A Guide for Retailers on Implementation & the BenefitsDigi-Label Project | July 2017

PocketWatt Becoming a Retail Partner

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 696081 The sole responsibility for the content of this guide lies with the authors. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union. Neither the EASME nor the European Commission are responsible for any use that may be

made of the information contained therein.

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SECTION 1 INTRODUCTION 4

SECTION 2 THE DIGILABEL PROJECT 6

2.1 THE DIGILABEL PROJECT 62.2 WHAT DOES POCKETWATT COVER? 7

SECTION 3 BUSINESS CASE FOR RETAIL PARTNERS 8

3.1 CONSUMER RESEARCH 83.2 BENEFIT TO RETAILER PARTNERS 93.3 EVALUATION & ANALYTICS 103.4 PILOT IMPLEMENTATION 10

SECTION 4 HOW TO USE POCKETWATT 12

4.1 INSTORE IMPLEMENTATION 124.2 ONLINE IMPLEMENTATION 124.3 ACCESSING PRODUCT DATA 13

SECTION 5 ABOUT ENERGY LABELLING 14

5.1 LINK TO THE ENERGY LABEL 145.2 HOW SHOULD THE ENERGY LABEL BE DISPLAYED? 145.3 WHAT INFORMATION DOES THE ENERGY LABEL CONTAIN

AND HOW WILL IT CHANGE? 14

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SECTION 1 INTRODUCTION

PocketWatt is a digital tool which has been designed to help retailers engage customers and promote energy-efficient appliances. PocketWatt, which is both a smartphone tool and an on-line webpage plug-in, has undergone extensive consumer research, development and piloting across Europe, where it has demonstrated its value in the retail environment.

It is an independent, transparent software tool that has been developed by expert organi-sations with support from the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme. The team is not associated with any manufacturer or other commercial interest, and our work is de-signed to be accessible and open to all retailers. Full details of the DigiLabel project and the PocketWatt tool are outlined in Section 2 of this guide.

By joining the Digi-Label project and using PocketWatt in your stores and on your website, you would be offering accessible, impartial guidance to your customers; the following are just some of benefits available to your business by implementing this free tool:

A reputational advantage with consumers; Improve your bottom line; Easier compliance with legislative requirements; Engaging your customers on energy labelling; Influence in a project directly linked to policy; Retailer specific analytics; Free training for staff.

Full details of the business case for joining the DigiLabel Project are outlined in section 3 of this guide.

Paul HodsonHead of Energy

Directorate-Generalfor EnergyEuropean Commission

“The European Union is promoting energy efficient appliances through the energy label. Legislative work has been initiated to make energy labelling future-proof, including a robust solution for updating labels. Advances in digital technology can help these developments. The Digi-Label project, supported by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme, aims to do just that. I encourage you to participate in the trials or offer your expertise in this area in other ways to the Digi-label project.”

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PocketWatt is easy to implement in-store via QR codes placed at Point of Sale and online with minimal programming code to be integrated into your webpage. Full details of how to implement the PocketWatt tool at point of sale is outlined in Section 4 of this guide.

This Retailers Guide will give a more detailed overview of the PocketWatt tool, outline the potential benefits and provides guidance in implementation, energy labelling and the legis-lative responsibilities of retailers. Full training modules will be available for retailers who join the Digi-Label project in a format that suits you.

JOIN Us!

By joining Digi-Label, participating retailers will receive all of the aforementioned benefits, including non commercial and independent professional assistance on the energy label and energy efficiency performance of products and in providing this information to customers in appropriate and innovative ways.

The PocketWatt tool is currently being piloted in Spain and the UK, and later in 2017 will be rolled out to retailers across the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK.

