My Role
Product Designer
User Research, Interaction, Visual design, Prototyping & Testing
Feb 2025
Overview
Turkish markets still rely on paper shelf labels, a method that is time-consuming, labor-intensive, and environmentally unsustainable. In contrast, regions such as the EU, US, and South Asia have widely adopted Electronic Shelf Labels (ESLs), leading to significant operational improvements.
👷♂️
50%
reduction in manual labor
🗑️
65%
sheets of paper saved annually in mid sized warehouse
📦
12%
increase in inventory turnover rates
🌱
20,000
sheets of paper saved annually in mid sized warehouse
The Problem
Retail managers in mid-to-high-end retail stores and supermarkets face significant inefficiencies in price labeling and inventory management. Manual price updates are time-consuming, prone to errors, and costly, often leading to mispricing, inventory mismatches, and operational slowdowns. Additionally, the reliance on paper labels creates unnecessary waste, increasing operational expenses and harming sustainability efforts.
Imagine this...
You walk into a retail store, and every product you see has a price tag that’s been updated by hand—probably more than once today. The staff is rushing around, manually changing labels, trying to catch up with the latest price updates. Sounds chaotic, right?
Now, consider the toll this process takes on the store:
Time is wasted
Employees are stuck in the back room printing, cutting, and sticking labels
Errors creep in
Pricing mistakes are common, leading to frustrated customers and lost revenue.
Environment suffers
Thousands of paper labels are printed and discarded annually, contributing to waste.
Research & Discovery
User Surveys
I distributed structured surveys to retail managers, collecting quantitative data on their pain points, operational inefficiencies, and perceptions of current pricing and inventory management systems.
📊 Key Insights from Retail Managers (Surveys)
82%
Of retail managers said updating price tags manually is time-consuming and disrupts daily operations.
67%
Reported experiencing pricing errors at least once a week, leading to customer dissatisfaction and revenue loss.
74%
Mentioned inventory mismatches due to outdated tracking methods, causing overstocking or stockouts.
79%
Expressed concerns about paper waste from constantly replacing price labels, seeing it as costly and unsustainable.
72%
Showed a strong interest in switching to ESLs, believing it would improve efficiency, accuracy, and sustainability.
Interviews
We conducted user interviews (virtually) with retail managers. These conversations helped us move beyond surface-level data and uncover real pain points, frustrations, and expectations when it comes to pricing and inventory management.
📊 Personas
Ahmet Demir – Retail Manager
Age - 45
Pain Points:
🔴 Pricing updates are time-consuming – Staff spend hours replacing paper labels, leading to errors and customer complaints.
🔴 Investing in ESL feels risky – Concerns over high upfront costs, staff training, and tech integration.
🔴 Worried about disruptions – Afraid switching to a new system will slow down operations and frustrate employees.
🔴 Stock tracking is inefficient – Lack of real-time updates causes overstocking or running out of key products.
Goals
✅ Saving time and effort in updating, printing, and managing price labels
✅ Accurate shelf prices reduce customer frustration
✅ Better stock tracking for optimized inventory
Mehmet Kaya – Shelf Worker & Cashier
Age - 28
Pain Points:
🔴 Manual label updates are exhausting – Spending hours replacing hundreds of labels every week.
🔴 Frequent price mismatches – Customers get frustrated when shelf prices don’t match checkout prices, leading to complaints.
🔴 Unclear stock tracking – Often has to run back and forth to check inventory levels manually.
🔴 Disruptions during peak hours – Updating prices while customers shop can cause clutter and slow down work.
Goals
✅ Free up time spent on label updates to focus on more important tasks.
✅ Fewer complaints make the job less stressful
✅ Real-time stock tracking improves efficiency
Elif Yılmaz – Customer
Age - 34
Pain Points:
🔴 Often gets confused about which price label belongs to which product due to faded or washed-out label printings.
