Tower Blog

A blog about smart POS software for independent small businesses.

Rent POS software and reserve cashflow in small business retail

24 September, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Retailers are loving that they can rent the POS software from Tower Systems without having to pay to own the software.

Tower Systems introduced rental as an option over a year ago, in 2019, with the daily cost sitting at a few dollars a day for most marketplaces.

POS software gently is every 30 days with no long-term contract lock-in. Customers can end their rental through the month, prior to the start of the next month.

This provides small business retailers flexibility and ease of access.

There is no finance check, no debt check, no finance agreement. POS software rental is easy and fast to organise. Rental can be stopped. It can also be paused in the need arises.

This is a cash flow beneficial solution for small business retailers, enabling them to preserve capital for other purposes in the business.

By renting the Tower Systems POS software, small business retailers have access to, at no extra cost:

  • Software updates. These are released regularly and offer an evolutionary path for the software.
  • The opportunity to propose software enhancements. There is a public forum through which this is done, where all users can vote on suggestions.
  • Software help desk support. This is office based and staffed by humans who know the software well.
  • After hours support. This covers you for those urgent situations.
  • An online knowledgeable with more than 600 articles advising how to use the software.
  • Software training videos. Our top subjects are covered on easily accessed videos – learn at your own pace.
  • Group training workshops. These are on topics our customers suggest.
  • One on one training after the system is installed and initial training provided.
  • Theft check service.
  • Backup check service.

All of these facilities as well as the software itself are bundled into the low 30 day rental cost.

Making POS software rental even more appealing is that there is no cap on the number of terminals on which the software is used in a business. A shops cold run 7 terminals and the low cost per day is the same as it would be if they were running it on one terminal. This is another differentiator for Tower Systems and its POS software rental arrangements.

Tower Systems is grateful to serve customers in a diverse spread of retail business channels. It only services locally owned independent small business retailers.

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Small business retail advice: using POS software to encourage shopper efficiency

23 September, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Shopper efficiency refers to the commercial value a business derives from a shopper, usually from a visit of a shopper, a single visit.

Smart POS software plays a key real in guiding better shopper efficiency. It does this through insights into business performance as tracked and curated through the POS software.

Small business retailers can learn, through smart POS software:

  • What products sell with each other. This is often a dynamic situation and often different to what retailers and those who work in retail assume.
  • What products work better where. This can be insightful as it is usually not where you think.
  • What time of the day products sell. This, too, can be s surprise, especially in online situations where we often see more than half the products selling overnight, when the shop is closed.
  • What occasions products can be purchased for. This data, when it is available, usually surprises as it demonstrates occasion connections that are unexpected.
  • What bundle opportunities can be leveraged to drive shopper engagement with products.
  • How families shop together.
  • What triggers can work best to bring shoppers back sooner.
  • Which are efficient products. This is based on shelf life and therefore sa return on space, inventory investment and more.
  • Which are inefficient products.

Smart POS software is key to harvesting these insights and more for small business retailers, to help them see what they may not have known about their businesses.

Tower Systems develops smart POS software and it backs it with advice, training and support to help retailers make the most of the software, to gain the insights to which we refer here that can show retailers ways they have not expected for their businesses.

We leverage our own retail experience to help;p small business retailers to go beyond the technology and into the realm of business insights so they can find their own business advice, relevant to their businesses, through using the software.

Tower Systems is grateful to serve more than 3,500 small business retailers using its specialty retail POS software in Australia and New Zealand. Through years of service we have built up a deep chest of advice and insights, which we willingly leverage for our POS software user customers.

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5 unique ways the POS software from Tower Systems helps small business retailers

22 September, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Not all POS software is the same. Thank goodness for that! There are companies, like Tower Systems, that invest in creating unique POS software to serve niche needs of specialty retailers. In doing this, for example, for jewellers, we have created facilities that serve the needs of other specialty retail channels.

No, not all POS software is the same. There is generic, off the shelf and, then, there is specialty POS software for specialty retailers.

