CategoryAdult shop software

The POS software chosen for a small business retail shop matters to the staff, those who work in the business. Too often, however, staff are not consulted as to the POS software chosen for a business yet they are the front line, the people who drive value from the POS software investment.

Tower Systems offers retail staff plenty of learning opportunities with our POS software so that they do not have to rely on retail business owners or managers to learn the software. Our customers can tap into unlimited training. This helps ensure that the front line retail employees can transact with the software accurately, quickly and for maximum benefit for the business.

Front line retail employees tell us they love our software and the support we offer. Collating feedback here are the top benefits retail employees (not managers or business owners) like about our Tower Systems POS software:

1. That the software is specific to the type of the business, that it is not general software.
2. Easy to learn.
3. Easy to get more training.
4. Friendly and easily accessed support.
5. Fast at the counter.
6. The integrations like EFTPOS and other connections that help make the counter more productive.
7. The structure of processes. There is a commonsense approach that suits live retail operations.
8. The plain English approach – there are few technical terms.
9. Fingertip access to information to help make better business decisions.

Any business considering our software and keen for input from front line employees prior to making a decision are welcome to have us demonstrate the software to them, live, using data like you would use in your business. Your staff can process transactions as they would like in the business. This provides you with feedback on the usefulness of the software as assessed by those who work in your retail business on a day to day basis. We think this matters.

If you work in a shop that is considering new POS software, reach out to us. We’d be happy to discuss your needs, to work with you to see if our POS software is a good fit for your business. If it is not in our opinion, we will say so. It starts with you outlining what you are looking for and us demonstrating how our software works to see if we match your needs.

POS software company Tower Systems provides its small business retailer community with access to a secure cloud backup service.

This service provides on-location and secure off-location backups of data, giving retailers double protection in the event of an attack or major hardware crash that necessitates access to backed up data.

The benefits are clear:

1. Time saved thanks to no more end of day backup.
2. Fast restore in the event of a cyber attack or system  crash.
3. Incremental backups meaning the ability to restore back to prior some event occurred.
4. Peace of mind.
5. No need to remember to backup.
6. Double backups = more protection.
7. Security of off site backups.

The best way to any business, especially any small business, to be prepared for an attack, beyond firewall and other force-field protection is to have easy and fast access to up to date backup data, of whole of systems backup data.

The Tower Systems cloud backup service is safe, secure, offsite and on site and updated regularly as each day transacts.

Our cloud backup service for small business retailers has professional redundancy built in. We will not provide details here as to do so could compromise the security.

There have been instances recently where after a crypto lock attack on a client we have had them up and running, fully restored, within the hour.

This is what professional backup looks like. It is insurance for getting over the attack quickly and professionally. Without a hefty price tag.

We monitor the backups. for no additional cost to customers This is bonus coverage beyond the notifications on your local computer about backup status.

The peace of mind is valuable and appreciated by small business retailers and people who work in small business retail and have been responsible for undertaking the daily backups. It frees them to focus on other requirements, other parts of their business.

Cloud back is, in our view, the only safe backup for small business retailers. It is what we recommend. It is what we use ourselves in our own retail businesses.

Tower Systems is proud to offer this service to its small business retailer POS software community.

Tower Systems helps small business retailers benefit through its direct POS software Xero link.

First released years ago and regularly enhanced, the POS software Xero link helps small business retailers…

1. Save time.
2. Cut mistakes.
3. make better decisions.
4. make faster decisions.
5. Have more control over their businesses.
6. Stress less.
7. Sell their businesses.

We use Xero ourselves in our own retail businesses, where we also use our POS software. nWe have practical and personal experience on which we can draw to serve our customers, to provide them a better Xero POS software integrated experience.

When we provide training and help on this, we do so from years of personal experience. It is one thing to know what to do, it is another entirely to actually have done it yourself. This is where our story is unique in the POS software space, where we are able to best serve our small business retailers on an efficient and useful Xero POS software link.

