From electronic shelf labels to more self-service checkouts, automation is coming to your local supermarket

Electronic shelf labels, returns machines, robot bag packers and yet more self-service tills – just some of the many technologies that UK retailers are embracing as they try to solve the problem of rising labour costs.

Investment in automation was a constant drumbeat amid the flurry of festive trading updates from big retailers in the past few weeks, as they face higher staffing bills from April after the rise in the national minimum wage and employers’ national insurance contributions (NICs).