Electronic product information display system

A printed label and a display shelf of a business establishment, the combination comprising:

• a display shelf having a first length and at least one area on which at least one product is to be placed, the area having a second length and a depth;
• and
• a label having a length substantially corresponding to the entire first length of the display shelf;
• the label further comprising:
• i) first product information printed on the label for identifying a first product;
• ii) second product information printed on the label for identifying a second product;
• and
• iii) first space indicators for indicating a beginning position and an end position, corresponding to a portion of the second length of the shelf, at which the first product is to be placed, and second space indicators for indicating a beginning position and an end position, corresponding to another portion of the second length of the shelf, at which the second product is to be placed, wherein the first and second space indicators are printed on the label.

A method for creating labels for display shelves of a business establishment, comprising:

• providing planogram information of products for display in one or more areas of a business establishment, wherein the planogram information includes information identifying products for display and identifying a corresponding horizontal dimension of shelf space required for displaying each product on a shelf;
• providing information related to a predetermined number of shelves and the corresponding horizontal dimension of shelf space for the one or more areas for displaying the products identified by the planogram information;
• apportioning the products identified by the planogram information to one or more of the predetermined number of shelves based on the corresponding horizontal dimension of shelf space required for displaying each product;
• printing a label for one or more shelves of the predetermined number of shelves, wherein label information printed on each label identifies one or more products to be displayed on a respective shelf, the label being a defined predetermined length that is coextensive with the entire horizontal dimension of the area of the space allocated on the shelf for arranging a product thereon, the label including first and second space indicators being printed on the label and defining the predetermined length, the first space indicator indicating where the length of the area of the space allocated on the shelf for arranging the product begins, and the second space indicator indicating where the length of the area of the space allocated on the shelf for arranging the products ends.

A display shelf for a business establishment, comprising:

• a substantially horizontal support for displaying one or more products for sale by a business establishment;
• an affixing area for affixing a printed label thereto;
• and
• a printed label comprising:
• information printed on the label for identifying at least one product for display on the shelf, and
• the label including first and second space indicators for the at least one product identified by the information for indicating a first length of the support for arranging the at least one product thereon, the first and second space indicators being printed on the label and defining the first length, and the first space indicator indicating where the first length begins and the second space indicator indicating where the first length ends.

A shelf edge label system for creating a shelf label for a business establishment, comprising:

• a database comprising planogram data for an area of a business establishment, wherein the database includes spacemap data for a product display area of the business establishment;
• and
• a label editor for creating and editing one or more labels for affixing to one or more display shelves using at least one of the planogram data and spacemap data;
• and
• a printer for printing the one or more labels, wherein the one or more labels include printed information for one or more products, and wherein each label is constructed and arranged to be a defined predetermined length that is coextensive with an entire horizontal dimension of an area of space allocated on a shelf for arranging a corresponding product thereon, the label including first and second space indicators being printed on the label and defining the predetermined length, and the first space indicator indicating where the predetermined length begins, and the second space indicator indicating where the predetermined length ends.

A computer readable medium encoded with a data structure and a computer program, wherein the computer program uses the data structure for identifying and organizing products displayed by a business establishment, the data structure comprising:

• a first field representing data related to an arrangement of one or more display shelves of a business establishment;
• a second field having information representing a horizontal dimension of a display shelf length of a corresponding display shelf;
• at least one third field having information related to at least one product for display on the corresponding display shelf permitting a printed label to be constructed and arranged to have a defined predetermined length that is coextensive with a length of an area of space allocated on the shelf for arranging the at least one product thereon, the label including first and second space indicators being printed on the label and defining the predetermined length, and the first space indicator indicating where the predetermined length begins, and the second space indicator indicating where the predetermined length ends;
• and
• a fourth field representing a sequence number specifying the location of the at least one product along the display shelf.

A method for printing labels for product display shelves comprising:

• issuing a print request to a print formatter for printing one or more labels for one or more display shelves of a business establishment, wherein each print request comprises at least one of a machine readable code, a label template name, a label length and an end flag;
• retrieving information to include on the label using the machine readable code;
• establishing a layout of the information for including on the label using the named template;
• establishing a length of the label substantially corresponding to a horizontal dimension of a display shelf allocated to a product for which the label is affixed;
• and
• printing the one or more labels to a defined predetermined length that is coextensive with the entire horizontal dimension of the area of the space allocated on the shelf for arranging the product thereon, the label including first and second space indicators being printed on the label and defining the predetermined length,
• and the first space indicator indicating where the predetermined length begins, and the second space indicator indicating where the predetermined length ends.