Here are 5 unique ways the POS software from Tower Systems helps small business retailers to run more successful and enjoyable businesses:

  1. A no overhead, easily understood and sales driving loyalty solution that you can turn on in seconds and have delivering sales results today. This is smart loyalty, innovative and designed for today’s shopper. It does not leverage legacy loyalty that shoppers are sick of and that supermarkets continue to use.
  2. Seamless online with easy flowing inventory detail and image data between the POS software and Shopify thanks to smart and engaging integration for in-store, online and click and collect sales supported by many payment options including several buy now pay later options.
  3. Sell anywhere thanks to Retailer RoamTM, the on the road POS solution from the shop floor, at local markets, from a truck or from the roadside. This innovative, cloud based, solution is smart, engaging and ready for the new normal of 2020 and beyond.
  4. An access from anywhere insights platform that is your own personal business insights tool, shining a light on a pathway of data that reveals insights into your business andkopens you to considering opportunities ahead.
  5. A leverage-me platform that allows you to leverage intellectual property unique to your business, through which you can pitch your knowledge to shoppers and thereby differentiate your offer over the offers of others operating in a similar marketplace. This is a genuinely differentiating opportunity as it is about you.

In the POS software from Tower Systems retailers have access to many opportunities, many more than the 5 listed here, opportunities through which the businesses can more efficiently operate and can reach more new traffic shopper opportunities.

It’s all about business growth for growth is the lifeblood of any retail situation. Pursuing this consistently and professionally through the POS software is key to success in 2020 and beyond.

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Small retail business marketing tip: leveraging shop local authentically

21 September, 2020 / / 0 Comments

If there is one good thing that 2020 has delivered for local small business retailers, retailers located on the high street, or strip shop as Aussies refer to it, it is that shopping local matters, is valued, appreciated and preferred.

Local retailers have shown their businesses as being safe, accessible, flexible and relevant in the middle of a pandemic. Shopping local has surged in Australia and for good reason.

The opportunity is to turn the 2020 surge into long-term engagement with shopping local.

Today, we write to share marketing tips with local small business retailers on leveraging shop local authentically. These marketing tips are based on discussions with some of our 3,000+ POS software customers and from our experiences running shops since 1996.

  • Talk local. The more you speak to local news, local locations and local features on social media, on your receipts and in flyers included with products the more locals will feel your localness.
  • Buy local. Seek out local makers of products that make sense in your shop. Your support of them can easily demonstrate your own local commitment toad this plays well for local shoppers supporting your local business. You can, through your POS software, indicate locally sourced products. Supplement this with collateral placed with the products to indicate they are local.
  • Help local community groups support themselves. You can run a program where community group members present a cars at purchase to get special pricing,. This enables you to track the purchases so you can donate to the group a percentage of revenue driven by community group members. This program can see community groups encouraging their members to shop with you.
  • Add local value. If you sell products that can be used differently in your local situation, as would be the case for a garden centre, fishing and tackle shop, pet store, bike shop and even toy shop, you could share local use insights that demonstrate your local knowledge and add value to what you sell to locals.
  • Appreciate. One of the most important steps you can take to encourage locals shopping locally in your retail business is through appreciating them. A simple thank you at the counter, a thank you on a note you include with their purchase and a thank you on social media … these all play to appreciation.
  • Personalise. Be sure through any communications from your business on social media and elsewhere that you show what shopping local means – the jobs created, the support to community groups you provide and more. be sure to help people to understand that what they spend with you helps so many, who have names and faces.

While we share these as marketing tips for small business retailers designed to encourage shop local, they are code business ideas designed to help you spread your local connections. It is critical in doing these things that you are authentic and authenticity is key in local retail.

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Small business management discussion: Do reopen the borders calls ignore an opportunity? 

21 September, 2020 / / 0 Comments

While we understand the desire for borders to be open and restrictions to movement to be lifted, there are plenty of businesses that have changed what they do and how they do it so as to not be as impacted by closed borders as they may have been.

We are not writing this to be political. Rather, we are writing it from a business strategy perspective.

What if shutdown / open / shutdown / open is something we have to contend with beyond 2020? What does that world look like? While calling for borders to re-open is one approach, another could be how we adapt for what could be a new normal.

In our own situation here at Tower Systems, for decades we relied on in-person trade shows, in-store demonstrations and in-store installation and training. From early March this year we moved online. Online demonstrations, online installation and training. And, no trade shows. Sales are up. 

Thinking about the calls to open borders, it’s understandable. It’s about going back to where we were, where business was. 

What if there were alternatives for businesses? What is there were other ways businesses could grow that were not as reliant on open borders? Not that we are calling for borders to stay closed, because we are not. Rather, we pose the question because some business people will embrace the exercise to think about how they could adjust their business to do better in that situation.