Do you want to learn more? Please, contact us at:

National contact:

Telephone:

Email:

Postal address:

other Digi-label team resour ces concerning Pocketwatt are available online:

Our website www.pocketwatt.eu

Our newsletter http://pocketwatt.eu/News.aspx

Our Twitter account https://twitter.com/pocketwatt

Our Partners Roundtable1 http://pocketwatt.eu/Partners.aspx

1 The Partners Roundtable is a group of expert advisors composed of retailers, manufacturers, consumer representatives and other stakeholders to support digital solutions in the Digi-Label project. The Roundtable enables these key stakeholders to participate in and contribute to the work of the Digi-label project.

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SECTION 2 THE DIGILABEL PROJECT

2.1 THE DIGILABEL PROJECT

The Digi-Label project is a European project aiming to make the EU Energy Label easier to understand. It does this through the development of a digital tool that gives consumers more and better data on the energy consumption and associated running costs of appliances at the point of purchase, in partnership with retailers and manufacturers.

For more information visit: www.pocketwatt.eu

PocketWatt is the new web tool designed and developed under the Digi-Label project that makes learning about and comparing the energy efficiency and performance of a product simple. Consumers can access the tool via smartphone, tablet or computer where they can find out exactly how much an appliance will cost to run, and be able to compare multiple products quickly and easily at point of sale. This will all be possible both in store and through retailer websites, avoiding trawling through endless web pages before the consumer can make a purchasing decision.

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2.2 WHAT DOEs POCkETWATT COvER?

PocketWatt covers a wide-range of consumer appliances: refrigeration products (i.e. refrige-rators, freezers and refrigerator-freezers), washing machines, tumble driers, dishwashers and air-conditioners. For individual products it provides the following information and features:

Annual running costs, customisable to actual household usage

Scoring of products by running costs against similar products (within the retailers stocked range)

Energy efficiency class of the product, shown against the range allowed on the EU mar-ket (due to the minimum energy performance requirements);

Simplified explanation and contextualisation of the product specifications such as noise level, water consumption, capacity, etc.;

An explanation of the energy label icons;

Built in functions allowing your customers to like, share (via social media) and compare products quickly and easily at point of sale. (Note: comparisons will be restricted to models available from the specific participating retailer)

Flexible access to the tool via a stand alone web application for at home product re-search and directly with a retailer in store or online.

A link to the product fiche directly from the manufacturer’s website downloaded either in a separate window or as a PDF document.

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SECTION 3 BUsINEss CAsE FOR RETAIL PARTNERs

3.1 CONsUmER REsEARCH

The energy label has been quite a success story, with European market studies confirming that over 80% of consumers recognise it. Consumers also say that the energy label is largely understandable and that they use it as part of their purchasing decisions. Studies have also shown that the energy label is seen as a sign of quality and that consumers are willing to pay more for products with a higher efficiency rating.

Nevertheless, consumer research also identified shortcomings of the current energy label: consumers do not always understand the efficiency scale, which classes are actually availa-ble, the average annual consumption, and some of the pictograms. The label also lacks infor-mation that consumers have asked for such as annual running costs and how this relates to individual behaviour.

Consumer focus group research in Germany and Spain for the Digi-Label project confirmed that there is a high awareness of the energy label; however uncertainties and misunder-standings were uncovered around the meaning of certain elements of the energy label. For example, the meaning of the energy-efficiency classes was not clear or the additional infor-mation presented on the label.

For example, a German participant said: ‘Actually, I do not really know if A++ or A+++ makes that big a difference.’ A partner in Spanish consumer focus-group: ‘Unfortunately I do not know this parameter “kWh/annum”’.

The consumers asked for more information about the meaning of the energy-efficiency classes, e.g. the differences between the classes. Participants appreciated the additional information available from PocketWatt on the energy-efficiency of appliances, in particular the tool’s conversion of energy use into running costs and the ability to compare products side by side.

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3.2 BENEFIT TO RETAILER PARTNERs

The PocketWatt tool has been designed to help retailers engage with and sell to consumers both in-store and on-line. Retailers that join the DigiLabel project and implement the Pocket-Watt tool will have access to the following:

A free tool that provides your customers with tailored infor-mation that encourages them to purchase higher energy performance products. The PocketWatt digital tool gives your customers:

Access to product information with supporting guidance;

Comparisons between multiple (selected) products; A greater understanding of in use running costs cus-

tomised to their own level of use.

