In this paper, we suggest the usage of a visible light identification (VLID) link for an Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) system. The suggested VLID link can provide an accurate individualized identification capacity between customer's smartphone and distant, closely-spaced ESL tags. ESL tag sends its information by switching a liquid crystal display shutter which is located on its surface. A light emitting diode flash that emits visible light and a photodiode are used as the VLID reader. Experiments were conducted to confirm its feasibility. The results show that 500 bps reading speed is possible over a distance of 0.5 m.