The POS Software Blog

The POS Software Blog

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

CategoryAntique shop software

Tower Systems Antique Shop Software: Helping Antique Dealers Run More Enjoyable and Successful Businesses

July 21, 2023
3 Min read
T

Running an antique shop can be a lot of work. There’s inventory to track, customers to keep happy, and payments to process. Often, depending on the type of antique business, there are many suppliers, collectors, to track and report to. Our Tower Systems Antique Shop Software helps streamline your operations and save time.

This software has sone terrific features, including: 

  • Inventory tracking: Tower Systems Antique Shop Software makes it easy to track your inventory, from individual items to entire collections. You can easily see what you have in stock, what you’re low on, and what you need to order. Plus, you can see the people who have provided this inventory to you, even if it is on consignment.
  • Sales management: Tower Systems Antique Shop Software also makes it easy to manage your sales. You can track sales by item, by customer, or by period. This information can help you identify trends and make better decisions about your business. It’s easy to learn and therefore useful in a situation where different people work the dealership on different days.
  • Customer tracking: Tower Systems Antique Shop Software helps you keep track of your customers. You can store their contact information, purchase history, and preferences. This information can help you provide better customer service and target your marketing efforts.
  • Sell online: Tower Systems Antique Shop Software can also be integrated with Shopify, magenta, Woo and Big Commerce. Easily sell online.

Benefits:

  • Increased efficiency: Tower Systems Antique Shop Software can help you streamline your operations and save time. You can easily process transactions, track inventory, and manage sales. This frees up your time so you can focus on other aspects of your business.
  • Improved customer service: Tower Systems Antique Shop Software can help you provide better customer service. You can easily track customer orders and preferences, and you can send them reminders about upcoming appointments or events. This can help you build stronger relationships with your customers and keep them coming back.
  • Increased sales: Tower Systems Antique Shop Software can help you increase your sales. You can easily sell your products online, and you can target your marketing efforts to specific demographics. This can help you reach a wider audience and boost your sales.

Our Tower Systems Antique Shop Software is easy to use, efficient, and can help improve your customer service and increase sales.

Call 1300 662 957 or email sales@towersystems.com.au for more details and to outline what it is you are looking for in Antique shop software.

Here are some additional benefits of using Tower Systems Antique Shop Software:

  • Reporting: Track your sales, inventory, and customer data. This information can help you make better decisions about your business.
  • Remote management: You can access your software from anywhere with an internet connection. This means you can manage your business from home or on the go.
  • Helpful support: Tower Systems offers human delivered support, so you can get help you need.

If you’re looking for a powerful and easy-to-use POS software for your antique shop, then Tower Systems Antique Shop Software could be a good fit for you.

Read onRead later

Advice for local small business retailers: how to enhance your local credentials

July 18, 2023
3 Min read
A

In 2023, embodying the essence of local in the retail become more vital than ever. Big businesses are engaged in local, but they are using systems, processes and tech. The conundrum for genuinely local small business retailers lies in authentically cultivating a local identity.

The term local means different things to different people. It isn’t restricted to geographic proximity. Local can be perceived as the degree of personalised care you offer to your customers, the supplementary advice you give, living within the locality yourself, sourcing products locally, or serving the community on a personal level. It may also be linked to the availability of locally sourced products.

For instance, a product produced anywhere within Australia could be deemed as locally sourced. Narrating the story of where a product originates, along with the family involved in its creation, can add a local touch to it, distinguishing it from similar overseas products. This narrative is crucial because it underlines the local aspect.

