With a feature dubbed “Shop to Light,” in-store shoppers can ask the Walmart app for help finding an item and then locate the item by spotting a flashing light on its shelf label, according to the release.
Shop to Light is initiated by the customer’s request on the Walmart app, which tells the store system which product location to light up, and it uses an LED that is already built into Walmart’s digital shelf labels, per the release.
“Instead of scanning shelf after shelf looking for one small jar, the light can help point the way,” the release said.
The same light also helps Walmart associates put items onto the correct shelf. With a feature called “Stock to Light,” associates use a mobile device to activate the LED on a shelf label to identify where an item belongs, according to the release.
“Think about an associate stocking shelves with products that can look almost identical,” the release said. “Different flavors. Different sizes. Different varieties. Instead of spending extra time double-checking locations, the light helps point the way.”
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Similarly, a feature called “Pick to Light” helps Walmart associates find the product they need to fill an online pickup or delivery order, per the release.
“For customers, that simple flash can help us get them exactly what they ordered,” the release said.
Walmart began rolling out digital shelf labels in its stores in June 2024 after testing them at a location in Grapevine, Texas. The company said the digital shelf labels would replace paper price tags on shelves, allow employees to update prices at the shelf with a few clicks on a mobile app and reduce the need for employees to change paper tags by hand.
In March, Walmart confirmed a sweeping rollout of digital shelf labels across its roughly 5,200 stores in the United States by 2027.
Walmart’s rollout of the technology is happening as lawmakers have begun to criticize digital shelf labels, arguing that the devices are a gateway to surge pricing or dynamic pricing, which refers to the practice of raising prices at times of high demand.
In September, the AFL-CIO Tech Institute, a think tank established in 2021 by the AFL-CIO labor union, called on policymakers to ban the use of electronic shelf labels in grocery stores.
In a Q&A included in its Thursday press release, Walmart said digital shelf labels do not change prices automatically, that Shop to Light does not change the price of an item, that digital shelf labels do not collect information about customers, and that Walmart does not use surveillance pricing.
“Walmart’s technology helps improve efficiency and lower costs, not personalize prices,” the release said.
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