The POS Software Blog

The POS Software Blog

News from Tower Systems about locally made POS software for specialty local retailers.

CategoryGarden centre software

Finding optimism in small business retail

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Every day can be tough in small business. You can feel like the big competitors are winning and that you can’t climb the mountain to compete. You may not know where to start.

There are green shoots of good news and opportunities in every small and independent retail business. The key is to find these and to leverage them for more success.

A green shoot is a product or a category of products or a supplier performing above average in the business. Often, these successes have gone unnoticed.

We were working with a retailer recently who said business was down by 20% and they did not know what to do. It turned out that the best performing product category in their business was ‘failing’ for six months because they had not replenished stock.

They invested, instead, on new lines that had not gone as well as the successful product.

They, in part, created their own downward spiral and had not looked at their business data to understand that contributed to the problems they were confronting.

Once they realised the situation, they re-stocked the successful range of products and numbers started to improve. More important, their confidence level grew and with this their business decisions improved.

There are opportunities for optimism in every business.

Finding optimism is like mining, you have to look for it, sometimes for a long time. It is there, though, in every retail business.

As soon as you hear yourself talking your business down, STOP. Look at your data, look for the good news. That is what you need to think and talk about.

By looking at your data, we mean looking at year on year, quarter on quarter or month on month comparison data for departments, categories, suppliers or even individual products. Look for growth and once you see growth, think about what you can do with and around the products achieving growth so that you can achieve other growth.

Any product achieving year on year increases in unit sales is a product to be appreciated, nurtured and used to help grow other products that can sell to the same customer.

This is how you grow optimism. Find those small green shoots, leverage them with some small steps and, over time, build more success for your business.

While overall revenue, traffic count and profitability may be down, growth even at the smallest data point, such as for one or two products, could be enough to get you looking at your business differently.

In the Tower Systems POS software, the best initial reports for good news are: Monthly Sales Comparison (department level, category level and / or supplier level), the 10×10 Report, Ranked Sales Report (by units) for one period and then for the comparative period.

We’re here to help you find the good news in your business. Your business data is the key.

7 reasons Australian retailers should have their websites developed in Australia

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While there are many reasons Australian retail businesses child have websites developed in Australia by Australian developer companies, here are the top reasons.

  1. Local knowledge. Understanding how retail is transacted is Australia is vital. From the terms used to the local Aussie style. There are often disconnects when offshore web developers are used and they do not understand Australian nuances.
  2. Easy local access. Being able to talk with a web developer during your office hours and even face to face are factors key to successful website deployment.
  3. Appropriate design. There is an extraordinary difference in the design aesthetic from an Australian designer to an offshore one. By design, we mean the look and feel. You want a website that accurately reflect your business, the look and feel of your business as you see it.
  4. Collaboration. Thanks to easy local Aussie access you can collaborate along the way. With an offshore solution language and other factors make collaboration challenging.
  5. Flexibility. Working with a local web developer you are dealing with a one stop shop. With offshore developers there is often an Australian front business. They translate your requirements. Too often, things are lost in translation.
  6. Tweaking. Once you go live you will want to tweak the site. With offshore developers this is hard because contracts are usually fixed or, sometimes, the company disappears. They are cheap for a reason.
  7. Local jobs. If yours is a local retail business and you want people to shop local to support the local economy. Do it yourself. lead by example.

There are many more reasons. While there is o doubt that offshore web development is cheaper, often that turns out to be false economy.

Tower Systems offers wonderful POS software for speciality retailers from ur POS division and beautiful Aussie developed websites from ur web division.

As an Australian POS software company, we are proud to serve in excess of 3,500 Aussie independent small retail businesses across a range of retail channels. Through our work, we help local Aussie businesses grow and become stronger. This is central to our mission. We believe in small business and Aussie small business especially.

GARDEN CENTRE SPECIFIC FACILITIES IN THE TOWER GARDEN CENTRE SOFTWARE HELP YOU BETTER LEVERAGE YOUR POINTS OF DIFFERENCE.

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Every day is a battle in independent small business, especially where you have a giant of a competitor outspending you on advertising. This is so true in the garden centre space.

