Woolworths shoppers spot subtle detail on new digital price tags

An eagle-eyed shopper has spotted a feature on Woolworths' new digital price tags that had previously gone unnoticed.

TikTok user @toptodos revealed a tiny light on the upper-right corner of the digital displays, which have been rolled out at select stores across the country.

Woolworths had introduced the digital price tags in an attempt to reduce the amount of paper used and to make updating prices more efficient, saving staff from the tedious process of manually updating them.

What the lights are for

The lights on the labels, it turns out, are there to help staff and shoppers locate products.

The electronic tags reportedly have a multi-colour LED light to help employees look for products ordered online, and also help in-store customers, by flashing so an item can easily be found.

Woolworths breaks down digital price tag colour codes

A Woolworths spokesperson revealed to Yahoo News Australia that the colour-coding of the digital price tags themselves mimics the paper tickets used in the retailer's supermarkets.

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"The same way we colour our physical paper tickets, we also colour our electronic shelf labels to signify if a product is on special or not," the spokesperson explained.

The colour codes are as follows:

• Standard priced items will continue to have black text on a white background.

• Specials will continue to have black text on a yellow background;

• "Price Dropped" and "Low Price" items will continue to have black text on a white background and will be accentuated with a red surround;

• "New" products will have black text on a white background, with a pink surround;

Price instability fears dismissed

Woolies, which started trialling the digital tags last year, previously mentioned that the labels would allow employees to focus on serving customers and replenish shelves instead of manually changing prices.

The supermarket giant says the tags have been well-received but has also had to address speculation from some customers who fear the new electronic system would make pricing "unstable", with prices of goods changing on the spot as they shop.

Woolworths dismissed these claims and assured customers that any changes to prices would only occur outside store hours.

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