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The top 20 Christmas marketing ideas for small business retailers
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For years we have offered Christmas marketing tips here ands elsewhere to indie small business retailers. This year, we offer a revised list, the best of the best based on our experience in retail,. ideas that workehvery time and in just about every situation.
Tower Systems works with more than 3,500+ small business retailers using its POS software in speciality retail niches including jewellers, garden centres, bike shops, toy shops, gift shops, newsagents, pet shops, adult shops and more. We offer these ideas as our Christmas gift to you.
- Make it easy. People often talk about how hard Christmas is. Be the local business that makes it easy. The ways to do this are with easy Lay-By, free wrapping, better shop floor help, guide buying advice or tips on perfect gifts no one else will think of. Consider making Christmas easy as being a key part of your messaging.
- Be thrilled people are in your shop. Your personal smile or greeting is something they may not see in a big business where employees are less invested in each shopper and where the owner is usually thousands of kilometers away.
- Make the giving easy. If people purchase items from you to send somewhere else. Offer a one-stop shop. Save them the trip to the post office.
- Make the shop less about Christmas. Consider pulling back on the Christmas visual noise. Go for something simple, muted, respecting the season but making a calm statement. Consider declaring the shop a Christmas carol free zone – not because you hate carols but because you want to help customers take a break.
- Help people rest and recharge. Create a Christmas shopping rest and recovery zone. Offer free tea, coffee, water and something to eat. Encourage people to take a break in your shop – without any obligation for them to spend money with you.
- Let your customers help each other. Setup a whiteboard or sheets of butcher’s paper, yes keep it simple. Get customers to write gift suggestions under different age/gender groups. For example: Girls 18 – 25, Boys 55+. Encourage your customers to help each other through their suggestions.
- Make price comparison difficult. If you sell items people are likely to price compare with other businesses, package them so price comparison is not easy. Put items into a hamper as a perfect Boy 8 to 12 bundle for example. Or offer the item with pre packages services if appropriate for an item.
- Facilitate sharing stories. Find space in your shop for customers to share their Christmas stories. It could be a story wall inside or in front of the shop. This initiative encourages storytelling by locals and better connects the business with the community.
- Become a gallery. Work with a school, kindergarten, community group or retirement village to bring in local art for people to come and see through Christmas. A small space commitment can drive traffic from family and friends of those with art on show.
- Send cards. Send Christmas cards early in the season to suppliers, key customers and local community groups. This connects you with Christmas. Invite all team members to sign each card.
- Host a Christmas party. For shops nearby. You are all in the season together – let your hear down before things get crazy.
- Ensure you have gifts targeted at occasions. For example: Kris Kringle, by price point and by recipient. Make it easy for people to know what they could give.
- Be local. Ensure you have a selection of locally sourced products available for purchase. Make it clear in-store that these products are sourced locally.
- Tell stories. On your Facebook page, talk about what is important to you at Christmas. Personalise the season and deepen the connection with those who could shop with you.
- Share Christmas recipes. Each week for, say, four weeks, give customers a family Christmas recipe. This personalises Christmas in your business, creates a talking point and makes shopping with you different to your bigger competitors.
- Sell training. Leverage the specialist knowledge you have in your business by selling as gifts places at classes you run sharing your expertise.
- Hold back. Don’t go out with everything you have for Christmas all at once. Plan the season to show off what you have as the season unfolds. This allows you multiple launches.
- Share a taste. Regardless if your type of business, bake a family recipe of Christmas cake, Christmas pudding or Christmas biscuits and offer tastings to shoppers on select days. This personalises the experience in your shop.
- Offer hampers. Package several items together and offer them as a hamper. Time-poor shoppers could appreciate you doing this work for them. We have seen this work in many different retail situations.
- Buy X get Y. Encourage people to spend more with a volume based deal. Pitched right, this could get customers purchasing items for several family members in order to get the price offer you have. Use your technology to manage this.
Christmas is the perfect time to plan for next year. It is the time to do everything possible to leverage bonus Christmas traffic to benefit your business through next year.
Pet shop software helps pet products retailers serve pet lovers
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Pet lovers are passionate about their pets, with justification for these cuties are the heart and soul of many homes. Pet retailers offer care and fun products to enhance the lives of pets and bring joy to the lives of pet lovers.
The Tower Systems pet shop POS software helps pet lovers provide a better experience to shoppers be they pet lovers themselves or those who buy for pet lovers.
This is specialty POS software made for this niche retail need. We help local pet shops swerve their local community and compete with national chains.