An improved reputation with consumers as a socially responsible retailer by: Providing additional reliable energy and running cost data on individual products

helping them minimise their future energy costs. Keeping up to date with and being able to advise consumers on upcoming legisla-

tive changes; Offering an interactive, personal service to your customers, supported by the Di-

gi-Label project team; Increasing staff knowledge through a free training programme which includes

not only implementation of the tool but also energy labelling and retailer responsibilities;

Improved business collateral, PocketWatt is designed to help your business by: Improving your bottom line by leading your customers to choose high efficiency,

higher margin products. Showcasing your engagement in the project through related media activity and

articles released by the DigiLabel team throughout the life of the project at both the national and European level to consumers and trade.

Facilitating compliance with legal obligations to make the product fiche available to your customers before they purchase their chosen appliance.

Providing access to a free flexible tool that can be accessed by your consumers independently or via guided one to one consultation with a sales specialist

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3.3 EvALUATION & ANALyTICs

Towards the end of the project, the team will investigate the impact of using the PocketWatt tool on influencing the customers’ purchasing decisions towards more efficient models. This will provide further evidence on how retailers have added value for their clients.

The project includes an ongoing evaluation which investigates the impact of the PocketWatt tool and also aims at constant improvement for the tool. If you cooperate with us, we would also like you to participate in this evaluation process – e.g. by giving feedback on the tool and its implementation.

3.4 PILOT ImPLEmENTATION

Factory Electronics, a Spanish independent ap-pliance retailer, started using PocketWatt on their website and in-store in January 2017 as part of the project pilot. Information on specific products in store was accessed via QR codes which were placed on the appliances..

Consumers have responded positively to this new purchasing information tool, and sales of higher energy label class products have increased in the first few months of the pilot.

Other retailers in Spain, including Electro Ferre-teria Habana and Electro M. Calvo are also part of Spain’s national pilot project and are using PocketWatt to support sales of higher efficiency appliances.

The Spanish Retailer Associations ACEMA, ACEAR and ANGED are all participating in the pilot and are supportive of the PocketWatt tool.

In the UK Snelling and Gerald Giles started using the PocketWatt tool instore in March 2017. Gerald Giles have created compelling Point of Sale ticketing which helps their customers

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understand what information the QR code will give them when scanned. The regional chain store Hughes are also part of UK pilot and have implemented the PocketWatt tool in two of their larger stores also using their own (branded) product label templates and looking to integrate it into their existing templates going forward.

Paul GilesGerald Giles Managing Director

“When the Energy Saving Trust contacted us about the PocketWatt pilot we were keen to sign up. By coherently breaking down the running costs and energy efficiency of electrical appliances with the app, our customers are able to make a much more informed decision prior to purchase.”

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SECTION 4 HOW TO UsE POCkETWATT

4.1 INsTORE ImPLEmENTATION

The PocketWatt tool allows retailers to generate QR codes for each individual product of-fered and to print and place them with the product displays in store; this can be done either as a standalone label or integrated into a retailers own existing point of sale template.

When consumers scan the QR codes they gain access to all the information on the energy label and product fiche, presented in simple and contextualised way, as well as details of the running costs and overall efficiency score related to that product. Consumers can also compare products sold by the retailer and choose the efficient model that best suits their needs.

4.2 ONLINE ImPLEmENTATION

The PocketWatt tool has been designed to integrate seamlessly with retailer websites through an embedded JAVA Widget similar to those offered by retail services such as Revoo. The online version is an embedded widget functioning as a pop-up so consumer is not navigated away from the retailer’s own website.

Each retailer is provided with a unique key (code snippet) that can be copied and pasted into any HTML template. Once pasted into the page template the PocketWatt widget is automatically activated for each product.