Through online you can reach shoppers outside your usual catchment area. Through an expansion of range you can reach more people locally.

It’s interesting watching the news and current affairs programs and seeing the conga-line of big business representatives calling for things to go back the way they were. Owners of small businesses are more flexible and innovative and, we suspect, less likely to want things to go back the way they were.

Again, thinking about our situation and other office business owners we speak with, we think that working from home and working regionally is a long-term shift. This one shift presents opportunities to local businesses. There will be other shifts too. For example, big businesses with now decentralised workforces are embracing ways to remain connected with customers. For example, locally delivered care packages are popular.

We have shared this today to encourage considering of thinking about next year and beyond in what could be a new normal business environment.

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5 steps guaranteed to cut theft in any retail business

20 September, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Theft in retail costs more than money or goods taken. There is an emotional cost, which can play into an impact on business management.

In our work with thousands of independent retail businesses we have tuned a list of actions that we see work well in cutting theft in retail.

  1. Spot stock take. Allocate time daily to spot check stock on hand. We suggest 15 to 20 minutes a day to different areas of the shop could reveal customer theft challenges. Spot stock takes are fast, easy and guide data accuracy. Most important, they reveal theft.
  2. Track everything you sell. The moment a retailer does not track stock that comes in and goes out of a business is the moment the retailer takes their eye off the ball and allow people who till steal to steal. While it sounds boring, managing stock is key early identification of theft, especially employee theft.
  3. Eliminate manual handling of data. Every time data is handled manually you create a weakness that a thief can exploit. For example, if sales data do not flow automatically from your POS to your accounting software, there can be an opportunity for someone handling cash to skim prior to banking. From receiving inventory invoices electronically to scanning everything you sell to a direct connection between your POS and your accounting software, like Xero, every keystroke eliminated is potential theft avoided.
  4. Look under the hood at keystroke patterns. Smart POS software will maintain, in a secret location and under appropriate security data that could reveal misbehaviour by staff as part of a systematic theft program. This type of analysis has uncovered the deletion of sales to enable the removal of cash from a til by an employee stealing from the business.
  5. Surprise moves like roster changes, spot checks in-store, mid-day cash-outs and more can break a pattern and make it difficult for anyone who seeks to leverage a consistent pattern to engage in theft. We know of one case where the rubbing bins were emptied an hour earlier than usual and by someone who does not usually do this work and in doing so a roll of notes was found, which led to long-term theft discovery.

Theft hurts retail businesses in many ways. Independent retailers can cut the cost of theft by following steps like those outlined here.

Tower Systems works with small business retailers using its POS software to help them cut employee and customer theft. We have provided expert help to police and prosecutors. We have people in our business who have been used as expert witnesses in court cases.

We are committed to helping small business retailers cut employee and customer theft. Every Tower customer has access to a free theft check service.

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Marketing tips for independent toy shop businesses – helping you sell more toys

20 September, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Today, we share practical no cost and low cost marketing tips designed specifically for independent toy shops – local shops, high street shops, shops that are competing with mass retailers, national retailers and online retailers with big budgets.

We are sharing these tips because we believe in small business, independent business, because we will do everything we can to help local toy shops as they are bread and butter customers for our toy shop software.

When it comes to retail business marketing, we like to keep it simple as we have found simple works best in our own shops. here are our marketing tips for local toy shops:

  1. Run a championship. Choose a simple and fast to play fun game and host a local championship. Like Connect 4 – in a day and a series of heats in-store you could fine a champion and give people a heap of fun.
  2. Run a community noticeboard. A toy shop is a perfect place for a community noticeboard where families can share games and toy ideas with other families and where games clubs can let people know their news. Be an information hub.
  3. Create a community gallery. In a quiet part of the shop, create a gallery where people can share photos of achievements relating to what you sell. Photos could be of a completed jigsaw, a completed craft item, a winner of Monopoly, a completed Lego project and more. The idea is to give people a place to shaw their achievements.
  4. Customer reviews. Include customer reviews of games and toys with products in-store. Personalise and localise your business.
  5. Toy of the week. At the counter, pitch a specific item each week. Make sure the pitch explains why.
  6. Staff picks. Near the front of the store have a shelf or several shelves for displaying staff picks for this week. have a card next to each with an explanation, in their own words.
  7. Leverage collectibles. For those collectible items people will buy regularly over time, offer a reward when they reach a certain number. It can work like a coffee card. It locked them into purchasing from you.
  8. Share your knowledge part 2. People like buying from people who know what they are talking about. You can show off your knowledge through videos, which you have made, on Facebook, videos on your website and in-store.
  9. Share your knowledge part 2. Include product car and use information on receipts. This can be handled easily by your software.
  10. Support community groups. Offer a fundraising deal where group members purchase from you between set dates and they get a discount and the group gets a rebate. Your software can manage this. You help the customer and you help a group they love.
  11. Use loyalty rewards people understand. Any any customer today what 100 loyalty points are worth and they will not have a clear answer in most situations. Ask them how much a $10.00 voucher is worth and they will, for sure, say $10.00. Offer $$ as loyalty rewards and leverage this to get people to spend more than they used to. It’s done easily on your receipts.
  12. Bring them back. Use email marketing tools to thoughtfully invite shoppers back because they bought a particular item or brand or they bought for an annual occasion, like a birthday. Collecting a small amount of data in the sale and having your POS feed data to an email tool can make this email invite easy to achieve.

