The POS Software Blog

The POS Software Blog

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

ArchiveApril 2016

SUNDAY SMALL BUSINESS RETAIL MANAGEMENT ADVICE: HOW TO KEEP YOUR BUSINESS MORE SECURE

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Security is important in any business but especially in a small independent retail business. Here is a list of actions we recommend you consider to ensure your business is secure.

  1. Know how many keys there are to your premises and who has them.
  2. Keep a spare key in a safe place away from the business.
  3. Keep a current data backup off site. Regularly check that you can restore the data from your backup and that the data is current.
  4. Regularly check the use of your business software for the deletion or alternation of sales as this could indicate employee fraud.
  5. Have current reputable virus protection on all your computers.
  6. Have current reputable firewall installed on your network.
  7. Never open a zip file sent by email.
  8. Never open an email from a bank, the ATO or the police.
  9. Change the most powerful / valuable password for your computer software monthly and share it sparingly. Passwords should be complex. Check the strength of your password here: https://howsecureismypassword.net
  10. Be discrete when talking about the business and its performance.
  11. Do not do the banking at the same time every day or every few days. Do not follow the same route. Do not carry the same bag.
  12. Have a camera system installed to get a good shot of the faces of everyone entering and leaving the business.
  13. Consider registering your CCTV with the local police – this is an option in some jurisdictions.
  14. Ensure customers can see they are being filmed.
  15. Train employees to make eye contact with customers.
  16. Train employees on emergency procedures for handling: theft, aggressive people, shoplifters.
  17. Use the full stock control facilities of your software to understand the financial cost of shoplifting.
  18. When doing magazine returns, check discrepancies weekly to understand magazine theft.
  19. Ensure your windows are not cluttered. The police advise cluttered windows are a security risk because of what they can hide.
  20. Ensure there is good lighting outside if the store is locked up when it is dark.
  21. Ensure you have the best possible sight lines of the shop from the counter.
  22. Have a no personal items at the counter policy.
  23. If you catch someone in the act of shoplifting ask them to wait in the store, and call the Police. Also (advice from NSW govt. Crime prevention):
    1. Tell them who you are.
    2. Tell them why they have been asked to stay in the store. o Advise them that Police have been called
    3. Ask the person to surrender any property that doesn’t belong to them. Remember, retailers and other citizens have no legal right to search a person.
    4. Most importantly, do not put yourself at risk.
  24. Have a clear refund processing policy and ensure all employees are trained on this.
  25. Track all sales by employee code.
  26. When hiring: ask if applicants agree to a police check, check their references, do not hire friends of employees, explain your commitment to zero tolerance re employee theft.
  27. Have an employee theft policy in full view.

HELPING INDEPENDENT BIKE RETAILERS LEVERAGE THE BIKE WORKSHOP POINT OF DIFFERENCE

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Professional bike retailers usually offer terrific bike workshop facilities servicing and repairing bikes. These workshops are a personal and local point of difference for these businesses yet, too often, they are not marked by bike retailers as a valuable point of difference, as a local service through which the business can find new customers.

A well run and promoted bike workshop is an excellent way for a bike shop to grow their business. It is also an excellent way for the business to differentiate itself from online retailers and mass retailers that are focused solely on revenue and not the long term relationship.

Overseas, bike shops promote their workshops by making the facilities visible within the shop. Some even have the workshop located at the front of the business, in the window, so it can be seen from the street. This makes the provision of the services real and helps people walking past the business to understand the services offered. This builds trust. It also demonstrates that the service is local, conducted by people customers can speak with and that it is authentic.

Being authentic is important when running a business that competes with online because online can be from anywhere and to any level of quality.

A bike is an important purchase. Buying a bike from somewhere it can be serviced by a professional, working locally, will be important for people who rely on the bike for safety – whether it be their own or that of family members. This is why showing off local servicing is important.

Thanks to facilities in the Tower Systems Bike Shop Software, independent bike retailers are able to more effectively promote their workshop services to existing customers as well as to prospective new customers.

Here are some ways the Tower Systems Bike Shop Software helps bike retailers with workshops:

  1. Job management.
  2. Parts management.
  3. Labour management.
  4. Job tracking.
  5. Account customer integration.
  6. Customer contact on a bike being ready.
  7. Email targeting of workshop customers.
  8. Email targeting of customers with biked due for a service.
  9. Promotion of workshop services on all receipts.
  10. Bike care information from the expert bike engineer in-store – connected back to the workshop.

