The POS Software Blog

The POS Software Blog

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

CategoryGift Shop

$159/mth gift shop POS software on show at Sydney Reed Gift Fair

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We are grateful to have a terrific stand at the Reed Gift Fair that starts this coming weekend in Sydney. Situated in the main hall, in the centre of action, we will have fresh new gift shop POS software on show, software available for a monthly fee of $159.00, including GST.

You won’t miss our stand as it features our latest artwork, which includes:

We are so excited to show off this new software, which is packed with features to help local gift shops thrive in-store as well as online.

Gift shops can rent this software for $159.00 a month. Here his what is included in this complete package offer:

  • Software made for gift shops.
  • Free half a day one-on-one training and setup advice.
  • Free training videos. Learn at your own pace.
  • Free knowledge base / online manual.
  • Free access to a help desk – based here in Australia.
  • Cancel at any time.

Why do gift shops need specialty POS software? Why can’t they use basic software? They can. However, the more specialty the software, the more facilities the business has to attract shoppers and leverage what’s special about the business.

The Tower Systems gift shop software is specialty POS software made for gift shops. It has been made to help gift shops leverage what is unique about their businesses. We think this is a reason many hundreds of gift shop retailers have chosen our software.

At the Reed Gift Fair in Sydney we will offer live demonstrations of this software boy our skilled professionals. They will be able to answer questions and help any retailer see whether this software could be right for their business.

We’re not 100% sure as these things can change but our latest check indicated we were the only gift shop software company at the trade show.

Using our gift shop software, local gift retailers can tap into plenty of benefits, including:

  • Easy and accurate selling.
  • Less dead stock.
  • Fewer sales mistakes.
  • Get rid of manual books at the counter for LayBys, special orders, stock you need to order and more.
  • Cut theft by knowing what is being stolen.
  • Eliminate LayBy and get you paid sooner with buy now pay later.
  • Make price comparison harder with bundled packs.
  • Easily and consistently pitch locally sourced products.
  • Drive community group member engagement with group pricing.
  • Get one-time-only shoppers spending more with loyalty tools.
  • Bring customers back with reminders on dates important to them.
  • Save money on bookkeeping by integrating with Xero.
  • Leverage your knowledge on receipts and elsewhere. Sell you.
  • Reach beyond your four walls with a directly linked Shopify store.

Our team will do everything possible to help your local gift shop thrive – in the city or country, on the high street or in a mall.

Tower Systems only serves local retailers in selected specialty marketplaces.

Retail advice: tips on setting up and running a pop-up shop

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A consequence of Covid is short-term retail space opportunities. Ion our work with retailers and through our iPad / tabled based Retailer Roam product we have experience helping retailers with pop-up shops. Here is advice we have to share:

Definition: a pop-up shop is a temporary shop, one that is open for a limited period of time, usually around a month, rarely more than three months.

We have assembled our pop-up shop advice and tips into key topic areas.

WHY?!

Like any business decision, a decision to open a pop-up retail location needs to be based on good research and the business itself needs to have a purpose. So, before you begin, think about why.

Here are some reasons to do a pop-up shop:

  1. To test new product categories.
  2. To supplement your income.
  3. To help quit slow moving stock.
  4. To enhance your retail experience.
  5. To experiment with a plan b where you might land if you close your main shop.
  6. To engage in targeted, temporary, competition.
  7. To compete with yourself.

LOCATION.

With a pop-up shop you don’t have time to find your customers. The location needs to already have good traffic passing daily, traffic you can easily leverage. Even more so than in fixed-location retail, location is critical.

The best locations are shops that have good passing traffic that is of interest to you and that have been vacant for a while where a landlord might be happy with something rather than nothing.

OCCUPANCY COST.

Negotiate the lowest rent cost possible. Some landlords see pop-up offers as a reason to charge a premium. Only sign up for a price you are 100% happy with. If it is expensive and does not work financially, don’t sign hoping it works out, because in retail it rarely does work out better. In a pop-up business you have less time to see if it works out. Also, preferably, no contingency deposit.

LABOUR COST.

Staff the business with a lean roster. This shop is about selling. that means, products placed for a price proposition rather than beautiful displays that take time to maintain. Every staff member is there to sell and maximise revenue from every shopper visit. There is no room in the roster for fat.

FIXTURES AND FITTINGS.