These are some of the marketing tips we have for local and independent toy shops. We love helping local indie retailers to thrive. We hope these ideas are useful and that they inspire you to create your own.

Small business rocks!

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Driving Halloween sales in small business retail

20 September, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Through our POS software retailers have access to a range of tools for promoting and leveraging Halloween opportunities. From reminders, to product pitches to advice to special offers served in a targeted way, retailers using our POS software can pitch Halloween in 2020 to leverage the uniqueness of the fun day this year.

For sure, Halloween 2020 will be different. We are seeing this already in businesses we run, where Halloween products are being embraced early, even a month ago. One hit product already is Seeds from the Ty Plushies range.

For that business we made this video 100% in-house and served it using tech to reach new shoppers. We mention this as another example that we are not your usual POS software company.

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Free online workshop for Aussie newsagents

19 September, 2020 / / 0 Comments

the newsXpress newsagency marketing group is hosting an online forum for newsagents this Tuesday. This is an open Zoom meeting where folks can ask questions and learn more about what newsXpress offers and how it works to help newsagents run more enjoyable and successful businesses.

Here are the details to join this free session:

https://zoom.us/j/99657147413?pwd=dmhaa2VHK0pyb1M1bHZSeUxOMDNLUT09

Meeting ID: 996 5714 7413 Passcode: 081628

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Yarrrr…

19 September, 2020 / / 0 Comments

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Gift shop marketing advice for small business gift retailers

18 September, 2020 / / 0 Comments

How to market your gift shop … everyday ideas for gift shop marketing to help any local independent gift shop attract more shoppers and get shoppers spending more money in each visit.

We have owned our own small business gift shops since the late 1990s. These physical store and online store situations have provided us with opportunities to leverage low-cost and no-cost marketing to grow the businesses. The experience has also helped us improve our gift shop software.

Today, we share some marketing ideas for gifts shops, to help these local and vital businesses grow in service of their local communities.

  • Be smart about where you place products. Use the insights data from your POS software to see what sells with what. This usually gets you placing products together that you would usually not place together.
  • Buy smart. Too often we see gift shops filled with stock the owners like, which is often different to the products gift shop customers preference. Using the data curated by the POS software, order what sells and sell more of this.
  • Email regular customers. It’s easier to bring them back than find new customers. Email them based on past purchases and based on future life events.
  • Stop copying others. While it is tempting to copy what we see as successful moves in other businesses, copying does to differentiate. Run your own race. Play your own game. One area where doing your own thing is best does is in loyalty. While most businesses offer points, our advice is that you offer a cash discount off the next purchase. This can be easily managed through your POS software. A cash amount off the next purchase is more likely to get a one time shopper spending more in that visit, making that one visit worth more than it otherwise might to the business.
  • Pre-sell and bank the revenue before you pay for the goods. Tapping into popular licence opportunities and limited-edition ranges you can sell products before you receive them from your suppliers, before you pay for them. This pre-sell approach can differentiate your business by seeing you go out with something well before a competitor has it is stock.
  • Clip the coffee card but in a smart way for gift shops that don’t sell coffee. If your gift shop sells things people could purchase multiple times over months or a year, setup a digital coffee type cared where you stamp the card for each purchase and offer a discount or something free after the customer reaches a target number of purchases.
  • Go online, cleverly. While everyone says sell online, we say do it cleverly, do it in a way that leverages the power of search engines, do it in a way to connects your gift shop with shoppers who know nothing about you. The type of online selling we suggest is connected to your POS software and it uses the smarts you have built into the data managed by that software.