Small retail businesses can leverage Tower Systems’ retail POS software to effectively promote their local attributes in various ways:

  • Enhance your receipts: Use receipts to provide product care instructions, usage guidelines, or other beneficial information automatically, turning your receipts into a valuable information source.
  • Disclose product origins: If a product is made by a small business or family within Australia, include this detail on the receipt. Highlight the local product, giving customers additional information to foster a local connection.
  • Advocate for local shopping: Attach an image or poster promoting the advantages of shopping local to every receipt. Tower Systems offers free images for this purpose, available in the downloads section on their website.
  • Show customer appreciation: Personalise a thank-you message to customers shopping with you. Sign off with your name and contact number. This personal touch is typically absent in larger businesses.
  • Monitor local product sales: Keep track of local suppliers’ product performance using various reporting tools.
  • Reward local shopping: Implement discount vouchers named “Thanks for shopping local” or “Local shopping reward” to emphasise the benefits of supporting local businesses. You can establish rules to offer discounts off the next purchase.
  • Merely advocating for local shopping isn’t enough; you must showcase its value and integrate it into your retail business operations. The most effective approach to accomplish this is by incorporating suitable systems and procedures into your POS software.

There are plenty of ways local small business retailers can authentically pitch local. In this post we have covered just some of them. We are a local POS software company ready to help you pitch local.

Read onRead later

How to handle consignment stock using POS software from Tower Systems

July 10, 2023
4 Min read
H

Consignment stock is growing in popularity in retail, especially local small business retail. Here is advice from our POS software company on handling consignment stock.

We have developed this advice following work with gifts shops, antique shops and other businesses offering consignment stock and using our POS software.

Retailers who sell consignment stock, or commissioned goods (typically from a local supplier or artisan) and want to keep track of the products through sales and potentially receiving/returning stock. There are a few ways to handle this in the Retailer POS software from Tower Systems, using different setups, with their own benefits and limitations.

Three of the ways for handling Consignment stock in the Tower POS software are covered here, and since they are not mutually exclusive, you could mix them together to get something that works for your business. For all three methods, you can also arrive/receive stock through Invoice Arrivals, and Returns of the item can be done through Invoice Arrivals, without much change.
When doing arrivals and returns of consignment products, consider the following. If you need to see quantities on hand of the product in the system when you sell, you will need to arrive, or manually adjust the product quantities. Then, process returns on the products later. Alternatively, you can sell into negatives, and only arrive the final quantities of product later.

Using Supplier
A particular supplier can be assigned as a consignment supplier (or multiple suppliers). You can differentiate them simply by adding ‘Consignment’ to their names (or in any other effective manner).

Many reports in Retailer (such as Supplier Sales Analysis and Stock Listing Report) can be set to run for and exclude certain suppliers. The same can be done in stock ordering so this may be the easiest one to implement.

The limitation is that certain reports like the Detailed Takings report cannot be told to include/exclude particular suppliers.

The benefit is you can continue organising stock in Departments and Categories that are mixed with other, non-consignment stock. Carrying a larger amount of consignment products is also fine with Department names and stock tags on reports still meaningful and descriptive of the product itself.

Using Department
A particular department can be setup as a Consignment department, specifically used for holding items on consignment. This department could be named to include the word ‘Consignment’ to differentiate it, and can also be marked as an Agency Department. Agency Departments have the added feature of being able to be excluded as a tickbox option on many reports (e.g. Detailed Takings Report).

This can mean that the Department name is not as meaningful or descriptive of the products, which should be fine for small numbers of consignment products that are quite similar.

Many reports can be run to exclude Agency Departments (if used here) which can be very helpful. This includes the very useful Stock Listing report, which gives you a total stock value on hand.

Using Stock Tags
Stock tags can be created to track products on consignment, and you can have as many as is meaningful to your business without impacting or bloating reports and information.

E.g. Kitchenware Consignment tag, Foodstuff Consignment tag, Fashionwear Consignment tag.

These will need to be assigned to the relevant products.

The main drawback with this is that reports are only going to be able to include these products based on tags. The reports cannot exclude items based on these tags so if you need to run particular reports and easily exclude consignment products, this method may not be suitable.

The big advantage in using tags is allowing your products to be assigned to meaningful Departments together with other product. Any reports that use tags (e.g. Stock Listing report, Detailed Takings report) will also find it easy to list these products, and potentially show subgroups of the consignment products (if more tags were added) or include other products that have similar tags.

