The POS Software Blog

The POS Software Blog

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

CategoryJeweller software

Australian based web development team developing retail business websites

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Tower Systems is proud to offer access to its Melbourne based web development team for the development of websites for retail businesses.

Our service is comprehensive and engaging, with retailer to web developer access.

We do not use an overseas development business to do the work for us. All of the work is done by us in ou own office.

This is a point of difference.

Overseas web developers are much cheaper. However, there is a reason for this … it is often evident in the websites they deliver.

Our local web development team has delivered many sites already – free standing as well as POS software integrated websites. We have a wonderful portfolio to share, to demonstrate the technical and design skill sets we have in-house in our Australian software company.

Australian retail businesses benefit from Australian developed websites.

WARNING: There are companies that look like Australian web development companies that actually have all the development work done offshore. Ask to meet with or talk with the tech team, ensure they are local, ensure you can easily contact them.

Sourcing a local develop0er is important if you consider your business to be local.

How our POS software Xero link helps us win online sales for our own retail business

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Online LayBy made easy.

newsXpress Southland is a card, gift and collectibles shop in the sprawling Westfield Southland shopping centre in south east Melbourne. It is our own business. We run this as a testing groups for our small business POS software.

With rent increasing faster than foot traffic to the 300+ store shopping centre, the manager of the business needed to connect with shoppers outside.

Online was the obvious choice but time was limited. The goal was to find a solution that enabled the business to get online without any additional management or accounting time involved.

Xero partner Tower Systems provided an integrated Point of Sale solution for in-store and well as online. This seamless link, coupled with complete xero integration, provided the time-saving solution the business was looking for.

“Online revenue is fantastic”, commented the manager of the store. “There is a direct bottom line benefit for the business as there is no additional labour cost and no capital expenditure.”

“We could not have done this without the xero link as that enabled us to effectively open a second outlet without what in the past was additional accounting or bookkeeping cost.”

As the business has become more familiar with the Tower Systems and xero solutions it has evolved the online offering to be more comp0etitive against big retailers in the online space.  This has seen click and collect and online LayBy launched.

It is with online LayBy where the business has benefited from the xero integration in that the shopper is able to pay over time, interest free, and the retailer is paid immediately. There is no additional accounting or bookkeeping work involved as the data flows from the website to the POS to xero without being touched by human hands.

A shopper adds items to their shopping cart, they select online LayBy, provide basic instant credit check data and fine the application approved or otherwise in seconds. The retailer is paid less a small handling fee with the finance company taking full responsibility for collecting payment.

With click and collect, the payment is handled online. This works best as to commits the shopper and turns the in-store visit to an easy collection. Experience has shown this is what shoppers prefer rather than having to worry about payment in-store. It also means one person can purchased while another can collect, with appropriate secure authority.

Doing this, flowing data from shopper through to xero in this way eliminates mistakes that can be made when data is re-keyed. It also saves considerable time and this is a tangible business benefit.

“Control and transparency of data at each step in the line is key for our business because like any small business every cent of margin is important” commented the manager. “The solution needed to be easy and neat for us and for our customers. Xero was a key part of achieving this.”

In addition to the xero integration, Tower Systems POS software integrates with Shopify, magento and WooCommerce – the three leading e-commerce platforms in the world. The web development team at Tower has enhanced these to offer a multi-store solution whereby independent retailers can trade under a single branded website rather than needing their own website.

“The xero integration is the back-office piece where real labour costs are reduced”, commented Gavin Williams, Tower Systems COO. “We only sell to independent small business retailers in selected retail niches such as bike shops, jewellers and garden centres. Having the xero integration is vital as they are all competing with big business and every saving, no matter how small, is loved.”

Tower Systems is an Australian based POS software company currently serving in excess of 3,500 small and independent business retailers. The company can be explored at www.towersystems.com.au.

Amazing free POS software training for small business retailers for June

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We are grateful for the support from our customers for our free online POS software training. Here is the June schedule. All free. All available to any of our customers. We do so many sessions because of all our customers. Even with this list we are sure to add more closer to the time.