Don’t spend a cent on fixtures and fittings. That needs to be your starting position. It’s a pop-up shop. People expect it to be  efficient, cost-effective. Using tables and boxes adds to the feel of the shop feeling low-cost and that can help drive sales. Suppliers can be a good source for loaned fixtures.

INVENTORY.

Ask suppliers to offer consignment stock or special clearance deals they’d like to move fast. Go for items that can be sold out of a box, to make display and ranging easier. In-box displays of particularly cheap items can work very well.

PRICING MODEL.

Price to sell. This means being below usual retail. Price to understandable price points. For example, you might have a $10 table, a $20 table and so on. Consider bundling items into packs, which make price comparison difficult.

PROMOTION.

Don’t spend money on sign writing or marketing. Use social media and bargain websites and anywhere similar where you can list the store and its products.

Host an opening party. List this as a local event on Facebook.

MANAGEMENT MINDSET.

Your mindset in managing the pop-up shop needs to be different to a fixed-location retail situation. Pop-up shops are about low cost, low overheads, low prices. Be ready to do deals. Whoever manages  the pop-up shop needs to be different to how they would be in the fixed-location retail business.

SPEED.

You need to move fast. From the moment you sign a lease or agreement, the clock is ticking. Ideally, you’d open within 24 hours and when you are done, closing and clearing out the shop is done in 24 hours or less. This is all about maximising the time for income-production.

TRACK PERFORMANCE.

Cultivate good data that can guide business decisions for your next moves.

 

Is a pop-up shop worth doing? Only you can determine that. We have seen plenty of pop-up shops work well for the retailers, contribute good GP, help move slow stock and help open to the owners category opportunities not previously considered.

Do the planning and you should expect to benefit.

Charity boxed Christmas cards popular this year

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Charity boxed Christmas cards are proving to be popular as people prepared for Christmas this year. Featuring the designs of many Australian artists, these cards not only do good for local charities, they also help support local Australian artists.

Boxed Christmas cards are good value for many reasons. The cost per card is lower, they support local Australian charities. They support artists, often Australian artists. And, often, they are printed here in Australia.

We are grateful to have created the MyOrnaments website as part of our POS software connected Shopify work.  At MyOrnaments, charity boxed Christmas cards are for sale, making these wonderful Christmas treats widely available.

Our work brought to life online what was already being sold in a retail store. Now these wonderful boxed Christmas cards are more widely available. And, they are easily found through Google.

Businesses buy boxed Christmas cards for sending to clients as well as to staff. Community groups buy boxed Christmas cards for thanking those who support them.

Supporting many different Australian charities, the boxed Christmas cards you will find at MyOrnaments are diverse not only in style and editorial but also in charity support. This range of choice is appreciated by customers and also by those who will receive the cards.

This year we anticipate more Christmas cards will be sent as people connect in different ways due to Covid. There are more people to thank and appreciate, too. This is where charity boxed Christmas cards can help and where the website we developed for MyOrnaments can help. At this website you will currently find more than 132 different packs of charity boxed Christmas cards. This is a big and diverse range from which to choose. Most packs has two different designs available, too.

Managing inventory, connecting to the POS, calculating freight and handling special price point offers is part of what Tower Systems has created at the MyOrnaments shop and part of what brings the charity boxed Christmas card 0ffer to life. We are proud to have this website as part of our calling card mix of websites we have developed, to show the comprehensive nature of what we  offer.

What are the benefits of using the gift shop POS software from Tower Systems in your gift shop?

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The gift shop POS software from Tower Systems provides access to plenty of benefits … financial, operational and personal. The gift  shop POS software is packed with opportunities for local small business gift shops to engage with to make the business for successful, and enjoyable for those working in the business.

here are some of the benefits of the gift shop POS software from Tower Systems.

