Electronic shelf labels (ESLs) drive efficiency and consumer trust in modern retail environments. They allow retailers to update prices instantly across their inventory lines without manually changing price tags. Yet, while ESLs increase the convenience and accuracy of pricing flows, they also present new challenges, such as a greater reliance on network reliability for accurate pricing updates.
If the network connection is inconsistent, businesses can risk lost sales, compliance issues, and customer service complaints. Resilient network infrastructure helps ESLs stay accurate and synced with pricing database changes, even when the network goes down. This article details how router backhaul resiliency can help businesses maintain network reliability and keep ESL accuracy high.
What is Router Backhaul?
The backhaul is the connection between the store’s local network infrastructure and the cloud services or data centers that support it. When a router is resilient, it can detect if the on-site connection is inconsistent and automatically switch to a more reliable network, such as cellular LTE. By doing this, the ESL system can continue updating pricing information without being interrupted by the bad connection.
What does this accomplish? When paired with load balance features, router backhaul can help distribute signal traffic so that no connection pathway bottlenecks important workflows, such as the automated pricing updates. ESL can be an efficient way to lower pricing errors, but it requires accurate data and continuous communication with the central server of the business.
What many retail businesses miss is the true failure point of their wireless pricing system, which is not the technology on their shelves but the strength of their backhaul connection. If the network link between the local system and the internet or cloud platform is not strong and consistent, ESLs may receive pricing updates late or not at all.
Why is Accurate ESL Important?
When ESLs are inaccurate due to failed or delayed connections, the prices on the shelf may not match the prices that ring up at the register. This leads many retailers to field customer service complaints surrounding pricing inconsistencies, which can lower customer confidence and even lead to legal penalties in industries with strict rules of compliance for transparent pricing, such as pharmaceuticals.
Accurate ESLs allow retailers to manage prices to their advantage, such as by reacting instantly to changing inventory levels, putting slower-moving products on sale, and moving more products that are in high demand. Managing inventory without updated electronic shelf labels can not only impact customer relations but will also consume staff resources through manual price management workflows.
How Can Router Backhaul Resiliency Help?
Establishing router backhaul resiliency involves designing the retailer’s network to resist connection failures and recover quickly from signal quality issues. The primary advantage of this resiliency is consistent synchronization between the ESL system and the on-site data. This means that any pricing updates input or calculated by the ESL system in the central server will roll out to the shelf labels without delay.
For systems without router backhaul resiliency, a network outage can cause a delay between central price adjustments and ESL changes. It can also compromise the network’s data integrity, which may lead to incorrect pricing on certain products due to incomplete or corrupted software updates, though this is rare. The greater danger is that the system will default to the last known pricing value, which may not be accurate anymore, leading to customer problems.
Since the pricing issue may only occur in certain sections of products, it’s difficult for staff to manually detect and correct, leading to prolonged delays and greater risk exposure to potential customer service complaints. This also leaves the retailer exposed to potential violations of pricing transparency regulations for longer.
Core Features of Backhaul Resiliency
By maintaining efficient backhaul resiliency, retailers can help make sure the transition between data streams is seamless. These are the core features that make router resiliency a significant investment for modern stores, and the ones they should look for when shopping for a network provider:
By supporting multiple carriers, router resiliency reduces the risk of downtime if any one carrier is congested or experiencing outages.- Automatic failover helps the router detect slow connections or outages so that signal traffic can be rerouted to other connections.
- Load balancing helps prevent network congestion, especially during system-wide updates, such as large promotional pricing changes or seasonal offers.
- Encryption systems secure data transmissions, protecting competitive pricing data and other sensitive business information from being intercepted.
By maintaining router backhaul resiliency, retailers can maintain more accurate pricing, change pricing quickly, avoid costly errors and regulatory penalties, and save their staff valuable time by eliminating the risks of human error inherent in manual price checking and relabeling.
Partner with an Experienced Network Provider to Improve Router Backhaul Resiliency
Electronic shelf label (ESL) monitoring is essential for maintaining accurate shelf prices, which are core factors in preventing customer service and pricing transparency issues. Companies with proactive ESL systems can change prices quickly based on demand or promotional sales and lower their need for manual staffing to fix pricing issues. Router backhaul resiliency helps maintain a consistent connection between on-site data servers and cloud or network-based system transmissions, which reduces the negative impact of network congestion and outages on retailers’ pricing flows.
At Allpoint Wireless, our team customizes network setups for the needs of retailers to maintain sufficient router backhaul resiliency, reduce network downtime, and lower staffing needs for manual pricing workflows. Our centralized hub, Allpoint Command, allows administrators to assess system-wide network conditions and respond proactively to any issues.
Contact our team today to learn how router backhaul resiliency can make a difference in your organization’s pricing consistency, staff costs, and customer service quality.