Here is what is transferred to Xero through our POS software Xero link.

1. 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.
2. Stock Arrivals – Invoices that are received into Retailer are transferred over to Xero as department level purchase invoice. No individual stock items are transferred.
3. Stock Returns – Returns are transferred as credits in Xero at the department level. No individual stock items are transferred.
4. Write Off’s and No Sales – These are both transferred to individual expense accounts, depending on what reason was chosen when the transaction was performed.
5. 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 adjustments for the End Of Month much easier.

We developed the link is association with xero, as a development partner.

While we have an integration with Quicken and MYOB, we love Xero as it is easy, well maintained and well supported … and we use it ourselves in our own shops having tried other accounting software solutions.

Retail is tough. Small business is tough. In our POS software, small business retailers have tools that help them compete, tools through which they can differentiate their businesses and reach new opportunities and customers.

Sometimes, the best way to compete is to stop competing. That is what we want to talk abut here today.

What is competition anyway. Often, it is inn our head and there it swirls around and does bad things. Let’s take a moment to look at competition differently.

Too often we in small business see competition and get angry. We ignore the opportunity to change gears and stop competing

In our Tower Systems POS software our retail small business customers have facilities through which they can change gears, through which they can recast your offer so it cannot be compared to those from a competitor.

These gear changing competitive tools in your current software include:

1. Discount Vouchers. This is the most effective form of immediate loyalty rewards we have ever seen, driving excellent sales results. Charge more for an item and reward shoppers with cash off their next purchase.
2. Buy X get Y – Multibuy. This focuses people on a volume based offer rather than a direct simple purchase.
3. Package multiple items together for a price you set. Done right you can get more than the total value of the items in the package.
4. Special orders. Major retailers tend to prefer to sell what they have. Special orders are often considered too difficult. If you manage it well and make it easy, you can pitch your business competitively.
5. Sell you. Include insights, knowledge and advice with purchases, on receipts, automatically. Show, through every sale, that buying from you is different to other retailers where they could have purchased the same item.

This small list is a taste of the game changing opportunities though which you can compete in non traditional and often more valuable ways. These are ways we can help – through the software and through business advice that helps you leverage the software for wonderful times and insights.

Next time you feel competitive pressure from a big business, ask what you could change gearsin your business to position you differently, to not look like you are competing.

The more you can do to block direct price comparison the better. But don’t block, change the playing field. That is what we like to do.

Here at Tower Systems we can help with these and other initiatives in this area of smart competition.

POS software, the right POS software, can be hard for small business retailers to find. While there are many point of sale packages out there in the marketplace, it can be hard to know the right p.o.s. package that is right for your business.

So many say that their software the best software for you. There can be wild claims. Often, wild claims are not backed up by the facts.

No two POS software programs are the same. Making the choice should rake time and care. It should involved a deep dive into the software and what it does, how it works.

If you are in a specialty retail business, we suggest you look thoughtfully and carefully at the needs of the business, to make sure you know what you want and why you want it before you head off and make a decision. A quick decision is not necessarily the best decision as you could be stuck with bad data, bad business practices and frustration all round.

POS software can be complex, which is good you want it doin g the heavy lifting in your business, you want doing things that will genuinely save time and money in the business. This is why we think taking time to make the right decision is critical. It is also why we say not all POS software programs are the same.

POS software for small business retail can include transacting sales at the counter, managing LayBys, handling product catalogues, connecting with suppliers, connecting with your accounting software, managing repairs, managing EFTPOS payments, handling complex freight requirements, telling you what is working and what is not working, making sure business is transacted accurately, mitigating theft, connecting with your online store, selling products by weight … and plenty more.

POS software is powerful, flexible, easy to use and constantly evolving as the needs of retail and the needs of your type of business evolve.

Tower stems serves over 3,000 small business retailers with POS software. This is what we do. We make POS software, what we think is awesome POS software. We sell, rent , lease POS software. We provide support for ur POS software.