  • Know more about the business. There is solid evidence that data based decisions are more likely to be the right decisions compared to emotional or gut based decisions.
  • Back yourself with facts. Be stronger when dealing with suppliers by relying on evidence from your shop.
  • Easily handle special customer orders and get known for this personal service. Bring product in for a specific customer and have them notified automatically by email or text when the goods are in and ready.
  • Get one-time-only shoppers spending more thanks to an easy to pitch loyalty system embedded in the software.
  • Make the business more able to run under management, without you having to be there all the time.
  • Leverage you. If you believe your knowledge is a differentiator, offer it through structured opportunities in the software.
  • Encourage customer happiness by serving product care info. on receipts.
  • Easily sell online with a direct to Shopify / Magento or WooCommerce link from your POS software – including image flow.
  • Go cashless if that is your goal – we make it easy and affordable.
  • Save time with electronic invoices from suppliers.
  • Use tags to get a fresh perspective, side-view, on stock performance.
  • Bundle items together to make price comparisons harder and thereby increase sales.
  • Business differentiating loyalty. Stand out from the crowd. Have customers coming back to you for this.
  • Trade and club pricing profiles. Set pricing rules based on customer type.
  • Make money from pre-orders – Easily pre-sell a delivery so that when the stock arrives you can manage distribution and billing efficiently.
  • Differentiate with informative receipts. These can include product care, use and safety information based on what customers buy.
  • Track who sold what.
  • Say goodbye to LayBy – with integrated buy now pay later options.
  • Market to customers based on past purchases.
  • Save time by importing electronic invoices.
  • Sell more with a direct connect to buy now pay later services.
  • Cut mistakes with integrated EFTPOS.
  • Cut accounting and bookkeeping fees with integration to Xero and others.

This gift shop POS software is packed with opportunities.

Gift shops you can shop online

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Tower Systems is grateful to bring the local gift shop to your keyboard. Through our gift shop software and the websites we have created for gist shops have plenty of gift shops in our awesome list of gift shops we encourage you to shop for an authentic shop local gift shop experience:

These gift shops and more are part of the quite of local gift shops that Tower Systems has supported in getting online, to sell to Australians and, in some cases, to sell overseas, bringing gift giving opportunities to plenty of people in different situations.

The local gift shop is no longer the shop down the road. No, it is the shop online that you find the you search for the gift occasion you are purchasing for.

In supporting local gift shops with POS software made for local gift shops and with websites created for local gift shops, Tower Systems is able to being these opportunities to life for local communities as well as for local shoppers who who are shopping for niche and specific gift needs. This is where helping gift shop owners to bring to life solutions online and on the high street makes sense.

While people can shop for gifts overseas, our encouragement is that they support the local gift shop because shopping locally delivers the most important value to gift shops that are themselves called on to help the local community in myriad ways.

With a fully integrated POS software Shopify website solution, the local gift shop is able to take online their carefully selected and curated range of gifts too make them available across many location.

As we head to Christmas 2020, our encouragement to everyone when it comes to gift purchases is to shop locally, seek out local gift shops that can serve your gift purchase needs. Local, of course, can be down the road or elsewhere in Australia. This means that a shop online, interstate maybe, that offers locally made gifts could be better than a shop closer to you that sells imported gifts.

Tower Systems is grateful to serve hundreds of local gifts shops with its POS software. This is a terrific marketplace we serve.

Boxed Christmas cards support local Aussie charities thanks to our POS software connected Shopify website

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We created a website for selling boxed Christmas cards for one of the local suburban shops we run here in Victoria.

This Shopify website is connected to our own Tower Systems POS software. At the boxed Christmas cards website we sell charity Christmas cards that are designed and 100% made here in Australia.

What a wonderful buy Australian made and shop local story.

We are grateful for our Australian card company suppliers who have made this a reality, offering Australian designed and made boxed Christmas cards for shipping anywhere.

Supporting charities like Beyond Blue, the Starlight Foundation and the Peter Mac Cancer Centre, our boxed Christmas cards do more than send love and warm thoughts this Christmas season, they do good in the community, supporting these vital charities.

Charity Christmas cards are important to Australians not only for the money they raise but the charity stories they support as the details of the charity being supported by a card are included on the back of the card – as a badge of respect and honour, something that makes the card giver and receiver proud and happy.

Boxed Christmas cards are wonderful for offices, schools and community groups. They provide beautiful cards that people are proud to give and happy to receive.

Our online boxed Christmas cards store that is offering Australian designed and Australian made charity Christmas cards is doing good work supporting Aussie shoppers looking to spread Christmas greetings this year.

This is a good story for Tower Systems as we are working here as the POS software company, the Shopify website developer and the local small business retailer serving not only our local community in suburban Melbourne but the Australia wide community through a thriving online store.

We are grateful to the many shoppers who already have purchased boxed Christmas cards from us, supporting our charity Christmas card offer, bring light and love to their family and friends while sharing wonderful messages of the good work done by the supported charities.

