Digital Labels, Real World: A Field Study on Vusion Group

I came across Vusion Group—then called SES-imagotag—when I was still working in Paris (2023). Back then, I had the chance to join a field trip at a Monoprix store. It was one of those visits you don’t forget: a mix of curiosity, skepticism, and genuine surprise. The entire team presenting the company was clearly passionate—borderline obsessed—with the idea of digitizing retail shelves. And even if the financials didn’t quite check all the boxes I usually look for—unprofitable, high PE, complex execution—I couldn’t ignore the scale of the opportunity they were going after.

So when the stock was hit with a massive short attack in June 2023, I did what I rarely do: I leaned in and bought. It wasn’t a textbook decision. It was a bet on what could be, not what already was. Since then, the stock has returned over +225%, but what's more important is this: the addressable market is still largely untouched. What convinced me to invest wasn’t the valuation or the financial profile (both were difficult to justify back then and also today). It was the massive addressable market outside of Europe, the energy of the team, and the fact that once a retailer starts using the system, it becomes hard to go back.

My recent trip in the U.S. confirmed just how underpenetrated ESLs still are, even in major retail hubs like New York City. A few months ago, I visited stores in France to understand, store by store, what this digitisation actually looks like on the ground.

I am not trying to tell you to buy the company, but more how on-the-ground research can change the perspective on a case.

The Case for Vusion Group

Vusion Group builds the digital backbone of physical retail. Their core product is simple: electronic shelf labels (ESLs) connected to the cloud, capable of updating in real time. But the ambition behind it is much bigger—turning every store shelf into a data point, every label into a tool to improve pricing, inventory, and efficiency.

The company’s mission is to help brick-and-mortar retailers compete in a digital world—not by fighting e-commerce, but by applying the same intelligence and agility to physical stores. Their clients are retailers who want to move faster, price smarter, reduce waste, and close the gap between what’s on the shelf and what’s in the system.

At the heart of Vusion’s strategy is innovation. The company has been pushing this category for more than 30 years, and continues to lead in terms of scale, technology, and product development. Whether it’s through camera-equipped ESLs, mobile integrations, or shelf-level data analytics, they’re constantly expanding the use cases beyond simple pricing.

The tech works. A store can be fully equipped in under an hour. Labels last five years. Staff can be trained and operational in half a day, with the proprietary app up and running on site. As of 2025, Vusion’s systems are installed in over 400,000 stores across more than 60 countries. In Europe, they’ve hit 90% penetration in small-format retail. The U.S. is only just beginning which leaves a massive runway. North America is experiencing the highest compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 26.45%, driven by growing ESL adoption among major retailers and the e-commerce sector's expansion. U.S. companies such as Walmart and Home Depot are utilizing Vusion Group’s technology to improve in-store operations, cut labor costs, and offer real-time pricing updates.

Only for Walmart, we are talking about 4,600 stores across the country that still need to be equipped (the contract was signed in 2023 with other extensions later on).

Global penetration is under 15%. In France, there are about 1.2 labels per capita, with a realistic path toward 1.5–1.6 as adoption deepens.

Today, 65% of revenue comes from equipping high-rotation SKUs with camera-linked ESLs. These allow for real-time stock updates every 30 minutes, flagging out-of-stock events automatically. The operational gains are immediate: 2 to 3 hours saved per day, fewer missed sales, and better data.

Financially, it adds up. Stockouts cost 0.6pts of revenue, often on products with 30% gross margin. Fixing this adds leverage—better supplier management, inventory control, and in some formats, up to +10pts of operating margin. Just 500 SKUs can represent 20% of a store’s revenue.

In periods of inflation, ESLs offer even more leverage. Pricing can be updated dynamically, without delay or printing. The more frequent the updates, the higher the ROI. When you visit huge Walmart stores in the US, you understand that people would spend their entire day changing the labels in period of high inflation!

ESL (electronical Shelf Labels) vs printed labels

How does it look like in real life?

To see how all of this translates in practice, I went back to the field. After a recent trip to the U.S.—where I confirmed that ESL adoption remains extremely limited outside of Walmart—I wanted to understand how things were evolving in Europe, and more specifically in France, where Vusion’s footprint is supposed to be more mature. A few months ago, I visited a dozen stores across different retail formats—mass retail, specialty, discounters—to test the gap between the narrative and what actually happens in store. Here's what I found.

1. Adoption: Real but Uneven

Despite Europe’s head start, ESL deployment remains inconsistent. Even within the same brand, I saw vastly different levels of adoption depending on store location and product category.

For instance, Decathlon—a retailer often seen as digitally advanced—had no ESLs in either its Bouliac or Lac stores. Meanwhile, Auchan was more progressive at Bordeaux Lac, with widespread ESL coverage across most categories except clothing and fresh produce. At Auchan Bouliac, ESLs were limited to packaged goods where prices fluctuate frequently. The rationale? “If you have 30 price changes per day, it’s worth it. Otherwise, it’s not.”