Quite different to generic POS software, the Tower Systems pet shop POS software is made for this job, made to serve the needs of these niche and valued local retailers. Plus, the software continues to evolve to serve the evolving needs of the retailers and the businesses that supply them.
In a practical sense, the Tower Systems pet shop POS software offers access to many benefits including…
- Trade and club pricing profiles. Set pricing rules based on customer type.
- Make money from pre-orders – Easily pre-sell a delivery so that when the stock arrives you can manage distribution and billing efficiently.
- Differentiate with informative receipts. These can include product care, use and safety information based on what customers buy.
- Differentiate with product bundles. Selling items bundled together makes price comparison hard.
- Save time with electronic invoices from suppliers. This is a massive time saver.
- Offer personal customer service by tracking worming and other dates by pet.
- Use tags to get a fresh perspective, side-view, on stock performance.
- Leverage you. If you believe your knowledge is a differentiator, offer it through structured opportunities in the software.
- Offer differentiating personal pet care by tracking microchip numbers.
- Easily handle special customer orders. Bring product in for a specific customer and have them notified automatically by email or text when the goods are in and ready.
- Business differentiating loyalty. Stand out from the crowd. Have customers coming back to youfor this.
- Maximise the basket with easy to use one-time shopper loyalty tools.
- Track who sold what and when and how.
- Say goodbye to LayBy (if you want) – with buy now pay later options.
- Market to customers based on past purchases.
- Save time by importing electronic invoices.
- Sell more with a direct connect to buy now pay later services.
- Cut mistakes with integrated EFTPOS.
- Cut accounting and bookkeeping fees with integration to Xero and others.
- Easily sell online with a direct to Shopify / Magento or WooCommerce link from your POS software.
Produce and farm supply business POS software helps serve farmer and local community needs
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In times of drought especially, local produce and farm supply businesses play a vital rollin community service, helping to keep farms viable and operating in tough conditions.
The produce and farm supply POS software from Tower Systems helps rural supply / farm supply / produce businesses with efficient service and support of local farms and community group. Through inventory management, efficient shipping, produce use notes and more, this software helps businesses serve local needs for local conditions.
Developed in Australia with local farm supply and produce businesses, this software is regularly updated with enhancements helping drive efficiency. For example, the most recent update delivers produce business specific accounting solutions to serve the unique and demanding needs of these businesses to better and more accurately account for shipping and related business costs.
Embedded in the produce business POS software from Tower Systems are many benefits, including…
- Sell accurately by measure – by whole numbers orfractions.
- Sell by weight.
- Special orders. Bring product in for a specific customer and have them notified automatically by email or text when the goods are in and ready.
- Time saving invoicing and account management – manage accounts in a way tailored to yourbusiness. You can easily account for freight, produce picking slips, manage accounts, feed data to Xero and MYOB and do more.
- Be accurate with all-weather product labels.
- Business differentiating loyalty. Stand out from the crowd. Have customers coming back to youfor this.
- Trade pricing profiles. You can set pricing rules based on types of customers.
- Pre-orders – We make it easy for you to pre-sell a delivery so that when the stock arrives you can manage distribution and billing efficiently.
- Bagging up feed – Easily manage bagging up a bulk feed delivery into smaller, saleable lots, while keeping accurate stock on hand data.
- Making your own feed mix. We help you track managing bulk quantity ingredients and mixing these into saleable packs of your own brand of seed mix. What an awesome point of difference for your business!
- Differentiate with informative receipts. These can include care, use and safety information based on what customers buy.
- Differentiate with bundles. Selling items bundled together makes price comparison hard.
- Market to customers based on past purchases.
- Save time by importing electronic invoices.
- Sell more with a direct connect to buy now pay later services.
Portable POS software for retailers on the move
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Retailer Roam from Tower Systems is easy to access portable POS software for retailers who want to sell anywhere, any time.
Developed in Australia by POS software company Tower Systems for small business retailers in several specialty retail channels, retailer Roam is next gen POS software, smart POS software for retailers who are mobile.
Sell from markets, a truck, pop-up situations, stalls, and more, Retailer Roam brings on the road POS software facilities that work beautifully with and without internet access.
Already, Retailer Roam is winning love from indie retailers as they embrace the opportun8ties it unlocks for various retail businesses.
Retailer Roam is a tablet app-based POS extension to the Tower Systems Retailer POS software. The app runs on Apple iPad and Android based tablets. It can run connected over WiFi or any other network. It can also run disconnected, synching when connected again
Retailer Roam is designed to help retailers better manage buy times without the need to install considerable hardware as well as to transact business away from the counter, from an outpost or from a vehicle some distance from the shop.