  1. Getting Ready for EOFY Thursday 1st June 2:00pm Get ready for End of Financial Year now. What you need to do and the reports you need to run.
  2. Stocktaking for EOFY Wednesday 7th June 2:00pm Doing a stocktake in retailer and what option works best for you.
  3. Getting Ready for EOFY Thursday 8th June 2:00pm Get ready for End of Financial Year now. What you need to do and the reports you need to run.
  4. Getting Ready for EOFY Wednesday 14th June 2:00pm Get ready for End of Financial Year now. What you need to do and the reports you need to run.
  5. Stocktaking for EOFY Thursday 15th June 2:00pm Doing a stocktake in retailer and what option works best for you.
  6. Stocktaking for EOFY Wednesday 21st June 2:00pm Doing a stocktake in retailer and what option works best for you.
  7. Getting Ready for EOFY Thursday 22nd June 2:00pm Get ready for End of Financial Year now. What you need to do and the reports you need to run.
  8. Getting Ready for EOFY Wednesday 28th June 2:00pm Get ready for End of Financial Year now. What you need to do and the reports you need to run.
  9. Stocktaking for EOFY Thursday 29th June 2:00pm Doing a stocktake in retailer and what option works best for you.

Tower Systems helps small business retailers fine Xero skilled accountants

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As a side benefit of our work providing a beautiful small business POS software Xero link, we continue to expand our list of Xero skilled accountants. Retailers and accountants love this free service we provide. It speaks to the mutual respect and support of all of us in the growing worldwide Xero community have for each other.

In our opinion, based on years of experience with several accounting software packages for small retail businesses, xero is the best.

Our POS software xero integration is a joy to use … yes, we use it ourselves for our own retail businesses. This is the opinion of our in-house CPA.

Small business retailers love transparent POS software beta release program

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We are well into the beta release of a new version of our small business POS software for specialty retail channels.

The beta release program we follow is structured and transparent with customers able to nominate to be part of the program.

Here is the invitation email we sent a few weeks ago seeking beta release participants.

We are committed to regularly changing our beta customer team. They play an important role in determining if a new release of software is ready for our 3,500+ small business retail users.

The latest beta release if travelling well. We have terrific feedback that is guiding tweaking the latest release as we step closer to wide commercial release.

Best practice software for retail jewellers

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The Tower Systems software for jewellers continues to evolve to meet the changing needs of independent jeweller businesses.

The latest release off the software delivers a suite of enhancements, extending the reach of the software into jeweller businesses as they transact today.

You can’s stand still in this marketplace, not in retail, not in software. This is why Tower Systems actively works with small business retailers to drive business through enhanced software.

Indeed, we are grateful to our jeweller customers who give so generously of their time to guide us to better understand their needs.

The latest Tower Systems jeweller software is backed by our live personal training commitment. Our jeweller customers have access to unlimited one on one training, like all of our customers.

Facilities in our jeweller software include: webstore integration, xero integration, Shopify integration, Magento integration, WooCommerce integration, easy and accurate sales, customer loyalty, integrated eftpos, repairs management, special orders, gift cards, employee tracking, inventory management, specials / catalogues / offers, web-store interface, Xero interface, product care instructions, customer follow-up marketing, performance reporting, theft management, second-hand goods management, bundling pricing, servicing assistance / management, employee rostering and plenty more.

In addition to traditional inventory data points such as item name, description, barcode, supplier stock code, images etc, you can record stone specific qualities such as shape, weight, anatomy, cut, colour, clarity  & metal specific qualities such as carat, colour, weight etc.  In fact, an unlimited number of classifications can be applied to different stock items making the software extremely flexible.

For each item in inventory you are able to record a serial number. Serial number tracking provides a level of control essential for those items with unique serial numbers – for your records, for the customer documents and for supplier reference should this ever be needed.

A comprehensive Lay-by facility is integrated with the inventory management tools, ensuring complete management of inventory assets even those held in Lay-by. Jewellers can set Lay-by terms and have these printed on customer Lay-by documents.

The valuations facility includes customer documentation necessary to serve a variety of valuation needs. The valuations facility has been developed closely with a variety of jewellers and their employees.

The Tower Systems Jeweller software also offers comprehensive manufactured goods, repairs and second-hand goods facilities – all of which have been developed with jewellers in a variety of situations from single operator to multi store group – in Australia, New Zealand and several overseas countries. Each of these three areas of the software – manufactured goods, repairs and second-hand goods facilities – is specific to the needs of jewellers.

Providing POS software support via Facebook

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Our POS software customers are loving the access to our help desk through our private Facebook user forum. They love the easy access, transparency and easy search of past discussions.

We introduced the Facebook support service as another channel through which our customers can engage with our support services. We are grateful for the active embrace by our customers.

