Our POS software sales team is local and ready to listen
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Pricing after the surcharge ban: how to lift prices without upsetting customers
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Since 1 October 2026, Australian businesses can no longer add a surcharge to payments made by eftpos, Mastercard, Visa or American Express. For a lot of independent retailers, that small line at the bottom of the receipt covered a real cost. The cost hasn’t gone anywhere. You now have to recover it another way, and fairly.
We know of many retailers where the loss of the surcharge has hit hard. This blog post bring together advice for these retailers. What you do needs care.
Customers are paying attention. Online forums are full of complaints about businesses using the ban as cover for bigger price rises, or renaming the surcharge a “service fee” or “platform fee”. The ACCC has said plainly that businesses must not mislead customers about why prices changed. Get this wrong and you lose more than a few cents a sale.
Start with your actual card cost
Before touching a price, be sure of what acceptance costs you. Get your merchant statements for the last three months and calculate the effective rate: total fees divided by total card sales. Include terminal rental and any monthly minimums.
Many retailers find the true figure is lower than the surcharge they used to charge. If you charged 1.5 per cent but your effective cost is 0.9 per cent, a 1.5 per cent rise across the board isn’t cost recovery. Customers will notice, and some will tell you so.
While you’re at it, call your payments provider and ask whether your plan still suits your volume. Lower interchange caps are part of the reform, so it’s reasonable to ask how they flow through to you. If your POS lets you choose your payment provider, you also have room to shop around.
Lift prices selectively, not evenly
A flat percentage increase on every product is the easiest change to make. It’s also the easiest one for customers to spot. Use your sales data instead.
- Leave known-value items alone. Every shop has products customers know the price of, like a newspaper, magazine, cat food, dog – the everyday item people notice. Keep these steady. They anchor your price reputation.
- Lift where you add value. Gifts, specialty lines, exclusive ranges and items that need advice carry less price sensitivity. A small rise here is rarely noticed.
- Round sensibly. Moving $9.40 to $9.50 is gentler than moving $9.95 to $10.20. Price endings matter more than most think.
- Review slow sellers separately. If nobody is buying it, a price rise won’t help. Decide whether it belongs in the range at all.
Your POS software should show you sales by item, category and margin. Sort by units sold and margin together, and the safest places for a modest increase stand out quickly.
Protect trust with how you communicate
Skip the sign apologising for higher prices. What you need is staff who can answer honestly when a customer asks.
- Don’t tell customers prices rose “because of the surcharge ban” unless that is accurate and proportionate.
- Remove all surcharge references from counter signage, invoices, receipts and your website.
- Weekend and public holiday surcharges are not part of the card ban, but they must be clearly displayed if you use them.
- Brief your team on a simple, truthful line, such as: “We stopped charging card fees, and like everyone our costs have gone up, so we have adjusted some prices.”
Find margin outside the shelf price
Pricing is one lever. The retailers who handle this well tend to look at their buying, their mix and their shrinkage at the same time.
- Buying. Check supplier invoices for cost increases you haven’t passed on. Many shops absorb supplier rises for months without noticing.
- Mix. Promote higher-margin lines through placement and counter displays. Changing what customers buy can do more than a price rise.
- Shrinkage (theft). Every item that walks out unpaid is lost margin. Tighter stock counts often recover more than the surcharge ever did.
What to do now
Work out your effective card cost. Pick twenty known-value items to hold steady. Then look at your highest-margin categories for a small, considered increase. It’s a morning’s work, and it beats guessing.
If you want to see how sales and margin reporting can make this easier, Tim and Justin at Tower are happy to talk through your shop’s situation. Call 1300 662 957 or email sales@towersystems.com.au.
Why local toy shops need software made for toy shops
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Online keeps taking more of the toy market, and plenty of local toy shops are doing it tough. A parent can order a toy on their phone in under a minute. A box turns up, and that’s the end of the relationship.
A good family-run toy shop gives you more. Someone helps you choose. Someone remembers your kid’s name and what they were into last year. The gift goes home wrapped. If it breaks, someone looks at it instead of telling you to start a return.
It’s personal.
The hard part is delivering that on a flat-out Saturday in December, with a queue at the counter and two staff. Software built for a generic shop won’t help you much there. Software built for a toy shop will.
Made here, supported here
Tower Systems has been making retail software in Australia since 1981, and we’re grateful to serve many local independent toy shops across the country. When you call us, you talk to a real person here, someone who knows the software and knows how a toy shop trades.
We don’t treat a toy shop like a café or a clothing store, because it isn’t one.
Remember birthdays for your customers
Birthdays drive toy retail. Tower can record the occasions your customers care about and remind them when one is coming up. A grandparent who bought a birthday present last March hears from you in February, before they’ve started searching online.
Loyalty for people who only come in twice a year
Most toy shop customers aren’t weekly regulars. They come in for birthdays, Christmas and maybe a school holiday treat. Points programs built for supermarkets mean nothing to them.
Tower has loyalty options for occasional and one-off shoppers, as well as for your regulars. Give an occasional customer a reason to remember you, and they’re more likely to come back to you than to a website.
Age checks at the counter
Some products need an age check. Tower flags them at the point of sale, so a casual staff member on their second shift knows to ask.
Serial numbers and repairs
Remote control cars, electronic toys and ride-ons come back sometimes. Tower tracks serial numbers, so you can find the sale, check the details and sort it out quickly.
If you do repairs, Tower manages those as well. You can log the job, track where it’s up to and tell the customer when it’s ready. Very few online sellers will fix anything.