We can offer more advice than this, more marketing advice for gift shops, to help them grow, be more successful and more enjoyable for all involved.

This is another Tower Systems advantage.

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More free training videos released for POS software users

18 September, 2020 / / 0 Comments

We have released plenty of new training videos over the last two weeks for retailers using our POS software. each video covers a different part of our POS software, and offers insights into how to use that part of the POS software.

Here is one such video. This one covers our awesome MultiBuy facilities in our POS software, tools retailers can use to guide loyal engagement by shoppers. All customers have free access to all of these videos:

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It’s great to see small business retailers growing revenue in Covid impacted 2020

17 September, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Many small business retailers are enjoying double-digit growth in their businesses, in the middle of the challenges of Covid, contrary to the negative reports we are reading and hearing from plenty of media outlets.

We are heading about the growth from small business retailers using our POS software. Not all are growing, but many are.

The growth in small business retailers is happening in a range of retail channels: newsagents, garden centres, pet shops, toy shops, produce businesses and more.

The retail sales growth is especially evident in small business retailers located on the high street as well as in rural and regional locations. 

Shopping centre businesses are certainly challenged, due to traffic issues.

We mention this, again, today to reflect that there is plenty of good news in the small business retailer world right now, good news that speaks to businesses that are growing – some because of fortune, some because of good moves by the business owners and some that are a mixture of these two and other factors.

The challenge for retailers that are growing in the middle of Covid is whether they discuss this. Retailers we have spoken with are reluctant to speak about it because they do not want to come across as gloating about their good times compared to the awful times others are experiencing.

We’d love more retailers who are experiencing good times to share their good news stories as this could help show others paths that they could take. The good news could also push back against the news media narrative that is, we think, too much based on stories of doom and gloom.

There is no doubt that being online is key to success in this Covid world. Being online representing your existing business as well as representing new product opportunities through which you are seeking to attract shoppers you have not served previously through your business. This is the Covid pivot people speak of, the turn a business makes to attract people they have not attracted previously.

Tower Systems itself has evolved trough Covid, working online more, being more connected through Zoom, Microsoft teams, using our CRM system and leveraging other commercial tech. platforms through which we can be with our customers every day in ways that are useful for them, serving their needs in a timely and professional manner.

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Smart POS software helps small business retailers eliminate loyalty cards

16 September, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Stamping a loyalty card in a coffee shop, gift shop, pet shop, toy shop and other settings can be a thing of the past thanks to terrific tools in the smart POS software from Tower Systems.

Here is a new video we shot a few days ago explaining how to set this up in our software and how to drive sales through it…

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Rental makes POS software affordable for small business retailers

16 September, 2020 / / 0 Comments

A year ago, Tower Systems launched a new rental solution for acquiring access to its POS software for small business retailers. What this means is that any business owner wanting to access our POS software can do so through a rental offer.

Making our POS software available to rent for a few dollars a day makes it cash flow effective.

There is no finance agreement to sign. No contract to lock in.

Customers can cancel the rental at any time, meaning their rental obligation is no more than 30 days. This makes the cost of accessing our POS software lower than ever.

By renting POS software, small business retailers are able to put this in place quickly and easily without having to invest significant capital, leaving those funds for products and other more practical investments in their businesses.

Included in the few dollars a day rental price is everything on this list:

  • Access to the POS software itself – on as many computers in the business as you need.
  • Help desk access for assistance with use and more relating to the software. This is human based, working out of Melbourne, with one of our team members also working our of New Zealand. Help desk access is through the phone, email, our website and more.
  • Access to more than 600 articles in our online knowledge base – online and searchable documentation.
  • Unlimited access to personal one on one training.
  • Backup check help – where we check your backup to ensure you are actually backing up properly.
  • Theft check, where we look at your data and apply use principles to look for behaviour that could speak to employee theft.
  • Access to professionally tested electronic stock files from suppliers.
  • Help with access to direct connected EFTPOS, like Tyro.
  • Help with everyday support for e-commerce links from the POS software side.

All of these support and assistance tools are built into the low daily rental cost. Making the cost of the software rental valuable and easy for businesses.