As the name suggests Retailer Roam enables the business to roam to transact sales.
You can sell for cash or credit card, to an account or through a LayBy. Selling is through a screen designed specifically for Retailer Roam and the types of devices on which it would be run.
Retailer Roam Can Do:
- Cash/EFTPOS Sales
- Invoice Sales
- Create a LayBy
- Sell stock with Serial Numbers
- Loyalty Point Redemption & Acrrual
- Customised POS Screens
- Variants
- Refunds
- Basic End of Shift
- Stocktaking
- Re-ordering
- Integrated EFTPOS
Retailer Roam is a new product, as such, it will continue to evolve over time with features being added. You can submit software idea’s for Roam through our software idea’s page. Just this week a sweet update has been released providing retailers with more tools and benefits.
Retailer Roam gives retailers opportunities and advantages, it helps take them and their business outside the shop and beyond the web, to where customers are, for easy business transaction.
Retailer Roam is a wonderful addition from Tower Systems.
Australians need politicians who nurture consumer confidence
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An important role for politicians is to nurture confidence in the community as it is confidence that encourages economic engagement, such as spending in local retail shops.
We know from consumer surveys in Australia in 2019 that consumer confidence is challenged. While a survey this month shows an uptick, confidence remains low, and this plays out at registers in shops large and small.
It is unfortunate that politicians of all sides too often prefer to attack rather than lead, they prefer to score points against competitors rather than encouragethe broader community to feel more confident. It is the politicians at the edge who appear to pull the most focus in the media and therefore do the most damage to consumer confidence.
There is plenty to be optimistic about, plenty from which we can build confidence in the community. This ought be the focus of all politicians. It ought be the focus of news outlets, too. They should stop doing the bidding of politicians, running their fringe issue stories, running stories for which there is non evidence of support.
Australian businesses, Australian retailers, small business retailers especially need local shoppers to be more confident. Confidence is key to getting people shopping.
While personal confidence is nurtured by personal success and achievement, community wide confidence can be nurtured through good leadership, the type of leadership politicians ought be delivering. The right words in the right locations could make a significant difference to the performance of retail businesses this Christmas.
No, we are not suggesting politicians say go out and spend up this Christmas or go and shop local. Those statements, which I have heard recently, are not confidence building. In my view, such statements are lazy. They fall flat.
I’d rather politicians talk about the awesome local gift they found, shine a light on a local shipping precinct in theirs electorate, talk up locally made food or celebrate with gratefulness every business related good news story in their electorate.
Politicians need to talk optimistically about the economy, shopping local, the country and the future. They can do this without being political, without supporting fringe issues. and without being clumsy in their pitch.
Community confidence builds over time, layer by layer, story by story. Politicians, for part of their lives, are storytellers. We need them to be good storytellers and tellers of confidence encouraging stories.
Our POS software TV commercial supporting small business retailers
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We appreciate local shoppers this weekend…
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5 ways to use POS software to reduce labour costs in small business retail
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Here are 5 valuable and easy to implement ways retailers are today using our Point of Sale software(POS software) to reduce labour costs in their local businesses:
- Sales counter workflow. In our POS software it is smart, efficient, streamlined and labour cost saving. Best practice too. A competitively run counter can drive business success.
- Match revenue and roster. Focussing on rostering to revenue and revenue opportunity is a challenge for small business retailers. Tools in the POS software from Tower Systems help indie retailers do this with ease and consistency. These are tools retailers love as they can drive revenue reduction and / or labour cost reduction.
- Smart stock control including reordering. By eliminating manual processes around placing orders for replenishment stock, retailers are able to, in one place and at one time, accurately create orders based on business performance data. By ordering based on business activity (sales) the business do working based on success rather than gut feel. A business switching to ordering from within their Point of sale system can expect to free up cash by reducing non-performing stock. This process is further improved through digitally engaged supplier relationships.
- Customer management including accounts and loyalty. Through computer-based customer accounts and loyalty management, the retail business is able to transact with customers accurately, in a timely manner and in a way which puts customers first. Generating monthly customer statements, for example, could take a few minutes whereas manual processes could take many hours and face challenges with accuracy.
- Fact assisted decision making. Too many retail businesses spend too much time spinning their wheels pursuing decisions because they are not using business facts to feed these decisions. All to often we see poor business decisions made based on emotion and or ignorance rather than historical business data. Replace the error prone and fact-less approach with a fact-based approach and a business will soon find that decisions are more right than wrong. Retail businesses can bank on the results.
