Electronic shelf label (ESL) company Solum said on Monday it will shift to a retail solutions company based on the Solum Solution Platform (SSP). It aims to go beyond ESL hardware sales by integrating startups’ software technologies to provide tailored digital transformation solutions.

Under the strategy, Solum pushed ahead with cooperation with related startups. Solum previously carried out proof-of-concept (PoC) work with 10 companies and moved ahead with technical cooperation with five startups after being selected as an achievement company in the Seoul Business Agency (SBA) 2025 Open Innovation Program.

For example, its cooperation with startup Aswemake led to the digitisation of a food ingredients mart. At Wang Mart in Hongseong, South Chungcheong Province, it combined Solum’s ESL with Aswemake’s e-commerce solution to build an automatic price adjustment system that takes into account inventory levels, expiration dates and demand by time of day.

Cooperation with SeedN focused on sustainable technology. It integrated SeedN’s heating and cooling technology, which saves energy by using AI to adjust temperatures to suit in-store conditions, into Solum’s store management platform.

Solum will focus on the retail market this year while expanding the scope of cooperation to global markets. It plans to broaden applications to automobiles, data centres, healthcare and beauty.

Solum, which was spun off from Samsung Electro-Mechanics in 2015, was listed on the KOSPI in 2021. It currently supplies 350 million ESL units to more than 50,000 stores worldwide. Solum is supporting startups by providing opportunities to take part in overseas exhibitions and support for overseas market PoCs.

A Solum official said, "Startups are an innovation engine that helps our technology take root in the field," and added, "Through SSP completed through cooperation, we will change the DX paradigm in the global retail market."