Read onRead later

Specialty POS software for local small business retailers in Australia and New Zealand

June 28, 2023
2 Min read
S

Here at Tower Systems we are grateful to serve a diverse mix of specialty retailers in different marketplaces. These include:

Here’s what’s included in the monthly rental cost: software licences for unlimited computers in the location, help desk support (by phone or email) 6 days a week (including Saturday), access to a comprehensive support knowledge base, after hours support call access for urgent system down queries, access to our Shopify, Xero and other integrations, access to our supplier invoice import tools.

  • NZ and Aussie based customer service by us. No call centre.
  • Humans answer our phones.
  • Email us and a retail knowledgable human responds.
  • Our office is open Monday through Saturday.
  • Month to month rental – no lock in contract.
  • No lock-in EFTPOS contract. You choose the EFTPOS that suits you.
  • Self serve training videos and knowledge base.
  • Low cost training for those who want it.
  • The listed prices are genuinely monthly – not annual paid up front.

Tower Systems currently serves more than 3,000 local small business retailers.

It may be that our software is not right for you. Let us organise a personal live demonstration by Zoom. We’ll record it with you and give you a copy so you can show colleagues and others you’d like to consult.

If we think we are not a good fit for you we will say so and wish you all the best.

Email us: sales@towersystems.com.au.

Call us: 1300 662 957 (Australia) 0800 444 367 (NZ toll free).

We have a crew of awesome software developers, caring customer service people and a business support crew skilled in serving local indie retailers.

At our website, we have easily accessible recent demonstrations of our POS software, which you can access immediately and without sharing any personal contact details whatsoever. The transparency we demonstrate on our website reflects how we operate as a company.

Read onRead later

5 ways retailers can use the POS software from Tower Systems to pitch value to shoppers

May 9, 2023
3 Min read
5

Plenty is being written about the economy at the moment and it is negatively impacting consumer confidence. There are things you can do with the Tower Systems POS software to show your business offering value to shoppers, and thereby nurturing more value for you.

And here in this post, value means the value shoppers perceive in dealing with your business. You could also use the term savings.

While value can be about price, it is often not as straightforward as that. Something could cost more but it could last longer or you might get more pieces than if you pay a lower price or there may be some other add-on that drives value.

While our POS software offers many ways retailers can pitch value to shoppers, here are 5 ways retailers can use the POS software from Tower Systems to pitch value to shoppers:

  1. Discount vouchers in Retailer are a perfect way to pitch value. A dollar amount discount is better understood than points. You can set the vouchers up in a way so costs are covered by benefits. Show your shoppers what they can save.
  2. Offer to fund raise for local charities, community groups and clubs. They could give their members a card that gets them, say, a 5% discount off purchasing from you while also earning for the charity a 5% donation. The goal here is to bring new shoppers into your business.
  3. Offering a coffee card type discount of, say, buy 9 and get your 10th free for habit-based purchases, like coffee, pet food, cards, magazines, fertilizer etc. can help nurture shopper stickiness to your business.
  4. Bundling products together into something that only your business offers can pitch a value proposition unique to your business.
  5. Volume pricing, where the cost of an item decreases as the quantity purchased increases, can help shoppers save and you sell more.

Your software offers more ways of pitching value to shoppers than these, and it helps you systemise pitching value. Being consistent about this is key to it working for you.

Consider this list of 5 a starting point, a jumping off point for exploring other ways for your business.

Tower Systems offers business management advice like this to all of its POS software customers, taking the POS software help desk experience beyond the technical and onto the shop floor, to help our local small business retailer customers to themselves get more value from their use of our POS software.

Read onRead later

7 ways retailers can use POS software from Tower Systems to help improve the value of their business

May 8, 2023
3 Min read
7

When we talk about the value of a retail business we mean what the business is worth when it comes time to sell, which is dependent on the profitability of the business as reflected in the profit and loss statement.

Value is the key business measure here and while there can be non-monetary value perceived by the owners and other stakeholders, it is the value as seen by others, as through P&L results that is the common measure.