The Tower Systems Bike Shop Software helps in many other ways too. We are committed to the independent bike shop retail channel. This is evident through our personal service through the help desk and through our continual development of our software – based on customer feedback.

To find our more about our Bike Shop Software, speak with one of our retail experts: Contact: Please call our sales team at 1300 662 957 or email them at sales@towersystems.com.au.

NEWS ABOUT AUSTRALIAN DESIGNED AND SUPPORTED TOY SHOP SOFTWARE CREATED FOR INDEPENDENT TOY SHOPS

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Thank you to all who visited our stand at the Melbourne Toy Fair last month. We are already scheduling new installations as a result of this terrific trade show.

The show gave us an excellent opportunity to get feedback on our new Toy Shop Software. This Australian designed, developed and supported software provides best-practice management assistance for independent Aussie toy shops.

We only sell to independent retailers in each of the specialty marketplaces in which we serve. This is because our only interest is in independent small businesses.

Using our Toy Shop Software you can easily handle:

  1. Customer special orders.
  2. Catalogues.
  3. Hampers
  4. LayBys.
  5. Shopper loyalty – accruing points.
  6. Shopper loyalty – offering $$$ off the next purchase based on rules you set.
  7. Importing electronic invoices from suppliers.
  8. Importing electronic stock files from suppliers.
  9. Reordering based on accurate sales data, and therefore reducing the cost of dead stock.
  10. BOGO: handling Buy One get One Free offers.
  11. MultiBuy – like a coffee card, tracking customer purchases getting them to a free gift from you.
  12. Xero accounting interface – cut your bookkeeping time and costs.
  13. Magento and Shopify interfaces – makes connecting to your website easy and accurate.
  14. EFTPOS integration – save on a phone line and cut mistakes.
  15. Easy and accurate stock taking.
  16. Customer accounts.
  17. Multiple discount options.
  18. Professional receipts with your logo.
  19. Serial number tracking.
  20. Age checking for items with a minimum age requirement.
  21. Upsell prompts for staff.

There are many ways Toy shop owners and employees can use this software to help personalise the shopping experience, ways that make comparing your business to mass market toy retailers difficult.

We help you shine a light on your point of difference.

For example, you can have product use and care information included automatically on receipts. This can be information you have written that sets your business apart from others.

You can use smart reports in the software to quickly gain a view of business performance:

  1. By supplier.
  2. By season.
  3. By product licence such as Star Wars, Batman etc.
  4. Comparing trading periods.
  5. By employee performance.
  6. By customer value.
  7. By day of week.

We believe in the value of accurate business data for small and independent retailers. Good data easily accessed can guide better quality business decisions – we see this every day in our extensive work with small business retailers across multiple channels.

We would love to show you the latest Toy Shop software, obligation free and to hear from you about the needs of your business.

A hardware and software package from us starts at $8 a day.

Thank you for reading. We hope to talk with you soon.

SOFTWARE COMPANIES THAT LOCK USERS OUT FROM THEIR DATA DESERVE TO LOSE CUSTOMERS

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We are helping another retailer switch to our software and in the process the retailer has discovered their old software company is blocking their access to their own business data.

This is unethical in our view. Legal advice suggests it could be challenged in the courts.

Here we have a small business retailer who has cultivated business data for twenty years and now, when they want to change software, they are locked out.

We have seen this before and are sure we will see it again. It is appalling action by the software company reflecting badly on them in this instance and into the future.

UPDATE: 5:36PM APRIL 7, 2016.

Bernard Zimmermann, director of competitor POS Solutions Australia Pty Ltd has copied text from this post and posted it on their blog this afternoon. The post appears to be a response to what I have written. This following of Tower is not the first time he has done this:

Screen Shot 2016-04-07 at 5.35.10 pm

For the record, Tower Systems does not lock users out, never has and never will. The claims by Zimmermann are false and he knows that.

POS SOFTWARE USER MEETING IN GEELONG, VICTORIA

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IMG_8787We met with some of our Geelong region POS software users yesterday at the Mercure hotel over coffee, tea, muffins and quiche. It was a good business building discussion about our software and, more important, about business generally and opportunities for embracing change in a period of rapid and comprehensive retail change.

This was another session from which we learnt plenty and renewed business friendships.

We are grateful to our customers for their support.