POS software rental makes accessing our software easy. From a technical perspective, ur customers can run the software on their desktop computers or in the cloud – the choice is theirs. We are happy to serve whatever need customers have in that situation.

POS software rental is here for the long term. We think it’s what small business retailers want.

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Software for adult shops help these small businesses in 2020

15 September, 2020 / / 0 Comments

The Tower Systems adult shop software is helping Aussie adult shops reach and serve customers in 2020, an odd year with plenty of challenges … and opportunities.

Handling key requirements unique to the needs of adult shop businesses, the Tower Systems software for adult shops helps with compliance, service and performance, helping these businesses serve their customers professionally and accurately.

Encoded in the adult shop software are tools that help operationally in-store as well as help online – helping the locally owned adult shops to serve through online sales.

The Tower systems adult shop software delivers access to a broad range of benefits, which include:

  • Perfect loyalty tools for adult shops. Get shoppers spending more. Anonymity guaranteed with this fresh approach to loyalty. No points. No cards. No names. This is smart loyalty perfect for adult shops.
  • Leverage you. Share product care, service and use information that reflects your knowledge and helps separate you from others selling similar.
  • Easily sell online with a direct to Shopify with a safe and seamless link from your POS software – including image flow.
  • Encourage customer happiness by serving product care info. on receipts.
  • Easily handle special customer orders. Bring product in for a specific customer and have them notified automatically by email or text when the goods are in and ready.
  • Ensure compliance when required with structured age checking. This can demonstrate that the business has the right processes in place for the regulators.
  • 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.
  • Sell more with a direct connect to buy now pay later services.
  • Cut accounting and bookkeeping fees with integration to Xero and others.

Using this adult shop software, adult shop owners can rely on up to date tech enology that is designed to serve the needs of a business that is usually run under management. We offer security and surety over business data and allow easy access for checking and reporting from off-site.

This is Aussie made and supported software for adult shops.

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POS software helps small business retailers through COVID-19

15 September, 2020 / / 0 Comments

The POS software from Tower Systems is helping small business retailers through COVID-19. It is doing this through flexible facilities, which are backed by easy access to training.

Retailers are leveraging the POS software to help them pivot in response to what they are seeing in their communities as COVID-19 impacts are better understood.

Small business retailers are using the POS software to pivot in myriad ways including:

  • Moving online.
  • Taking on new product categories.
  • Adding more services.
  • Offering safe click and collect.
  • Offering home delivery.
  • Bundling products for more efficient shop[ping.
  • Including COVID-19 care and advice information with products.
  • More carefully tying the business needs to match changed shopper engagement.
  • Dealing with suppliers remotely and ordering based on sales history.
  • Trading contactless.
  • Operating a secondary business online that leverages the physical space in a different product category.

COVID-19 has challenges many retail businesses and those that have done best have embraced change, embraced opportunities revealed through change. The POS software from Tower Systems has tools and facilities that help small business retailers with this.

If we have learnt one thing from 2020 it is that what you think may happen is unlikely to happen. hence, the need to have POS software that allows the retail business to respond to change, to pivot.

Tower Systems backs these facilities up with personal one on one training for its POS software customers. We help them understand their options and then to implement these through the software, to help retailers make the most of the road in front of them.

This is smart POS software but for specialty retailers in the independent small business retail space.

We see the changes continuing, into 2021, with retail being different, forever changed in some areas and in some marketplaces. This is where the flexibility of our software, from our service across multiple marketplaces, comes into play. It is what helps us help the retail business today be a cafe tomorrow and something else down the road. We can do this without the business having to purchase additional software.

We are grateful to serve small business retailers in this way.

While 2020 is challenging;loenging, it is also exhilarating and exciting for what we have learned and how we have evolved.

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DOS POS software died many years ago

14 September, 2020 / / 0 Comments

We used to develops sell and support DOS POS software. For many years, in fact. However, it is more than twenty years since we last sold it. Yes, DOS POS software was dead in the late 1990s.  It was old tech enology then, out of date, flawed and not suitable for modern businesses then.

We can’t imagine any retail business using DOS POS software today, not in 2020 with so many smart business needs, interconnectivity needs, integration needs. DOS POS software could not keep up with the needs of today.

From 1981 through to the mid to late 1990s our DOS POS software was terrific, suitable and evolving. However, in the mid 1990s when we started building our Windows based POS software, we knew that ur DOS POS software mould end, that it would be sold no more. Such is the evolution of software development.

