LISLE, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ARBA Technology is rolling out online retail gift shop solutions that could work as apps on mobility devices as well as portals accessible from desktop devices. We are responding to our hospital gift shop market, and current Covid-19 pandemic which is impacting their revenues and demand. Healthcare providers that have a gift store on their medical campus more frequently leverage retired employees/volunteers to operate their gift shops.
Since the volunteers are in a high risk Covid-19 category they have not been as active as in the past. In addition to being understaffed, they are experiencing a pronounced decrease in revenues, due to lack of onsite customers – visitors and hospital employees.
Our online giftshop application will provide an alternate way for a patient’s family member/friend to send a gift to brighten their loved one’s day during this pandemic where visitations are limited. Post pandemic this will also open doors for remote, out of town family and friends to leverage the online option to send gifts to their hospitalized loved ones.
The application also accesses and updates customer inventory items the same way as the customer’s onsite POS kiosks. Periodic and daily revenue reports can also be run on online and onsite sales, along with inventory reports. Both the onsite and online applications access the same inventory databases, preventing rework in a dual inventory scenario which most other vendors offer.
Online retail has shown a 35% growth during the Covid-19 pandemic, and so it is natural that gift shops are now exploring the online options to literally stay in business since onsite customer/employee visits have diminished, volunteer support to operate and manage gift shops is a major challenge as well. Efforts to retrofit the retail space with Covid-19 safety measures if they decide to reopen, is also a costly option. So, several of ARBA’s gift shop customers that are signing up for an online sales experience are seeing an uptick in their revenue almost immediately. The online option is also helping them stay in and save their business, and to reduce dependence on volunteer staff to manage day to day operations.
About ARBA Retail POS Systems
Leading provider of enterprise-level point-of-sale technology solutions for the retail, healthcare, and foodservice industries with clients located across the United States and Canada.