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.

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. Less is more.  The stack em high watch em fly mantra can be wrong. Indeed, it is often wrong in retail. Shoppers can be store blind because a shop is too full or a display is too busy. Consider creating simpler less cluttered displays and window promotions. Draw attention to what you want people to see by promoting that one thing. Every time someone asks if you have something that you think through should be able to find easily – take it as a challenge for you to address rather than a commentary on a facility of the customer.
9. Change. Christmas season in your shop should evolve. Major change weekly is vital for people to see what you have that they could buy.
10. Be socially engaged. On Facebook, Instagram, twitter and elsewhere, be the calm voice, the person people enjoy reading or seeing photos from. Provide entertainment this Christmas rather than the usual retailer shrill of come and shop here!
11. Be community minded. Choose a local charity or community group to support through Christmas. Consider: a change collection tin at the counter; a themed Christmas window display; promotion on your social media pages; a donation to their work; a collection point for donations from customers.
12. 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.
13. Award a prize at a local school. Fund a year-end prize at a local school. Attend a school assembly to award the prize. Work with the school leadership on a prize appropriate to your business.
14. VIP preview. Host a VIP shopper preview night when you show off your Christmas ranges ahead of being available to the general shoppers. Respect and reward your local shoppers with deals and the opportunity to preview ahead of others.
15. Leverage Christmas traffic. Encourage the Christmas shopper traffic surge in after Christmas. Give them a reason to come back. A coupon promotion or a discount voucher on receipts could be the enticement to get shoppers back in-store. Note: the Tower POS software produces discount vouchers to rules you establish.
16. 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.
17. Dress the shop. Fully embrace Christmas. Create a Christmas experience such that shoppers know they have stepped into somewhere special this Christmas. Go for more than some tinsel and a tree. Fully embrace the opportunity.
18. Make your shop smell like Christmas.
19. 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.
20. Host a Christmas party. For shops nearby. You are all in the season together – let your hear down before things get crazy.
21. 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.
22. Stocking stuffers. At your counter always have one or two stocking stuffers for impulse purchase.
23. Offer gift vouchers – for someone to give when they are not sure what to give.
24. 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.
25. 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.
26. Offer a free gift. Bulk purchase an item to offer those who spend above a set amount. For example, spend $65 and receive XX where XX may have cost $5.00 but could have a perceived value of $20.00.
27. Keep it fresh. Every week make significant change to your Christmas displays and promotions to keep your offer fresh.
28. 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.
29. Free wrapping. Sure, many retailers offer this. Make your offer better, more creative and more appreciated.
30. This is essential in any business. Manage it through your computer system with strict rules.
31. Work the floor. Increase time on the shop floor. Be present to manage shopper flow and to facilitate purchases.
32. Christmas is crazy busy I most retail situations. Give yourself and your team members sufficient time to recharge so the smile greeting shoppers is heartfelt.
33. Keep a secret. If yours is a business selling gifts a partner may purchase for their loved-one, create some mystery with a closed off display for the shopper to see the products.
34. Free assembly. If you sell items that require assembly. Offer to do this for free.
35. Free delivery. Offer free Christmas Eve delivery for items purchased for kids for Christmas.
36. Sell training. Leverage the specialist knowledge you have in your business by selling as gifts places at classes you run sharing your expertise.
37. 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.
38. 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.
39. 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.
40. 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.

Tower Systems offers Point of sale / retail management software tailored for your specific type of retail business. Our software can help you leverage Christmas traffic for year-long benefits.

For years, Tower Systems has offered access to its POS software through rental. This easy to establish arrangement offers access to the software on a month by month basis with no capital outlay up front to access the software.

The rental payment option, like our cloud hosted option, is available to all Tower Systems customers in all marketplaces.

Our customers can also convert from rental to purchase or lease at any time. How people pay to access the software is easy, simple and self-managed. This provides our customers with the best options, options that suit their specific circumstances.

