The POS Software Blog

The POS Software Blog

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

ArchiveAugust 2019

Advice for small business retailers on dealing with employee theft by a minor

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This advice is from our vault of business management advice for indie small business retailers. This vault contains advice on many diverse aspects of small business management, often far removed from the POS software we are known for.

Today our advice is about how to deal with employee theft by a minor in a retail business.

If you suspect an employee aged under eighteen of theft from your business you need to be careful as to how you navigate this. It is important to take time to decide the appropriate plan of action before you approach the suspect to even investigate the matter. The wrong approach could have challenging consequences for you, your business and the person you suspect.

Our suggestion is that the moment you have a suspicion, invite the suspect and a parent in for a meeting. Have someone else there as well, as your witness.

  1. Present your evidence and invite their response.
  2. Ensure you are civil, factual and not emotional.
  3. Listen to their response without interruption.
  4. If they ask what you want to do about it, be sure you have a reasonable response ready. If there is agreement on this, move forward.
  5. If there is not agreement on what you propose, or if they deny the theft, you need to be ready with your next course of action. This course of action should be reasonable and focussed on getting to verifiable truth.

If there is agreement that theft occurred and the employee is casual, my suggestion is immediate termination with you paying out what is owed by law. Put it behind you. Never speak of it outside the business. To constantly revisit it, especially outside a major city, can be debilitating.

If there is not agreement, ask they other side what they want to do. It could be that even though they deny it they are happy to walk away from the business. If this is not the case, you could suggest mediation. The Fair Work Obmudsman office could possible play a role here. You could equally suggest that both sides take the matter to the police.

The reality is that once you make a complaint to parents you have to be prepared to follow through, to see the matter to a reasonable end.

My core message today is that handling the suspected theft by someone under eighteen takes care and planning, to ensure that you, your business and the suspect are all dealt with fairly and safely.

Small business retail advice: preparing your shop for sale

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Selling a retail business is like selling a house, you need to prepare it so that it looks appealing to prospective purchasers. Selling a newsagency is more challenging because of assumptions out there and changes in what a newsagency is can could be.

Here at Tower Systems we are often asked for retail advice beyond our POS software. Preparing a retail shop for sale is one example of advice we are asked for.  We have developed a package of information to help small business retailers as they navigate this. What we share in this blog post today is some of the information we have put together.

Tower Systems POS software customers have access to this and more business management advice and insights.

  1. Make it look and feel appealing. While there are people who will look for a challenge (opportunity). Most buyers will want two see a retail business they understand and feel they can run.
  2. Eliminate dead stock. It looks bad on the shelves and looks bad on the books. Purchasers should not pay full wholesale for inventory more than six months old as your poor buying or management is not their obligation.
  3. Streamline operations. Make the business look easy to run by ensuring it is easy to run for you. The easier it looks to run the more interesting to people who don’t understand the business.
  4. Maximise profit. What anyone will pay will depend on actual profitability of the business.
  5. Be happy. Owners who talk their business down will find it harder to sell the business. You never know who is shopping your shop and the broader interest they may have.
  6. Keep your social media presence up to date. Today, many people check out a business online prior to looking at it in-store. Maintain up to date Facebook, Instagram and elsewhere.
  7. Get your paperwork in order. Early on, get business documents together:
    1. Premises lease.
    2. Equipment lease.
    3. Employee records.
    4. Product forward orders.
    5. Franchise documents.
    6. Supplier agreements.
    7. Details of any forward orders.
    8. Any other documents relating to the operation of the business including manuals for any equipment items.
  8. Choose a broker for your circumstances.

Success at selling your retail business depends on the work you do to prepare it for sale. Focus months, even a years, out can make for an easier and better sale.

Get it right and you can expect to make more than you might have thought possible.

Let’s talk about empty shops – why there are so many and what can be done about them

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Talk to any small business retailer and they will have stories about empty shops in their area that are having a negative impact on their business.

In shopping centres, suburban high streets and country town main roads, there are plenty of empty shops.

Some have been empty for years.

Empty shops make a shopping centre or area feel unpopular, making the task of attracting shoppers harder for remaining retailers. Retailers nearby who are doing it tough will point to empty shops nearby as a core cause.

Some local councils have been innovative in addressing the vacant retail space challenge by opening them to local makers and artists. This has been terrific to see. In Newcastle in NSW, for example, they did some excellent work in this area years ago. Most councils, however, have not.

Why are there so many empty shops? Talk to retailers and they will blame landlords for rents that are too high. Talk to economists and others expert in retail property space as a ratio of population and they will say that Australia has too much retail space. Talk to the folks in some specific towns and they will blame the main street empty spaces on the new mall that has opened just outside town. Talk to almost anyone and they will blame online. Talk to some landlords and they will say retailers are not innovative enough.

As with any contentious issue that has opposing vested interests, it is hard to get to the truth of the situation.