Using POS software from Tower Systems, retailers can drive value. Here are 7 ways they can do that:

  1. Dead stock. In the average indie retail business, dead stock is equal to around 3% of turnover and often around 12% of total current inventory investment. Using our software, it is easy to identify dead stock. That’s the first step to converting it to cash.
  2. Stop running out of stock. Selling out of items that will sell costs the business  money.  In a small retail business we looked at recently, sell-outs cost more than $3,000 in a year, or $1,500 in gross profit, all because of poor re-ordering management. Your Insights Dashboard has this information.
  3. Bloated roster. Some prefer to spend money on people, so they have time to themselves for relaxing, golf or to sit in the back office, where no customer purchases from. We often see a bloat cost equal to around 10% of the roster.
  4. Wrong trading hours. Some stay open too long while others are not open long enough. Either way has a cost to the business.
  5. Being blind to theft. Theft in local indie retail costs on average 3% – 5% of turnover. Our software can help you see it, track it, and mitigate against it.
  6. The wrong product mix. GP% is a key measure of retail business performance. Often, we see retailers chasing transaction volume and not watching and chasing GP%. Growth in business GP% is often more valuable than transaction growth.
  7. Reordering. Ordering based on data reduces mistakes. It’s better, too, than letting a supplier order for you. The software can help you with reordering, so there are fewer mistakes, fewer sell-outs, less dead stock.

This list is incomplete as our POS software can help cultivate value in plenty of other ways. We created this list to provide our customers with a starting point, some low hanging fruit.

We shared the advice with our customers via our regular customer email and our regular print newsletter. This is another example of the proactive approach we take to guiding our customers to achieve more from their use of our POS software.

While, for sure, our help desk answers support questions and helps with technical queries, we often go beyond with business advice that crosses the intersection of the technical; aspects of the software and the use within a retail business of the software to better serve the business and its owners.

7 ways retailers can use POS software from Tower Systems to help improve the value of their business is all about showing our POS software user community ways they software they already have can be used to help cultivate business value.

Read onRead later

Free POS software

March 28, 2023
3 Min read
F

If you are looking for free POS software, Tower Systems is not the right company for you.

We don’t offer free POS software.

Typically, free POS software comes with payment made in other ways, such as being required to use a particular EFTPOS platform or service or being committed to some other cost in the business.

So, you can see, free is not really free. There is no such thing as free POS software.

What any retail business really wants / needs is the best POS software for their business. The best POS software will provide benefits in time and money that make the POS software truly valuable for the retail business.

Now, to be clear, we don’t know if our Tower Systems POS software is the best POS software for your needs. Only you can know that by comparing what our software does to what it is you need from POS software.

Our message today is buyer beware. Don’t get suckered in by a claim of free POS software because, for sure, it will not be free, and it may not be best for you.

We mention this today as we see many retailers in Australia searching for free POS software. It is worrying because every bad experience someone has with POS software.

Here at Tower Systems we want relationships with value at the core. We want to partner with customers we value, and who value us. This mutual respect helps both businesses prosper and if we do prosper then it’s the classic win win. That can’t happen with free as the starting point.

Software developers and help desk professionals cost money. And, you want that because you want good outcomes for your business. These good outcomes flow from good POS software that ids backed by good customer service.

If you look at it from a retail business perspective, you want people in your shop prepared to pay money for what you have on offer. If they don’t have money they are not customers you want. If their wage growth is flat their capacity to spend more is non existent.

All of this feeds into what is a circular economy.

But on price, we are fair, with a modest cost, which has not changed since 2019. So even though we do charge for our POS software, it’s modest and reflective of what we think the good businesses in our target marketplaces can afford.

Read onRead later

Here’s an easy local small business retailers can better connect with their community

March 24, 2023
3 Min read
H

Community connection is vital in local small business retail, authentic community connection at a level that is loved by folks in the community.

Back in the day, sponsoring a local sports club, donating prizes for a raffle or helping the local Rotary or Lions were the go to ideas for retailers. And while those ideas continue today, there are another local small business retailers can engage in providing community support that is funded buy the community itself.