We think the best way for any independent garden centre to compete is to leverage your points of difference, at every opportunity.

Software from Tower Systems has facilities designed specifically for garden centres, to enable them to do this, to leverage their point of difference at each touchpoint.

This non-tech article outlines these facilities. It represents business level advice we provide to garden centre owners and managers using our software. It reflects advice in addition to comprehensive technical advice, help and training on our software.

We believe that the more you leverage the specialisation in your business the more you differentiate your business from big business competitors. We are in an era where specialisation matters in businesses like yours, and ours.

  1. Special customer orders. This is the ability to order stock from a supplier for a specific customer. On arrival of the stock item, a barcode is printed with the customer name, for placement on to the product. The software can be set to send an alert to the customer by text or email, advising the arrival of the goods into the store. Customers love this personalisation. Better still, pitch an offer to customers prior to ordering from suppliers. Pre-sell. Get a non-refundable deposit. Then place your order.
  2. Share knowledge. On receipts and other touchpoint documents, include local knowledge by product or generally that shows your business as being expert. The more you do this, the more you share knowledge about garden care in your local area, the more you differentiate your business.
  3. Make what you sell. Using the manufactured goods facilities in the software it is easy to make goods. For example, you might put together a plant, a pot and a bag of nutrients as a pack. This is your pack, only available from you. It is easy to setup, sell and manage. This is a valuable point of difference.
  4. Reward your regular shoppers with a coffee card type offer. For example, buy ten plants priced at $15.00 or more and get the 11th plant for free. The software can track the purchases, ensuring your shoppers get their reward if they buy within the rules you establish.
  5. Club / community group deals / pricing. A great way to win new shoppers is through a community group. You can publish a card or voucher enabling members of a group to present this for a discount on each purchase. The software can track the purchases and at a designated time you can give the group a rebate in return for their member loyalty. Consider being flexible of what constitutes a club. It could be that people who like to fish with a particular person are in a ‘club’. The more groups and people you have talking about your business the better.
  6. Instant loyalty rewards. Another way we can help maximise sales is with an instant loyalty reward. This is particularly useful where you see shoppers once a year or quite infrequently as is often the case in fishing and outdoor businesses. Using rules that you control, a receipt can include a voucher offering a specific amount off the next purchase if that purchase is made in a timeframe you set. An average 19% redemption rate for the vouchers with a third redeemed the day of purchase. Male shoppers are far more likely to redeem the day of purchase. This instant loyalty reward facility is another way we serve your type of business. In the software, we call it discount vouchers.
  7. Easily create a quote based on what a customer wants. If they decide to proceed, the quote can be actioned quickly and easily.
  8. Hazardous goods. Include appropriate warnings on documents provided with hazardous goods for the protection of your customers and your business.
  9. As plants in-store grow, report them and increase their sale price.
  10. Label for outdoors. Using our weatherproof labels, confidently label products out on the lot so they can be scanned regardless of weather conditions.
  11. Leverage events. Using this new facility, added Q1 2018, you can market to shoppers based on interests, past purchases, birthdays and other date related events in and around their lives. For example, you could run an email campaign for all who purchased a particular type of plant and offer advice on seasonal care to local conditions.
  12. Sell by weight. This is easy and accurate.
  13. Your marketing group or product suppliers can provide data files for any catalogues in which you participate. You can load these into the software making it easy to offer catalogue prices through the term of the catalogue offer.
  14. Gift vouchers. Sell customers who can’t decide what gift to purchase a gift voucher. Load on to this voucher any amount the customer wants. You set the rules on expiry and other voucher handling.
  15. Supplier comparison. Since you can purchase some items from multiple suppliers, use smart reports in the software to compare the performance of your various suppliers.
  16. Integrated in retailer is this buy now pay later finance option. You are settled quickly by the funder and the costs are like credit card costs. This can work better than LayBy in that you do not need to manage the goods in-store.
  17. You have complete control over how this is setup including the terms, rules and more.
  18. Manage remotely. Plenty of our business owners are not in their businesses regularly. Our software has facilities that enable easy remote tracking and management. Some are obvious while others are hidden and secure, giving you peace of mind that you can leave your business.