Bundles instead of discounts
Put the toy together with the accessory that makes it more fun, or the batteries it needs, at a fixed price. The customer gets a better gift with less thinking. You get a bigger sale without marking down half the shop.
Partner with a local school, club or playgroup
This is one of the most effective ways for a toy shop to find new customers.
You partner with a local school, kinder, sports club or playgroup. Members save a percentage when they shop with you, and a percentage of what they spend goes to the group. Tower handles both at the counter.
The group then promotes you to its members, because every sale helps them raise funds. Families who’ve never been in your shop now have a reason to visit. What happens after that is up to your service.
Know what’s actually selling
Tower lets you compare suppliers and categories, and report by brand, licence, age group and more. You can look at your shop the way you actually think about it:
- Which suppliers make you money, and which tie up cash in slow stock?
- Which licence is hot, and which one peaked six months ago?
- Have you got toddlers covered but nothing for tweens?
- What sells for birthdays, and what only moves at Christmas?
Licensed lines can go from bestseller to dead stock very quickly. Seeing that early saves real money.
Shopify and Xero, connected
Tower connects directly with Shopify and Xero. Your online store and your shop work from the same stock, and your sales flow through to Xero without anyone retyping them.
It comes back to service
Family-run toy shops that do well are known for something: the advice, the wrapping, the repairs, or remembering your kid’s birthday. The software’s job is to make that easy, even when you’re busy.
If you’d like to see how Tower would work in your toy shop, Tim and Justin are happy to take you through it. Call 1300 662 957 (AU), 0800 444 367 (NZ) or email sales@towersystems.com.au.
Reasons retailers choose Tower Systems
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AN AI CHATBOT FOR LOCAL SMALL BUSINESS RETAILERS: 24/7 HELP
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Is your shop haunted?
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Halloween has crept up on Australian retail. When we started out, 31 October was just another day. Now there are costumes in the shops, plastic skeletons in the garden centre and kids at the door expecting lollies.
The things that actually scare us in a shop don’t wear costumes, though. They hide in the stockroom and the supplier invoices, and some of them have been there for years.
Ghost stock
The system says you have four. The shelf says none. Nobody sold them, or at least nobody rang them up.
Ghost stock is sneaky because your POS won’t reorder something it thinks you still have. So the gap stays on the shelf, and a customer asks for it on a busy Saturday. Count your fast sellers every few weeks rather than waiting for the annual stocktake to give you a fright.
Zombie stock
Every shop has a few lines that won’t die. They’ve been on the shelf so long they’ve faded. You walk past them every day and stop seeing them.
Run a report of anything that hasn’t sold in 90 days. It’s rarely pleasant reading. Discount it, bundle it with something that sells, or send it back if the supplier will take it. That space and that cash are worth more doing something else.
Vampire costs
This one drains you slowly. A supplier puts a line up by 40 cents, then another goes up by a dollar. Nobody tells you, and the new price sits quietly on the invoice.
I’ve seen retailers absorb increases for six months without noticing. Check invoices against your cost prices when stock comes in, and adjust the sell price that day while you’re thinking about it.
The haunted till
The drawer opens and there’s no sale. A refund appears with no receipt. Usually there’s a boring explanation. Every so often there isn’t.
Your void, refund and no-sale reports will tell you who, when and how often. You don’t need to be suspicious of your team. You just need to look now and then.
The witching hour
It’s 6.15pm. The door is locked, your feet hurt, and you still need to balance the day. If that takes an hour with a calculator and a shoebox of dockets, your system is letting you down. It should take ten minutes.
Skeleton staff
Three people on a dead Tuesday morning and two on a flat-out Saturday afternoon. Most rosters are built on habit. Pull your sales by hour and day and roster to what the data shows, not to what you’ve always done.
While you’re at it, sell some Halloween stock
Halloween is now a real trading event for gift shops, newsagents, toy shops and garden centres. Put Halloween lines at the front of the shop for the last week of October, and put lollies at the counter. On 1 November, mark down whatever is left and clear it. Packing it away for next year just creates next year’s zombie stock.
Then look at what sold, so next year’s order is better than a guess.
If any of these sound familiar, we can show you how Tower’s reports bring us out of hiding. Call 1300 662 957 or email sales@towersystems.com.au.
Is your shop ready for a hack?
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Gift shop software that helps you stay the course
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Gift shops come and go. Walk down most shopping strips in Australia or New Zealand and you’ll see it. A new shop opens with a fresh fit-out and a lot of hope. Another closes. A third changes hands, sometimes more than once in a few years.
There are plenty of reasons. Rent, staffing, the wrong mix of stock, an owner who is simply worn out. But we see a pattern in the gift shops that last. They’re consistent. They buy well, they know what’s selling, and the owner isn’t buried in admin every night.
That consistency is bankable. It’s what keeps a shop profitable through a slow winter, and it’s what a buyer pays for when the time comes to sell. Good software won’t do the work for you. It can make that consistency a lot easier to achieve.
A gift shop can carry hundreds of different products from dozens of suppliers. Every delivery brings paperwork. Keying it in by hand is slow, and it’s where mistakes creep in.
Tower Systems imports supplier invoices for you, with AI tools that handle most formats. Product data loads when you scan a new item, so the description and category are there without typing. Some of our customers tell us the AI tools save them hours every week.
Hampers and gift packs are another time sink in a lot of shops. Our software treats a hamper as one product made from its parts. Sell it, and the candle, the chocolate and the card all come out of stock at once. You know what you have without counting.
If you sell online, your Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento or BigCommerce store stays in step with the shop. Sell an item at the counter and the website knows. Click and collect orders are managed in the same system. Gift cards, special orders and club or group pricing are covered too.