On the Facebook page we are happy to answer anything. Where a query needs specific site research we take the matter offline and connect direct with the customer in their business to do this.

We also use the Facebook page to share information, advice and knowledge base article access to keep customers informed abut enhancements to the software and the support resources available to them.

Access to the private Tower Systems user forum on Facebook is available to any of our customers.

Helping small business retailers deal with the global ransomware attack

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We have shared practical advice with our small business POS software customers this weekend to help them protect their businesses from the global ransomware attack that started two days ago.

Our advice is comprehensive and consistent with international best-practice. Our messaging is being repeated to ensure maximum reach in our big user community.

WARNING RE GLOBAL CYBER ATTACK.
The global cyber attack story has been dominating news services over the last 24 hours. The best way to ensure you are not hit is to follow our computer use advice. The fastest way to recover is if you use our Tower Systems cloud backup service. Be careful. Be proactive. Make sure everyone who uses your computers are aware.

We share the advice by email and are supporting it with personal advice through our help desk and business management teams.

Any internet computer is vulnerable. Here at Tower Systems we have been on the front foot with advice for our small business retail customers on steps to take to reduce the opportunity of attack and harm to the business.

Faster, easier POS software knowledge base access

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Small business retailers are benefiting form the faster and easier access to our POS software knowledge base.

Leveraging dynamic searching techniques and offering natural loan gauge searching the knowledge base offers non-tech retailers easy access to support.

The Tower Systems knowledge base is like a living online manual, expanding regularly, accessible from anywhere including mobile devices.

The latest enhancements are live now and being enjoyed by the 3,500+ Tower Systems customers. They are making a difference based on the feedback we are receiving. This is thrilling as helping retailers enjoy their software the benefits that flow from it is an important part of what we live for here at Tower.

A feature of the knowledge base is the feedback people can leave for each article. This is transparent to all customers, benefiting the wider community.

We are grateful to our customers for their help in evolving the knowledge base resources.

Xero POS software combination helps small business retailers save time and cut mistakes

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Xero continues to be the accounting system of choice for small business retailers.

Tower Systems is proud to partner with Xero and offer a truly direct integration solution.

Plus, we have a list of Xero skilled accountants we are proud to list.

Thanks to our partnership with Xero we have brought plenty of small business retailers to the world of integrated accounting to our POS software. This cuts keystrokes, saves time and makes managing small retail businesses easier and faster., It improves the quality of business data on which the small business retailers can rely.

Retailers in many channels can use the Xero link to our POS software.

We develop software for: gift shopsjewellers,  bike shopstoy shopsfishing/outdoors businessesgarden centres/nurseriespet shopsproduce storesfirearms businesses and newsagents. We have customers around Australia and New Zealand as well as in several other countries.

Developed for specialty retail channels, the Tower Systems Xero link delivers seamless integration for jewellers, garden centres, bike shops, gift shops, homewares stores, toy shops, garden centres, produce stores, fishing and outdoors business and more.

The Xero POS software link is best-practice and backed by our own in-house CPA who manages our own retailer businesses where we use the Xero link ourselves. Yes, as a POS software company we walk in your shoes.

It is our personal experience with our POS software and with Xero linked to our POS software that provides us with a level of personal experience on which we can rely when we work with our small business retail customers. This takes us beyond what is usual about being a POS software company.

The powerful Tower Advantage Link platform allows Tower Systems’ specialist retail software to connect directly to Xero, one of Australia’s most popular and streamlined accounting services. Linking Retailer to Xero saves you precious time by completing the majority of your day-to-day accounting for you.  We are experts at bringing independent retail businesses and Xero together and pride ourselves on connecting business owners with such an innovative, useful service.

Any retailer looking for a POS software accounting system link should consider the Tower systems POS software Xero accounting link partnership. We have runs on the board.

Cloud based appointment facility helps small business retailers win more business

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The online appointment software facility released by Tower Systems is another tool on which retailers who run businesses requiring appointments can rely to better manage services and grow appointment business.

Developed in-house by the Tower Systems web development team and initially for dog groomers and bike repair service providers, the online appointment facility developed by Tower Systems now serves a inroad mix of specialty retail and services businesses.

The online appointment software is another product from the m ix of cloud based products from Tower Systems designed to equip small business retailers and service providers to be more competitive in a changing and competitive marketplace.

Accessible as a stand alone cloud based service. The Tower Systems appointment facility can be accessed and used immediately. 

Customers can sign up and start right away and then stop at the end of the month if they wish.