Leroy Merlin has deployed ESLs for five years and recently changed providers (not Vusion Group). The new system promises improved features, including flashing tags for online order pickup. But it also illustrates the complexity of ESL implementation: cost pressure, visibility issues (labels are too small for high shelves), and operational trade-offs remain.

2. Cost vs. Value Perception: Still a Tense Balance

Nearly every store I visited highlighted cost as a key factor limiting full ESL adoption.

At Darty Bègles, ESLs had not yet been installed. One employee admitted, “It’s too expensive, and sometimes paper is more accurate.” In Auchan Bouliac, the decision to deploy ESLs only on select categories was similarly cost-driven. And at Leroy Merlin, ESLs are rented—if not in use, they must be switched off to avoid unnecessary charges.

Even among adopters, skepticism lingers. ESLs are often used only where their ROI is obvious—on high-velocity, high-margin products or in categories with frequent pricing updates. Outside of these cases, the consensus is that the math doesn’t justify the investment…yet.

That said, retailers like Lidl Bègles have taken a longer view. “It’s very expensive,” one staff member told me, “but it’s a good investment. We don’t need to print anymore.”

3. Functionality: Strong in Pricing, Weak in Operations

Almost everywhere I went, ESLs were used primarily for automated pricing, and not for stock management or supply chain optimization.

This was the case even at Fnac, where the system is fully deployed and highly praised for its convenience. But when I asked whether it helped with stock tracking, I was met with a shrug: “No, it’s just for price updates.”

Similarly, at Sephora Bordeaux Lac, ESLs were appreciated for their reliability in updating prices automatically. Bugs were rare, and the system was “more often functional than not.” Yet again, no integration with stock levels or shelf analytics.

Only a few exceptions hinted at greater potential. At Auchan Bordeaux Lac, labels included additional data—on-shelf stock, in-store reserves, and upcoming deliveries. But even there, staff had reservations. “It could be great—if it actually worked,” one told me. And at Lidl, an internal proposal to link ESLs with stock monitoring was raised… and rejected due to expense management.

4. Stockouts: A Missed Opportunity

Perhaps the most revealing insight was how few stores use ESLs to manage or detect stockouts, despite this being one of Vusion’s core selling points.

At Auchan Bouliac, when shelves are empty, employees still need to walk the aisles. ESLs may inform customers of a stockout, but they don’t alert staff operationally. At Leroy Merlin, stock data is only reconciled at checkout. And at Fnac, Darty, Lidl, and Sephora, there was no sign that ESLs contributed to stock accuracy or replenishment.

Considering that out-of-stocks cost retailers 0.6 percentage points in revenue, often on products with 30% gross margins, this blind spot is striking. The data opportunity is real—but remains mostly untapped in current deployments.

5. Retailer Sentiment: Between Frustration and Faith

The most telling part of this research was how candid employees were. Some were openly enthusiastic. Others, weary or disappointed.

At Fnac, staff saw ESLs as the future. “Everything updates automatically. Paper is annoying.” At Sephora, the experience was similarly smooth. “There are bugs, but it works more often than not.” At Leroy Merlin, the tone was more mixed. “The new system is better, but the labels are too small. Sometimes you can’t read them at all on high shelves.” At Auchan, frustration was more obvious. “It could be great—if it worked.”

The perception of ESLs is highly sensitive to technical reliability, visibility, and ease of use. Where it works, staff embrace it. Where it doesn’t, it becomes a burden.

6. Mobile Features & Integration: Seeds of What’s to Come

One of the more forward-looking features I encountered was that customers can now scan the ESL with their phone and be redirected to the product’s page. This isn’t revolutionary on its own—but it reflects a broader shift toward merging physical and digital retail. It’s small innovations like this that hint at where ESLs—and Vusionare heading next.

Conclusion: Hardware Is Only Half the Story

Vusion tells a good story. Real-time retail, smarter shelves, better data. But on the ground (in France), most stores seem to just use ESLs to change prices. That’s it. Penetration is not reflective of a full usage of Vusion Group's technology. Stock tracking, live inventory, supply chain integration are very rarely put in place.

That’s why the U.S. makes sense. You don’t have to undo bad habits. You just sell the cloud. The tech is better now. It’s easier to land the full solution than to convince European retailers to actually use what they’ve already bought.

Most stores are still flying blind. Manual processes, outdated tools, no real-time visibility. What Vusion sells isn’t screens—it’s control. In a business where 30 bps can change everything, that matters.

There’s a big gap between the promise and the reality. But that gap is also the opportunity. Will Vusion Group manage to switch the large pool of ESL users to cloud based labels? That's the main question investors are asking for the past years. It will be interesting to conduct another ground research in a year to see what's changed.