These are just three of the ways in which our Point of Sale software is helping more than 3,000 small business retailers across Australia to improve the management of their businesses, streamline processes and drive more efficient allocation of labour resources.
Awesome Aussie POS software for garden centres
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The Tower Systems software for Australian nurseries and garden centres is helping businesses grow.
Our Garden Centre Point of Sale software has been developed in consultation with nursery owners, managers, employees and suppliers. We are grateful for their guidance, help and encouragement as we have grown the software to its marketplace position today.
Offering time saving and business building facilities in key business areas, this software is already being enjoyed by nurseries.
The areas covered by the software include:
- Point of Sale counter sales management
- Easy buy now pay later integration.
- Powerful freight accounting tools
- Sell by weight
- Product security details
- Options for selling anywhere, any time, including for the truck
- Product care details on receipts
- Customer accounts and LayBy
- Awesome customer loyalty options
- Gift vouchers – your own vouchers easily managed
- Electronic invoices
- Specialist nursery barcode labels including weatherproof labels
- A broad range of business performance reports
- Theft reduction and management
- Customer marketing facilities
- Fastintegrated EFTPOS
The Tower Systems nursery software includes a range of facilities and services developed specifically for nurseries including a new industrial strength and fast barcode printer.
Tower Systems has been in business since 1981. The company currently serves thousands of small and independent retailers in Australia and New Zealand.
Easy access Help Desk. Nurseries using the Tower Systems software have access to customer service 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
User Training. The training facilities in the software and provided by Tower mean that all team members can be properly trained in the use of the software … ensuring that the business access the time saving and profitable benefits delivered through the use of the software.
Software updates. The Tower nursery software is updated regularly with enhancements suggested by users – nurturing your investment.
The best way to assess the Tower software is to see it in your business in an obligation free demonstration. Compare the software and the company to others and see if it serves your business needs.
Tower Systems is proud to serve independently owned small retail businesses with our awesome POS software. The company believes in small business and the vitally important role it plays in the Australian economy.
Cloud based POS software for independent small business retailers
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Tower Systems cloud based POS software offers independent small business retailers flexibility of use and access, it offers big business tools and opportunities in a package made for small business retailers.
Securely hosted in the cloud, automatically backed up and always up to date, the cloud POS software from Tower Systems is another way the company is helping small business retailers compete with big businesses, by offering an infrastructure solution that is current, best practice and capable.
With access available through a subscription service, the Tower Systems cloud POS software has a low start-up cost, which suits many indie retail business costs. The tech experts at Tower Systems shield retailers from back office work necessary. The company has a process for ensuring that settings are implemented to the needs unique to each small business retailer customer.
Cloud based POS software is one of a range of solutions offered by Tower Systems for the niche retail business marketplaces it service including retailers in: toy, gift, garden, produce, farm supply, pet, homewares, bike, newsagent and other specialty retail niches.
Developed using start of the art tools and hosted in a secure independent and safe data centre location with redundancy capacity, the cloud services from Tower Systems offer a competitive advantage to small business retailers who tap in to the service.
Tower does not itself host the clouds POS software service. Rather, the company partners with a specialty business in this area, a company that is expert at cloud services, a company offering 24/7 security and stability, factors that are critical to any retail business, especially those trading online as well as in-store.
Cloud based POS software is not for everyone. This is why Tower Systems also offers self-hosted solutions as well as desktop software where retailers have complete control over the location of data and software.
Small business retailers partnering with Tower Systems can choose the solution apocopate to their local business needs. This is key flexibility from Tower Systems. Our customers are in control, always. Plus, they can move from one platform – cloud or local – when they want, when it best serves their local business needs.
The game changing loyalty offer small business retailers leverage for competitive advantage
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While the majority of retailers run with loyalty programs that accrue points / charms and similar of dubious value, Tower Systems POS software customers can offer $$$ off.
The discount vouchers from the Tower Systems POS software work. In garden centres, jewellers, bike shops, newsagents, toy shops, pet shops, produce stores, stockfeed businesses, firearms businesses and more, the vouchers are bringing shoppers back and guiding them to spend more.
The vouchers are a positive game changer for retailers, a differentiator that are making a terrific difference in businesses competing with others stuck in the world of old-school loyalty through points.
How do we know?
Retailers tell us. Retailers call and email us saying thank you for the voucher facilities in the software and the business implementation training that helps them leverage the vouchers to incremental revenue for the business.
This is a bankable facility, one that is adding genuine value to retail businesses.
Every retailer has the capacity, through the Tower Systems POS software, to set their own rules around how the discount vouchers work and are used. They can turn them on and off at will and immediately.