Saving time is half of it. The other half is making better calls about stock, pricing and space.
Gift retail is seasonal. Tower Systems tracks which products sell in the lead-up to Mother’s Day, Christmas and other key periods, so next year’s order is based on what actually sold rather than a hunch. The embedded AI tools surface insights you’d otherwise find weeks or months later, if at all. Things like a supplier whose range has quietly stopped moving, or a category that deserves more shelf space.
Loyalty works the same way. Instead of a points scheme customers forget about, you can print a voucher on the receipt that brings them back within a set time. You can record special dates and preferences too, so your team can offer the personal service that sets a local gift shop apart.
None of this replaces the owner’s eye for product. It backs it up with facts, and over time that’s what steers a shop toward steady profit.
Staying the course also means having people you can rely on. Our help desk is based in Australia and New Zealand, and it’s open on Saturdays when gift shops are busiest. You talk to a person, not a script. You also choose when to install software updates, so nothing changes at the counter in the middle of December.
The cost should be predictable too. Some software companies take a percentage of every sale. We don’t. You pick your own EFTPOS provider and keep control of what you pay.
If you’re opening a gift shop, buying one or looking to strengthen the one you have, we’d like to show you how Tower Systems could help. Already on other software? Send us your data first and we’ll confirm whether it can be brought across.
You can read more about Tower Systems for gift shops, call 1300 662 957 (0800 444 367 in New Zealand) or email sales@towersystems.com.au.
Contacting a human is easy.
POS software made for local independent pet shops
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Ask a pet owner where they get advice and plenty will name their local pet shop. Not a big-box store. Not a website.
That’s because the local shop knows them. It knows the family down the road has a new puppy that isn’t settling on its food. It knows which customer keeps a bearded dragon and what the enclosure needs. It remembers when the dog is due for worming.
Big pet businesses sell a lot of product. We’d argue local pet shops matter more to local pets. And we think they deserve software built for the way they work, not a generic system they have to work around.
A pet shop is not a simple shop
Think about a normal day. Birdseed sold by the kilo. A collar in a particular size and colour. A live fish. A dog in for a groom. A conversation about changing a cat’s diet.
Most POS software handles the barcode scan at the counter and not much else. The rest ends up on paper, or in the owner’s head.
We built Tower Systems for pet shops to deal with all of it. Bulk food and treats sell by weight, in whole or part quantities. Collars, apparel and bedding are tracked by colour, size and style. You can record the history and care of live animals, and track high-value items by serial number.
The customer side is where a local shop really wins. You can record microchip numbers. You can recall customers when worming, or a similar product, is due. You can print care notes on the receipt, like how to move a puppy onto a new food. And you can market to people based on what they’ve actually bought, so your offers make sense to them.
Promotions work the way a local shop needs them to. Buy-one-get-one deals. Coffee-card style loyalty. Bundles too, such as a tank, filter and starter food at one price. Bundles lift the spend per visit, and they’re harder to price-check item by item online.
If you run a grooming salon or a DIY dog wash, you can track that work in the same system as your retail sales and let owners know when their pet is ready to collect. Repairs and servicing are tracked at no extra cost, whether it’s an aquarium pump or a set of clippers that needs sharpening. Recurring billing is there if you need it.
Then there’s the admin. Supplier invoices import automatically. The built-in AI tools write product descriptions for your online store and help you make sense of your reports. The software connects with Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento and BigCommerce, plus Xero, Tanda and Deputy. You pick your own EFTPOS provider, and we don’t take a cut of your sales.
The people behind it
Our help desk is in Australia and New Zealand. When you call, you get a person who knows independent retail, not someone reading a script.
You also decide when to install updates. We release them regularly, often with improvements customers asked for, but they go in when it suits you. Not in the middle of a busy Saturday.
If you run an independent pet shop, we’d like to show you how it works. Bring your own situations to a demo: a bulk food sale, a grooming job, a worming reminder. If you’re switching from other software, send us your data first and we’ll confirm whether we can bring it across.
You can read more about Tower Systems for pet shops, call 1300 662 957 (0800 444 367 in New Zealand) or email sales@towersystems.com.au.
Contacting a human is easy.
Retailers: You choose when to update your POS software
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At Tower Systems we give local specialty retailers agency. We think you should decide when to install a software update. We don’t push it onto your counter on our schedule.
We release updates regularly. Many of them include improvements our customers asked for. When an update is ready, it’s up to you when it goes in.
It sounds like a small thing. Independent retailers tell us it isn’t.
Why forced updates hurt independent retailers
Plenty of software companies update on their own schedule. The update arrives whether you are ready or not.
For a small retailer, timing matters. Nobody wants a change to their POS in the week before Christmas, in the middle of a stocktake or on a busy Saturday morning. A new screen layout or a changed workflow can slow the counter at exactly the wrong moment.
You know your business. You know when it’s quiet, when your experienced staff are rostered on and when you have time to learn something new. That knowledge should decide when an update goes in.
What goes into our updates
Our updates are shaped by the people who use the software. Through our Software Ideas platform, customers suggest improvements and every customer can vote on them. Those suggestions guide what we build.
So an update from Tower Systems usually includes something a retailer like you asked for. It might be a faster way to process a supplier invoice. It might be a new report or a tweak to a screen you use a hundred times a day.
We want you to have these improvements. We just think you should choose when they arrive.
Why we do it this way
I’ve run retail businesses and built software for them for more than 40 years. Independent retailers are business owners. They make hundreds of decisions every week about stock, staff, pricing and the shop floor. I think it’s odd for a software company to take one of those decisions away from them.
