CategoryGarden centre software

Here’s a video of another online session we hosted yesterday with several retailers on taking a business online:

Our specialty POS software offers many specialty retail benefits for specialty small business retailers, including:

1. Colour, size and style: Easily track sales at a granular level.
2. Club pricing: Helps you attract community group members.
3. Repairs: Easily track & manage repairs & communicate with customers.
4. Sell by weight. Sell by fractions. Yes, this software is integrated with scales.
5. Smart loyalty. While you can use points, we also have something better. In fact, the software offers multiple loyalty options for flexible and engaging loyalty with shoppers.
6. BOGO: Increase sales with buy this and get that bundling.
7. Age checking. Giving you the operational structured protection to ensure your front line people are guided to trade within the rules.
8. Chemical risk notification by products.
9. Product care information. This is where you can personalise advice to products and thereby better serve your customers, and differentiate your retail business.
10. Local location product use information.
11. Warranty: Track details and leverage this for customer service.
12. Bring them back: Target market for birthdays, anniversaries and more.
13. Sell anywhere: Using our Retailer Roam^TM sell anywhere app.
14. Sell anytime: With our Shopify / Magento / Woo integrations.
15. Image flowing to online websites – flowing from the POS software.
16. Special orders: Easily manage special customer orders.
17. Jeweller specific product labels.
18. Outdoor, weatherproof, product labels.
19. The ability to design your own product labels.
20. The ability to design your own receipts.
21. Awesome loyalty: Guide one-time and regular shoppers to spend more.
22. Seasonal reordering: Easily reorder inventory based on seasonal sales.
23. Integrate direct with Xero.
24. Integrate direct with Shopify, Magento and WooCommerce, this includes the feeding of images of inventory items to these platforms for easy online selling.

This is not the complete list. Our POS software is packed with specialty tools through which indie small business retailers can differentiate and deliver more useful outcomes to the business, those who work in the business and to customers of the business.

Our goal is to empower small business retailers with tools that encourage and nurture, tools that are at the core of the business, appreciated, loved and respected. Those are our goals for our POS software and the services we offer our specialty retail customers.

We switched to Xero for our 3 retail businesses and connected it to our POS software. This Xero connected POS software solution is a time saver, mistake eliminator and business planning aid all wrapped into one.

But let’s take a step back and consider why we switched to Xero for our retail business accounting needs.

• Xero is easy to use.
• Xero is integrated with our POS software.
• Xero saves time managing the accounting side of the business.
• Xero fits retail businesses like a comfortable glove.
• Xero support is easy to access.
• Xero continues to evolve.
• And we will say again, Xero is integrated with our POS software.

We have had experience with Quicken as well as with MYOB. Considering all three, we prefer Xero. Our accountant prefers Xero too as does our in-house accounting team, which includes a CPA.

It is for these reasons that we chose to switch to Xero.

The process itself was straight forward. We were nervous, did a trial run, checked the data and then did it again, this time live. We have never looked back, never worried that we missed out. It was the right move for us in a back office sense and in terms of overall business management. Xero, connected with our POS software, is a good small business retail solution. We like it and thanks too our own experience in our three shops we can recommend it based in. genuinely personal experience.

We have nothing against MYOB or Quicken. Our Xero choice is based on our own evidence, based on our own experiences. We think this matters if we are asked for a recommendation by a retailer. If we are asked, it is Xero. If no one asks, we do not interfere in that our POS software can be connected to Xero directly and MYOB through a third party that keeps up to date with MYOB changes.

Tower Systems is not your usual POS software company. We are retailers too, using our software in our own shops, providing us and our team members with experiences that are truly valuable to what we do and how we do it with and for our customers every day. We walk in your shoes.

We are grateful to see sales data from a range of different Victorian retail businesses using our POS software. Here are trends from the latest Victorian lockdown:

• Relaxing products. The jigsaw surge from March and April is back but in an expanded form – adult colouring, art and craft, journaling, cross-stitch, knitting, games and art. Smart retailers are selling these items as well as offering customers opportunities to connect with others doing this.
• Nesting. This category is surging not only in Victoria but nationally. Nesting includes candles, diffusers, essential oils, rugs, cushions, homewares, pets, cooking and related.
• Tactile products. We have seen a surge in cuddleable (not a word I know but it best describes it) products. This segment includes plush and other soft toys, pets, rugs, blankets, pillows and similar. With touching and hugging discouraged, it stands to reason that people seek out alternatives.
• Easy shopping. We have seen retailers gain sales by making shopping easier through packaging items often bought together and having these placed front of store and at the counter.
• Postable gifts. People are loving that they can easily send a gift to people they are unable to see.
• Working from home. For some, this is now a permanent arrangement. Many retail channels have offers they can make to those working from home and businesses with employees working from home. The opportunities are usually broader than retailers think.
• Contactless retail. Having the EFTPOS machine shopper facing and situated for easy tap and having in place arrangements for the lowest cost possible to the business for EFTPOS.
• Online. Having an online offer matters. While people like the safety of having goods shipped, they also like click and collect and they like to use the website to ensure you have something in stock before they visit the shop.
• Online events. More retailers are hosting events to show off new products and offer education –  Zoom, Facebook live and similar events. Unboxings, educating on new products meet the maker and more.
• Christmas has started early. Yes, we are seeing Christmas purchases already in businesses that are offering Christmas stock.

