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NTU Management Review Vol. 34 No. 3 Dec. 2024

optimize both channels. In the past, e-commerce web sales performance was too weak and
inefficient, imposing availability risks which can hamper customer bonding and reduce
customer retention. Implementing and adopting ESL changes a label-based price tag into
an electronic one and can create a new opportunity to handle e-commerce web sales.

Meanwhile, Bison, an ESL technology supplier in Germany, partnered with
the weather company to offer intelligent shelf labels and develop a system to inform
customers about retail information based on the weather forecast. This system helps

customers develop intelligent shopping behaviors. On the retailer side, this new system
can help them control inventory levels more accurately and precisely. As we observe from
the findings, we also find a shifting business model process at this stage. ESL technology
suppliers become ESL system integrators, as they shift the business model from offering
ESL hardware to ESL solutions.

In terms of the retail ecosystem, ESL can turn the traditional retail ecosystem around
by attracting different actors to join and interact by sharing resources, knowledge, and
skills. The collaboration drives the co-creation process through innovation, enhancing

certain features and functionalities of ESL. In the past, retail ecosystems consisted of only
actors involved in the retail supply chain network; the retail ecosystem becomes more
diverse now through ESL-driven innovation, with actors in different industries.

4.3 Stage 3: New Business Creation

4.3.1 Actor Interactions
ESLs gradually become connected label solutions and the enablers and hubs of other
retail digital services by optimizing retail operations, particularly connecting online and

offline environments. The retail ecosystem emerges, triggering collaborations among
its actors to become firmer and tighter in providing novel solutions for retailers. An
omnichannel strategy becomes one potential solution for retailers, but this requires supply
chains and daily operations to change concurrently. The development of the ESL as a
connected labeling solution requires further advancement to make retail operations more

efficient in supporting the omnichannel strategy. To achieve that goal, ESL continues to
evolve through collaboration among actors in the network.
ESL has started to connect with the cloud to optimize on-premises databases, likely to

connect local and global networks. Due to the development of ESL cloud-based solutions,

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