Giving you control over update timing is a matter of respect. It’s your business and your counter. It should be your call.
Independent retailers tell us they value this. Some update the day a release is available. Others wait for a quiet Monday. Both are fine with us. If you’d like help, our local help desk team can talk you through what’s in an update before you install it.
Ask before you choose
If you’re comparing POS software, ask each company one question: who decides when updates are installed? The answer tells you a lot about how they see their customers.
To talk with us about Tower Systems:
Australia: 1300 662 957
New Zealand: 0800 444 367
Email: sales@towersystems.com.au
Contacting a human is easy.
No script, just a person who knows retail
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Who picks up the phone when you call the POS software help desk?
When you call the Tower Systems help desk, a person answers. They are in Australia or New Zealand. They don’t read from a script.
It could be Mitch, Minh, Roy, James, Tash, Travis, Simon, Paul, Michael or someone else on the team. Real people with real names, not an anonymous avatar or a generic email address. Real people delivering real support. Retail is personal, after all.
W’ve built software for independent retailers since 1981. In that time we’ve watched plenty of software companies move support offshore, add phone trees and hand staff a flowchart. We understand why. It’s cheaper.
It is also worse for the retailer on the other end of the line. So we haven’t done it.
Why scripts let retailers down
A script works when every problem looks the same. Retail problems rarely do.
Think about a Saturday morning. There’s a queue at the counter. A barcode won’t scan, or a supplier invoice has landed with the wrong pricing. You don’t want to be asked whether you’ve restarted your computer. You want someone who listens, works out what’s actually going on and helps you fix it.
Scripted support makes you prove you’ve done steps one to five before anyone will think about step six. That costs you time. Time at the counter costs you sales.
It also costs trust. Most retailers can tell within a minute whether the person on the line understands their business.
What you get from a person who can think
Our help desk team knows our software well. They also know the businesses we serve: newsagents, gift shops, garden centres, jewellers, farm supply businesses and more. They know what a lotto reconciliation looks like or how a layby works, because they talk to retailers about these things every day.
Without a script, they can do the obvious thing. Ask a question that fits your situation. Skip the steps that don’t apply. Notice when a small fault points to a bigger one. Follow up when they said they would.
Being local helps too. Our team works in your time zone and knows Australian and New Zealand trading conditions. Support is available six days a week, with after-hours help for urgent system-down problems.
I think this is the part people don’t see in a software demonstration. Features matter. But the day something goes wrong, the person who answers matters more.
Where AI helps, and where it hands over
We use AI too. Our help desk chatbot has been running for more than three years. Customers tell us it saves them time on quick questions, and that it answers in plain language.
It is there for the simple things, at any hour. It is not a wall between you and a person. When a problem needs judgement, experience or a conversation, you can reach a human on our team.
We chose that balance on purpose. The chatbot takes care of the quick questions, so our team has more time for the calls that need them.
A question to ask any software company
If you are comparing retail software, call each company’s help desk before you sign. See who answers. See whether they listen or read.
Then call ours.
Australia: 1300 662 957
New Zealand: 0800 444 367
Email: sales@towersystems.com.au
Contacting a human is easy.
Software built for the way stockfeed and farm supply businesses work
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A stockfeed, produce or farm supply business manages bulk stock, organise deliveries, prepare feed mixes, look after customer accounts and source products customers cannot find on your shelves. All at once.
Tower Systems brings these jobs together in specialist software. Locally made and supported, it helps connect your counter, stockroom, delivery vehicles and online shop.
Manage deliveries and charge for what you supply
Deliveries are a core part of many farm supply businesses. Your software needs to help manage the work from the initial order through to dispatch.
Tower Systems includes dispatch management for multiple trucks and multiple deliveries per vehicle. Integration with Allotrac provides an option for businesses with more advanced delivery requirements.
When selling from a bulk supply tanker or truck, you need to charge farmers for what you actually provide. Support for weight-based and fractional quantities helps you handle these sales accurately.
Retailer Roam™ also supports selling away from the shop, including from a truck. It can operate without an internet connection, helping you serve customers beyond reliable mobile coverage.
Buy in bulk and make your own mixes
Your own feed mixes can give customers a reason to choose your business.
Tower Systems supports buying raw materials and managing their mixing or packaging into finished products. This helps you connect the ingredients you purchase with the products you prepare and sell.
Buy in bulk, mix to your recipe and charge accurately for the finished product. Whether customers buy a standard bag or a specific quantity, your software should support the way you trade.
Keep customer accounts, quotes and invoices under control
Strong general debtors facilities are important when account customers represent a substantial part of your business.
Tower Systems combines customer account management with quote and invoice management tools. You can prepare quotes, manage invoices and keep track of what customers owe within the same system you use to run the shop.
That matters when a customer’s purchase involves more than a quick counter transaction. A quoted order, a scheduled delivery and an account sale are connected parts of the same customer relationship.
Loyalty options provide another way to recognise repeat business. Choose an approach that farmers value and that makes commercial sense for your store.
Say yes to special orders
You cannot carry every product every customer might need. You can, however, make special orders part of your service.
Tower Systems supports bringing in and managing special orders for customers. This helps you look beyond the stock on your shelves when responding to a request.
For an independent farm supply business, that is an opportunity to compete through service. You can help customers source what they need while keeping the order organised within your retail software.
Spend less time entering supplier invoices
Supplier paperwork can consume time that would be better spent serving customers or managing the business.
Tower Systems includes AI tools for importing just about any supplier invoice. These tools help reduce manual data entry and the work involved in bringing supplier invoice information into your system.