In offering rental years ago, Tower Systems provided small business retailers with payment options that suit the cash flow needs of many small business retailers. There is no loan application, no finance approval process, no cumbersome paperwork, no hassle. This is another way the company makes doing business with Tower Systems frictionless, easy.

The paperwork is a dream and there is no minimum lock-in term. Like we said, easy, frictionless.

The Tower Systems POS software for any of the specialty retail marketplaces in which the company operates is available for rental.

Our rental customers have access to exactly the same customer service experiences and touch points as all other customers using our software.

The most effective ways small business retailers can compete with big businesses and online is through efficient operation, accurate data and customer service touch-points that add appreciated value.

Tower Systems only sells its POS software to small business retailers.

We believe in small businesses, their importance to local communities and their broader economic value.

Through our software, our personal in-store training, 24/7 human and locally based help desk service, regional user meetings, weekly online workshops and other touch-points we help small business retailers beyond what is usual for POS software companies.

Our company motto is we’re here to help. We take this seriously. Everyday, out motto challenges us to help our customers in ways they do not expect, ways beyond the software itself.

Founded in 1981, Tower Systems has evolved as technology has evolved. The software we sell today is generations away from where we started. We are proud to have served some of our customers for decades.

More than 3,500 specialty small business retailers in Australia and New Zealand use our specialty POS software.

To us, a specialty retailer is one that offers services unique to the channel, services that define the business.  We embed in our software for each retail channel facilities that serve needs unique to that channel. We take pride in doing this and enhancing these channel-specific facilities as the needs evolve.

RETAIL MARKETS

There are versions of the software serving the business specific needs of: Jewellers, Bike shops, Garden Centres, Book shops, Gift Shops, Homewares Shops, Produce businesses, Fishing and Outdoors shops, Newsagents, Toy Shops, Confectionery Retail, Stationery retail, Pet Shops, Pet Grooming, Whole Foods Grocers, Swimming Pool Supplies, Firearms Retail and Adult Shops.

Linking directly to Xero enhances the time-saving gained through the software as well as facilitating the accuracy of data managed by the software.

Our Xero link provides for a data feed of sales as well as purchases.

With a CPA working full time in our business we are configured to provide a technical solution that has been overseen by our own Accountant, to ensure it is a viable solution for the small business retailers we serve.

INTEGRATIONS

Our Xero integration is one of many approved integrations provided by the software to serve the needs of retailers. Other integrations include:

1. Tyro broadband EFTPOS.
2. Links to all major banks through PC-EFTPOS.
3. Magento e-commerce.
4. Shopify e-commerce.
5. WooCommerce / Word Press.
6. FlyBys in New Zealand.
7. Transactor loyalty in New Zealand.
8. Scale integration for selling by weight.
9. Touch networks for vending event tickets, phone recharge, fishing licences and more.

CLOUD OR NOT

The Tower software can run on the desktop or in the cloud. Retailers decide what they prefer.

In its cloud offer, Tower offers a 100% hosted solution running in a secure purpose-build location with high-level security and backup. This solution is offered on a SAAS (Software As A services) model with minimal on-boarding costs and a single monthly fee.

Retailers who prefer local control can purchase or lease-finance the software. Once acquired, there are no mandatory annual access fees.

This flexible approach to pricing provides retailers the maximum flexibility in acquisition model.

WHAT THE SOFTWARE OFFERS.

This is a comprehensive and flexible Point of Sale software package offering facilities in many areas of retail business operation including facilities that help small business retailers to run more competitive and valuable businesses. The Tower website provides comprehensive information on software facilities.

PERSONAL SERVICE MATTERS.

The Tower training is personal, one-on-one. It is delivered in-store, by someone with extensive retail experience.

The help desk help desk is based in Hawthorn victoria. When people call, the call is answered by a human and not a computerised phone system. We believe in personal service.

The company also offers free online training workshops where retailers  can learn more and talk to each other about how they use the software.

Every customer has access to free one-on-one training year after year.