For what it is worth, my opinion is that the answer to the question lies in a mixture of the reasons offered above.

I do think we have too much retail space in Australia. Rent is among the highest in the world. Retail is not that innovative. People are shopping online for convenience. So, yes, I am hedging my bets.

That said, the why does not matter as much as what to do with them.

Occasionally, you can find a pragmatic landlord who is happy to have a space filled at a lower rent than sit empty for a year or more. We think we need more pragmatic landlords.

Occasionally, we see small business retailers burst out of what has been traditional for their type of business and create something genuinely innovative, which is embraced by local shoppers. We need more of this. However, it is hard work, often capital intensive and high risk.

Occasionally, we see empty shops torn down and the space used for something difference. We need to see much more of this. Less retail space is a good thing for retailers and this is good for local communities.

The challenge for small business retailers today with empty shops nearby is how to deal with the stench of those empty shops.

If your landlord has those shops too and there is one next to you, ask them if you can use the space for display. To us, that would be a win win for you both. The key is to craft the right approach that serves the interests of the landlord as well as your own.

If the shops are not from your landlord, the most obvious response will be to be louder and bigger from your premises. By louder, we mean more events to attract shoppers, give people more reason to come to you.

The best way to deal with online is to be online yourself, with a compelling offer, probably under a brand that is not your shop brand, seeking out shoppers far from your shop location.

The alternative to action is to complain because, yeah, complaining achieves a lot … not.

Empty shops are a problem in Australia. How we deal with that in our own retail businesses comes down to us and the actions we take.

Retailers: sync images from your POS software to your website easily, seamlessly and without human intervention

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Small business retailers using the Tower Systems POS software can easily, quickly, safely and accurately sync product images from their PSO software to their Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce or other POS software site easily, quickly and accurately thanks to smart image management in the Tower Systems POS software.

Syncing images without the need for human intervention saves time. It also cuts mistakes, streamlines workflow and provides a better e-commerce as well as in0-store management outcome.

This is good for business.

Tower Systems has offered this POS software website image sync for ages, as part of its core e-commerce interface benefits.

As retailers with multiple websites and active in-store use of POS software in businesses it owns, Tower Systems is delivering solutions it itself wants for more efficient, accurate and successful e-commerce trading. This personal experience is a key factor in why Tower Systems is able to differentiate its offer over other POS software companies in this and other areas.

With the POS software the keeper of the images – multiple per product and any size that is appropriate to what you sell – connecting to the website is easy and seamless. Each new image loaded for a product is synced to the website based on rules established and managed in-store. This enables the software to behave in accordance with the wishes of the business.

Tower already partners with Shopify, Magento and WordPress – WooCommerce. The interface for each with the Tower software is direct and not through a third party. This is also key in the service of accurate, seamless and safe product image transfer.

Tower Systems is able to demonstrate these facilities live to any retailer contemplating the Tower software or website development services.

Image syncing between POS software and a website is critical for any small business that wants to sell online as it reduces the workload involved in managing images. Too often, small business retailers are asked to manually cut and paste and do other work on images. The Tower software makes the process easier, more certain and more enjoyable in that getting to the opportunity its to sell online is faster.

Any POS software that cannot facilitate the automatic and easy flow of images to a Shopify, Magento or WooCommerce website could be considered to be inappropriate for a business that prides efficiency and accuracy.

POS software that helps retailers sell by measure and sell by fractions

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The POS software from Tower Systems is powerful in ways specialty retailers like.

In addition to awesome and government approved scale integration, the software also allows sales of items by fractions. This is important when you sell a portion of something, like a length of fabric or a length of wire or a weight of something but don’t have scales integrated.

Not many POS software programs let you sell 1.25 of something or .75 of something. They usually want to deal only in whole numbers. Selling by fractions is important to many retailers. Tower Systems has the answer.

Thanks to our with in fishing businesses where they sell bait by fractions and in bike repair businesses where a component can be to several decimal places in measure, our software its proven and able to help in this area.

Selling by fractions is just one of a bunch of terrific facilities that we have built into our POS software for specialty retailers, facilities that help them run more efficient businesses, enjoy more accurate trading and better control the inventory investment in their business. This is what good software does, it is first for purpose in serving the needs of a business.

Tower Systems is a well established POS software company with thousands of small indie retailers in Australia and New Zealand. We have attracted customers through cool facilities such as being able to sell by measure, including selling by fractions.

This is what we do, it is what we are known for. That we sell what we make helps us deliver on the provided that we make to those we do business with.

While Tower Systems offers POS services for all retailers, our core business is the provision of specialist software packages for gift shops, newsagents, jewellers, pet shops, garden centres, firearms shops, adult shops, bike shops and toy shops.  We are the leading Australian company supporting these markets and our software is directly developed for their unique needs.

Tower Systems understands these needs because it owns and manages its own thriving retail businesses.  Our staff have retail experience and our software is informed by what happens in real world business – not from what happens behind a desk.

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