An integrated barcode lookup tool provides access to 1.6 billion barcodes, helping you find product information without starting every product record from scratch.
Together, these tools target everyday administration that can otherwise slow your team down.
Connect your shop with Shopify
Online selling should be part of your business, not a separate stock-management task.
Tower Systems integrates with Shopify, synchronising product descriptions, pricing and images. Online sales flow back into the software to help keep inventory accurate.
This gives customers another way to buy while connecting online activity with your existing retail operation.
See business performance without preparing another report
You should not have to find spare time to assemble reports before you can understand how your business is performing.
The Tower Systems Insights Dashboard provides business performance insights around the clock, without you having to prepare them manually.
It gives you a way to check performance when it suits you, rather than adding another reporting job to your day.
Choose local support and a voice in future development
Software is a long-term business relationship. The people behind it matter.
Tower Systems is locally made and supported, with a help desk team based in Australia and New Zealand. Human-delivered support is available six days a week, with after-hours assistance for urgent system-down issues. Training and ongoing software updates are included in its monthly rental model.
Local produce and farm supply businesses also have an opportunity to influence the software’s future direction. Tower Systems draws on feedback from its community of store owners to guide development.
As retail evolves, that connection matters. Your practical experience can help inform the tools you will use next.
Put your real business needs into a demonstration
Ask Tower Systems to demonstrate the work you do every week: importing a supplier invoice, preparing a quote, managing a customer account, organising a special order and dispatching a delivery.
Include a bulk sale from a truck, a product made to your own recipe and a Shopify order. Then look at how the Insights Dashboard helps you monitor performance.
To arrange a demonstration, call Tower Systems on 1300 662 957.
The Sunday reset: four questions every retailer should ask
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Most small retailers spend the week reacting. A delivery arrives, a staff member calls in sick, a customer needs something now. There’s rarely time to step back and look at the business as a whole.
That’s why we like the idea of a Sunday reset. Set aside 30 minutes, ideally away from the counter, with a coffee and your numbers. Look back at the week just gone and decide what you’ll do differently in the week ahead.
It doesn’t have to be Sunday. What matters is the habit. A short, regular review beats a long one you never get around to.
What’s working?
Start with the good news. Which products, categories and suppliers did well this week? Was a particular day or time of day stronger than usual? If a display or a promotion lifted sales, note it so you can repeat it.
It’s easy to skip this question. Don’t. Knowing what works tells you where to put more stock, more space and more of your team’s attention.
What’s not working?
Now the harder one. Look for stock that hasn’t moved in weeks, categories losing ground and margins that have slipped. Dead stock ties up cash and shelf space you could use for something that sells.
The answer might be a markdown, a better position in the shop or a decision to stop reordering. The point is to make the call rather than let slow stock sit.
What am I missing out on?
This is the question most retailers never ask. Are there products customers keep asking for that you don’t carry? Lines that sell well in similar shops but not yours? Times of the week when you could do more with the foot traffic you already have?
Missed opportunities don’t show up as a loss on a report. That’s why they’re easy to overlook, and often worth more than fixing what’s broken.
Is theft an issue?
Behind the scenes, in a quiet and secure way, we track keystrokes and let you know if we think theft may be an issue. We show you where to look. This has saved local indie retailers tens of thousands of dollars.
Most weeks you’ll find nothing. Checking regularly is what lets you spot the week when something is wrong.
Where the answers come from
The trouble with a Sunday reset is the preparation. If you have to pull reports, export spreadsheets and work through the figures yourself, 30 minutes quickly becomes three hours. Most owners give up after a few weeks.
For Tower Systems customers, that work is already done. The Insights Dashboard is an AI-facilitated tool that gives you answers to all four questions, ready when you sit down. There’s nothing to prepare and no report to build. It works around the clock, so the insights are there on Sunday morning or any other time that suits you.
Every Tower Systems customer gets the Insights Dashboard free. It isn’t an add-on or a premium tier. We include it because we think every independent retailer should be able to see clearly how their business is going.
If you already use Tower Systems, open the dashboard this Sunday and try the four questions. If you don’t, we’d be happy to show you what it would reveal about your shop. Call 1300 662 957 (0800 444 367 in New Zealand) or email sales@towersystems.com.au.
Contacting a human is easy.
The thing most small business retailers ignore, to their loss
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POS Software for Game Shops: Helping Local Game Retailers Make the Most of 2026
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Games are having a moment. In 2026, game sales are strong across Australia and New Zealand, and local game shops are growing as a result. We have seen this in the latest Circa data prepared for the ATA.
More people are looking for screen-free time with friends and family. Game nights, clubs and tournaments are bringing new players into shops every week. For independent game retailers, it’s a real opportunity.
Making the most of that growth takes more than good stock. You need to know what’s selling, look after your regulars and give new players a reason to come back.
Generic POS software isn’t built for that. Tower Systems software for game shops is. Here’s how it can help your shop grow, starting with the parts of the business that matter most.
Age restricted products
Some games carry age ratings, and some products can’t be sold to younger customers. Getting this wrong is a risk for your business.
Our software lets you flag age restricted products. When one is scanned, staff are prompted to check the customer’s age before the sale goes through. It takes the guesswork out of busy periods and helps protect you and your team.
Special orders for customers
Game shoppers often know exactly what they want, even when you don’t have it in stock. A new expansion. A hard to find title. A pre-order for a release next month.
You can record special orders against the customer, track them through to delivery and let the customer know when their order arrives. Nothing gets lost on a sticky note, and the customer leaves knowing you’ll follow through.
Games bundles
Bundles are a great way to lift the average sale. A base game with an expansion. A starter set with extra dice and sleeves. A gift pack for Christmas.
