332487_East-of-England_crop

The East of England Co-op has ramped up its sustainability efforts, deploying new electronic shelf edge label (ESL) integration within Retail Insight’s AI-powered WasteInsight solution. This saves store colleagues’ time identifying and applying discounts on near-expiry goods, as well as aiding the group’s ongoing commitment to tackling food waste.

Following a successful pilot, the integrations are now live in 18 stores. East of England Co-op will roll out the solution to all its ESL-equipped food stores by September this year. With sustainability a central pillar of the co-operative’s values, it has partnered with Retail Insight since 2021, leveraging its cloud-based WasteInsight solution to tackle food waste.

Powered by cognitive technology, WasteInsight puts retailers in control of food waste through data-led, actionable insights that support the entire waste journey, including forecasting accuracy, expiration management, dynamic markdowns and charity donations. Retail Insight has also integrated East of England Co-op’s ESLs into WasteInsight to drive up labour productivity. The WasteInsight solution pushes alerts to store associates’ hand-held devices, notifying them of any near-expiry items that need discounting.

Robert Hawkins, senior project manager at East of England Co-op, said: “We’re thrilled to have successfully piloted the integration between our ESLs and Retail Insight’s Prompted Markdown solution. As we roll out across our estate, we’re confident we’ll continue to reap the rewards of the streamlined process, and we’re excited to get feedback from store colleagues.”