Anyone can announce user meetings. It is another thing entirely to run them, share photos and other information confirming the meetings actually happened. Our blog posts show us living to the truth of our words. We are proud to do this.

Footnote: the photo is dark as the room was set to dark to make reading the screen easier.

HELPING NEWSAGENTS HANDLE THE NEWS CORP. COIN COLLECTION PROMOTION

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Earlier this week we published advice to our newsagent software customers on how to handle the News Corp. commemorative coin collection promotion. This advice leverages facilities in our smart software to make it easy for our 1,700+ newsagent customers to handle this important promotion with ease.

Thanks to early notice of the promotion we were well prepared and provided not only how-to advice but considerably more, helping our newsagent customers make more from this traffic-driving promotion.

KUDOS FOR TOWER SYSTEMS XERO POS SOFTWARE INTEGRATION

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You know you are doing when when small business accountants recommend your POS software and its link with the highly-regarded Xero cloud based accounting software.

That is what’s been happening to us. We are winning new customers who are discovering us thanks to recommendations from their accountants, in part due to the Xero approved and endorsed POS software Xero accounting software link.

Creating an approved link is not an option for all POS software companies. Indeed, Xero says no to some POS companies that approach them. We are thrilled to have been approved and to be able to help small business retailers save time and money through the linking of their POS software to Xero.

As our software evolved as does our partnerships and interfaces. That iOS what we have delivered with our successful Xero interface – a facility backed by knowledgable accounting related support and assistance.

What is Transferred to Xero?

Sales
End of Shift based department-level sales are transferred to Xero via a sales invoice. Each department can be assigned its own Xero account.

Invoices
Invoices received into Retailer are transferred to Xero at department level. No individual stock items are transferred.

Write Offs & No Sales
These are transferred to individual expense accounts depending on the transaction reason chosen.

Cost Of Sales
An option on sales exporting is to export Cost of Sales. While not a full implementation of COGS it does transfer over the cost price of items sold each day to reduce the value of Stock On Hand in Xero. If you use this option you will export Write offs, not as expenses, but as adjustment to your Stock on Hand. This makes processing stock adjustments for the End Of Month much easier.

POS SOFTWARE USER MEETING ON THE GOLD COAST

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12963424_10154704583659112_3860010628007360903_nWe had a terrific three hour meeting with some of our POS software users on the Gold Coast today. The session included training, one on one support and business growth discussions as retailers talked through plenty of opportunities for business growth using our software.

Today’s session was a good example of the added value of these events, from a diverse group of retailers and the retail experience we can bring to the opportunity.

Tomorrow, we are in Geelong, Victoria with another of our regional sessions.

POS SOFTWARE UPDATE IN BETA RELEASE

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A major update to our POS software has moved to beta release following extensive testing in house and an alpha live release.

This latest update delivers enhancements in the areas of fast retail sales, loyalty management and marketing, catalogue management and handling special customer orders.

The update delivers new functionality, genuine enhancements to the software, enhancements that continue the lead of the Tower systems software in selected specialty retail channels.

Retailers on our beta release panel have been contacted with details on how to access the update and provide feedback leading into the commercial release program.

FREE TRAINING FOR POS SOFTWARE USERS THIS WEEK

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Screen Shot 2016-04-03 at 9.09.06 amTower Systems is proud to offer free and live training opportunities for users of its POS software this week. We have two local user meetings, in Geelong and the Gold Coast and online. The two user meetings are the latest in our series of capital city and major regional centre meetings – face to face with our customers, providing free training and business development strategy.

The online session on End of Shift Reports is fully booked. We are running this session again in the coming weeks.

In addition to the live training opportunities, our customers continue to have access to an extraordinary library of video based training and text based training – making POS software training easy to access from anywhere and at any time.

SUNDAY SMALL BUSINESS RETAIL MANAGEMENT ADVICE: MAYBE IT IS TIME TO CHANGE YOUR FRIENDS

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Who do you talk to about your retail business? Are they sympathetic, pandering almost? Or, do they challenge your perception of your business?

Do they agree with everything you say? Do they offer pity as a response for you explaining your situation?

Good friends will challenge what you say. They will ask tough questions to test what you say about business performance. They will not put up with a victim mentality. They will want to know what you are doing to improve your situation and that your actions are rooted in your business data.

If your friends don’t challenge you when you talk about your business consider seeking out others you can talk to who do challenge you. 

