ArchiveDecember 2018

Let’s start with a story…

Frank got to the shop just before closing, in time to purchase a beautiful necklace as a gift for his wife for their seventh wedding anniversary. Talking about this at the counter, we explained how we could remind him next year so there was no last-minute rush.  Frank was thrilled.

Fast forward eleven months and Frank was in with two weeks to spare. He brought with him the voucher we sent as an early bird purchase encouragement. He spent $350.00 with us on another anniversary gift, bagging a $25.00 discount. Frank also told us about his daughter who had been born two months earlier. We asked for her birthday so we could remind him about that. “As long as you send me another voucher”, he joked. We will.

You can do this. It is easy. It takes a few seconds at the counter. Each time you add information about a customer you could be setting up future sales.

We can help you, through our jeweller software.

Embedded in our jeweller specific software are facilities like these and more on which you can rely to sell more to shoppers in a visit and to bring them back more often.

We believe in small business and everyday appreciate the value of locally owned businesses, like those we serve. We face big competitors too and do this head on, by following the advice we provide to you.

Software from Tower Systems has facilities designed specifically for jewellers, to enable you to do this, to leverage your point of difference at each touchpoint.

We believe that the more you leverage the specialisation in your business the more you differentiate your business from big business competitors.

1. Club / community group deals / pricing.A great way to win new shoppers is through a community group. You can publish a card or voucher enabling members of a group to present this for a discount on each purchase. The software can track the purchases and at a designated time you can give the group a rebate in return for their member loyalty. Clubs are valuable places, they support businesses that support them. If they can encourage members to shop with you as a fundraiser you could attract plenty of new customers. The more groups and people you have talking about your business the better.
2. Catalogues. Your marketing group or product suppliers can provide data files for any catalogues in which you participate. You can load these into the software making it easy to offer catalogue prices through the term of the catalogue offer. Never ever sell a catalogue line outside of the catalogue facility we have as this gives you the best level of control for your business.
3. Events. Using this new facility, added Q1 2018, you can market to shoppers based on interests, past purchases, birthdays and other date related events in and around their lives. For example, you could run an email campaign for all who purchased a brand of jewellery or a type of jewellery item, pitching an add-on purchase. Here is another example: you could email everyone with an anniversary in the coming month, with an offer to encourage them in. Here is another example: send an offer of a free clean to everyone who purchased a ring a year ago.
4. Special customer orders.  This is the ability to order stock from a supplier for a specific customer. On arrival of the stock item, a barcode is printed with the customer name, for placement on to the product. The software can be set to send an alert to the customer by text or email, advising the arrival of the goods into the store. Customers love this personalisation. Better still, pitch an offer to customers prior to ordering from suppliers. Pre-sell. Get a non-refundable deposit. Then place your order.
5. Share knowledge. On receipts and other touchpoint documents, include product care knowledge that sets your business apart from others people can shop with.
6. Multibuy. Reward your regular shoppers with a coffee card type offer. For example, buy five items, anything, over, say, six months and get 25% off your next item. We appreciate that some jewellers will consider this approach to marketing to be crass, beneath them. The reality is plenty of shoppers love deals. They show
7. Instant loyalty rewards. Another way we can help maximise sales is with an instant loyalty reward. This is particularly useful where you see shoppers once a year or quite infrequently as is often the case in locally owned businesses. Using rules that you control, a receipt can include a voucher offering a specific amount off the next purchase if that purchase is made in a timeframe you set. An average 19% redemption rate for the vouchers with a third redeemed the day of purchase. Male shoppers are far more likely to redeem the day of purchase. This instant loyalty rewardfacility is another way we serve your type of business. In the software, we call it discount vouchers. We have one customer, a high-end jeweller, who sold a $20,000 piece for which the shopper received a $1,000 voucher. They immediately, in that visit, spent another $5,000, because of the $1,000 voucher. So, overall, they achieved $25,000 in sales with $1,000 off. The business prices on the basis of a percentage of every item being available for discount.
8. Make what you sell. Using the manufactured goods facilities in the software it is easy to make goods. For example, you might put together a necklace and a bracelet in a single purchased pack. This is your pack, only available from you. It is easy to setup, sell and manage. This is a valuable point of difference.
9. Gift vouchers. Sell customers who can’t decide what gift to purchase a gift voucher. Load on to this voucher any amount the customer wants. You set the rules on expiry and other voucher handling.
10. Supplier comparison. Since you can purchase some items from multiple suppliers, use smart reports in the software to compare the performance of your various suppliers.
11. Oxipay. Integrated in retailer is this buy now pay later finance option. You are settled quickly by the funder and the costs are like credit card costs. This can work better than LayBy in that you do not need to manage the goods in-store.
12. LayBy.You have complete control over how this is setup including the terms, rules and more.
13. Manage remotely. Plenty of our business owners are not in their businesses regularly. Our software has facilities that enable easy remote tracking and management. Some are obvious while others are hidden and secure, giving you peace of mind that you can leave your business.