Getting a shopper to return to your independent retail business can be difficult, you need to embrace every opportunity possible. This is where POS software company Tower Systems can help – using our smart POS software you can include on the receipt a coupon or voucher for a variety of purposes including marketing, information, direct discounts or other promotional activity.
The voucher based marketing facilities in our software are being actively used in all specialist channels in which we serve.
It could be a simple discount on return, a promotion of a new service, a discount based what is in this purchase or an offer based on a future bulk buy.
The beauty of the voucher serving technology embedded in the Tower software is that it is flexible and available for use in the business without cost. This ensures that the independent retailers using it are not having to share costs with others. The benefits are as considerable as the flexibility of the service.
We were thrilled to receive recognition recently from Honeywell for the work we have done integrating our POS software with their quality hardware and the traction we have received in specialist retail businesses.
While we are a software company, our work with Honeywell is important in delivering rewarding benefits to our customers.
Tower Systems is helping more independent retailers using its POS software to extend the reach of their brand with professional branding on the receipts produced by the software.
Achieving this branding is easy and free for retailers using the Tower software. Plus branding can be changed any time the business needs.
Tower Systems can help create branding for the receipts for those who need extra assistance.
Using receipts in this way is vitally important to business branding as it acts as a reminder where items were purchased and a reminder of experiences that we hope are wonderful. It is especially important to independent retail businesses.
And how can I use that information in the business?
This is a question that can stump someone working on the help desk as a POS software company as it goes beyond the what andhow and delves into the why. The answer to this question is a chink of gold that can be mined using smart POS software.
This is a questions the Tower Systems help desk team members can answer because the understand the why: why the software matters, why the data harvested is valuable, why a business owner wanting to grow the business will want to use the data.
This information is vital in small business as it is information that unlocks the real value of POS software for these small independent business users.
We can help small business owners understand data on reports as they relate to their specific businesses. Context is everything as they say and we know POS software cannot be one size fits all. A datapoint could be used by three different businesses in different ways depending on other metrics and KPIs. This is where our help desk team is smart and engaged.
Beyond the shat and how, our POS software help desk team loves to delve into the why.
Here is another fresh and free training video for employees of retail businesses using our POS software. This video explains how to se.. We have plenty more on this topic at our website including videos, advice sheets and more.
We are thrilled with the feedback from our customers about the ever expanding Knowledge Base accessible framer POS software support website.
Packed with proprietary information, this Knowledge Base is a wonderful resource as we can share with customers in response to queries where documentation supporting an over the phone answer helps.
What is especially good is the feedback from customers that helps us enhance the Knowledge Base experience further.
This is another benefit of the proprietary and exclusive Tower AdvantageTM program.
Tower Systems offices are closed today for the Queens’d Birthday public holiday in the majority of states. All our after hours numbers are up and running.
Business owners often call on politicians to remove red tape and make doing business easier. We think some small retail business owners create red tape of their own, red tape that makes it harder for customers to do business with the business and red tape that makes it harder for our employees to serve our business.
Common red tape we see in small retail businesses that could be eliminated and thereby help improve business includes:
Don’t touch. Your shop is a show room. The benefit you have over online is that people can touch. Uphold this point of difference.
Credit card processing fees on products where you can cover yourself in your pricing.
A shop layout that discourages shopping.
Handling returns. Have a process and ensure your people follow this as it offers certainty and comfort.
Slow sales processes.
Signs like this is not a library.
Poor back office processes with customer accounts.
Mixed messages in signs in-store leaving shoppers unsure about offers.
What red tape, what barriers could you remove from your shop thereby making doing business with you easier?
EFTPOS processing mistakes at the retail sales counter can cost small business retailers dearly. POS software company Tower Systems helps retailers cut mistakes thanks to its integrated EFTPOS solutions.
Connecting directly with broadband EFTPOS bank Tyro as well as other banks, retailers using the Tower software are able to easily and quickly process credit card / EFTPOS payments without additional keystrokes.
Eliminating keystrokes is key to cutting mistakes. Eliminating the use of a separate EFTPOS device is key to eliminating mistakes. This saves time and money but most important it cuts mistakes.
In addition to cutting expensive mistakes, the integration delivered by Tower Systems streamlines customer flow at the counter and this improves the overall customer experience. It’s a win for the customer and a win for the retail business.