There is no software to purchase, no software to install. The appointment facility lives 100% in the cloud, on a secure s river with appropriate redundancy and progressional da a backup.

Offered with the full support of the Tower Systems help desk and development teams, the online appointment facility is another way small business retailers can use technology to drive business efficiency and improve customer service.

Located at www.makemyappointment.com.au this online appointment facility offers a full suite of appointment facilities including:

  1. Easy appointment making as well as changes – from any device, anywhere.
  2. Text message and/or email notification for customers.
  3. Send reminders of appointments how and when you want.
  4. Schedule staff, rooms and equipment based on the type of appointment being made and staff and resource availability. This helps improve resource management.
  5. Australian developed and supported.
  6. Secure. Data located on a secure server in a purpose built data warehouse facility.
  7. Low monthly access cost. Paid 30 days in advance. Easily cancellable.
  8. Tower Systems POS software integrated to make processing payments easy.
  9. Business management back end to see the schedule of appointments by staff member and overall and to efficiently manage resources.

Make My Appointment is a cloud based appointment facility for small businesses. Using this site you can easily offer your customers the ability to make appointments. Track people equipment and rooms through your own management dashboard. Sign up and be live right away. It’s easy.

Tracking product serial numbers from within POS software helps specialty retailers offer better service

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Jewellers, bike retailer, fishing goods retailers, pet store retailers and firearms retailers are some of the specialty retail niche businesses that can benefit from POS software integrated serial number tracking tools.

Tower Systems offers integrated serial number tracking tools within its Australian developed and supported POS software.

Developed initially for jewellers, the serial number tracking facilities have evolved to serve a broader range of specialty retail requirements.

The serial number tracking tools track each serial numbered inventory item. This helps businesses provide better warranty services. This can also be useful should a customer have an insurance claim.

Handled with minimum labour involvement, the serial number tracking tools give businesses the means through which they can provide a higher level of service to customers and suppliers.

Including a product serial number on a receipt is important. While many POS software products can do this as a text message, it is vital the number is recorded against the same and, usually, against customer details. It is essential serial number tacking facilities are integrated with the POS software. This is what Tower Systems offers.

Much thought has gone into providing good serial number tracking tools, mature tools that deeply serve the tracking requirements of the retailer, supplier and customer long after the purchase itself. All of our work in this area has been undertaken in close consultation with customers who use serial number tracking. It is important to us and to them that work in this area is done with close collaboration.

Not many POS software products offer integrated serial number tracking tools. It is a differentiator for small business software company Tower Systems.

Long after the sale we make it easy to find a previous sale that includes a serial number. Searching for a sale by serial number can be handy for items which contain a warranty and you need to retrieve the information about the sale.

  1. From the Point of Sale screen, click on Previous Sales.
  2. Once the Previous Sales screen appears, click on the Serial Number box.
  3. Enter in the serial number that you need to find.
  4. Click on the Search Now button
  5. The list will then display the sale with the specified serial number and a preview of the receipt will appear on the right.

Here at Tower Systems we develop software for: gift shopsjewellers,  bike shopstoy shopsfishing/outdoors businessesgarden centres/nurseriespet shopsproduce storesfirearms businesses and newsagents and we serve customers in Australia, New Zealand and several other countries.

Managing repairs in retail businesses using your POS software.

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Repairs services can be a differentiating service for small business retailers in a range of niche retail categories. jewellers, bike retailers, fishing and outdoors businesses, garden centres and firearms retailers are all niche or specialty retail businesses that offer repairs services.

The challenge is finding good repairs or workshop management services that are integrated seamlessly to POS software.

Australian POS software company Tower Systems offers repairs management facilities in its specialty retail POS software. These facilities offer job tracking, labour management, costing, accounting, party’s use and external service provider tracking tools.

From the moment an item is brought into the business for repair the software tracks the activity.

At the end of the project, when the repair is ready to be collected, the customer is notified by text or email.

The overarching goal of the repairs software if that it tracks progress at each step of the way. This ensures the business never loses sight of the repair, that it properly accounts for all work and that the customer can be informed at any point in time.

Developed initially for specialist jewellers and bike retailers for their workshops, the Tower Systems repairs management facilities have benefited from use by retailers across multiple retail channels. This has helped evolve valuable tools that help retailers using them to trust the management. And, this work is on-going.