They can drive engagement by product type and even by customer type. The flexibility is tremendous and the levers in the POS software powerful and valuable.
Yes, this is business differentiating POS software. The results are bankable.
Using the vouchers small business retailers competing with big businesses can expect shopper loyalty to increase as they appreciate the value of an amount they understand. We hear about this regularly from customers.
Customers love that they do not have to download an app or sign up for an account to start accruing value on vouchers. They love the simplicity, ease and speed of how the vouchers work. These are keys to success for the business too.
The discount vouchers work across age groups too. Young and old love them and understand them. This is another key of their success.
If your retail business is in a challenging competitive situation, the discount vouchers could be the game changer you need to break out as the business people return to again and again for the way you appreciate their business.
Take a look for yourself, the Tower Systems POS software is packed with business building benefits you can leverage.
More newsagents choosing the Tower Systems newsagency POS software
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We are thrilled to report that 2019 has been a terrific year of sales of the newsagency software from Tower Systems with many newsagency retailers join ing our user community.
Some have switched from other newsagency POS software companies with others have joined from having nothing as they are new businesses or businesses transitioning from another retail niche.
We are grateful that many retailers have joined us this year and embraced the Tower Systems software, training, support and all round good vibes for retail. We particularly appreciate those who have chosen to pay more for our software than they might have paid had they chosen another company.
In two situations in the last week newsagents have gone with the tower newsagency POS software even though doing so cost them 30% more than other newsagency software. In each case we won the business because of the truth that in business you get what you pay for. Stories about businesses that bought cheap and quickly regretted it and switched demonstrate the truth of this statement.
At Tower Systems we respect newsagents with feature-rich and regularly-evolving POS software made for newsagents, software which is backed with unlimited free training, easy access to help desk services and active engagement in business strategies to help newsagents run more enjoyable and successful businesses.
Serving 1,700+ newsagents helps us to be appropriately resourced to serve newsagents to evolve more valuable businesses. W4e actively represent our community and ensure easy access not only to our practical support services but also to a strategic business management and guidance services, for those who want to tap into this.
With newsagents changing their businesses into new areas, so does POS software need to change to serve these business needs. Thanks to our work across multiple specialty retail channels, we can help newsagents evolve their businesses if they wish. We can engage in conversations and genuinely practical help to make their businesses more appealing.
Tower Systems serves more newsagents than all other newsagency software companies combined. We are proud of this fact and appreciate the support from newsagents who have made this so. 2019 has been a terrific year.2020 is already looking good. We are excited for what lays ahead for newsagents and for our newsagency software.
Appreciating local shoppers…
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Our POS software TV commercial is airing again
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How our POS software co. helps dog friendly retailers encourage dog lovers to shop with them
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Here is a short video we created for our dog-loving small business retailer customers to use to promote their shops and businesses to dog lovers they welcome.
Advice for local small business retailers on the art of being local and driving traffic and sales
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Being genuinely local for any local business sounds easy, right? It can be challenging because of different expectations and experiences.
As a POS software company that only developed software and sells to small business retailers, we have plenty opt experience with retailers on thinking, living and acting local. We share this advice with our customers. Here in this post we share some of that advice, to provide a taste for the extent of business inspiration and management we provide our customers.
Being local in retail is more important than ever.
Yes, even with online, being local really does matter.
Local can mean different things to different people – it does not necessarily mean geographic proximity. Being local could be about the level of care and attention you provide customers, the additional advice you provide, that you live locally, that you source locally or that you serve the local community personally.
Locally sourced products could be products made in Australia. For example, detailing where a product is made and the family behind it pitches local compared to a similar product imported from overseas.
You can use your Tower Systems POS software to pitch local in a range of ways:
- Shop local yourself. Be seen doing this.
- Hire local. This shows you adding local economic value.
- Talk local. Know local news. Share it on your business social media pages.
- Include notes on receipts.Add product care instructions, use instructions or other useful information automatically on receipts – making your receipt a useful information platform.
- Tell people where you source products. For a product made by a family or small business in Australia, include details on the receipt. Shine a light on this local product – provide extra information so your shoppers can feel more locally connected.
- Include a SHOP LOCAL pitch. Add an image of a poster or some other promotion of the benefits of shop local to every receipt, reinforcing the value of shopping local. Tower Systems has images you can use for free – in the downloads section of our website.
- Thank your customers.Include text personally thanking customers shopping with you. Put our name to the message. Include your mobile. Big businesses do not do this.
- Track local product sales.Be aware of suppliers of locally made products and report on the performance of these through various reporting tools.