Owning a business of any size can be tough and lonely. In the business it is rare you will be challenged. In your immediately family, too often, you will not be challenged. This is why you need to seek out those who could and will challenge you. You need to be challenged. Your plans need to be tested through tough questioning.  While some good friend will do this for you many will not.

So, do you need to change your friends?

Seek out people who will give you truthful assessment of what you say, people who will have an opinion and be unafraid to share it. You want people who will actively listen to you and give you their insights.

Seek out people who will want the same from you.  The ideal friendship is one that is equal, open and honest in conversation.  This is what retail business owners need – people who can help them see what they may not be seeing for themselves.

DON’T BE BOUND BY WHAT IS USUAL FOR YOUR TYPE OF RETAIL BUSINESS.

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Now, more than ever, retail businesses are not bound by strict borders in terms of what they sell. You only have to look at what pharmacies sell today compared to ten years ago to realise the value of change.

But this type of change, retailers trading outside what is usual for their type of business, is common. There are successful coffee shops today that started out as a customer service experience in vehicle repair shops, fashion outlets and more. 

What is it you could sell in your business that does not fit neatly into what is usual for your type of retail business?

In our work in a range of specialty retail channels we see successes where retailers play outside what is usual for their type of business, where they ignore the borders of tradition.

Doing this successfully starts with looking at the type of customers you currently attract and considering this with the capacity of the business to offer other products and services within the space and capital restraints of the business.

A good place to start is to analyse basket data in your software and, through this, to build up a better understanding of what people purchase. Using departments, categories and tags, you can build an understanding beyond what you recall from serving customers.

Use your data to explore possibilities beyond what you sell today.

  1. Who is your customer?
  2. What else do they buy?
  3. What can I sell them allied to what they buy from me yet that I do not carry today.

Data analysis shop could uncover a niche interest among customers that could be served by the business carrying something you may not usually see in a your type shop.

We see this activity as important. If you rely on traffic that is usual for your type of business your results will most likely be usual for your type of business. Whereas if you attract traffic beyond what is usual, your results ought to be beyond what is usual.

Retail today is more borderless than ever. While it is important your business can be easily understood, you can do this and reach beyond what is traditional with careful management and attention.

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE PLATFORM FOR SMALL BUSINESS RETAILERS ATTRACTING KUDOS

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The Retailer Visual Deck released by Tower Systems to its small business retailer customers earlier this year is generating terrific responses as retailers see the power of the visual compared to the traditional POS software reports.

This cloud-based platform is accessible from anywhere. It provides live access to retail business performance KPIs, helping small business retailers better understand what is happening in their businesses.

The Visual Deck is a new product from Tower Systems. Accessible from any internet connected device, this platform provides you with a fresh view of your business performance data. Visually reporting on revenue, gross profit, transaction count, items per sale, units sold, average transaction value, by month, week, day and day of week – easily allowing you to compare trading periods.

Cloud based, this new business intelligence platform is available on a month to month or annual basis. Called the Visual Deck, It is visual because, well, your business data is presented in a visual way. It is a deck because it is a platform off of which you can see far and wide.

Q1 2016 NEWSAGENCY SALES BENCHMARK STUDY.

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We are proud to have announced our first newsagency sales benchmark study for 2016 in an email sent to newsagents this morning:

We are preparing a fresh benchmark study for the newsagency channel to look at the latest sales trends overall and in key product categories. This quarterly newsagency sales performance study will help newsagents see the future based on the data trends. It will also reveal the difference between emerging newsagency model changes.

We see many newsagency businesses embracing tremendous change already in 2016. In the sea of change are wonderful opportunities. These opportunities are revealed in the business data in each business and in the benchmark results we publish.

How to participate.

  1. Please run a Monthly Sales Comparison Report for 01/01/2016 – 31/03/2016 compared to 01/01/2015 – 31/03/2015.
  2. Tick the category box.
  3. Tick to exclude home delivery and sub agent data.
  4. DO NOT tick the supplier box.
  5. Preview the report on the screen. Save as a PDF and email this to us.

We will email the results to all participating newsagents and publish the results on the Australian Newsagency Blog as a community service.

Tower Systems serves in excess of 1,750+ newsagents with best practice newsagency software.

Note: the study reflects performance as reported by a range of newsagency businesses trading under a range of brands.

The results of each study are backed up by circulation results published later by the Audit Bureau.

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