Good repairs services can help a local business win local sales. Whereas products can be available in multiple retail outlets, making price the comparison, repairs services are unique to each business. Through the Tower Systems repairs management software retailers can play to their local strengths and pitch their repairs services as differentiating and locally valuable.

We love helping small business retailers grow their repairs service.

The POS software connected repairs management software from Tower Systems continues to evolve, ensuring it is a solution for today and tomorrow, thereby helping small business retailers to evolve their repairs services too.

Hereat Tower Systems we develop software for: gift shopsjewellers,  bike shopstoy shopsfishing/outdoors businessesgarden centres/nurseriespet shopsproduce storesfirearms businesses and newsagents. We serve customers in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and several other countries.

Small business marketing tip: get creative with signs

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A fun and engaging sing on the footpath in front of your shop can attract people to your business. It can challenge people to consider your business beyond what the shingle above your door may say. The more creative the sign the better.

Go all out creative. Have fun. Be colourful. Shop that shopping with you will be fun. People want fun.

Here are a couple of signs we have seen recently that we love:

POS software subscription handling helps retailers leverage subscription opportunities

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Subscriptions are a terrific way for small business retailers to provide shoppers with consistent engagement for products and services that are required on a regular basis.

Tower Systems offers a flexible yet powerful subscription facility in its POS software.

Using our subscription facilities as retailer can schedule to ensure products are kept aside for a customer on a regular cycle. This could be daily, weekly, monthly or whenever the desired product becomes available.

The goods can be kept aside with a unique barcode on the product along with the customer name – providing a level of professional service and attention that is key to further cementing the customer relationship.

Thee customer is advised by email or text message when the subscription item is ready to be collected.

The subscription can be charged to a store account or paid on collection. customers can also pre-pay. Payment information is included on the barcode label for the customer to better handle the collection.

The subscription can be setup for an in-store collection or for delivery to a customer address, with delivery done by the business or by a delivery partner of the business.

The subscription can be created by one customer as a gift for another customer.

The software tracks the number of subscriptions for an item. This helps store management for forward planning an dealing with the supplier of subscription items.

Some product subscriptions are given to the retail business by the manufacturer with the retailer being the local fulfilment centre. Our POS software handles this situation too.

There are many variations on subscription scenarios too. Handling these many subscription options has become a key feature of the Tower Systems POS software as it has evolved in managing subscriptions in retail over many years for many of the company’s 3,500+ small business retail customers.

Also, customers can have multiple subscriptions with different rules and criteria too. See, the flexibility layers and layers to offer a valuable, powerful yet easy to use tool for almost any type of retail business.

So, when it comes to managing subscriptions in retail and doing this through your POS software, Tower Systems ms has software ready to go in this area.

Tower Systems helps small business retailers protect against crypto locker attack

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Tower Systems continues to help independent small business retailers reduce the possibility of impact from a crypto locket attack.

The help and service from Tower Systems is preventative as well as recovery focussed should the prevention advice be ignored.

In the Tower newsletter, regular weekly email and other communications the company ensures its thousands of small business retail customers has the information they need to properly an thoroughly deal with an attack.

The assistance from the company starts with the preventative, in the form of plain English computer use advice.

Here is a copy of the rent advice widely circulated by Tower Systems to its POS software customers:

COMPUTER USE POLICY

  1. The computers in this business are business tools. Their security is vital to the safe running of the business.
  2. Do not use any computer for any form of personal use without permission. This means:
    1. No playing games.
    2. No looking at porn.
    3. No Facebook.
    4. No browsing websites unless they are websites used regularly by this business for running the business.
    5. No connecting your phone to the computer.
  3. Do not open emails including business emails unless you have permission.
  4. Do not click on any link in any email unless you are 100% certain the email is from a trusted source.
  5. Do not clear the browser cache.
  6. Never put a USB stick in a computer unless you are certain of the source.
  7. Never permit anyone to use a computer in the business unless you have permission.
  8. Never give anyone a computer password from the business.
  9. If someone you don’t know calls and tells you to do something with the computer, make sure they have authority.
  10. Never write down any business password you are entrusted with.
  11. Never connect a USB stick with the computer unless you have permission.
  12. If you do something wrong own up to it immediately.

This is advice we suggest a retailer ives to all employees. It has been written for that purpose.

If you use our cloud backup service, recovering from a crypto locker is easier. Regardless, backing up every day in any method gives you a faster and lower cost recovery option. We offer a professional cloud based backup service. We use it ourselves and are happy to recommend it to our customers.

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