How Stanford Medicine Gift Shop’s Ecommerce Store Became an Overnight Success

Tucked just inside Stanford Medicine’s main hospital, the gift shop has long been a place of comfort — offering flowers, snacks, and Stanford-branded apparel to patients, staff, and visitors. Operated by the Patient Experience team, its mission was never just about selling products, but about supporting well-being throughout the hospital community.

When the pandemic shut its doors in 2020, the team turned to BigCommerce to bring that experience online. What followed surprised everyone.

The online store became an overnight success, generating immediate demand, reshaping operations, and revealing just how far the gift shop could scale. What began as a temporary workaround quickly evolved into a full-scale retail operation, complete with a warehouse, fulfillment team, and institutional buying capabilities. 

Today, Stanford Medicine Gift Shop stands out as a digital success story and a model for hospital retailers nationwide.

A cross-functional team, 14,000 SKUs, and one urgent deadline

The push to go online wasn’t part of a long-term roadmap. It was a response to an urgent need.

“We had plans to open up an online store, but we were probably a year out from doing that. And then COVID hit, so we had to fast-forward and jump into that initiative,” said Shellee Laubersheimer, Senior Program Manager of Patient Experience at Stanford Medicine.

With visitors restricted and in-store shopping shut down, the team needed a way to fulfill urgent product requests — from surgical camisoles to birthday flowers. BigCommerce gave them the flexibility to act fast.

“We did it in November of 2020, and it took us about four weeks to go live,” said Jordan Alvarez, Assistant Manager at Stanford Medicine Gift Shop. 

Despite managing more than 14,000 SKUs and training a 12-person team, the shop’s ecommerce site launched in record time, complete with Stanford branding, real-time inventory, and flexible fulfillment.

“It was just Jordan, Shellee, and me handling everything, from designing the site to getting it launched,” said Mamta Kaur, Manager of Patient Experience Operations at Stanford Medicine. “And we had zero website experience. It didn’t require a lot of training, which made a huge difference.”

From storage room to fulfillment center

The website launch didn’t just open a new sales channel. It reshaped how the entire team operated.

“Since we chose BigCommerce and launched our website, the gift shop and our operations have totally evolved,” said Kaur. “Our warehouse used to be just a storage space with shelves. Now it’s a full processing center, and we’ve hired new employees to manage it. Everyone’s roles shifted once the website really took off.”

With a 5,000-square-foot warehouse supporting a 3,000-square-foot retail store and a 700-square-foot Cancer Center boutique, the team had to rethink logistics from the ground up. Today, they fulfill over 300 online orders per month and continue to optimize workflows to support both online and offline growth.

Supporting more than just shoppers

One of the gift shop’s most unique use cases is its internal customer base. With many Stanford departments working remotely, traditional in-store shopping was no longer practical. BigCommerce’s offline payment feature gave those teams a better option.

“When departments place orders, they can ship directly to their team members without using a credit card,” said Laubersheimer. “It eliminates the need for reimbursements and streamlines the entire process.”

The team also set up custom delivery options — not just for shipping and local pickup, but for in-hospital deliveries as well. Orders can be sent directly to nursing units, making it easy for patients to receive gifts even when family members can’t visit in person.

Setting a new standard for hospital retail

Stanford Medicine Gift Shop’s ecommerce journey has inspired others in the healthcare space to think differently about what a hospital gift shop can be.

“We’ve probably had eight to 10 conversations with different hospitals across the country about setting up a website, who we’re using, and what the process looks like,” said Laubersheimer. “People are constantly reaching out to us. It’s kind of funny — we laugh about it — but people really do see us as a best practice, so it’s fun to share our story.”

Many of the inquiries come from smaller or volunteer-run gift shops, which often lack the staff, technical resources, or scale that Stanford has developed. That’s exactly what makes Stanford’s example so valuable — it proves that with the right platform and team mindset, hospital gift shops of any size can succeed online.

When asked what advice they’d give to other hospital teams starting their own ecommerce journey, the answer was clear.

“Don’t be scared of jumping in and figuring it out as you go,” said Alvarez. “Just expect you are going to have road bumps and you are going to be frustrated sometimes, but it'll all be worth it for both your business and customers.”

The final word

Stanford Medicine Gift Shop didn’t just adapt to a challenge, they built something bigger. In a matter of weeks, the team launched an ecommerce site that now powers hundreds of monthly orders, supports hospital operations, and serves as a model for others in the industry.

With the right platform and a clear sense of purpose, they turned a moment of urgency into long-term impact, and they’re just getting started. From expanding fulfillment to launching pop-up shops and exploring nationwide shipping, the team continues to push what hospital retail can look like in a digital-first world.

Want the full story? Read the Stanford Medicine Gift Shop case study.