POS software touch points help small business retailers benefit

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Tower Systems provides these touch point services to all retailers using its Australian designed POS software. They are services we have found small business retailers appreciate and enjoy. These services are provided at no additional cost:

  1. Small Business Support. Through a range of creative and management services we help small business in myriad ways including marketing, supporter, planning and more. Our experience in a range of retail channels, including as owing small business retail shops ourselves, positions us to offer these pro bono services to help.
  2. Theft check. A business data assessment and analysis to determine if employee theft is occurring in the business. We have people who have been used by police and prosecutors to testify as expert witnesses in successful prosecutions.
  3. Business check. One of our senior analysts researches the data being cultivated by the software for the business. A report is prepared on what can be seen in the data. The goal of this assessment is to provide insights the retailer might otherwise not have seen for themselves.
  4. User meetings. We host two cycles of user meetings each year – in the first and second half of the year. These are in capital cities and major regional centres. The user meetings provide free training and an open Q&A session. They are always attended by senior management from Tower Systems.
  5. Online training workshops. These are held for all Tower customers. Access is free. They can connect and participate from anywhere in the world.
  6. Tower Systems has a structured approach to escalation of any issue about which a customer may be unhappy. This facilitates getting the issue outside the help desk and in front of the leadership team for more independent assessment.
  7. Supplier engagement. Tower Systems has a structured approach to working with suppliers to facilitate seamless connection when it comes to business data. This process sees many suppliers already participating.
  8. One-on-one training. Up to two hours of personal individual training each year.

Tower Systems is grateful to the support of its 3,500+ customers that enable it is provide these and other services in support of small business retailers. This is what we do. We love it!

Small business retailers love discount vouchers

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Tower Systems has been a champion of discount vouchers for years. From launch to regular innovation, the benefits delivered have been valuable for small business retailers.

Through our work with the newsXpress gift, toy and newsagency marketing group we have produced channel-speficvi training. Here is a new video we shot last week outlining the benefits of discount vouchers from a business owner perspective. We share it here today to shine a light on the business support and management resources we produce for customers.

Previewing 2018 at our small business POS software co

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We appreciate the feedback from our POS software user customers about the preview we provided to the year in this video we shot in house. In addition to introducing some tech innovation coming early this year, the video  also reflects our human and personal approach to software development, it underscores that we stand behind what we sell.

Garden centre software: Helping you help local gardens grow.

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Helping you help local gardens grow.

Neil and Alison responded within minutes of getting the email. They pre-ordered $500 worth of new season roses, months before they would be available in-store. As rose collectors and lovers they wanted to be sure they had the new varieties for their beautiful garden.

Back at the garden centre office, emails were coming in thick and fast. Each one was an order.

The campaign was a success because the manager of the business knew the rose lovers in their customer community. They sent a thoughtfully targeted email to announce pre-orders for new season roses. This was before they had finalised their own orders.

By the time they did order stock, they had substantial deposit funds, backing customer orders. They could order with certainty.

When the roses arrived, months later, their software automatically emailed customers with the news. It also printed labels for the roses, with customer details. This ensured that everyone received what they ordered.

While being able to tell this story in your own garden centre business would take time, the financial rewards are worth it.

The facilities in the specialty garden centre software from Tower Systems described here are a small part of a beautiful suite of software designed here in Australia for Australian garden centres.

There is more to this software than marketing. An asset of your business is that you are a local expert on all things garden related. You can share your expert local knowledge through notes on receipts. These are automatically included on each receipt, along with care instructions for plants purchased in a transaction.

Automatically, receipts, invoices and delivery dockets can include locally relevant information you provide. This free information pitches your business as different to an online shop or a big business that is less focussed on personal service.

Another way we help maximise sales is with an instant loyalty reward. This is particularly useful where you see shoppers once a year or quite infrequently. Using rules that you control, a receipt can include a voucher offering a specific amount off the next purchase if that purchase is made in a timeframe you set.