Through our loyalty tools and, in particular the discount voucher tech we offer, local small business retailers can reward shoppers and they can offer in store a way for these shoppers to pay it forward, to support a local charity or community group organisation.

The Grill’d burger chain was an early adopter of something similar with their bottle caps and giving customers the caps to vote for one of three local charities the store would donate cash to.

Our suggestion is to invite shoppers to donate their discount voucher to one of several local charities in your business, which you could have every month or so, accruing the value of the vouchers for a gift card donation to the charity, or you making a cash donation of a portion of the voucher value to the charity.

It pitched well this could see people who support the local charity shopping with you so that funds are raised for the charity.

We know form years of data that around 20% of all vouchers handed out to shoppers are used by those shoppers within 28 days. This means there are other vouchers that expire unused. A nuanced campaign in-store connected with loved local charities and community groups could drive engagement, do good in the community and show the business as community connected in a fresh and loved way. That is the goal here.

Of course, the execution will be different in each location. Our job as a tech company is to provide opportunity. Our job as retailers ourselves is to share what we have seen work well, and what we have learned.

Your job as a local small business retailer is to make decisions that are right for you and your situation.

Using the discount vouchers generated by the software in this way, to support loved local community groups and charities, could be the reset you want, the engagement driver the business needs. The beauty of it is that it is low cost, self funding and truly community focussed.

We are grateful to the feedback from our customers and this has guided our own activity in this space of local community group connection.

Read onRead later

6 best-value insights that will benefit any local small business retailer

March 22, 2023
5 Min read
6

Retailers in local small business shops can feel alone sometimes when working on their business. They can sometimes get lost in a cave of thoughts without seeing a way out.

We thought about this and considered the thousands of different retailers in our POS software user community, and we developed the Insights Dashboard in our POS software, to deliver easy access to local small business retail insights that any retailer could leverage, regardless of size, location, specialty area or setting.

We wanted to ensure that what we delivered would be useful regardless of level of business management literacy and financial management literacy. We wanted to deliver the insights without the retailer having to seek them out. We wanted to genuinely add value to what a local small business retailer could gain from using our POS software.

So, via the Insights Dashboard in our POS software, we provide insights in six broad areas – with the insights delivered visually.

Where Are We Today 

Gives you a snapshot of the overall sales & liabilities as it stands today.
 
You can access additional options by clicking the … symbol next to Todays Sales.
  1. Date Range – Expand the sales period covered by changing the start & end dates.
  2. All Locations – Multi-store locations can use this option to include/exclude other locations from the sales figures.
  3. Show Gross Profit Values – This option will show / hide GP values in the Daily Sales Dashboard, which you can access from the Point of Sale screen by pressing [Ctrl] + [D] on your keyboard.

What’s Not Selling 

This gives you a visual understanding of what is not performing in your business.  Deadstock in any business is lost cash.  This report gives you the ability to make decisions on this underperforming stock whether it be discounting or other stock reductions strategies to unlock this lost cash.  
 
You can click any stock item listed to show a graph of sales of that item broken down by month.
There are a number of options available to filter the stock items that appear in the list:
  1. Date Range – Limits the list to stock that has not sold in the amount of time specified.
  2. Listing Bottom – Maximum number of items to list.
  3. Rank By – Determines the order that items appear on the list in.
Click the … symbol for additional options:
  1. Departments – Select between showing stock from all departments or tick the desired departments from the list.
  2. Suppliers – Select between showing stock from all suppliers or tick the desired suppliers from the list.
  3. Exclude Recently Added Items – Exclude stock items that were added to your system inside the time period chosen in the drop down box.

What Am I Missing Out On 

This give you a list of items that have sold out and potential missed opportunity. The visual sales history will assist in ensuring the right items are restocked to ensure future revenue is not missed out on.
 
