Switching a whole dispensary to digital price tags at once is a big step. A small pilot is a better way to find out whether they're worth it in your store, with your products, staff and customers. This guide lays out a simple plan for a 30- to 60-day trial.
Step 1: Pick the right test area
Choose one section where prices change often and customers browse:
- A display case of flower or pre-rolls that rotates often.
- An edibles or vape shelf where daily deals happen.
- A clearance section where markdowns are frequent.
Avoid starting with your most complicated area. You want to learn quickly, not untangle edge cases.
Step 2: Write down how pricing works today
Before the pilot, document the current process for that section:
- Who changes prices, and how often?
- How are deals started and ended on the shelf?
- How do prices get from your POS to the shelf, the menu screen and online menus?
- How often do shelf and register prices disagree?
That last question matters. In many states, inspectors check shelf prices against the register using the NIST Handbook 130 procedure, with a 98% accuracy threshold to pass. A quick internal spot check of 20 to 50 items gives you a baseline.
Step 3: Understand where your POS fits
Most dispensaries rely on a cannabis-specific POS because many states require sales and inventory reporting to a seed-to-sale tracking system such as Metrc. Cova's Metrc guide explains that in Metrc states, the POS needs to integrate with the tracking system.
For a pilot, decide upfront:
- Will tags be updated manually from a dashboard during the pilot?
- Or does the tag system connect to your POS automatically?
Manual updates are fine for a small pilot, but measure the effort so you know what full-store use would take. Seed's guide to choosing menu providers makes the same point for menus: without POS integration, someone has to keep displays up to date by hand.
Step 4: Decide what the tags show
Keep tags simple and consistent:
- Product name and size or weight.
- Price, with a clear label for tax: "+ tax" or "tax included."
- Deal price and end date when a promotion is running.
Check your state's rules on advertising and product display before adding anything else to the tag.
Step 5: Measure what matters
Track a few things before and during the pilot:
- Time spent on price changes in the test area each week.
- Shelf/register mismatches found in spot checks.
- Customer price questions at the counter about items in the test area.
- Staff feedback: easier, harder, or no different?
Step 6: Decide what's next
At the end of the pilot, compare against your baseline. If the tags saved time and cut errors, plan a wider rollout. If they didn't, you've learned that cheaply.
Be our first dispensary pilot
PriceTaglet started with coin and bullion stores, where prices follow the gold and silver markets and change throughout the day. The core setup works in any store: E-Ink tags readable in bright light, a hub that plugs into an outlet, a browser dashboard for setting prices, and our own tag designs. We don't yet integrate with cannabis POS or tracking systems, and that's part of what we want to build alongside a real dispensary.
We're looking for our first dispensary pilot partner to run a trial like the one above and help shape PriceTaglet for cannabis retail. If that sounds like your store, reach out through our early access page.
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PriceTaglet
Price tags for your retail workflow.
PriceTaglet is price-tag technology for all retail operators, with ready-made software primarily for coin stores. Tags can integrate with POS systems; contact us to assess compatibility with your setup.
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