An average 19% redemption rate for the vouchers with a third redeemed the day of purchase. Male shoppers are far more likely to redeem the day of purchase.

Our garden centre software also offers:

  • Quotation facility where you quote ahead of winning business.
  • Reporting on hazardous goods when these are supplied.
  • Group discounts, where members of a local group loyal to you save money.
  • Easy loading of electronic invoices from your suppliers.
  • Linking to a website for online sales.
  • Easy customer reminders for seasonal plant care.
  • Linking to Xero to cut bookkeeping and external accounting costs.
  • Rewarding loyal shoppers with points and / or cash off their next purchase.

See the software live. Contact us for an obligation free demonstration: Please call our sales team at 1300 662 957 or email them at sales@towersystems.com.au.

This software is affordable. You can purchase the software outright, lease it or rent it. You can use it in your business loaded on local computers or in the cloud. How you purchase and access the software is 100% up to you.

Supported by humans, in Australia. Our help desk is in Hawthorn, Victoria. Everyone who works on the help desk has experience in retail. To access the help desk you can call, email, post a Facebook message Tweet or text us.

Training is personal. We come to your business and train you in the software. The training is tailored to your specific needs. Like I said, training is personal. Long after we install, you have access to one on one training, at no additional cost.

Small business retail advice: how to cut shopper theft

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Here are seven steps we suggest to cut the cost of shopper theft in your retail business. While there are other steps you could take, these seven are most valuable from our years of working with retailers.

  1. Look at people as they enter. Make sure they see you see them. Eye contact is key. Ideally, say hello to them. The more they think you have seen them the better.
  2. Have a screen near the entrance / exit so people can see that you filming them with your security cameras. The more people think they will be caught they less likely they are to steal.
  3. Work on the shop floor. This puts you or your employees among shoppers and heightens the chance of detection of theft.
  4. Walk the floor. Every so often, do a circuit. Be present. Talk to people.
  5. During peak shopping periods, station someone outside the business looking. Ensure they are trained on appropriate action should they see misbehavior.
  6. Bring in a security guard on a casual basis during your most busy periods.
  7. Have a no receipt no exchange or refund policy.
  8. Use your POS software. Spot stock take. Understand the cost off theft. In our experience the evidence is that items being stolen are bot those you think are being stolen. Data is key here. hence our advice to use your POS software.
  9. Act on the evidence.
  10. Ensure all who work in the business are in on this project.

The more likely people are to be caught the less likely you are to experience shopper theft.

Tower Systems has many years of experience in helping independent small business retailers mitigate em ploy theft and shopper theft. We leverage this experience for our customers through excellent POS software, free training, group training workshops, data analysis and expert witness support for authorities in specific cases.

Our advice to retailers is that you can cut the cost of theft if you manage your business to achieve this goal. Sadly, too many small business retailers do not do this because they do not see theft until it is too late. We say be on the front foot, manage to cut theft even when you cannot see it.

How to choose the best POS software for your retail business

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Choosing POS software for a retail business is a daunting task. The software companies usually make it difficult to compare.

Tower Systems is a software company. Our goal is to make it easier for you.

We don’t want you to choose our software if our software is not the right fit for your business.

This is why our first advice is to make this decision about the software first. Make sure that you compare what each software package does. However, before you do this, ensure you know what you want out of software for your business and the amount you are prepared to pay for what you want.

Knowing what you want is as important as is knowing what you are prepared to ay for what you want.

The reality is there are cheap POS programs out there. You get what you pay for, every time. The cheapest product is the cheapest because they have either not invested as much in the development of the software or because they do not back the software with the same level of service.

Yes, you get what you pay for. This is why you haver to be realistic about the amount you are prepared to invest.

In considering software, start with the functionality. Look at each software package. Compare how it works against what you want from software you purchase.

Once you have a list of software packages that do what you want, dive deep into support coverage. Look carefully at how support is delivered, how you can access this, the training opportunities and how your business can be helped with the training and support.

