A system and method for distribution of product price and/or sales data in
a retail establishment. Product price and/or sales data is stored
locally, either in a central computer or master electronic cash register
(ECR) or remotely at a master computer. The product price data is stored
in the form of a price look-up (PLU) table. The price data can be pushed
from the master ECR, local or master computers to and ECR emulation hub
to an ECR emulation hub. Similarly, the ECR emulation hub can request
product price data from the master ECR, local or master computers. Once
the product price data arrives at the ECR emulation hub, it can be
processed and sent to a display, which will be located near the
appropriate product. The ECR emulation hub can also record and/or
transmit prices actually charged for products over time to allow for
automatic auditing of promotional pricing offers such as those made by
manufacturers of the product. The ECR emulation hub acts like an ECR,
thereby requiring no special software or hardware modifications to
existing pricing display systems that already support ECRs.