Knowing when to lay softer to rest is a skill, important to software companies and important to users of POS software.

We knew in the mid to late 1990s that DOS POS software had no future given the then emerging opportunities for small retailers beyond the traditional. That is when the generational shift of Windows POS software for small business retailers came into play.

While we supported the old DOS POS software and never forced anyone to shift, the software itself did not evolve. It had reached end of life in that sense. We helped our customers and made sure they were protected and we offer an easy path to the new Windows based POS software.

Today, we look back on the days of DOS with a fondness, just as we look back on our Apple II+ days and our old CP/M days. These are nostalgic thoughts. But, our focus is on what 2021 and beyond bring for our software as well evolve into new areas, delivering to retailers facilities built with new technology.

This year has been exciting. Next year will be even more so for reasons people will see emerge.

In the meantime, we are thankful for the DOS POS memories and grateful that we left that world when we did.

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POS software for booksellers integrated with PacStream

14 September, 2020 / / 0 Comments

The Tower Systems POS software integrates with PacStream, the respected and widely used book retailer / book supplier EDI platform. Using PacStream, book retailers are able to manage inventory more efficiently and accurately than manual processes.

As an early integration with pac stream, Tower Systems through its POS software has been in active service of book retailers for many years.

The PacStream platform is robust and commercially beneficial to retailers. Indeed, PacStream access is critical for book retailers.

By maintaining a PacStream integration with its Australian developed and supported POS software, Tower Systems remains focussed on serving the needs of bookshops and other retailers of books who can benefit from what PacStream offers.

Using the Tower Systems software retailers are able to link electronically with multiple suppliers, ensuring reduced errors when it comes to data management and ensuring time saved by eliminating manual processes that often harm retail businesses when doing things by hand.

The Tower Systems approach to EDI is to follow the standards, to rely on the specialty expertise of others in the field, leaders like PacStream and to work with their needs, making the retailer / supplier connection stable and useful in service of efficient relationships.

Tower Systems already serves book retailers in several different situations and with more retailers evolving into the box space, the PacStream relationship is interesting and of value.

Nationally, Tower Systems serves in excess of 3,000 small business retailers, specialty retailers, independent retailers. We are a proud local POS software company serving local retail businesses.

Our POS software continues to evolve, serving the evolving needs of retail businesses. This is proving to be especially relevant in 2020 as retail is changing rapidly thanks to corona. The flexibility build into our software, to facilitate businesses that choose to pivot, is key to their flexibility in serving changing local needs.

Being locally made puts us closer to our customers, which matters as local businesses themselves are closer to their customers.

Selling in-store and online is easy with our POS software thanks to our integrations, which also include integrations with Shopify, Magento and WooCommerce for selling online through a seamless POS software / web store connection that also includes easy flow of images, inventory details and stock on hand data.

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We develop websites in Australia for small business retailers

13 September, 2020 / / 0 Comments

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Helping small business retailers deal with the challenge of employee theft

12 September, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Employee theft can be a challenge to deal with for business owners, work colleagues and those who have perpetrated the theft.

Key to successful resolution is evidence. This is where our POS software plays a vital role. Using our POS software we are able to, often, provide the necessary evidence of an employee theft situation.

Thanks to secret tools and secret and secure data, we can provide evidence police and prosecutors trust to prove a theft situation. This data can be key to understanding what has happened, when and thew quantum.

This is the beginning, the truth, the evidence of em ploy theft. So, this is where we start, with the data, uncovering evidence and then offering this evidence to the business owner for engagement.

By providing small business retailers with these tools, we are giving them at their fingertips tools vital to cutting the cost of employee theft in a retail business. Using our POS software, a retailer can cut the cost of employee theft.

Let’s be clear though: not all employees steal, not even half, not even a quarter. However, you needs tools for tracking data and engagement with the software to reveal behavioural patterns that can indicate theft. This is key to early detection.

We train retailers using our POS software on how to do this, how to leverage the data and information collected and curated by our software to understand if there has been behaviour that could indicate employee theft.

From working with police and prosecutors to working with individual employers, our work on the issue of employee theft is comprehensive and consistent for many years. We have worked in a preventative way as well as after the event, gathering evidence. Our work is in service of our customers, retail business owners.

Using our POS software and following our advice, we think small business retailers can reduce the opportunity for employee theft and thereby cut the cost of employee theft on their businesses. Our engagement with retailers on this is as and when they want, in as much or as little detail as they want. Since we own and run retail businesses, we also share operational suggestions with those interested.