Christmas 2020 will be very different to Christmases past. It will babe unique, it’s own thing. Our online boxed Christmas card shop is one way we are helping people to express themselves this Christmas.

Thank you to everyone who has supported our work in bringing Aussie designed and made boxed Christmas cards to so many already this year. We are sincerely grateful.

Free workshop: taking your retail business online

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For any small business specialty retailer.

Wednesday August 12 @ 10:30am.

We make awesome specialty POS software for speciality retailers.

We make awesome Shopify and Magento 2 websites connected to our POS software.

Join us Wednesday August 12 @ 10:30am AEST for a free live and interactive and secure Zoom workshop on taking your business online.

We will share insights, advice and experience from websites we run for our own shops and sites we have created for others.

We will talk design, smart text, SEO, SEM and other buzzwords, but we won’t use buzzwords. This will be a plain English workshop. We will be honest about the hungry beast that is a website.

The workshop is free. Just turn up. Click on this link:

https://zoom.us/j/92448828358?pwd=cllQSWFaRitJSkQwSUNYYy9ZTks1dz09
Meeting ID: 924 4882 8358 Passcode: 196319
Wednesday August 12 @ 10:30am AEST.

Or, talk with one of our sales people: please call 1300 662 957 or email sales@towersystems.com.au.

They can also show you websites connected to our POS software.

Insights for card retailers on the arrival of the Card Factory in Australia

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Here is an in-house produced video we shared with retailers of greeting cards – gift shops, card shops and newsagents – using our POS software about the launch of the successful UK Card Factory in Australia and what it could mean to card retailers.

<iframe src=”https://player.vimeo.com/video/379140327″ width=”500″ height=”315″ frameborder=”0″ allow=”autoplay; fullscreen” allowfullscreen></iframe>

Gift shop POS software helps independent gift shops compete

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The latest gift shop POS software from Tower Systems offers indie gift shops tools they can use to compete online as well as on the high streets with others, including with big businesses.

From easy selling to smart loyalty tools to seamless online to low cost EFTPOS to facilities through the business can differentiate, the Tower Systems gift shop POS software provides indie retailers with a pathway to a more valuable competitive edge.

This is gift shop POS software for 2019 and beyond. It is fresh, unique and competitive. best of all, this is local software for local retailers. For businesses in competitive situations, this matters as the gift shops POS software has in its heart facilities that guide and encourage competitive advantage.

Tower Systems offers gift shop POS software with a pricing option that makes our gift shop POS  software available for $145.00 a month. For this, retailers get…

  1. Specialty Gift shop POS software developed in Australia.
  2. Software updates as we release them.
  3. Unlimited licences for your retail location. If you need an extra computer, there is no extra software cost.
  4. Shopify / Magento / Woo link. Easily sell onlinefrom your POS software.
  5. Xero link. Easing bookkeeping costs and streamlining accounting.
  6. Our OzBiz link – connect to MYOB and Quicken through OzBiz.
  7. Tyro link – safe, fast and easy EFTPOS link for streamlined sales.
  8. PC Eftpos link – easy EFTPOS processing for the major banks.
  9. Easy buy now pay later thanks to Zip Pay and Humm – that Boomers, Gen Y, Gen X and others are using more and more.
  10. Support – help desk access, unlimited training, updates and more.
  11. User documentation. Access to our searchable knowledge base.

The $145.00 is charged per 30 days, in advance. Access can be cancelled at any time. You can also choose to purchase the software outright.

We have a structured and personalised on-boarding process, done in your business. This includes:

  1. A pre-installation training and information pack to help you be ready in your business and with hardware.
  2. Pre-installation planning. A structured phone meeting to plan the installation and to go over the training, ensuring we cover what matters to you and your team.
  3. On-site installation and training. On-site installation of and training in the Tower software anywhere in Australia for up to two days incl. travel.
  4. Data conversion. Conversion of all data possible (within reasonable time constraints). This is a two-step process:
    1. Pre-conversion. With your permission we extract data to be checked for layout and consistency.
    2. The conversion itself. This is done as part of software installation.
  5. Personal priority support. New user priority support through a specialist area of the new customer help desk.
  6. Personal post-installation follow-up. A separate structured call to check knowledge and use processes.
  7. All travel costs to and from the installation.