Once the user clicks on the widget, the product details are provided, including, where ap-propriate, the ability to configure result and details to match individual usage. A link to the product fiche is also provided to help retailers meet the statutory obligation to make this available.

Scan Detailed Info

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The following shows the widget embedded in the website of one of the UK pilot retailers:

4.3 ACCEssING PRODUCT DATA

The PocketWatt tool references data from a single secure central database to ensure con-sistency of information provided to users both in-store and online, driving all results from scanned QR codes or online shopping. The tool has been designed to offer flexibility and control for retailers, ensuring that each retailer can manage products available in its stores and websites. This is achieved by offering two modes of data operation and cross-referenc-ing products with each retailer’s stock list:

Data Mode 1: Referencing Digi-Label’s central database. Here the growing Digi-Label product database is used with each retailer uploading a stock list (e.g., the European Article Number (EAN)) to enable the cross-referencing re-quired to ensure that only products offered by that retailer are showcased in its stores and websites.

Data Mode 2: Referencing a Retailer’s in-house database. Here, all the necessary product data is uploaded by the retailer. The Digi-Label team of-fer bulk-upload templates to allow fast and simple input of all products and the option to manually add, edit or remove products as stock changes over time.

To manage this process, each retailer is provided with a secure login to a personalised control panel where data can be uploaded and managed, QR codes can be generated and downloaded for printing and the online widget key accessed. From here retailers are also able to set up logins for multiple users, add multiple stores and track usage data showing QR code scanning by product and individual store and web metrics for the online widget.

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SECTION 5 ABOUT ENERGy LABELLING

5.1 LINk TO THE ENERGy LABEL

The energy label is a well-known tool used to inform con-sumers on the energy consumption of a number of products used in our homes.

The information on the energy label as well as the label itself is provided by the manufacturers. But it is the legal duty of retailers to present the energy label and to make the product fiche available to the consumers prior to their purchasing decision – both in stores and for on-line sales.

5.2 HOW sHOULD THE ENERGy LABEL BE DIsPLAyED?

The energy labelling regulation requires that retailers ensure printed energy labels are dis-played at the point of sale ‘in a visible and legible manner’, close to the product model s they refer to and according to the rules specified in each specific energy labelling regulation.

On-line retailers must display the full energy label image at a size which is legible to the user, or the energy class in a coloured arrow, corresponding to the colour of the energy efficiency class of the product on the energy label, with a link to the full energy label.

The EU legislation also specifies that the product fiche (providing further technical details on product performance) be made available in the product brochure or other literature when sold to end-users or made available online for internet sales. This means that consumers are entitled to ask to read the fiche content in shops.

5.3 WHAT INFORmATION DOEs THE ENERGy LABEL CONTAIN AND HOW WILL IT CHANGE?

The Energy label typically provides information on the product’s energy efficiency class and its annual energy consumption calculated according to standardised conditions. Depending

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on the type of product, it may also provide information on its capacity, water consumption, noise level and other product performance aspects (e.g. spin class).

For some products, such as refrigerators, the energy labels have existed for several decades. For others, such as vacuum cleaners and water heaters, these are only a few years old. How-ever, given the quick pace of technological developments, and revisions to the energy effi-ciency regulations, PocketWatt is operating in a dynamic and ever-changing market. It can offer a stable platform for retailers to help them to respond to these changes.

Changes in energy labelling legislation are under way, to ensure that these consumer-facing communication tools always provide up to date and reliable information, and a clear perspective of how the efficiency of an individual product rates relative to the rest of the market. Changes will include a gradual product by product rescaling of the energy classes to A to G on the energy label for all product categories, and the introduction of a compulsory on-line product registry database of all models available on the market.

PocketWatt is designed to help you to keep up-to-date with these changes- to continue informing your customers about the products of their choice, and to engage with them in selecting products that are more energy-efficient and appropriate for their individual needs.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 696081 The sole responsibility for the content of this guide lies with the authors. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union. Neither the EASME nor the European Commission are responsible for any use that may be

made of the information contained therein.