You can click any stock item listed to show a graph of sales of that item broken down by month.
There are a number of options available to filter the stock items that appear in the list:
  1. Date Range – Limits the list to stock that has sold more recently than the amount of time specified.
  2. Listing Bottom – Maximum number of items to list.
Click the … symbol for additional options:
  1. Departments – Select between showing stock from all departments or tick the desired departments from the list.
  2. Suppliers – Select between showing stock from all suppliers or tick the desired suppliers from the list.
  3. Exclude Recently Added Items – Exclude stock items that were added to your system inside the time period chosen in the drop down box.

What Sells With What 

This gives you an insight to consumer basket analysis. Through this you will see exactly what stock items sell with other stock items and from this you will be able to leverage upsell opportunities, co-location and promotion opportunities.   This also shows the sold alone percentage so you can see item upsell efficiency.
 
You can change the period of time in the Date Range to limit the data to the period chosen. The ten items displayed are the ten best selling items by quantity for the selected time period.

Is Theft An Issue 

This provides a in-depth visual overview of all the retailer audit log records by reason, number of occurrences by time day. This will assist in identifying staff theft/training issues that may need to be addressed within the business.
 
You can change the date range to limit the data to the time period chosen. Changing the time increment alters the lengths of time each day is broken up into.
You can view more complete records by using the Audit Log directly. Please contact Tower Support for help using the audit log.

When Are We Busiest & Quietest 

This is a visual overview used to detect any quiet or peak times in your business by displaying over the week as well as detailed by hour.
 
You can change the week ending date to see data from other weeks. Next to chart value type, you can choose to measure by sales value or number of sales.The top graph shows sales broken down by day of the week. You can change the type of graph used to display this data by clicking the diagram type in the bottom-right. The bottom graph shows sales broken down by time of day. You can change the type of graph used to display this data clicking the diagram type in the bottom-right. You can also view this data as a table by clicking the table symbol in the top-right.
Read onRead later

2 minute read: 3 free things any local retailer can do to compound profit

January 4, 2023
2 Min read
2

3 things any retailer can do to compound profit.

Individually, these strategies work. Done together, the profit value compounds.

  1. Chase new customers. Serving the same customers is likely to give you the same results. Every day, do something to attract new customers through: a brilliant and different window display, engaging social media posts, a community group connection, a club member fundraiser.
  2. Maximise gross profit percentage. Buy at the best price you can. Be engaged in how you price what you sell. Every cent matters. Rounding up to .99 is a good start. Pricing based on the value you offer is more important than trying to compete with the cheapest. You’re worth it.
  3. Drive a deeper basket. Be smart about what you place where in the shop in pursuit of people buying more. At you’re counter and at the busiest points in the shop, make adding things to the purchase easy. Look at what people buy with what and use that to guide product placement. Use smart loyalty tools to disrupt shopper behaviour.

Our Aussie made and supported POS software can help with these three strategies, and more. We help our 3,000+ local retail customers run more successful, enjoyable and valuable businesses.

Find out more:
www.towersystems.com.au
1300 662 957
sales@towersystems.com.au

Tower Systems is not your usual POS software company. We own and run retail businesses where our software is used to maximise value. When we suggest ideas and opportunities too our POS software customers, we have tried them ourselves. We walk in the shoes of our customers in a way that is rare in POS software businesses.

This matters in local small business retail as practical advice matters more than theory. It’s kind of like show, don’t tell. We show how our software works in our diverse portfolio of retail businesses and have done now for more than 26 continuous years. Like we said, we are not your usual POS software company.

In addition to advice and support in how to use our POS software, we provide insights based on customer data for those customers keen for this. Our business analysis and advice services are all part of what we offer here at Tower Systems.

Read onRead later

POS software for antique stores helps handle the consignment stock and commission GST challenges

December 8, 2022
2 Min read
P

Antique shops are unique businesses, with unique sales management and data tracking challenges.

The Antique store POS software from Tower Systems helps address these challenges while recognising that there is a diverse mix of needs in these businesses.

Take the area of handling the Get on commission earned by the Antique shop when selling an item that is offered on consignment. There is confusion baby some antique shop managers as to how to handle the GST. The advice we follow in our Antique shop POS software is that outlined by the ATO.