Gift shops benefit from this locally developed got shop POS software through regular enhancements, awesome in-store training and unlimited bonus training and easy access to our leadership team.

POS software advice for small business gift shop owners

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Gift shop owners have plenty of choice when it comes to choosing gift shop software. There are many systems around and many companies from which to choose.

Choice is a good thing as it means you can compare and comparing is good.

If you are thinking about POS software for your gift shop, look around, do research, look for software that serves your needs  that is backed by training that works the way you want and has a support infrastructure setup how you would like to access support.

The software choice you make for your business is too important to get wrong. Hence, our advice to take your time, do your research, and make sure it is the decision you want.

Tower Systems serves hundreds of gift shops with Australian developed and supported gift shop software. We have been developing and supporting our gift shop software for years.

We think choosing a local company matters. It means they are closer to you, more understanding of local needs and more able to directly engage with you. Just as you might pitch shop local when promoting your local business that serves a local community, we think this m matters

Here is some of what you can do with the Tower Systems gift shop software:

  1. Handle buy now pay later with serval pay later services integrated with the software.
  2. Sell anywhere including in store, on the shop floor, at the local market, in homes, at clubs. Our Roam service makes selling anywhere easy.
  3. LayBy. If you offer this se4rvice in the old-fashioned (and often loved) way, we can help.
  4. Integrated EFTPOS. Fewer mistakes. A faster sales counter.
  5. Integrated Xero. Save time. Cut mistakes., Help guide better business reporting.
  6. Differentiating loyalty. Encourage loyalty with smart tools designed for your type of business. Give points the flick.
  7. Easy selling.
  8. fast selling.
  9. Beautiful receipts … Yes, you control their look!
  10. Special customer orders.
  11. Manage repairs – if you do them.
  12. Add value with what you sell. This is a secret and special facility our customers love.
  13. Cut dead stock.
  14. Help drive companion sales.

POS software is everywhere. Finding what is right for you  takes time, care and a software company willing to work with you to see if their pitch is right for you.

Tower Systems could be right. Check is out…

Why gift shop owners and managers love our POS software for gift shops

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Tower Systems has been developing, selling and supporting POS software for gift shops for years. There are many hundreds of retailers using this retail channel specific POS software.

Using our specialist POS software, gift retailers can be confident that we offer software that is fit for purpose, software that is deal for the need and packed with facilities beneficial to the unique needs of gift shops, especially gift shops serving local needs, local communities.

Here are some notes from a Q&A we did with gift retailers on our software.

What facilities do gift shop owners and staff  like are in your software?

  1. Easy to use yet structured and professional Lay-By.
  2. Customer special orders with TXT message when stock arrives.
  3. Professional gift cards with your logo and proper management of balance.
  4. Easy to produce gift vouchers.
  5. Gift receipts that can be wrapped with a gift (no pricing).
  6. Intelligent receipts with product care information.
  7. Easy handling of hampers and bundled offers.
  8. Supplier performance comparison.
  9. Employee performance management and rewards.
  10. Importing electronic invoices from gift shop suppliers. We work with for you.
  11. Linking to your website to manage a common stock file.
  12. Loyalty options including traditional points as well as front end loyalty to drive infrequent shopper engagement.
  13. Inventory management to guide you to a more efficient inventory level.
  14. Theft reduction tools to reduce the opportunity of employee theft.
  15. It’s easy to use.
  16. It’s regularly updated based on user suggestions.

What do you think makes your gift shop software different to others?

We develop the software ourselves here in Australia in close consultation with gift shop owners and employees – as well as with gift shop suppliers. This is truly specialist software created for your type of business.

What makes Tower Systems different as a supplier of gift shop software?

Our service is personal, professional and accessible. You have access to the entire Tower Systems team to not only learn how to use our software but also to how to make more money in your business by using the software.

How do you handle nervous computer users?

Gently, with respect.

What training is provided with the system?

When it is installed the training is one on one in your shop. Following the installation you can access more than 130 training videos and 626 plain English step-by-step articles in our online knowledge base.

Why would I use this and not a cash register?