While the pandemic has disrupted business, in that disruption are opportunities. The Victorian situation is a reminder that disruption is not temporary. We think history will show that winners will be those businesses that adapted early and were able to finesse their offering and processes as the market demanded.

More and more small business retailers are embracing the pivot to online as covid continues to impact in-store traffic. The covid pivot is more about getting online, for sure. It is about small business retailers finding new category opportunities to serve through their existing business operation.

That is the covid pivot, a turn for the business to attract new shoppers and to do this through an online model that leverages existing physical store infrastructure.

Tower Systems is grateful to serve small business retailers in making this covid Pivot, helping them to connect their POS software to a beautiful Shopify site created by our web developers.

Our suggestions cover the technical, operational and the creative. Our customers choose what they want for their businesses. All we can do is speak to our experiences and the experiences of others in making these moves. New are especially attuned to helping small business retailers looking for pivot opportunities as that is net new benefit for them, helping to drive efficiency of their overall business operation.

The covid pivot is real in business, especially small business and even more especially small business retail. covid pivot is a term we have been using since March to describe advice we have provided to small business retailers to encourage and guide their actions to attract new shoppers.

As developers of small business focussed POS software and as web developers of Shopify and Magento websites we are well positioned from these two parts of our company to deliver the tech infrastructure ideal for helping retailers make the most of a covid pivot move.

Jewellers, garden centres, bike shops, fishing and outdoors businesses, toy shops, pet shops, homewares businesses, newsagents and more are all benefiting from the advice and encouragement we offer in this model of the covid pivot to find new shopper traffic for any retail business. Guiding these businesses to make an online move is key and beneficial.  It is timely because of covid even though the need and opportunity were always there.

The covid pivot is defined as the move you make in business in response to, because of and / or thanks to covid to help strengthen the business in an area not historically familiar to you. It is smart, opportunistic and timely. New customers are out there for businesses that pivot to find them.

We are grateful to have switched more MYOB Retail Manager customers to our POS software. Through this latest round of work we have learned more about how our software is a good alternative to MYOB Retail Manager.

Each time we bring convert someone from MYOB Retail Manager we learn more about our MYOB Retail Manager alternative, how we can specifically help and guide retailers to walk that path with us.

We respect the place MYOB Retail Manager has played in serving small business retailers. As the alternative to MYOB Retail Manager, Tower Systems seeks to help those retailers move beyond where they sat, to lean into opportunities of change in physical retail as well as online.

So, here is feedback from folks who have embraced our MYOB Retail Manager alternative.

• We loved that we could start again with our data. We have used MYOB Retail Manager for many years and had not been ideal in our management of the data. The stock was right but the stock on hand was wrong. So switching allowed us to clean the data.
• Tower were great. They took our MYOB Retail Manager, looked at how we used it and provided advice on how to take that generational leap we needed to shift our business up a notch or two, to make it more viable and competitive.
• We loved that even though we moved on from MYOB Retail Manager we could keep using MYOB for our account ting software. That was important to us. Tower were great in respecting this.
• Our data was a mess. We had used MYOB Retail Manager for many years over many different staff. The Tower people helped us get completely clean and accurate data and that has made a huge difference to our business.
• I loved that they gave us unlimited training.
• I loved that the people selling and supporting the Tower software and from the same company as the people who write the software. I was tired of dealing with people who were not from MYOB.
• I love that I can rent the Tower software.
• I liked that there was no pressure. I first looked at Tower a year and only made the switch from MYOB Retail Manager three months ago. They did not pressure me. This was important to me.

We are grateful for the users of MYOB Retail Manager who have joined our user community and look forward to welcoming more.

We are thrilled to bring a click frenzy like opportunity to the Tower Systems small business community.

If you have a website, come and join our small business to small business promotion. To promote the websites of Tower customers to other Tower customers, we invite you to set up an offer code – [redacted] – in your website to run from July 6 to July 31, giving those who use the code a discount, which you set.

This is a click frenzy opportunity with a difference. It is within our small business POS software user community only.

Email Tash, our admin expert, your web address, one line on the product categories and the discount the code delivers. Our advice on the discount is be bold with a discount designed to help you get icing on the cake type sales, sales you would otherwise not get.

Here are two examples from us:

www.cutenessoverload.com.au; all things cute; 25%.
www.mintcoinshop.com.au; coins from the Royal Australian Mint; 10%.

To ensure consistency of information in the list we will share with our customers, please follow this standard.

Our goal here is to help you show off your website and to, hopefully, get more small business retailers buying from small business retailers. We want to give you a valuable click frenzy sales boost of online sales.

Ours is a diverse small business community. We’d love to see this diversity reflected in the range of websites that join this promotion.

