored quote within 24 hours signals that they take your project seriously.
At Jictech, we design and manufacture custom e-paper display modules for retail applications ranging from electronic shelf labels to in-store digital signage. We support in-depth customization across all technical parameters—size, resolution, color, refresh speed, interface, temperature range, and form factor. Whether you need a standard 2.9-inch ESL module or a custom-shaped display for a curved store fixture, we can develop a solution that fits your project. We also offer integrated touch options—infrared or capacitive—for interactive retail applications.
You can explore our full range of e-paper display modules and technical specifications here: https://jiclcd.com/e-paper/ .
Where This Is Headed
A few trends worth watching:
Larger color displays. The 75-inch Spectra 6 is just the beginning. As color e-paper scales up, it will start replacing more traditional signage in retail environments.
Flexible e-paper. Thin, bendable displays that can wrap around columns or fit into curved fixtures. Retail design is about to get more interesting.
AI integration. ESLs connected to AI-driven pricing systems that adjust prices in real time based on demand, competition, and inventory levels.
Sustainability as a differentiator. Retailers are starting to market their use of e-paper as part of their environmental commitments. It’s not just an operational decision anymore—it’s a branding one.
Broader adoption. The ESL market is still early in its growth curve. As costs come down and the technology improves, more retailers will adopt it. The question isn’t whether e-paper will become standard in retail. It’s when.
En résumé
Retail is moving away from paper and power-hungry displays. E-paper sits right in the middle—low enough in power to run for years on a battery, dynamic enough to update remotely, and readable enough to work in any lighting condition.
From shelf-edge labels to wall-mounted signage, e-paper is becoming the display technology of choice for retailers who want to cut costs, reduce waste, and run more efficient stores.
If you’re planning a retail display project and want to talk through the module specifications, we’re here to help. That’s what we do.
FAQ
An ESL is an e-paper display mounted on the edge of a retail shelf that shows pricing and product information. It connects wirelessly to a central system that allows retailers to update all labels in the store simultaneously.
An e-paper display uses zero power to maintain an image and only consumes energy when updating. Compared to LCD screens, E Ink’s e-paper is approximately 12,000 times more efficient in terms of CO2 emissions.
Yes. Full-color e-paper platforms like E Ink Spectra 6 deliver a 60,000-color gamut with contrast ratios up to 30:1. Three-color options (black, white, and red or yellow) are also widely available for retail applications.
ESL batteries typically last several years, depending on how often the display updates. Some newer systems are moving toward light-powered ESLs that eliminate disposable batteries entirely.
Electronic shelf labels are the most common application. Beyond that, e-paper is used for promotional signage, menu boards, endcap displays, freezer door signage, window displays, and wayfinding signage.
Yes. Manufacturers like Jictech support customization in size, shape, resolution, interface, temperature range, and form factor—including flexible e-paper, irregular shape cutting, integrated front lighting, and touch layers.
