Big Boats & Big Business: Mobile Solutions on Cruise Ships, Part 2

The other day I wrote a blog on how cruise ships can improve their bar service operations with a mobile computer. Well, in my opinion, the bar service isn’t the only place on the ship that could benefit from a mobile computer – the on-ship stores can as well.

Cruise-2

While the stores showcased the products nicely, the ship had several mobile shops set up around the boat with some of the less-expensive items for sale. Strategically placed (right outside of the casino for passengers to spend their winnings… or lose money and spend even more…), these mobile shops were always crowded with people looking, touching, and buying watches and jewelry. But, the mobile shop wasn’t exactly mobile – it had a computer on a cart acting as a cash register. The cart was bulky and in the way, and the sales staff had to take turns using the computer to complete each sale.

I could be wrong, but it looked like that computer cart did more harm than good. There’s way too much to do on these ships than to stand around and wait for the sales team to punch in the transaction on a single computer.

Knowing the computer is a hassle, why not use mobile computers? The mobile stores were up to 8 tables long, so it would only make sense to bring the computer to the products rather than the products to the computer. Considering most of the items sold were jewelry and watches, sales staff with mobile computers could give customers information about the pieces they’re looking at and complete the sale right then and there. Since jewelry and watches are often handled by the sales team, they need both hands at times, which is why a mobile computer that could easily fit in their pocket (such as a Honeywell Dolphin 9700) may be a good fit for the job. By speeding up the sales process, there’s less of a clutter of customers waiting around for their sale to complete and more interaction between the customer and sales person.

Cruise ship or not, how many times have you wanted to buy something but thought to yourself, “The line is too long, I’ll come back later,” and never end up going back? With a mobile computer in hand, those days of long lines and waiting customers can – and should – come to an end.

About the author

Jason Shanley is a member of L-Tron’s content creation team. His background in communication and technology provides him the deep knowledge base required for the articles he authors. Jason can be reached at info@L-Tron.com or (800) 830-9523.