We will only promote it to Tower Systems customers. That is to 3,000+ small business retailers.

Plus…

We will include a list of all Tower POS software connected retailers who send us the above information on our own website. This will be a new page we create: Retail Businesses We Love. That listing will have your business name and web address. We will not publicly share the discount code. The goal of the listing is to give you another backlink.

This Tower Systems small business retailer click frenzy opportunity is another way we are working with and helping our small business retailer community to reach people and to drive business opportunities from other small business retailers.

Our click frenzy campaign also helps small business retailers expand the reach of people to their new websites and through this to get more experiences about online sales.

Hundreds of small business retailers have installed R3, the next generation POS software from Tower Systems. R3 is a technical step forward in small business POS software.

Its release last week is the culmination of months of beta testing and acceptance testing through partners with which Tower Systems connects through its POS software.

• R3 POS software delivers access too a fresh and current design look and feel. It is 2020 sostfwasre for the 2020 marketplace.
• R3 POS software uses a stronger and more robust data management system providing safe, secure and fast access to business data.
• R3 POS software is written in a langauge that is forward leaning, setting Tower Systems and it customers up for wonderful advance opportunities in the back half of this year and into next year.
• R3 POS software delivers new facilities, bonus facilities through which retailers can extend their businesses.
• R3 POS software delivers a replacement of core facilities. Yes, we did a Marie Kondo, thanking parts of the software for their service and letting them go, replacing them for completely new, completely rewritten facilities, that truly spark joy.

Our R3 release is us investing in the future of the small business retailers we serve and those we are yet to welcome to our Tower Systems small business retailer community. The project itself began three years ago and involved more than 10 IT professionals working together to design and build awesome next-generation POS software for our specialty retail channels. This team did this work while our existing software was itself enhanced and supported.

The million dollar plus project is an investment we are proud to have delivered for our customers and for our own community working in the Tower Systems business.

This is what POS software companies do. They make software. And, making software is complex, expensive, time- consuming and inexact. hence, the long beta release program as we finessed the software to ensure it served the needs of our customers.

R3 is truly innovative POS software. It is backed with excellent help and training, seamless data conversion and more as we take the hands of our small business retail customers and bring them to the new world of R3, next generation POS software for small business retailers in Australia and New Zealand.

We are grateful for the success our discount voucher facilities in our POS software have delivered to small business retailers since February 2013.  Last week, we got together with a small group to explore the discount vouchers and to understand the opportunity operationally in small business retail.  Our goal was to record content for others. Here is a video of some of that meeting.

Harvey Norman is engaged in ad ad blitz right now pitching to businesses for instant asset write off business prior to June 30. They are spending big to entice businesses to spend big with them.

Click here to access the instant asset write off information on the Tax Office website. We think it is important that businesses act on up to date advice from the government authority overseeing the tax write off program.

This year, some shelter changes were made to the instant asset write off program:

From 12 March 2020 until 31 December 2020 the instant asset write-off:

• threshold amount for each asset is $150,000 (up from $30,000)
• eligibility has been expanded to cover businesses with an aggregated turnover of less than $500 million (up from $50 million).

Here at Tower Systems, our interest is small business retailers and, in particular, helping them with our POS software written for a range of niche specialty retailers. This is POS software made in Australia for their types of businesses.

Installing our POS software and related infrastructure is an eligible purchase for any business, it meets the criteria for the instant asset write-off program. Our POS software could be financially beneficial and operationally beneficial to a business this financial year. Our focus, through good use of the POS software, is to help small business retailers run more efficient and valuable businesses.

• Computer hardware purchases.
• Tablet, iPad and similar purchases.
• Network infrastructure purchases.
• Printer, scanner, scale and other purchases.
• Software.
• Software support.

All of these and other expenses can be investments that help any retail business and they could be useful when the and retail business is planning to tap into the instant asset write-off opportunity.

The Tax Office and accounting professionals are the ones best positioned to guide any purchase, to help any business ensure they purchase to maximise their spending and deduction opportunity.

Our job here at Tower Systems is to help small business retailers leverage our POS software for the best possible use in a business, for management certainty and through this to drive the best value possible for a business. Oh, and to help those in the business enjoy the business.

Any retail business keen to explore instant asset write-off opportunities can speak with us here at Tower Systems and we will help as much as we are able. We also appreciate specking with accountants, to ensure that any transactions meet they requirements they identify for their clients.

Here is a video of a Zoom meeting we held for our POS software customers last week. The core reason for the meeting was to record this and make it available to our customers as free training.  Since release, the view numbers and feedback have been terrific. We have many more training videos online for our customers.

We are all set to go for our free live POS software stocktake training Zoom meeting this morning. We will share time saving tips, data accuracy tips and more as we share train ing on how to stocktake using our POS software. We will cover a full stocktake, a spot stocktake and a custom stocktake.

Better still, we will record the meeting and make it available t all of our POS software customers along with our articles of advice on stocktaking and our free one-on-one training on stocktaking.

This end of financial year, Tower Systems has you covered for stocktakes.