- Thanks for shopping local vouchers.You can use the discount voucher facilities in the software and call them Thanks for shopping localorLocal shopping reward. This reinforces a value for shopping with a local business – offering $$ discount off the next purchase based on rules you establish.
It is not enough to tell people to shop local, you need to demonstrate the value of this, you need to live it transactionally in your retail business. The best way to do this is through systems and processes in your POS software.
How firearms business POS software helps retailers run more successful businesses
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Tower Systems is grateful to serve Australian firearms retailers with POS software made for firearms businesses.
Made for firearms retailers, this POS software is specialty in nature and service. It has been developed with firearms retail business owners and managers to pro9vide POS software that works for them.
Ruch in firearms retailer specific benefits, this POS software continues to evolve to serve the needs of these businesses. Here are some of the benefits fo the firearms POS software:
- Sell accurately by weight or measure – by whole numbers orfractions.
- Leverage you. If your knowledge is a differentiator, offer it through structured opportunities in the software. This is a stand out benefit.
- Easier record keeping with serial number tracking of items sold. Get it right at the counter from the beginning.
- Ensure compliance with structured age checking.
- Easily handle special customer orders. Bring product in for a specific customer and have them notified automatically by email or text when the goods are in and ready.
- Business differentiating loyalty. Stand out from the crowd. Have customers coming back to you for this.
- Maximise the basket with easy to use one-time shopper loyalty tools.
- Trade and club pricing profiles. Set pricing rules based on customer type.
- Pre-orders – Easily pre-sell a delivery so that when the stock arrives you can manage distribution and billing efficiently.
- Differentiate with informative receipts. These can include product care, use and safety information based on what customers buy.
- Differentiate with bundles. Selling items bundled together makes price comparison hard.
- Track who sold what.
- Time saving invoicing and account management – manage accounts in a way tailored to yourbusiness.
- Market to customers based on past purchases.
- Save time by importing electronic invoices.
- Sell more with a direct connect to buy now pay later services.
- Cut mistakes with integrated EFTPOS.
- Cut accounting and bookkeeping fees with integration to Xero and others.
- Easily sell online with a direct to Shopify / Magento or WooCommerce link from your POS software.
Tower Systems is grateful to firearms retailers, large and small, city and country, for their support of the software and the regulators who work with us to ensure we meet needs of all stakeholders in this appreciated retail channel space.
POS software helps small business retailer be strong competitors
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Choosing the right POS software can be key tot the success of any retail business, especially a small retail business.
Okay, this seems like a motherhood statement. It is. But there is more to it than that.
The right POS software can be a proactive support for the business, I can guide business decisions, early detect employee theft, dramatically cut mistakes, guide product placement in-store and help bring shoppers back more often. These are all practical deliverables from good POS software. Indeed, these and more.
Any software can ring up a sale and track what is sold. Those steps are barely the beginning of what good POS software should do.
This is why retailers need to take time to assess software, to see how it has evolved with the needs of physical and online stores, and see what it offers in terms of helping independent small business retailers to leverage opportunities to be truly competitive.
The right POS software will also be purpose specific to the needs of a specialty retail business, serving needs inquire to the niche business channel and unique to the suppliers of the business. There are many interaction and integration opportunities that bring retailers together, that help them be smart and engaged together for mutual benefit. Niche channel specific software is the glue to make this happen.
Tower Systems offers specialty POS software for specialty retailers. We make what we sell and we ensure that each marketplace specific version of our software is finely tuned to the needs of retailers in each retail channel. This is what makes our software more useful and valuable to niche retailers than generic software.
Take our produce / farm supply /stockfeed business software. This is made specifically for these types of businesses. What we offer is made for them and made to work with their suppliers. This is very different to what you would see from general POS software. We are not general. We are specialist, deeply specialist.
How do you chooses there right POS software for your business? Research, take your time and make sure that the software you choose reinforces, supports and enhances the specialist nature of your business.
Tips for politicians on how to kick start small business retail in Australia
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Every election, politicians say that small business is the lifeblood of Australia. Then, after the election, they forget about small business. No wonder trust in politicians by Australian voters is low.
Small businesses are the lifeblood of our economy.
Small business retailers are nimble and able to lift local economies faster than big businesses and certainly better than online businesses.
Here are six tips for politicians on steps they can take, decisions they can make to help lift retail, especially small business retail.
- Direct all politician electorate Christmas spending to be with local small businesses. For gifts, parties, cards, everything for a year. Have the results assessed independently. Ensure that spending is fair, too, to benefit a variety of local businesses, and not dolled out as political favours. Shop local, shop small.
