MarketHub is helping retailers remind their shoppers to keep two metres apart from each other while shopping by adapting its digital price labels to read safety messages.

The messages on the labels read ‘Respect social distancing’, ‘Be kind’ and ‘Help your neighbour’, and have been rolled out across dozens of shops, including Costcutter, Londis and Spar stores in Dublin, Wales, London and Kent.

MarketHub’s chief operating officer LJ Prendergast told Better Retailing: “Retailers are playing a vital role in their communities at the moment, so we wanted to help them in whatever way we could.

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“We started reaching out to our customers with digital labels to see if we could emphasise the importance of social distancing and also remind shoppers to be kind to each other, and pick up essentials for elderly or vulnerable neighbours who may not be able to go shopping for themselves.”

MarketHub offers digital labels to its customers which can be controlled remotely via the cloud without the need for staff to handle or remove old prices. The wireless labels eliminate the need to print and cut paper labels, reducing labour and printing costs in stores.

Its corresponding data intelligence software, Pulse, allows retailers to manage their store remotely by monitoring sales, stock, competitors, trends, making price changes and managing food waste.

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Chief executive officer Roy Horgan added: “In these difficult times we are here to help our retail customers by keeping their finger on the pulse of what is happening in their business and in turn help their local communities.

“It’s clear the world of retail has fundamentally changed and there is no going back. I think once things settle retailers will want to get closer to their sales, margins, waste and costs but right now we just need to keep stores open and put the community first.

“MarketHub’s Self-Learning Store allows them to do just that.”

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Find out more on our coronavirus information hub for retailers