Electronic pricing - when effort pays off

In the winter of 2018, Johannes Fog Timber & Construction in Farum is ready for electronic price labels. It is a natural development in connection with increasing the quality of the overall customer experience while strengthening Johannes Fog's brand and position in the market now and in the future.

Johannes Fog is constantly looking for initiatives that can improve the customer experience and one of the actions is electronic pricing.

- We know that we are high on the quality scale for timber and construction markets and, of course, our customers naturally have a natural expectation for us. When we choose to invest in electronic pricing, it is because it will fulfill several purposes. This will give us a far better price control, a stylish look in the store and, it will release more time to the customers for our dedicated staff; says Jimmy Thesbo, chief executive officer at Johannes Fog Timber and Construction Center in Farum.

Price management is essential for the customer experience

Johannes Fog, as so many other retail stores, have a range of prices on selected items that must be changed daily. This means, that new price tags must be printed and replace the old ones in the store. Jimmy Thesbo thinks that the staff is quite good at getting the job done, but when it is vacation time, it gets difficult to manage this task - and sometimes it leads to price management errors.
According to Jimmy Thesbo, it could ruin an otherwise great customer experience, if the price in the store does not match the customer's receipt. Whether it's professionals or 'do-it-yourself' amateurs, customers are very price conscious, which strengthens the choice of electronic pricing, where the possibility of price management is far greater.

- In cooperation with Delfi Technologies, our electronic shelf label supplier, we become even more sharp on our pricing. With this solution, we get a much greater flexibility, without having to use additional resources. If necessary, we can change the price of certain items in seconds. We also get the opportunity to do even more from our special offers and resale options, such as "multiple items for one price," as it only takes a few seconds on the computer, says Jimmy, who like the rest of the staff, is looking forward to integrate electronic pricing.

Pilot project shall lead the way

Johannes Fog in Farum is one of the smaller centers, out of 10 located across North Zealand. It is a very well run and well-managed timber and construction center, and it's very well furnished. This is the reason why Farum has been chosen as the starting point for the upcoming pilot project with electronic pricing. There is no doubt that Johannes Fog in Farum is busy, with only a few weeks to integrate electronic pricing, but Jimmy has taken that in consideration.

- I sought assistance from my colleagues in the other Johannes Fog stores, to help us integrate the electronic shelf labels. It was certainly not difficult to get the necessary help. Very quickly I had a whole team who checked into Farum in a short period of time and helped implement the solution. They think the project is exciting and they are of course also interested in making some experiences, as they most likely have to go through the same process at some point. My own staff is also looking forward to it, despite the fact that there is a lot of work around the corner, says Jimmy excited.

More time with customers

In addition to much greater flexibility and price control, the solution releases valuable time. The time the staff used to print price tags and replace them with old price tags in the store, can now be used on customers.

- The staff gets more time for what they are good at and actually is their main task, customer service. It is definitely a big plus of the solution and something that the staff looks forward to, says Jimmy Thesbo.