Using the Tower Systems Gift Shop software would help you:

  1. Guide shoppers to spend more in a visit.
  2. Attract shoppers to return to the business more often.
  3. Reduce dead stock.
  4. Reduce theft.
  5. Streamline selling.
  6. Reduce mistakes in sales processing by eliminating double handling.
  7. Better manage employee time.
  8. Better manage supplier relationships through buying based on facts and not emotion.
  9. More effectively plan for the future of the business thanks to access to accurate data.
  10. See things in your business that you may miss today.
  11. Offer a professional experience with personalised attractive receipts, personalised attractive gift certificates, structured Lay-By and a data driven approach to ordering.
  12. We bring structure and ease to the end of shift balancing process.
  13. You can easily manage catalogue and promotional pricing as well as bundled deals and through this drive sales.
  14. There are 100+ reports on which you can rely to assess the business. However, the reality is you will fall in love with two or three reports and rely on these.

Is it possible to transfer an existing database?

Yes, our technical experts are very good at this. We have converted data from Retail Express, Lightspeed, Retail Edge and MYOB for gift retailers switching to us.

What kind of after-sales support is available?

Our Australian based help desk is available Monday through Friday from 7am AEST to 6pm AEST and on Saturday from 7:30am AEST through 3pm AEST.  We also offer 24/7 after hours support at no additional cost.

Our help desk services (office hours and after hours) are backed up by escalation to senior management of the business. Every customer is given the direct mobile phone numbers of our national management team including the owner of the company – as a measure of transparency and commitment to service.

Each week we host a live online training workshop covering a part of the software. This includes a Q&A session. Access to this online workshop is free.

Via our website we provide access to a comprehensive and constantly evolving knowledge base of articles and documentation. This is accessible 24/7 and can be searched using regular English terms. It is 100% non-technical, user friendly and designed for self service.

What makes for the best POS software for small business retail?

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It is not our place to say our software is the best POS software for small business retailers. We could not know, just as any other POS software company could not know if their software is the best.

In fact, not one could know if a POS software package is the best unless they have tried all others. And, no one has.

Our role is to create the best software we can, for each of the specialty retail marketplaces we serve.

Thanks to serving 3,500 small businesses we have a big community on which to draw to be able to do what we do. their insights guide us as we continue to evolve our software. What our software offers in terms of functionality and experience is a testament to our user community.

But it is not just about the POS software. It is about the support and the business management assistance provided by retail experts in the POS software company as being able to leverage the software for valuable outcomes is a key here.

It is about relationships too, working with suppliers and other patties to integrate with the retail businesses, seamlessly, through the software, for speed, accuracy and genuine business value. In fact, a good supplier relationship can add real bottom line benefits to small business retailers. Leveraging this through technology is efficient and valuable.

We take it further than this. We are retailers too, owning and operating several physicals and a bunch of consumer-facing websites. We do this for the experience, k so we can play and experiment, and provide our customers with a deeper and more valuable experience.

We think these things, the user community, years on business, marketplace specialisation, supplier integration, and being retailers ourselves provide a complete and valuable experience. Were think it is a valuable suite of experiences like this that make then Tower Systems POS software relationship valuable for our customers.

We love what we do here at Tower systems. We love our software and the service of small business retailers. we only sell to small businesses, this keeps us focussed and in the moment with these most important of businesses in any economy.

Here’s our stand at the Sydney Gift Fair

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We are loving the location we have at the Sydney Gift Fair, the space, the openness. It allows a professional pitch to small business retailers. Plenty of people have been stopping by to talk and check out our software and discuss retail business websites.

With two days to go we are excited for the opportunity ties and the people we will meet.

This is a valuable event for us for reasons beyond connecting with prospective customers. We get to say g’day to existing customers and talk with suppliers. The trade show works on a range of levels.

We love it and are grateful for the opportunity.

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.

How our gift shop software helps independent small business gift shops compete

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Small family owned gift shops have a tough job competing with online, department stores and specialty chains. However, compete they can thanks to terrific tools in our small business gift shop software.

Encoded in our gift shop software are facilities designed specifically for locally owned gift shops. We help them retain customers through valuable facilities. Through engaged pricing tools, smart loyalty offers, insightful reports and more we offer retailers the ability be nimble and thereby more effectively compete locally on all fronts.

Gift retailers can leverage facilities in our software to drive sale opportunities, pitch offers to bring shoppers back, reward loyalty, reward valuable team members, know the best suppliers and track the performance of space in-store.

We love helping independent retail shops to prosper and will help in any way we are able.

Owning gift shops ourselves better informs us as to what is important in this area of local independent retail. Walking in the shoes of our customers helps us provide better software and back it with better service.