If you are not sure what to look for in support, consider this wish list:

  1. Easy access on the phone, through human to human conversation.
  2. Locally based. i.e. not offshore where people don’t understand your business.
  3. Help beyond the software. Is there an accountant you can talk to or a retail business specialist.
  4. Regular free group training.
  5. Easily accessible personal one on one training.
  6. Regular updates but with you controlling when to install these rather than having them forced on you.
  7. An escalation process if you are not happy.
  8. The contact details for the owner of the business.

Ultimately, only you can know the best POS software for your type of business and your business. The value of the decision  you make will reflect the approach yo7u took in making the decision. The old maxim of measure many times and cut once is true here.

Xero POS software interface helps small business make more money

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Small business retailers are in business to make money for it is money that feeds the family, allows the business to support the local community and adds to the value of the business when it is time to sell.

It stands to reason that small business retailers want to take steps appropriate to the business making more money.

This is where the Xero POS software link from Tower Systems helps. It helps small businesses make more money. By money, we mean bottom line profit.

How we do this is through wonderful software that provides a seamless, safe and structured flow of data between the in-store POS software and Xero and through training and advice on what a small business retailer can leverage from the data that flows through the link.

Tower Systems is not your average software company. We are retailers too. We use this software, including the POS software Xero link, ourselves, in our won retail businesses. We can speak from experience when we help. We can guide in a way that a usually POS software company cannot.

We help small business retailers make more money through:

  1. Lower operating costs, especially lower bookkeeping and accounting costs.
  2. Less mistakes. Mistakes are expensive for businesses.
  3. Better quality business decisions. Thanks to easy access to more up0 to date data.
  4. Less theft. With less human intervention in data there is less opportunity for employee theft.
  5. Greater confidence. Confidence comes from having easier access to accurate data sooner. While this sounds like a marketing pitch line, it is a fact. The flow of data from there POS to Xero means you can access business decision making data days and weeks ahead of when you might have with other processes in place. This boosts your confidence.

Tower Systems provides business management advice to back its software. This can see small business retailers gain more from a Tower relationship than they might have through a relationship with another POS company. We have accounting skills, at CPA level, in-house. This enables us to provide advice and guidance beyond that is unusual for a POS software company. We call this the Tower Advantage.

Welcoming new POS software customers to Tower Systems

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We are thrilled to welcome new customers using our small business POS software. We have a welcome page on our website, which is part of our structured approach to welcoming new customers.

The welcome is sincere and personal:

Welcome to Tower Systems. This page welcomes new customers to our business, small business retailers switching to our POS software.

Thank you for your business, for your faith in our software and our services. We appreciate it.

Our goal is to help you make your business more valuable and more enjoyable through your use of our POS software.

Here in our website you have access to a knowledge base, available 24/7, which contains excellent advice and articles about how to use the software. It is like a live and evolving user manual – but searchable. Log into the customer side of the site and you can immediately access the knowledge base.

Our help desk is based in Melbourne Victoria. There we have a team of skilled IT professionals, with good retail experience, available to help with your queries. You can contact them through our national help line – 03 9524 8000 – of through your local Tower office number or by email: support@towersystems.com.au

We release software updates every few months. We announce by email when these are available. You choose when you wish to install each update. This gives you control.

If you have suggestions on changes you would like to see in our software, please use our Software Ideas page on this website. Through here other customers using our software can vote on your idea.

Every week we will send you a customer email with tips, ideas and inspirations. This is another touch point designed to help you get more from the relationship.

As a customer, you have access to free training. To schedule free one on one training, please email bookings@towersystems.com.au.

Welcome as a new customer of Tower Systems. Our motto is we’re here to help. Please, let us know how we can help your business.

Thank you for reading.

Mark Fletcher
Managing Director
0418 321 338

There is also a video welcoming our new customers:

Small business retail management tip: embrace the opportunity of hiring older employees

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Older employees can being terrific value to a retail business that is keen bring change to the business. Young employees cost less and this is a common appeal among retail business owners.