You can create bundles in your POS, price them to suit and track how they sell. Stock is managed for each item in the bundle, so your inventory stays accurate.
Sales by genre and manufacturer
Knowing what sells is the key to buying well, especially when the category is growing. Our reporting lets you look at game sales by genre and by manufacturer.
Are strategy games growing while party games slow down? Is one publisher earning far more than its share of shelf space? With clear data, you can buy with confidence, adjust your range and have better conversations with your suppliers.
Supporting games clubs
For many game shops, clubs and game nights are the heart of the business. They bring people in the door regularly and build loyalty that online stores can’t match.
You can record club members in your POS, track their visits and purchases, and offer member pricing or rewards. That helps you see the value your club brings and give members a reason to keep coming back, and to buy while they’re there.
Loyalty for infrequent shoppers
Not every customer is a regular. Some visit a few times a year, often for a gift or a new release. With so many new players discovering games, this group is growing.
Our loyalty tools let you reward these shoppers in ways that suit them, not just your most frequent customers. Points, vouchers and targeted offers can bring an occasional shopper back sooner. That’s good for them, and good for your business.
Built for game shops, supported by people
Game shops are growing, and the right tools can help yours grow faster. Tower Systems is a vertical market software company. We build software for specific retail channels, and we work only with independent retailers in Australia and New Zealand.
Our training is personal and tailored to your shop. Our help desk starts with a conversation. When you need help, you can talk to a person who understands how game shops work.
Talk to us
AU: 1300 662 957
NZ: 0800 444 367
Email: sales@towersystems.com.au
Contacting a human is easy.
The Independent Retail Markets We Serve at Tower Systems
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Tower Systems is a vertical market software company. We don’t make one generic POS system and hope it fits. We build software for specific retail channels, and we work only with independent, specialty and small business retailers in Australia and New Zealand.
Today, thousands of local retailers use our software. Here are the markets we serve.
Gifts, fashion and lifestyle
Toys, games and hobbies
Garden, outdoors and rural
- Garden centres
- Produce and rural supplies stores
- Pet shops
- Fishing and outdoor stores
- Swimming pool parts and care
- Bike shops
- Firearms dealers
Everyday local retail
Technology and mobility
Community retail
Why this matters
Each of these markets trades differently. A bike shop needs serial number tracking and repairs. A health food shop may need scale integration. A garden centre has seasonal peaks. A charity shop handles donated, one-off stock. A newsagent juggles a mix of categories with very different margins.
Because we focus on specific markets, our software, training and support are shaped around how these businesses actually work. The people who help you understand your type of shop.
Don’t see your market?
If your business isn’t listed, talk to us anyway. Many other independent retailers use our software successfully. We’re always happy to have a conversation about what you need.
Talk to us
AU: 1300 662 957
NZ: 0800 444 367
Email: sales@towersystems.com.au
Contacting a human is easy.
Personal Service Matters in Retail. It Should Matter in Your Software Company Too.
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Good retailers know the value of personal service. They live it, deliver it, every day.
A customer walks in looking for a gift. You ask a few questions. Who’s it for? What do they like? What’s the budget? You show them a couple of options, they think it over, and you go back and forth until they find the right thing. That conversation is often the reason they come back.
Running a retail business is personal in the same way. Every shop is different. The owner, the staff, the location, the shoppers and the product mix all shape how the business works. Plenty of retailers and retail staff understand this.
At Tower Systems, we understand it too.
Training is personal
Our training is delivered by people, not videos you’re left to work through on your own. It’s tailored to your business and the way you trade.
A newsagent with a busy card department needs different help to a garden centre preparing for spring. A new owner taking over a shop needs different help to a long-time customer adding a new category. We start by understanding what you need, then train to that.
Our help desk is personal
When you contact our help desk, you can talk to a person. It starts with a conversation. We listen, ask questions and work through the problem with you until it’s sorted.
We’re a vertical market software company. We build POS software for specific retail channels and work only with independent retailers in Australia and New Zealand. That means the people helping you understand how shops like yours actually work.
Compare us on service, not just software
If you’re considering a change of POS software, compare our personal approach with any other software company on your list.
The tech stack is one thing to compare. Features matter, and we’re proud of ours. But software is useless without the level of service you need to get value from it. The best system in the world won’t help if you can’t get someone on the phone when your shop is busy and something isn’t working.
Ask each company you’re considering a few simple questions. Can I talk to a person when I need help? Will my training suit my business? Do your staff understand my type of shop?
We’re happy to be judged on our answers.
Talk to us
AU: 1300 662 957
NZ: 0800 444 367
Email: sales@towersystems.com.au
Contacting a human is easy.
Too Much in “General”? How a Cleaner Department Structure Makes Small Business POS Data Work Harder
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Open your Tower Systems Retailer POS and look at your departments and categories. If you see duplicates, vague names, or a “General” or “Miscellaneous” category holding hundreds of products, you’re not alone.
It happens in almost every business over time. A new supplier arrives and someone creates a category in a hurry. A staff member adds a department that already exists under another name. Products that don’t obviously fit anywhere end up in a catch-all.
None of it seems like a big problem on the day. But after a few years, your data becomes hard to trust and harder to use.
Why it matters
Your department and category structure is the backbone of your reporting. When it’s messy, the reports are messy too.
You can’t see which categories are growing if half the products sit in “General”. You can’t compare gross profit across departments if the same products are split between two of them. And staff waste time hunting for the right place to put a new item.
Clean data makes your business easier to manage. It helps you make better decisions about stock, space and buying, because the numbers reflect how your shop actually trades.