Small business retailers could have thousands of dollars of stock sitting on their shelves taking up space. If stock is not selling, it’s costing you. Once you have identified stock that is not selling you can begin to quit this stock, by putting the stock on clearance and continually reducing pricing until it’s sold out. Even if this means selling it below cost, it will save you money in the long run.
Tip: You can work out how much your shop space is worth by dividing the rent by how many square meters of space you have.
If a product hasn’t sold for six months then it’s costing you money to warehouse it. Quitting the stock will stop the cost from building up further and allow you to replace it with stock that will sell. Here is advice on quitting dead stock using our smart POS software.
NOTE: To effectively use this advice you need accurate stock on hand levels. Poor stock management will mean the results here can’t be used. You need to be able to trust your QOH figure is correct for this advice to be useful.
Finding The Stock
Use the ranked sales report with the following settings to work out what isn’t selling and put that stock on clearance.
Go to Reports > Sales Reports > Ranked Sales Report.
Set your Start date back six months from today and the end date to today’s date. Set the rest of the report settings as below.
When the report runs you will see the following:
Here you can see when the last time an item was sold (if at all) and the last time it was arrived.
Note: Items can show up that have only recently been arrived.
Ignore these items unless they haven’t sold in 4 to 5 months, then you may want to look into them.
The bottom of the report will give you a total cost of stock Inc and Ex GST. Consider this figure the value of dead stock in your store. You need to reduce this as much as possible.
Once you have the report print it out and start working through the list.
Set up a clearance table or bin somewhere in store and put product there with a clearance price. Simply advertise the area as Clearance Stock, Prices as Marked.
Keep discounting the product until it sells. Set a goal to get rid of the stock within say two weeks, if stock is still there after one week, discount further.
Now you can start filling that empty space with stock that is selling well. Use the Ranked Sales Report to show you top selling items and begin to build up those lines.
We keen addicting additional free live training sessions for our POS software customers and they keep filling up. So, guess what, we are adding more.
These sessions are more about leveraging the software in the business than how to do this or that. They contain considerable retail business management and operational advice.
We are thrilled with the support from ur customers and grateful to be in a position to offer this training by our skilled training team.
This is POS software customer service at its best. This is the Tower AdvantageTM
Disaster planning is vital for any retail business. Too often, the need for good disaster planning is realised after a disaster has hit the business. This advice from our POS software company offers business and computer related advice which is designed to mitigate the impact of a disaster on your business.
Insurance Protection
Insurance coverage is vital to helping a retail business overcome any type of disaster. In addition to ensuring that your insurance policy covers all disaster situations of concern to you, including flood, theft, water inundation, fire, earthquake, riot—be sure to carefully read the policy, ensure that your insurance policy / policies cover payouts for the following:
Business interruption. The amount should equal your anticipated gross profit for whatever period you choose to be covered.
Data recovery. Including the hiring of experts to recover data from backup sources or the manual entry of data which cannot be automatically recovered. It needs to ensure that you are covered to the point of recovered data being useable in transacting business.
Lost stock. This is stock stolen, lost from the business.
Damaged and unsaleable stock. This is stock which is water damaged, scuffed or dented and which will not attract full price.
Dated stock. This is stock which you cannot sell by the due date.
Glass. Many policies require explicit statement of glass coverage.
Temporary trading premises. Business interruption may cover this. Ensure that it is explicitly stated.
Key person injury and/or death. This will usually be a separate policy. Depending on the disaster, coverage may also be available through the overall business policy.
Ensure that the value of stock, fixtures and fittings covered by your policy is an accurate reflection of the real value of these items. Talk with your insurance company about the best approach to track this on an ongoing basis.
Insurance brokers can provide access to assessors who can advise on the appropriate level of insurance for your situation.
Use your Point of Sale system to track all stock movements in and out. The stock on hand in your software should be your coverage.
Ensure that your insurance policy protects for the seasonal nature of your business
Data Protection
Business data is one of the most valuable assets of the business. Like insurance, the value is often not understood until you need what you do not have. Retailers who are serious about protecting their business data in the event of any disaster follow these steps:
Backup your business data every day, at the end of the day, without fail. Our cloud based backup service is ideal.
Maintain a separate backup for each day of the week. Consider a separate backup for the last day of each month.