An older employee could bring more value to the business, they could leverage a better return on labour investment for the business. Here are other benefits that can be available depending on the background, skill set and work interest of the older employee:

  1. Maturity. An older employee understand work.
  2. Appreciation. If they have been to of work for a while they are more likely to appreciate then job and could therefore invest more in it.
  3. Experience. An older employee could have experience in a field from which the business can benefit. I am not thin king here about retail experience. rather, they may have business management skills, special interests or experience that you can leverage as you change the business.
  4. Flexibility. With less focus on establishing themselves and a social life they cold be more available and this could help the roster.
  5. Communication. An older employee is more likely to be better with oral communication given they has less tech when they were younger. While this is a rash generalisation, I’d back it to be likely.

When you are looking to fill a vacancy or a new role in the business, consider older person for these and other reasons you can think of. The could bring to the business skills and interest the you can leverage more valuably than the skills and interest of a younger lower cost employee.

Of course, the value of any employee depends on your hiring, training, management and motivation of them.

The post of this post is to suggest that next time you hire you think about an older employee.

Note: The federal government jobactive restart program can help Australian businesses that hire older employees financially:

Restart is a financial incentive of up to $10,000 (GST inclusive) to encourage businesses to hire and retain mature age employees who are 50 years of age and over.

Older employees can bring new insights and energy to a business. The right hire could be just want the business needs to explore new traffic opportunities.

Xero POS software link helps small business retailers compete with big business

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It can be tough for a small business to compete with big business. Those who do so successfully have access to excellent quality up to date business data. They leverage this to fuel quality business decisions.

The best business data is that which flows immediately between POS software and accounting software. Tower Systems provides to small business retailers a beautiful, easy to setup and easy to use link between its POS software and the cloud based Xero accounting solution.

The Tower Systems Xero POS software link is ideal for small business independent retailers. It helps small business retailers compete through:

  1. Timely access to accurate business data.
  2. Data that is operational and financial.
  3. Data that is not manipulated.
  4. Data you can trust.
  5. Data that flows from the shop floor to the accounting function without impediment.

The most effective ways small business retailers can compete with big businesses and online is through efficient operation, accurate data and customer service touch-points that add appreciated value.

Tower Systems only sells its POS software to small business retailers.

We believe in small businesses, their importance to local communities and their broader economic value.

Through our software, our personal in-store training, 24/7 human and locally based help desk service, regional user meetings, weekly online workshops and other touch-points we help small business retailers beyond what is usual for POS software companies.

Our company motto is we’re here to help. We take this seriously. Everyday, out motto challenges us to help our customers in ways they do not expect, ways beyond the software itself.

Founded in 1981, Tower Systems has evolved as technology has evolved. The software we sell today is generations away from where we started. We are proud to have served some of our customers for decades.

More than 3,500 specialty small business retailers in Australia and New Zealand use our specialty POS software.

To us, a specialty retailer is one that offers services unique to the channel, services that define the business.  We embed in our software for each retail channel facilities that serve needs unique to that channel. We take pride in doing this and enhancing these channel-specific facilities as the needs evolve.

Xero POS software interface helps small business retailers cut mistakes

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Mistakes can be expensive in small business retail, especially mistakes made in accounting.

The Tower Systems POS software Xero link helps small business retailers cut mistakes. The link eliminates tasks by automating the flow of data from the POS software where data is received into the business in the form of invoices for inventory, returns notes for products going back to suppliers. sales data, LayBy data and plenty more.

Capturing this data at the source, at the point of sale, and flowing the data without additional human intervention to Xero, to the right part of Xero, eliminates time, cuts mistakes and provides small business retailers with more control.

Every error made in accounting has a cost. In fact, there can be multiple costs – labour and financial. This is why it is better to get it right the first time.

The Xero integration designed by Tower Systems, working with the folks at Xero, makes it easy for small business retailers to cut accounting paperwork and thereby tap into time and money saving benefits.

We use our Xero integrated POS software ourselves. This enables us to provide practical advice on how to benefit the most from Xero and our POS software working together.

Our customers have access to our in-house CPA, to provide a professional accounting perspective on the link and how to get the most from it.

Setting up the Xero link is easy. You map the data flow from invoice entry through to the chart of accounts managed by Xero. Once this is done, supplier invoices, sales, credits, LayBys and other everyday business transactions flow from the POS software to Xero.