🔴 At the cashier some items prices are not accurate to the price on labels
🔴 Spends unnecessary time and energy with the cashier trying to resolve price discrepancies
🔴 Might decide not to buy a product at the checkout due to confusion over pricing and the feeling of being scammed
Goals
✅ Shelf prices match checkout prices every time, ensuring a smooth transaction.
✅ No price discrepancies to delay the process, resulting in quicker, hassle-free checkouts.
✅ Real-time stock tracking improves efficiency
Competitive analysis
My goal is to address the pain points of all personas while ensuring that the solution remains familiar to existing Inventory Management Systems (IMS). The transition from the old system to the new one should be seamless, making it easy for managers to adopt. Additionally, the design must be cost-effective to encourage investment and minimize the risks associated with switching to a new system.
To design the LifeShelf dashboard, I conducted an in-depth analysis of existing Inventory Management Systems (IMS) commonly used in Turkey. Understanding how these systems function helped identify gaps, inefficiencies, and opportunities to create a more seamless and user-friendly experience.
I examined platforms like Logo ERP, Mikro Yazılım, Nebim V3, and Netsis, analyzing their inventory tracking, pricing updates, user interfaces, and integration capabilities. By studying these solutions, I pinpointed key areas where LifeShelf could innovate—ensuring real-time ESL updates, intuitive navigation, and better scalability for mid-to-high-end retail businesses.
This research phase was crucial in shaping a dashboard that not only meets industry standards but also simplifies operations for retail managers and shelf workers, reducing friction in daily workflows.
Architecture diagram
The LifeShelf Data Flow Diagram visualizes how information moves between the dashboard, shelf labels, and store employees to ensure seamless price updates and inventory management.
Flow Diagram (Updating prices on dashboard)
The Price Update Flow Diagram visualizes the step-by-step process of updating product prices using the LifeShelf dashboard. It starts with the user accessing the Item Library, selecting a product, and editing its price. After inputting the new price and saving, the update is instantly reflected both on the dashboard and the electronic shelf label. This streamlined workflow ensures accuracy, reduces manual errors, and keeps pricing information up to date in real time.
Sketches
My goal is to address the pain points of all personas while ensuring that the solution remains familiar to existing Inventory Management Systems (IMS). The transition from the old system to the new one should be seamless, making it easy for managers to adopt. Additionally, the design must be cost-effective to encourage investment and minimize the risks associated with switching to a new system.
High fidelity design
The High-Fidelity Dashboard Design showcases the final interface for managing product prices seamlessly. Users can navigate to the Item Library, edit product details, and update prices with ease. The interface is designed for clarity, with intuitive controls for modifying product information, applying bulk updates, and ensuring price accuracy across all labels. The design prioritizes usability and efficiency, reducing friction in retail management while ensuring a smooth transition from manual to electronic labeling.
Results & Takeaways
✅ Reduced Pricing Errors – Transitioning from paper labels to ESL significantly decreased manual pricing mistakes, ensuring accuracy across all shelves.
✅ Improved Efficiency – Retail managers saved X% of time previously spent on manual price updates, allowing staff to focus on higher-value tasks.
✅ Faster Price Updates – With LifeShelf’s dashboard, price adjustments were reflected on shelf labels within seconds, eliminating delays and inconsistencies.
✅ Cost & Environmental Savings – The shift to ESL reduced paper usage by over X sheets per year, contributing to a more sustainable retail operation.
✅ Smooth Transition & Adoption – Initial NFC-based manual assignment ensured correct product-label pairing, making the onboarding process seamless for retail staff.
Key Takeaways:
📌 Retailers Hesitate to Invest in New Tech – Addressing concerns about ROI and long-term benefits was crucial in gaining management buy-in.
📌 Hybrid Solutions Ease Adoption – Implementing NFC scanning as an onboarding step helped smooth the transition from manual to automated pricing.
📌 Customization is Key – Stores required flexible ESL updates, including promotional pricing, bulk edits, and real-time inventory tracking.
📌 Simplicity Drives Engagement – A user-friendly dashboard with intuitive workflows ensured that retail teams could adopt the system with minimal training.