Here are specific ways our gift shop software helps:

  • Attract new shoppers. We have several smart loyalty options that help drive word of mouth and word of mouth drives new traffic.
  • Increase sales. We show you what to put with what, what smart product adjacencies get shoppers spending more. Front-end loyalty helps get today’s shopper buying more today. Getting rid of dead stock and buying what actually sells helps drive sales. Employee sales tracking helps you coach employees better.
  • Reduce costs. Tracking sales by time helps you create a more cost-effective roster. Making less stock buying mistakes reduces costs. Streamlining the sales counter, credit card processing, Lay-By, customer accounts, product pricing and product reordering can cut labor costs and cut management time.
  • Make your business worth more. New business purchasers want a business that is easy to run. We can help make your business easy to run. They also want a business that is successful. We will help you drive your success.

We would love to help your business. Sales team contacts: Please call our sales team at 1300 662 957 or email them at sales@towersystems.com.au.

How the Tower Systems gift shop software helps small business gift shops attract more shoppers and increase sales

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Small locally owned gift shops exist in most high street shopping situations. They are locally owned and run gift shops, the quintessential small business, usually a family business. Competition is tough for these small businesses.

Tower Systems helps small business gift shops through its gift shop software. Using our software, gift shop owners are able to trade more efficiently and successfully. They are able to build a stronger and more valuable business.

Here are some of the ways the Tower Systems gift shop software can help any small indie gift shop:

  1. Easier selling.
  2. Faster selling.
  3. Less mistakes thanks to fewer steps in the sales process.
  4. Automatic handling of EFT processing thanks it integrated EFTPOS.
  5. More accurate selling.
  6. Easy to run LayBys including managing the terms and conditions, collecting payment and locating lay-bys.
  7. Easy handling of sales over a date and time range.
  8. Structure around product returns.
  9. Easy finding previous sales.
  10. Easier management of staff rosters.
  11. Visibility of business performance when you are not in the shop.
  12. Access to a range of shopper loyalty options from points based to a cash amount off the next sale.
  13. Easy bundling of products into a package deal offer – this makes price comparison harder.
  14. Easier selling online through a connected website.
  15. Tracking sales by staff member.
  16. Tracking business performance by supplier – driving suppliers to facilitate your business success.
  17. Tracking business performance by key seasons.
  18. Easy management of special orders for customers.
  19. Creating orders for suppliers.
  20. Easily loading electronic invoices from suppliers.
  21. Comparing trading periods for quick spotting of business performance trends.
  22. Selling by measure.
  23. Selling by weight.
  24. Managing the repairs process if you offer that type of service.
  25. Running customer accounts and managing the collection of these accounts.
  26. managing sopper gift cards including tracking balances.
  27. Managing multiple retail outlets.

The Tower Systems gift shop software helps small and independent gift shops in many ways. This list here is just some of the ways. This software has been developed with and for gift shop owners and their employees. It is already widely used.

As specialty retail software designed and developed in Australia, this is software fit for purpose for small and independent gift shops. 

Tower systems continues to evolve the software to ensure it meets the evolving needs of gift retailers in Australia.

POS software co. Tower Systems at Atlanta Gift Fair

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Some of the leadership team of Tower Systems has been at the Atlanta Gift Fair this week talking with suppliers, connecting with opportunities and exploring best practice gift retail management.

The experience has been invaluable as we have discovered more about our own POS software and opportunities for Tower Systems than expected.

Run over three large buildings with thousands of exhibitors, this fair is a must-attend experience for anyone in gift retail or working with gift retailers. The perspectives gained will be invaluable. As with each of these opportunities in which we invest, we will not share publicly the detail of commercially valuable insights.

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How specialist gift and homewares shop software from Tower Systems helps small business gift shops to compete

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Gift shops are unique businesses. They offer a carefully selected range of products, supported with personal service and displayed in a locally appropriate way. Gift shop owners take pride in being different, offering an experience unique compared to department stores and national groups.

It is these local gift shops offering personally selected products for local shoppers on which Tower Systems focuses its services in the gift shop management space.

The Tower gift shop software has been developed specifically for locally owned gift shops. It is specialist software, packed with tools aimed to serve unique needs of these specialist retail businesses.

It is this commitment to specialisation that helps Tower Systems to be in such a strong position with gift shops, serving hundreds of businesses in this specialist retail space. These retailers help us further develop the software to provide even deeper connections with the specialist requirements of gift and homewares businesses.