Remove the backup medium, usually a USB stick, from the business premises each day.
Store the backup in a safe, dry place.
Check the usefulness of the backup by restoring and checking the data.
Store original business software in a safe off-site location
Disaster Planning
Here are some general suggestions on planning for a disaster.
Keep off site copies of: Business contracts and agreements; employee contact details, business account and other passwords, insurance details, recent photographs of fixtures, fittings and stock.
Maintain a register of all employees in the business at any time.
Prepare and place in a prominent place an evacuation plan.
Maintain a professional grade OH&S compliant first aid kit.
Regularly maintain all fire extinguishers.
Ensure that the business premises is safe and maintained to the local building codes and OH&S regulations.
Finding stock is easy for those using the Tower Systems POS software. While we have comprehensive training, sometimes it is brief top level training that front line employees need. Here is a new brief video created specifically for the front line. It’s fast and easy to learn and is back by far more training in video, text and line one on one form.
If you believe you are being stolen in your retail business from and not sure what to do next you can turn to us for help. Sure, we are a software company – but we are also experts at helping small business retailers deal with and confront theft.
We provide a service to retailers using our POS software as part of our Tower AdvantageTM service where we will go through your data and look for patterns consistent with theft.
Our senior management team has been helping clients uncover theft for over 20 years and we know all the signs to look for. We will give you a report on all of our findings, make some recommendations and have in the past appeared in court to give evidence on theft matters.
Contact our support team and let them know you would like a theft check performed and we will guide you from there.
We will treat your contact serious and immediately escalate it to a senior member of our team who will discuss with you your situation and suggest the next appropriate steps. We handle theft reports outside the usual help desk area of the business for your security and to bring to the report our most experienced people.
Retailers can save thousands of dollars by using the Tower Systems POS software to undertake a stocktake rather than using in an external stock taker as retailers have traditionally used for decades.
External stock takers often deliver s little outcome except a stock value for the end of the financial year. By using Retailer for the stock take retailers get accurate on-hand data which is vital for reporting on a range of retail performance metrics.
Smart Point of Sale software offers a range of stock taking options from the portable to the hard wired. Regardless of the hardware technology you use, the result is the same: an accurate stock on hand count and value plus updated stock details.
Every time a count is done using Point of Sale software there are anomalies discovered in the stock database. The stock take is a good opportunity to address this. A manual stock take loses this opportunity.
Our recommendation is that once a business has undertaken a full stock take once using their Point of Sale software and if they have good processes around receiving, selling and returning stock, a process of rolling stock takes would serve the business well in maintaining an accurate stock on hand figures.
Through the stock take facilities in our software, our retail partners have access to a suite of tools with tremendous flexibility, allowing a retail store to count in a way which suits their operational needs. many of our customers operate with a program of rolling spot stock takes. These are designed to ensure accurate stock on hand figures in the system as well as identify theft situations.
Expensive and single purpose stock takes can be eliminated from any retail business with the proper use of quality Point of Sale software. Through our advice sheets, training videos, online training workshops and other opportunities, Tower Systems helps its retail customers to access the benefits of accurate stock on hand data.
The POS software from Tower Systems can inspire small business retailers to do great things. A bold claim to be sure but a claim rooted in valuable practical help embedded in the smart POS software from Tower Systems.
Small business retailers can do great things thanks to smart tools in the Tower software such as:
Revealing valuable product adjacencies.
Spotlighting time hotspots in the day.
Tracking employees and revealing top performers.
Showing the best supplier in a competitive supplier situation.
Stopping the business making poor inventory buying decisions.
Guiding the business to mitigate a poor performing stock situation.
In these and other ways the Tower Systems software helps small business retailers leverage inspiration to greater success.
Here at Tower Systems we think you need the certainty of easy access to our people from support to accounts to management. This is why we publish a contact list with our weekly customer service email. This contact list includes names and direct contact details for senior management.
The first step to good customer service for any software company is to provide names of real people in authority with whom you can speak directly. Too often we see POS software companies hide behind a nameless number or email address.
Our website also provides names, contact points and photos.
Getting a shopper to return to your independent retail business can be difficult, you need to embrace every opportunity possible. This is where POS software company Tower Systems can help – using our smart POS software you can include on the receipt a coupon or voucher for a variety of purposes including marketing, information, direct discounts or other promotional activity.
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