- Run a national shop small shop local ad campaign. Make it educational, smart, encouraging …, guiding Aussies on the value to them from shopping local, shopping small. Help to understand the true value of shopping local, shopping small compared to the alternatives. The ad campaign should run regionally across multiple media platforms, giving preference to locally owned platforms with a track record for not managing their business to minimise tax.
- Local shops refresh grant. Give every local retail business a grant of at least $10,000 with the stipulation that it is spent locally tin capital works for the shop, to improve the shop. Proof of local spending is to be in the form of an invoice from a local tradesperson or company with and ABN and more than a year of trading as recognised by the ATO – to avoid fraud. Spending could be focussed: painting, electrical, carpentry, flooring, repairs. The management of this should be online with quick approval and payment. Note: the $10,000 is suggested as anything less could be cosmetic.
- Local artists grants. Offer cash grants to fund buskers for local high streets, to make shopping locally more entertaining. Make the application easy. Focus on local artists entertaining in their local community. This serves the dual purpose of injecting cash locally as well as fostering the local arts. The application process should be online, approval fast and payment immediate.
- Local visual merchandising supports. Keeping in-store displays can be a challenge for small business retailers. Fund a network of merchandisers to make a 2 hour call weekly on qualified independent small retail businesses, sub $1M turnover, ABN registered, trading for six months or more. With each visit to be about visual refresh of the shop. Cap the cam pain at three months assess the economic value. Only local merchandisers to be used – i.e. to an overseas agency who hires local contractors.
- Establish local currency systems. These work overseas on regional towns where local currency has more value than the national currency. It supports shopping local through a smart value structure. the government role could be on the tech back end to manage the currency – taking away capital cost from local councils. To find out more ab9out this, read up on the Bristol Pound.
This list could be much longer. It is offered here as a start, to gets people thinking of practical ways to support shopping small, shopping local.
The current disinterest by politicians in practical support for local small businesses has us on a path of business closures. Urgent action is needed to engage locals in supporting local businesses.
Thank you for shopping local this Christmas retail season
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Retailer Roam – portable POS software for small business retailers on the move
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Advice for small business retailers on shop layout
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The more a retail business looks like a traditional shop in any channel, the more it will be judged as a traditional shop, the more it will perform like a traditional shop. There is nothing wrong with this, if it is a conscious choice.
Through our work at Tower Systems we see awesome and successful retail businesses and less than awesome and not so successful retail businesses.
We encourage you to not run a traditional shop because there is no evidence in performance data or in retail history to indicate that a traditional retail model has any upside in the world today.
The best way to not be considered a traditional shop is to not look like one. Here is some of what this means based on our experience:
- Keep visual noise to a minimum. This means less posters and signs. Let your products be seen and be the heroes.
- No old-school posters out the front of the shop or hanging in the shop except in exceptional circumstances.
- No old-school products stand near the entrance.
- Make the front third of the shop open with non-permanent fixtures that are flexible and easily moved. These are best if they are everyday items: tables, a couch, boxes and more. The more colour, texture and style the less like a shop your shop will feel and the more relaxed shoppers will be.
- Floor rugs are effective too, under a table fixture especially.
- No candy or William old products at the counter. Use the counter for products that are easily purchased on impulse, that play against expectations.
- A feature wall behind the counter that can be changed easily.
- Different colours and textures rather than the usual shop-fit look.
- Different lighting to highlight different part of the business.
- Less shop-fit made fixtures and more personally made or found items.
- Product placement such that it encourages people to explore. Embrace treasure hunt retail… where people wander the shop hoping to find treasure.
- Move tasks, pricing, returns and more to the shop floor. This will reduce shopper theft and increase sales.
- Have the least amount of staff resources behind the counter as possible. On the shop floor the same people can guide purchases.
Change is critical in retail today. Change beyond what has been traditional, change that helps you attract new shoppers and through them new revenue opportunities.
While we are an indie retail POS software co. we are retailers and retail experts. We’re here to help our customers through software, and beyond.
Toy shop POS software helps indie toy retailers compete with big business
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The indie toy shop POS software from Tower Systems is rich in facilities and tools that help local indie toy retailers compete. From smart shop level engagement though to marketing to unexpected insights, this POS software is perfect for local toy shops. It is POS software build specifically for toy shops.
Specialisation is what sets you apart. It is what sets us apart too.
From managing seasonal sales to respecting product care instructions to offering easy sell packs with multiple items, our specialty toy shop software can help you serve in valuable and appreciated ways.
