Lloydspharmacy has signed a three-year renewal contract for EPoS maintenance services with Vista Retail Support.

The supplier is supporting 27,000 items of equipment in its stores, including more than 2,500 EPoS lanes, back office equipment and patient relationship management systems.

The deal follows a 12-month extension to a previous contract with the supplier, during which time Lloydspharmacy reviewed the agreement and benchmarked Vista’s performance against the industry.

Lloydspharmacy IT service manager Eddie Nicholas said: “We looked at the competitors against what Vista had provided and could provide and Vista has exceeded our expectations.”

He added that, since signing up with Vista in 2003, the retailer has experienced a sustained double-digit improvement in the service levels that Vista provides.

He said: “Lost systems means lost sales, which impacts both Lloydspharmacy and our customers. Critically, we rely on our EPoS tills and hand-held scanners to scan the barcodes on products and prescriptions. Every branch must be able to trade for every minute of opening time.”

Vista has positioned one of its employees on site permanently at Lloydspharmacy’s head office, in order to ensure the quality of service that Vista provides.

It also offers preventative maintenance support to help solve underlying problems that cause equipment to fail across the estate.