In addition to providing excellent gift shop software, Tower Systems also provides sound advice to help gift and homewares retailers improve the in-store experience.

One example of gift software management advice is this advice on shop floor product rotation:

  1. Rotate gifts at least fortnightly. By rotate, we mean major change, so the gift department and every gift display looks completely fresh.
  2. Each placement / display ought to tell a story. By this, we mean it ought to appeal to the same shopper. There is no point in putting gifts mixed in with gifts for guys.
  3. Follow a treasure hunt principle: place displays to encourage people further into your shop. Displays themselves should present surprise to shoppers. Do not place gifts in a line on shelves. Be creative with displays that are visually enticing.
  4. The more targeted each display the better chance it will work.
  5. On a daily basis, through a structured (rostered) plan, clean gifts and shelves. Dust blocks sales.
  6. At least weekly, call out a gift on Facebook with a carefully written post about why the gift is useful.
  7. Be disciplined about quitting gifts that are not working for you. The longer you carry an underperforming item in your business the more its costs you.
  8. Manage your gift displays to drive traffic, not to leech off existing traffic.

Smart POS software helps small business retailers sell Spiderman

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IMG_7982Spiderman is a superhero loved by generations. He is more popular today than decades ago thanks to a reinvigorating of the franchise by Marvel.

Retailers using our POS software can track the success of superheroes in their retail businesses. They can do this through a range of views, providing insights beyond what is common in POS software.

The insights can help retailers undertake more finely tuned marketing.

Spiderman, for example, can appeal to a young kid discovering their first superhero as much as he can appeal to a baby-boomer reliving memories of their first Spiderman comic back in the day.

These different customers engage with their fan driven interests in different ways. Thanks to a clever approach to viewing data, retailers are able to treat both interests differently and the same as may be needed from time to time.

This is another smart approach to inventory management from the smart software development team at Tower Systems.

What gift shop owners love about the Tower Systems Gift Shop Software

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Here are some of the features gift shop owners love about our Gift Shop Software in addition to the facilities you would expect from good POS software.

  1. Easy to use yet structured and professional Lay-By.
  2. Customer special orders with TXT message when stock arrives.
  3. Professional gift cards with your logo and proper management of balance.
  4. Easy to produce gift vouchers.
  5. Gift receipts that can be wrapped with a gift (no pricing).
  6. Intelligent receipts with product care information.
  7. Easy handling of hampers and bundled offers.
  8. Supplier performance comparison.
  9. Employee performance management and rewards.
  10. Importing electronic invoices from gift shop suppliers. We work with for you.
  11. Linking to your website to manage a common stock file.
  12. Loyalty options including traditional points as well as front end loyalty to drive infrequent shopper engagement.
  13. Inventory management to guide you to a more efficient inventory level.
  14. Theft reduction tools to reduce the opportunity of employee theft.
  15. It’s easy to use.
  16. It’s regularly updated based on user suggestions.

Tower Systems at Hong Kong Gift Fair

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IMG_5968Tower Systems has been represented at the Hong Kong Gift & Premium Fair this week meeting with Australian gift suppliers and Australian gift retailers. This has been an excellent opportunity to spot trends and explore fresh opportunities for our gift retail partners back in Australia.

While we are not gift products wholesalers, we do work closely with them on a range of fronts and participating in this fair again this year has been a helpful experience in developing stronger relationships with suppliers for our customers.

The fair had more than 4,000 businesses in booths and it attracted over 100,000 retailers visiting these booths.

Serving hundreds of retailers using our Gift Shop Software, Tower Systems innovates through its software and the retailer / supplier relationships it supports. This is why being at this fair in Hong Kong is important for any software company which wants to ensure its offers are relevant to today’s gift shop.

POS software helps small business retailers sell more gifts

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exchreceiptPeople purchasing gifts want to ensure that the recipient can exchange the gift if it is not quite right.

Retailers using the Tower Systems specialist gift shop POS software have the ability to print a gift exchange receipt detailing the items purchased but not the price paid.

This facility has been in our software for years. It was developed with retailers offering gift exchange services. The receipt printed was recently enhanced to connect with quality gift purchases.

This gift / exchange receipt facility is another point of difference for Tower in several of our retail channels it is am important pert of the Tower AdvantageTM.

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