This makes business accounting easier, more certain, less expensive and more useful to the business.

By cutting mistakes we help bring certainty to business reporting and management. This posts confidence.

Tower Systems is keen to help small business retailers cut mistakes. We know the more we can do this the more our customers will appreciate the practical benefits a relationship between our businesses can deliver. With our software support being optional we know that our customers can switch any time. The best way for us to keep them is for us to deliver practical benefits at each touch point.

Xero POS software interface from Tower Systems helps small business retailers cut costs

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Managing operating costs is a key goal for small business retailers in this world of greater competition.

The Tower Systems POS software Xero link helps small business retailers cut costs. It does this in a range of practical ways that small business retailers can leverage without having to spend more money on software or professional services.

Thanks to the Xero POS software link retailers are able to eliminate bookkeeping work and have accounting data flow through accurately from the POS software where data originates to Xero where it is accessed for key business accounting functions.

Developed with careful oversight of CPA qualified accounting experience as well as current small business management accounting experience plus insights from experienced bookkeepers, this link is a true cost saver because of the accounting steps it eliminates and the mistakes it avoids. Both of these have costs to any small business. Eliminating them is a bottom line cost benefit for any business.

Setting up the Xero link is easy. You map the data flow from invoice entry through to the chart of accounts managed by Xero. Once this is done, supplier invoices, sales, credits, LayBys and other everyday business transactions flow from the POS software to Xero.

This makes business accounting easier, more certain, less expensive and more useful to the business.

Your BAS is easier. Your P&L and Balance Sheet are more up to date. This is a big win for any small business retailer.

Tower Systems uses the Xero POS software link itself for retail businesses it owns in the gift and homewares spaces. By using our software, especially the Xero link we are able to draw on broad practical experience when providing advice to our retail business owner customers. It means that our help desk advice is based on us walking in your shores more than is usual for a POS software company.

Tower Systems is keen to help small business retailers cut costs. We know the more we can do this the more our customers will appreciate the practical benefits a relationship between our businesses can deliver. With our software support being optional we know that our customers can switch any time. The best way for us to keep them is for us to deliver practical benefits at each touch point.

Welcome to Tower Systems

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We have updated the material we provide to new POS software customers we welcome to our business. Here is a new video we just shot to include in our welcome pack:

Welcome new customers

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Reflecting on 2017, as the year draws to a close, we are grateful for all the new customers who joined us this year.

We are grateful to those installing our software as first time computer users in their businesses.

We are also grateful to those who switched to our software from other POS software – there has been plenty of this in 2017.

To help new customers settle in with our software and our customer support we have a structured welcome process, with assistance provided outside the usual help desk – until new customers reel well settled in their use of our software.

We understand the challenges small business retailers face and do all things possible to ensure their settling in with our POS software is gentle and useful.

Helping small business retailers reduce the impact of employee theft

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For many, years Tower Systems has offered small business retailers access to professional help in detecting, reducing and prosecuting employee theft. In our small business POS software we have excellent services that support this.

In our management team we have skilled professionals who have helped police, prosecutors, insurers and others in situations of employee theft. Our approach is evidence based, professional, discrete and thorough.

Our theft mitigation and theft management services are handled at the leadership team level of the Tower Systems business as this is where the experience lies through helping retail businesses in a variety of retail sectors.

In our decades of experience, it is essential the business draw a line in the sand on the issue of employee theft. This is best done by the establishment of a theft policy. This is best done as a document that employees sign. We provide our customers with a template theft policy. We share this here today for anyone to see and consider for their business.