We can help maximise sales with smart shopper engagement. This is where you easily leverage customer data to reach out with personal reminders, which can bring customers who shopped with you once back again and again.
Imagine easily reaching out to those who purchased Cards Against Humanity, Lego products, Harry Potter products, new Beanie Boos or Monopoly and inviting them to purchase a product extension?
Our front-end loyalty offer helps you leverage one-off and infrequent shoppers, to maximise their shopping visit. We have retailers reporting 10% and more revenue boosts from this loyalty tool big retailers cannot copy.
These are some examples of how Tower Systems leverages its toy shop specific software for you – with training and assistance specific to your type of business, to ensure that you maximise the benefits for your business.
Another way to use the software is with Humm, Zip Pay, Zip Money, buy now pay later services that settle immediately to you. These are integrated as a method of payment.
Our Toy Shop Software also offers:
- Catalogue management – making catalogue sales easy.
- Easy loading of electronic invoices from your suppliers.
- Linking to a website for online sales.
- Easily handling BOGO (buy 1 get 1 free) or other up-sell offers.
- Linking to Xero to cut bookkeeping and external accounting costs.
- Rewarding loyal shoppers with points, cash off next purchase or a mixture.
- Easy to use LayBy.
Here are four success stories…
Frank was thrilled the receipt for the birthday gift he bought his granddaughter had a link to advice that made him an expert when he gave her the gift. His granddaughter loved it. He is still smiling at being an expert.
Kath mentioned us on Facebook, saying she loves the care instructions we provide for the jigsaws she buys from us and the loyalty rewards we offer.
Working mum Clare appreciated ordering from our website and having the awesome and fun birthday gifts for her twins wrapped and ready for collection on her way home. She loved the surprise we included.
Mick loves each text message we send to say the next release of his collection is ready for pick-up. And, he loves the reward for being a collector.
Every day, local indie toy shops in Australia serve customers like Frank, Kath, Clare and Mick with personal local service. Specialist indie toy businesses need specialist software to serve these and other types of specialist needs.
Easy access produce business POS software helps rural supply businesses serve local farmers
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We are grateful for the love and appreciation shown for the launch of the rental pricing option that makes our specialty produce business software available for $199.00 a month. For this low monthly cost you get…
- Australian developed and supported produce business POS software – for farm supply, produce and stockfeed businesses.
- Produce business POS software updates as we release them.
- Unlimited licences for your business location. If you need an extra computer, there is no extra software cost.
- Shopify / Magento / Woo link. Easily sell online from your POS software.
- Xero link. Easing bookkeeping costs and streamlining accounting.
- Our OzBiz link. This helps you link to MYOB and Quicken through OzBiz.
- Tyro link – safe, fast and easy EFTPOS link for streamlined sales.
- PC Eftpos link. This offers easy EFTPOS processing for the major banks.
- Easy buy now pay laterthanks to Zip Pay and Humm – that Boomers, Gen Y, Gen X and others are using more and more.
- Support – help desk access, unlimited training, updates and more.
- User documentation. Access to our searchable knowledge base.
The $199.00 is charged per 30 days, in advance. Access can be cancelled at any time. You can also choose to purchase the produce business POS software outright.
We have a structured and personalised on-boarding process, done in your business:
- A pre-installation training and information pack to help you be ready in your business and with hardware.
- Pre-installation planning. A structured phone meeting to plan the installation and to go over the training, ensuring we cover what matters to you and your team.
- On-site installation and training. On-site installation of and training in the Tower software anywhere in Australia for up to two days incl. travel.
- Data conversion. Conversion of all data possible (within reasonable time constraints). This is a two-step process:
- Pre-conversion. With your permission we extract data to be checked for layout and consistency.
- The conversion itself. This is done as part of software installation.
- Personal priority support. New user priority support through a specialist area of the new customer help desk.
- Personal post-installation follow-up. A separate structured call to check knowledge and use processes.
- All travel costs to and from the installation.
Here are some of the produce business specific benefits produce business owners and managers tell us they love about our software:
- Invoicing and account management – easily manage invoices and accounts: produce picking slips, feed data to Xero, account for freight.
- Trade pricing profiles for easy price management.
- Pre-orders – We make it easy for you to pre-sell stock.
- Special orders. Manage orders for specific customers.
- Awesome loyalty through which you can easily differentiate.
- Pricing profiles. You can set pricing rules based on types of customers.
- Seasonal reordering. Easily reorder inventory based on seasonal sales.
- Weatherproof labels.
- Loading electronic invoices from suppliers.
- An automated link to Shopify, Magento and Woo including images.
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