There are also user meetings around the country where people can meet the management and technical team in an open group setting for more free training and free assistance.

WE ARE RETAILERS TOO.

We own and operate several retail businesses, providing us with experience every day that enables us to walk in the shoes of our customers. We also use these shops as test sites for early releases of software updates plus we are happy for customers and prospects to visit the shops and learn from what we do ourselves in leveraging the software.

THE CUSTOMERS ARE IN CONTROL.

At the Tower Systems website, click on Software Ideas to see our transparent approach to customer engagement on software enhancements. This is world-class. Customers can make suggestions. These are assessed to ensure they will work. All customers are then invited to vote on the suggestions. The more votes the faster we bring the suggestion to reality.

Here at Tower Systems, we help businesses using our small business POS software compete with big businesses.

Helping small business retailers compete is important to us and to all who rely on each of our small business retail customers. It is also important to regional and rural towns around Australia, New Zealand and other locations where we serve.

How we help small business retailers compete with big business is a secret as there are things we do in our software, tools we offer, processes we follow, opportunities that we provide that are proprietary. They make our software different, better, stronger and more useful to small business retailers.

It’s like a secret sauce if you will. A secret recipe of software and facilities on which ur small business retailer customers can rely to leverage a points of difference over big business retail competitors.

Since we only sell our POS software to small business retailers, this is 100% our focus, to deliver for this group of retailers so they can have a valuable point of difference over big businesses.

From the way we manage inventory to the marketing tools we provide to the front-end loyalty we offer to the management insights we share, our small business retail software helps provide a competitive advantage.

Take our front-end loyalty. It is unique, valuable and proven to help small business retailers win business they might otherwise not win. These are facilities big business retailers do not offer. They are differentiating and valuable.

We are grateful to the support of our small business customers for trusting us to provide these and other tools in our POS software.

Beyond smart loyalty, our POS software helps small business retailers compete with big businesses by helping them to leverage what is unique about their businesses. We help them leverage local knowledge and experience and to encode this in a way that is useful and easily served to customers consistently and with pride buy the business.

By giving small local retail  business tools that compare favourably with the tools of big business retailers we help small business retailers win moire business, every day.

INVITATION: FREE small business retailer workshop.

How to create, promote and run a successful online business from any shop through our POS software, anywhere in Australia

1. See, live, real websites for various types of businesses.
2. Learn how they work and how to keep them fresh.
3. Discover how to find new shoppers hours away from your shop.
4. See how Facebook plays a role in driving online and in-store success through love examples.
5. Understand the vital connection between POS software and websites.

Join us for a practical, jargon-free, workshop where we show the value of our Aussie developed and supported POS software and website solutions. See awesome POS software and successful websites for your type of business.

1. Perth – August 20.  10am. Click here to book.
2. Sydney – August 21. 8am. Click here to book.
3. Brisbane – August 22.  8am. Click here to book.
4. Adelaide – August 23. 9am. Click here to book.
5. Canberra – August 24. 9am. Click here to book.
6. Hobart – August 27. 10am. Click here to book.
7. Melbourne – August 28.  10am. Click here to book.
8. Newcastle – August 29. 9am. Click here to book.

At this free workshop we will…

1. Show how a good website / POS solution can land more shoppers in your physical shop, more than you think, and help you sell 24/7.·
2. Explain how to get to the top Google results, and stay there.·
3. Show how to use Facebook to drive online and in-store sales. We will share invaluable free social media advice.
4. Talk you through key steps to website success through live examples.
5. Share practical experience on order fulfilment using Australia Post and others and how to handle freight costs.
6. Explain payment options and how to leverage them for more sales.
7. Work through the commercial implications.
8. Explain photos, descriptions and things web experts often miss.·
9. Answer all your questions.

We offer solutions for retailers in these channels: gifts, jewellers, bikes, toys, fishing/outdoors, garden centres, pet shops, produce, firearms, adult shops and newsagents.