THEFT POLICY

  1. Theft, any theft, is a crime against this business, its owners, employees and others who rely on us for their income.
  2. If you discover any evidence or have any suspicion of theft, please report it to the business owner or most senior manager possible immediately. Doing so could save a considerable cost to the business.
  3. We have a zero tolerance policy on theft. All claims will be reported to law enforcement authorities for their investigation.
  4. From time to time we have the business under surveillance in an effort to reduce theft. This may mean that you are photographed or recorded in some other way. By working here you accept this as a condition of employment.
  5. New employees may be asked to provide permission for a police check prior to commencement of employment. Undertaking the police check will be at our discretion.
  6. Cash is never to be left unattended outside the cash drawer or a safe within the business.
  7. Credit and banking card payments are not to be accepted unless the physical card is presented and all required processes are followed for processing these.
  8. Employees caught stealing with irrefutable evidence face immediate dismissal to the extent permitted by local labour laws.
  9. Employees are not permitted to remove inventory, including unsold, topped, magazines, unsold cards or damaged stock from the store without permission.
  10. Employees are not permitted to provide a refund to a customer without appropriate management permission.
  11. Employees are not permitted to complete sales to themselves, family members or friends.
  12. Every dollar stolen from the business by customers and or employees can cost us up to four dollars to recover. This is why vigilance on theft is mission critical for our retail store.

PLEASE SIGN AND DATE YOUR ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

Small business retailers love free one-on-one POS software training

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Small business retailers who use the Tower Systems POS software have access to unlimited free one-on-one training.

The free training is scheduled at a time to suit and to cover areas of the software requested by the customer.

We have some customers who use the free training to top up their knowledge, others use it to train new staff members while others use it to be surprised at what they don’t know about the POS software. We even have some who take up the opportunity to have us review their business and provide strategic management advice on what we can see in their business data.

Delivered by one of our customer service experts, the training is tailored to each retail situation, to ensure it is useful to the person for whom the training is being provided.

Booked through our head office and managed in a structured way, this free training service provided was unique when first launched, it put us in a leadership position. Today, we maintain that leadership through the scope, professionalism and practical help provided through the training.

Here at Tower Systems our motor is we’re here to help. This free training service is another way we live the motto every day.

POS software Shopify link helps small business retailers enjoy Christmas

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Small business retailers using the Tower Systems POS software Shopify link are reporting terrific engagement with shoppers they may not have otherwise found.

Thanks to a direct link between the POS software and Shopify, retailers have one place for managing inventory that is in-store and online. This saves time, reduces mistakes unbend makes management of the online presence easier.

The Shopify link is one of three direct POS software / e-commerce platform links in the Tower software. These three are in addition to a weblink that helps the POS software connect to any website.

Through the Shopify link, data is transferred – inventory and sales – in a structured standard way required by Shopify and in line with the requirements of that business. It is fast, easy and powerful.

Tower Systems is proud to have brought plenty more small businesses online thanks to its work with the folks at Shopify.

Christmas gift: small business POS software update launched

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In plenty of time f0or Christmas, Tower Systems has commenced beta release of a beautiful POS software update that delivers access to three completely new facilities through which our customers can expand the reach of their businesses.

his update, like all of our POS software updates, will be available for o0ur customers to install when they choose. We don’t believe in surprising people with an unexpected update. hence, our process is advance-noticed, structured and considerate.

This latest update is a thrill for us thanks to the new tech areas we cover that we know will be loved by plenty of our customers as they seek to expand their small businesses.

The update is available to all Tower AdvantageTM customers at no extra cost.

Retail management advice on maximising the Christmas traffic opportunity

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Every Christmas, retail businesses see more shoppers in-store, buying gifts and items for seasonal celebration. However, the shops are usually too busy for the retailer team members to engage with traditional loyalty programs that require sign up.

This is where our amazing discount vouchers loyalty program options work a treat.

Without any sign-up overhead, the vouchers work all by themselves, bringing shoppers back or, better still, getting them to spend more than expected in that visit.

Stores that want to connect with shoppers and understand who they are can do so with our discount vouchers, because they are smart and can work with card based loyalty. In fact, shippers who sign up and go that extra step for the business can get an extra reward as a result, if you wish.

Simply by offering discount vouchers this Christmas you will get a boost with monomial cost and zero labour overhead. You can enjoy the traffic, love the traffic, and do well with a loyalty offer that works brilliantly to make the most of Christmas.

Tower Systems offers the tech and business practices to back the tech into real revenue growth for small business retailers.

The POS Software Blog

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