How our service works
Our Department and Category Restructure service is a careful, practical clean-up, tailored to each business. This is a small business focussed service that’s helping retailers achieve a clean dataset.
We start with an AI assisted review of your full product database. From that, we create a proposed department and category structure that suits the way you sell.
We then send you a spreadsheet showing the proposed structure. You review it and either approve it as supplied or tell us what you’d like changed. Nothing is updated in your POS until you’re happy.
Once approved, we rebuild the structure in your Tower Systems Retailer POS. Duplicates are merged. Vague categories are replaced with meaningful ones. Every product ends up in the right place.
What to know before you start
Two things sit outside the service.
If you use an accounting link, you may need to update its setup after the restructure. We’ll guide you through this, but the accounting changes themselves need to be made by you or your accountant.
If you have a website, menu links that point to departments or categories may need updating. We’ll help you identify what needs to change. If you’d like us to make the website menu changes for you, we can quote on that separately.
The result
You end up with clean departments, clear categories and a logical product hierarchy. Your staff find things faster. Your reports make sense. And you have a dataset you can actually use to manage your business.
The Department and Category Restructure is currently $499, down from $999.
Find out more and book at store.towersystems.com.au/products/department-and-category-restructure, or reach out to support.
Running your shop when you’re not in it
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Most independent retailers want to be on the shop floor. Life doesn’t always allow it. A holiday, a sick day, a trip to see family, a second job. There are plenty of reasons you can be away from the shop.
Here’s something we hear often from customers. Time away is when they see the business most clearly. Standing behind the counter, you see the next customer and the next delivery. Step back, and you see the patterns.
Remote management is normal in small business retail
Managing remotely is common in our part of retail. Some owners hold down a job elsewhere while the shop builds. Others own two, three or more shops and can only be in one place at a time.
How you manage remotely is your call. So is whether you group several shops together for a single view of the numbers. Some owners want everything combined. Others prefer to keep each shop separate.
We’ve built Tower Systems to be as flexible as possible here. The setup you start with can change as your needs change. Add a shop, step back from the counter, or bring in a manager, and the software adapts with you.
Our software also runs in-store or in the cloud. You choose what suits the way you work.
The numbers come to you
You don’t need to be in the shop to know how the day went. Business intelligence reports and management functions are available wherever you log in.
Some of it happens without you lifting a finger. When a staff member closes the register and runs the end-of-shift procedure, the day’s sales and key figures are emailed to you straight away.
If the cash or EFTPOS balance is out, you know that evening. Not at the end of the month, when it’s harder to track down.
Alerts when something doesn’t look right
The software also watches for unusual activity in-store. If a staff member discounts a big-ticket item too heavily, or cancels more sales than usual, you get to find out without having to jump through hoops.
You can log in, look at the transaction and deal with it quickly. Small problems are much easier to fix before they become habits.
Admin on your own time
Remote access also means you can fit software work around your day.
If you’re on the counter most of the week, or short a staff member, stock maintenance and other admin can wait until you’re off the floor. Electronic invoices that suppliers send overnight can be processed over breakfast at home.
That leaves shop time for the work that grows sales: displays, customers and your team.
One approach for every kind of specialist shop
We see owners of bookshops, gift shops, garden centres, bike shops, jewellers and rural supply stores manage this way. The approach is the same across all of them. You can step away from the floor and still know what’s happening.
Built for every kind of specialist retailer
Bookshop, gift shop, farm supply business, bike shop, garden centre or jewellery store, the approach is the same. You can step away from the floor and still know exactly what is happening while you are not there.
Talk to us
If you’d like to see how remote management would work for your shop, or across several shops, talk to us. We’ll show you the options and help you choose the setup that suits you now, knowing it can change later.
AU 1300 662 957 | NZ 0800 444 367 | sales@towersystems.com.au
Contacting a human is easy.
What we do behind the scenes at our POS software company
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70 days to Christmas: a practical checklist for indie retailers
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It’s Friday 16 October. Christmas is 70 days away. Ten weeks sounds like plenty, but it goes quickly once the rush starts.
This list won’t ask you to spend more or add to an already full week. Most of it is about checking the basics and getting more out of the stock and people you already have.
1. Give slow sellers another go
This can be an easy win. Walk the shop, your back room and anywhere you have stock before you order anything else. Check the drawers, the bottom shelves and the stockroom. You will almost certainly find stock you have already paid for that would make a good gift.
A product that struggled in one spot can sell well in another. Move it, pair it with something, or put a gift suggestion beside it. Try that before the discount stickers come out. Display it the way you would want a present to look.
2. Bundle things that belong together
Shoppers are short on time in December. A bit of work from you now makes their decision easier.
A journal and a pen. A puzzle and some treats. Gardening gloves and a trowel. Pick pairings that suit your shop and the people who shop there.
Package the bundle neatly and give it one clear price. It doesn’t need a discount. Saving the customer the thinking is the offer.
3. Look at last Christmas first
Before you place another order, pull up last year’s sales by department and by product. Note what sold early, what ran out and what was still on the shelf in January.
Then weigh that against what is happening in the shop this year. Last year’s numbers are a guide. Some of last year’s buying decisions are best left in last year.
4. Count the stock you’re relying on
Pick your key Christmas lines and count them by hand, on the shelf and in the stockroom. Compare the counts with your POS.
Include cards, wrap and bags. They are easy to forget until you run out.
If the numbers don’t match, find out why now. Ordering off wrong figures in November is an expensive mistake.
5. Make gift shopping easy
Walk through the shop as if you had no idea what to buy. Where would you start?
