Sponsored by Epson America.
Retailers often face challenges with shelf tagging, including high costs, long lead times, and inefficiencies when relying on third-party providers. For RaceTrac, a convenience store chain with more than 580 locations, these issues became a significant barrier to their mission of streamlining operations and enhancing the customer experience.
“With a ‘one-size-fits-all’ operation, there’s little opportunity for customization and issues with flexibility and costs,” said Jonah Whigham, space management manager at RaceTrac. “The lead times can be weeks and there are ship minimums that often result in wasted material and money.”
RaceTrac’s labeling operations involved printing long shelf strips for multiple products, featuring barcodes, prices, and—unique to RaceTrac—a high-resolution color image of each item. “Not only does the color product image make shopping and identifying product details easy for shoppers, but it also makes the process of stocking and ordering easy for merchandising and store teams,” Whigham explains.
However, working with a third-party vendor resulted in weeks-long lead times and limited flexibility to adjust or replace tags quickly. These inefficiencies, combined with the inability to preview tags before printing, led to waste and delays when errors occurred. As RaceTrac expanded its store count, the need for a more agile and cost-effective solution became clear.
To address these challenges, Kent Bailey, director of space and demand planning at RaceTrac, partnered with Epson and Integrated Productivity Systems (IPSi) to bring shelf tagging in-house. They implemented Epson’s ColorWorks CW-C6000A color label printers, paired with Loftware Cloud software and IPSi’s custom-built label software. This new system allowed RaceTrac to design and print customized tags on demand, reducing both lead times and costs.
“We can do everything in-house and on-demand now, and what used to take two weeks now takes less than two days,” Whigham says. “We’ve saved around 50 percent of total costs over the past year with the new solution. That equates to more than $250,000 we’ve been able to save by bringing operations in-house.”
The in-house system also unlocked new opportunities for innovation. RaceTrac now has full visibility into each step of the tagging process, allowing adjustments before printing and avoiding costly reprints. The ability to print tags on demand also enables RaceTrac to run A/B tests for different shelf layouts, optimizing the shopping experience.
“Now, we’re playing around with other ways we might be able to use shelf tagging to help guide customers through the shopping experience,” Whigham says. “It’s nice to know the shelf tag solution works for us now and can support our future endeavors and innovations.”
For RaceTrac, switching to Epson’s ColorWorks printers wasn’t just about saving money—it was about gaining control, enhancing operational efficiency, and improving the customer experience across all locations.
To explore Epson’s ColorWorks solutions, visit IPSi.
By Drew Filipski
