Feasibility of Introducing Mobile Point-of-Sale Technology into Urban Corner Stores for Evaluation of Sales

Abstract

Abstract Objectives Small urban corner stores are a common venue for public health interventions, but evaluation of these initiatives is hampered by lack of formal electronic record-keeping. Previous research in Baltimore City, Maryland found that corner store owners would be interested in having access to a mobile application which offers point-of-sale features. The objective of this study was to examine the feasibility of using a simple mobile point-of-sale tablet (POST) application to track sales of healthy foods and beverages in Baltimore City corner stores. Methods POST is an interactive Android tablet mobile application developed for use by small corner store owners to track unit sales of 14 foods and beverages. Selected items were chosen to represent a balance of healthy and unhealthy options. POST is designed to be intuitive and can be adapted for use in multiple languages. A sample of four geographically and ethnically diverse corner store owners located in Baltimore City were trained to use POST during transactions in which they sold any of the selected items over an 11-day period. The research team elicited user feedback on acceptability, operability, and perceived sustainability. Results Training on the use of POST took five minutes, on average, regardless of store owners’ language differences or familiarity with mobile technology. POST was found to have moderate acceptability, high operability, and moderately high perceived sustainability by corner store owners. All store owners that completed the study reported that POST was easy to use and that they would use it again. Conclusions It is feasible to train corner store owners in low-income areas to use a simplified point-of-sale mobile application for sales monitoring. Future research should explore the value added of POST for public health interventions which rely on formal electronic record-keeping. Funding Sources No funding was received for this research.