Reducing employee theft can have a significant bottom line benefit in any retail business.

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Small business website Q&A

11 September, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Today @ 10:30am AEST we are hosting a free workshop and Q&A for small business retailers considering a POS software connected website. This is another in our series of sessions where the content is driven by attendee questions.

We will have web developers and web / POS integration support folk there to take any questions.

Free workshop: Web link Q&A.
Today, Friday, we host a website Q&A @ 10.30am AEST. We’ll answer all your questions about the link as well as Shopify and related questions as much as we are able. Whether you have a website or are considering one, this could be a beneficial session to attend. Here are the details to join:

https://zoom.us/j/97341499988?pwd=R0UyQ3o2V1VDaEpTcGcwM1lQMUpIZz09
Meeting ID: 973 4149 9988 Passcode: 514210

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Limited-time Garden centre POS software offer

11 September, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Rent for $185 a month: Aussie made POS software for garden centres.

$2,500 off setup and training. Usually $3,750.00, order between now and November 30, 2020 and you pay $1,250 for personal training and setup. See it in an obligation free and safe demo: sales@towersystems.com.au.

This is a genuine limited-time saving for garden centres, $2,500 off our user training and setup package.

  • Total monthly rental is $185.00 for all the computers in your business.
  • Setup and training: $3,750.00. With this offer: $1,250.00. Save $2,500.00.

Our comprehensive garden centre software offers many benefits, including:

  • EASILY SELL BY MEASURE OR WEIGHT: in whole numbers or fractions.
  • LOCALISED CARE RECEIPTS: with your personal care information.
  • OUTDOOR LABELS: high res., customisable weatherproof.
  • MAKE MORE MONEY AS PLANTS GROW: re-pot, charge accordingly.
  • BUNDLED PACKS: package a plant, pot and nutrients with a single price.
  • SEASONAL MARKETING: leverage your local seasonal planting advice.
  • ORDER FOR SEASONS: reorder based on previous seasonal sales history.
  • SAVE TIME: Import electronic invoices and orders are a breeze!
  • SELL MORE WITH BUY NOW, PAY LATER: through Zip and Humm.
  • CUSTOMER ACCOUNTS: Tight management.
  • EASIER DELIVERIES: delivery notes and picking slips.
  • SELL MORE PER VISIT AND BRING PEOPLE BACK: with smart loyalty.
  • EASY SPECIAL ORDERS: complete tracking and notification.
  • HELP CUSTOMERS BUY ITEMS TOGETHER. Leverage your sales data.

Rent our garden centre specialty software for $185.00 a month, giving you:

  1. Australian developed and supported garden centre POS software.
  2. Unlimited computer licences for your location.
  3. Software updates as we release them.
  4. Easily sell online from your POS software. Shopify / Magento / Woo link.
  5. Xero link. Easing bookkeeping costs and streamlining accounting.
  6. Our OzBiz link. This helps you link to MYOB through OzBiz.
  7. Tyro link – safe, fast and easy EFTPOS link for streamlined sales.
  8. PC Eftpos link. This offers easy EFTPOS processing for the major banks.
  9. Easy buy now pay later options with Zip Pay and Humm.
  10. Support – help desk access.
  11. Training – unlimited one-on-one training over the phone.
  12. User documentation. Access to our searchable knowledge base.

Rent for $185.00 each 30 days, in advance. It can be cancelled at any time.

We have a structured and personalised on-boarding process, done in your business. With this limited-time special offer, the up-front on-boarding fee is only $1,750.00 (inc. GST). This includes comprehensive personal training and system setup services, and more.

We are grateful to business owners and staff in your channel who guide our software development. Their advice helps us make more useful software.

See our software in a personal live online demonstration: sales@towersystems.com.au.

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Ah, Spring…

10 September, 2020 / / 0 Comments

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Newsagents benefit from Epay access in newsagency POS software

10 September, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Tower Systems released Epay access from within its newsagency software earlier this year. It’s been a terrific success with newsagents loving the easy and direct access to wonderful voucher products from Epay.

Today, Tower Systems released a product update to its Epay integration, expanding the products available to newsagents to sell, offering them more revenue opportunities in their businesses.

This latest update is another step in the on-going enhancement of the solution, to serve the expanding needs of retailers, including local Aussie newsagents.

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