A few clearly signed gift displays help that customer a lot:
- Gifts under $20
- Gifts under $50
- Thank-you gifts
- Teacher gifts
- For someone who has everything
- Easy to post
Keep each display small and focused. Make sure every price is easy to see.
6. Plan your display changes
Write down which areas will change over the next ten weeks, when, and who will do the work. Leave room for the slow sellers from step 1.
Then give one person the job of checking the Christmas displays every day. Tidy, priced and full is the standard.
7. Check supplier deadlines early
Ask your main suppliers about order cut-offs, lead times and availability. Get the answers in writing if you can.
Review the reorder settings on your expected best sellers. Keep watching actual sales as the weeks go by.
You don’t need to replace everything that sells. Think about what you would like left on the shelf when Christmas trading ends.
8. Get the team across the gift range
Each week, pick a few products and talk them through with the team. Who would like it? What does it cost? What goes with it? Where is it?
Show them the bundles and explain why you put them together.
New staff need time to practise the everyday jobs too. Make sure they know where to find your procedures for gift vouchers, lay-bys, returns and online order collection.
9. Sort out the counter
Put together a short counter checklist:
- Receipt rolls and printer supplies
- Shopping bags
- Gift wrap, ribbon and sticky tape
- Gift voucher stock
- Spare price labels
- A tidy spot for customer orders awaiting collection
- Answers to common questions, written down
If a scanner or receipt printer has been playing up, fix it now. December is the worst time for it to fail.
10. Give people a reason to come in
Build your Christmas marketing around specific products. Show a handful of them with prices and a line on who they would suit. Your own shop photos usually work better than supplier images.
Include the slow sellers you have redisplayed and your new bundles.
Check you have the stock before you promote it. Then tell the team what is being promoted.
11. Keep an eye on cash
Before the next order, check what you already owe and when it is due. Look at how much money is sitting in slow stock.
Often it makes more sense to sell through what you have before adding another range. Keep some money aside for the lines that take off closer to Christmas.
Fit your shop into their Christmas
You don’t need to turn your business into a Christmas shop. Think about where what you sell fits in your customers’ plans. It might be a gift. It might be something for a family lunch, the summer holidays, or a job they want done before the break.
Then make that link obvious, on the shop floor and in your marketing.
Start with three jobs
There is no need to tackle the whole list before close today. Pick three jobs, give each one an owner and a date, and get started. We would begin with whatever makes your shop easier to buy from.
Tower Systems is not your average software company.
AI tools embedded in POS software help retailers thrive
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Software Is Only Part of the Story: How Tower Systems Helps Retailers Get More From It
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Buying point of sale software is the easy part. Getting real value from it every day is where the work starts.
Retailers ask practical questions once the software is installed. Who do I call when I am stuck? Can a new casual learn it on their first shift? What can it do beyond ringing up a sale? Does anyone listen when I suggest an improvement?
Tower Systems answers yes to each of these. The company has served independent specialty retailers in Australia and New Zealand for more than 40 years. Its approach rests on one idea: software works best when real people stand behind it.
Yes, you can talk to a human
At Tower Systems, a question gets a person. Support is delivered by a local team that understands specialty retail. The same is true in sales and in leadership. Customers can reach the people who make decisions about the business.
This matters on a busy Saturday when something needs sorting fast. It also matters for the bigger questions, like how to set up a new department or report on a slow category.
Retail is personal.
For quick answers at any hour, Tower Systems also offers an AI help desk. It launched more than three years ago and answers in plain language. Customers say it saves them time. It sits alongside the human team, not in place of it.
New staff can get up to speed quickly
Staff turnover is a fact of life in retail. Every new team member needs to serve customers confidently, and soon.
Tower Systems builds software for specific retail channels, not for every business type. That focus keeps screens and workflows relevant to the shop floor. New staff learn the tasks they actually need, without wading through features meant for someone else.
When a question comes up mid-shift, help is close at hand. Staff can ask the AI help desk in plain English or call the support team.
More than a cash register
A cash register records a sale. Good retail software helps run the business. Tower Systems customers use the software in three broad ways.
- Saving time. Automating routine tasks such as receiving stock, reordering and end-of-day processes frees hours for serving customers.
- Making more money. Sales and stock reports show what is working and what is not. Retailers can back winning lines, clear slow stock and use loyalty tools to bring shoppers back.
- Managing better. Clear numbers on margin, stock holding and staff activity support better decisions.
The AI tools in the software have found keen supporters among Tower’s most experienced retailers. Customers in their 60s, 70s and 80s report time savings of up to 8 hours a week.
Tower Systems also keeps costs predictable. It does not charge fees based on a retailer’s sales. It is payments provider agnostic, so retailers choose their own payment provider and control that pricing.
Your suggestions shape the software
Retailers know their shops best. Tower Systems built its Software Ideas platform to put that knowledge to work.
Any customer can suggest an improvement. Other customers then vote on it. The process is open, so everyone can see what has been suggested and how much support it has.
Those suggestions and votes guide what Tower Systems develops next. Customers see their ideas reflected in software updates, which keeps the product grounded in how specialty retailers actually work.
A community, not just a customer list
Tower Systems serves only independent specialty retailers in Australia and New Zealand. It does not chase franchises or chains. That focus shapes everything, from the features it builds to the people who answer the phone.
The result is software backed by people who understand independent retail and want their customers to succeed.
Contacting a human is easy:
- Australia: 1300 662 957
- New Zealand: 0800 444 367
- Email: sales@towersystems.com.au
Retail advice: more visits, bigger baskets, better margins
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A shop local pitch needs more than words to cut through and succeed
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