A method for allocating products to display shelves of a business establishment comprising:

• providing planogram information of products for display in an area of a business establishment, wherein the planogram information includes product information identifying products for display in the business establishment;
• and identifying a corresponding horizontal dimension and location of shelf space available for displaying each of the products;
• providing information related to a plurality of shelves of the business establishment, the information including the corresponding lengths of the plurality of shelves for displaying products;
• allocating the products to the plurality of shelves;
• and
• forming labels with printed product information thereon, each label being formed to a defined predetermined length that is coextensive with the entire horizontal dimension of an area of space allocated on a shelf for arranging a corresponding product thereon, the label including first and second space indicators being printed on the label and defining the predetermined length, and the first space indicator indicating where the predetermined length begins, and the second space indicator indicating where the predetermined length ends.

A method for locating a product for purchase in a business establishment using a computer system, comprising:

• inputting a name of the product for purchase into the computer system;
• identifying the location in the business establishment of the product;
• generating a report listing the location of the product;
• and
• locating the product by identifying printed labels attached to a shelf on which the product is located, the label being formed to a defined predetermined length that is coextensive with the entire horizontal dimension of an area of space allocated on the shelf for arranging the product thereon, the label including first and second space indicators being printed on the label and defining the predetermined length, and the first space indicator indicating where the predetermined length begins, and the second space indicator indicating where the predetermined length ends.

A method for auditing products of display shelves of a business establishment comprising:

• providing a plurality of display shelves with a label, wherein the label includes a first machine readable code for identifying the label, the label being formed to a defined predetermined length that is coextensive with the entire horizontal dimension of space allocated on a shelf for arranging a respective product thereon, the label including first and second space indicators being printed on the label and defining the predetermined length, and the first space indicator indicating where the predetermined length begins, and the second space indicator indicating where the predetermined length ends;
• providing a handheld scanner in communication with a database, wherein the database includes a first field containing the machine readable code for a label and a second field containing the location of that label within a business establishment;
• scanning the first machine readable code of a first shelf label;
• and
• displaying, on the scanner, the information contained in the second field.

A method for creating labels for display shelves of a business establishment, comprising:

• providing planogram information of products for display in one or more areas of a business establishment, wherein the planogram information includes information identifying products for display and identifying a corresponding horizontal dimension and location of shelf space required for displaying the products;
• providing information related to a predetermined number of shelves and the corresponding horizontal dimension of the shelf space for the one or more areas for displaying the products identified by the planogram information;
• apportioning the products identified by the planogram information to one or more of the predetermined number of shelves based on the corresponding horizontal dimension of shelf space required for displaying each product;
• printing a label for one or more shelves of the predetermined number of shelves, wherein label information printed on each label identifies one or more products to be displayed on a respective shelf, and the label being formed to be a defined predetermined length that is coextensive with the entire horizontal dimension of the area of the space allocated on the shelf for arranging a product thereon, the label including first and second space indicators being printed on the label and defining the predetermined length, and the first space indicator indicating where the predetermined length begins, and the second space indicator indicating where the predetermined length ends.

A printed label and a display shelf of a business establishment, the combination comprising:

• a display shelf having at least:
• i) a first area on which a first product is to be placed, the first area having a first length and a first depth;
• and
• ii) a second area on which a second product is to be placed, the second area having a second length and a second depth;
• the label comprising:
• i) first product information printed thereon for identifying the first product, and second product information for identifying the second product;
• ii) indicators for indicating:
• a) a first portion of a length of the label corresponding to the first length;
• and
• b) a second portion of the length of the label corresponding to the second length;
• iii) the indicators including:
• a) a first space indicator and a second space indicator being printed on the label for indicating the first portion, where the first space indicator indicates where the first portion of the first length begins and the second space indicator indicates where the first portion of the first length ends;
• and
• b) a third indicator, for use with the second indicator for indicating the second portion, where the second indicator indicates where the second portion of the second length begins and the third indicator indicates where the second portion of the second length ends.