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Technology Stocks : Electronic Retailing Systems International (ERSI Nasdaq)
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To: A.J. Mullen who wrote (19)10/25/1996 3:18:00 PM
From: Philip Benson   of 92
 
I do have a few comments. First, I'll come clean... I'm an account manager/analyst at MMI Group in Toronto. I'm new to the Net so please bear with me!! With respect to ERS, however, I do have five years of experience/observation by virtue of the fact I have closely followed the whole Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) industry since inception. A word of warning: I think ERS and El-Dat (an Israeli company) are a distant third and fourth place to this industry's leaders, Telepanel Systems and Pricer AB.

ERS suffers from two key disadvantages, one technical and the other marketing related. First, their system is the only hard-wired version on the market. This makes it inherently more expensive than the wireless versions of the other three ESL vendors. Miles of wired tracking are required to outfit a single store. Further, if the retailer wants to change the configuration of his aisles, he has to "rewire" them.

Second, compared to their principal North American competitor, Telepanel, ERS lacks a remarketing partner. Three years ago IBM selected Telepanel's wireless RF based system over ERS' wired. A week and a half ago, Telepanel signed potentially the largest order for ESL systems ever with Ahold USA (70 stores over the next 36 months).

Bottom line, ERS' market cap is not supported by fundamentals given their competition and inability to find an OEM partner. Telepanel just partnered with Apax Partners & Cie in France, thereby getting the jump on ERS in Europe.

I've written a comprehensive report that evaluates the ESL industry and the key players. Anyone who wants a copy by good old fashioned fax can call my office at 416-363-3050. I would post it here as an attachment if I had the foggiest idea how!!

Philip Benson
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