The handling of GST in antique shop sales relates to the commission portion.

We come across this in a number of different areas in specially in lotto sales and Jewellery.   In these in the agency instances the items are set to be GST free, as the retailer is selling the item on the behalf of another party.

The GST payable on the commission which is incurred when you raise an RCTI to the supplier, not the end customer, as it is them that is paying you for the service, not the customer instore.

The ATO is instructive as to the handling of this:

https://www.ato.gov.au/business/gst/in-detail/rules-for-specific-transactions/agent,-consignment-and-progressive-transactions/gst—agent,-consignment-and-progressive-transactions/?anchor=AgentsandGST#AgentsandGST

Agents facilitate sales in return for an agreed amount paid through a commission or similar arrangement.

If you make taxable sales or importations through an agent, you’re responsible for the GST.

You can claim a GST credit for the amount of GST you pay as a commission to the agency. The agent must pay GST on the commission that you pay them, regardless of how the purchaser pays for the goods or services.

Either you or the agent can issue a tax invoice to the purchaser, but you can’t both issue tax invoices for the same sale.

The Antique shop POS software from Tower Systems can handle tracking this GST as well as the sale of the item. There are steps for the retailers to follow to ensure this is done accurately, with an appropriate paper train suitable to the needs of the ATO.

What Tower Systems offers here in its POS software for Antique stores is a specialty retail solution, developed over years of working with retailers.

The more any retail business is able to use its POS software top track business the better as this facilitates accurate record keeping, which sits at the heart of small business success.

Read onRead later

11 reasons why POS software from Tower Systems is worth considering by Aussie local retailers

October 8, 2022
3 Min read
1
  1. Aussie made. We make our POS software here, in Australia, for local specialty Aussie retailers.
  2. Aussie supported. We support our POS software through our help desk team members, who work here in Australia. We have one in New Zealand, too. We have customers in NZ. Everyone on our help desk works for us. We don’t use an offshore help desk.
  3. Aussie supplier connected. Our POS software connects to many Aussie suppliers through easily loading their stock files, loading their electronic invoices and providing them with sales data for auto replenishment – with these connections all controlled by our retail business owner customers.
  4. Aussie accounting connected. Yes, we provide data to Xero and MYOB.
  5. Aussie words used. Terminology matters, especially in local retail. We’re not American software using American terms or UK software using UK terms.
  6. Real people serving you. Call us, a human answers. Email us, a human answers. no bots. No AI. No offshore call centre. Authentic, like local specialty retailers want.
  7. We’re retail experienced. We own and run shops and have done for many years. Almost everyone working in our Aussie POS software company has retail experience.
  8. Our software is for specialty retail, not everyone. That’s right, our software is not right for everyone. By not chasing everyone, we handle the specialist retail requirements that we do handle well, with maturity and depth of functionality.
  9. 100% local small business focussed. We don’t provide access to our software to mid-size or big retailers. Our focus is 100% on local small business retail. Those are the businesses that matter to us. You will never get lost in the crowd with Tower Systems
  10. This POS software continues to evolve. We regularly release valuable updates that enhance the capabilities of the software. his year, in 2022 so far, we have released 3 significant updates.
  11. It covers unique needs. Serial number tracking, dispatch management, selling by fractions, scale integration, serial number tracking, age checking, supplier integration, integrated loyalty … these specialty retail needs are more are core to our POS software.

There are more than 11 reasons to consider POS software from Tower Systems, many more, including facilities it may offer that are unique to your business. You would only know of this match or connection if you look at the software. that’s obligation free. Call 1300 662 057 or email sales@towersystems.com.au and set it up. we’d love to learn about your needs and show what we offer. Then, you can decide if we’re a match.

We will never pressure you.

Have a wonderful day …

Read onRead later

With buy now pay later facing so many problems, LayBy is back in vogue

June 16, 2022
2 Min read
W

Buy now pay later businesses are having a rough ride. They face challenges due to the ease with which people can get credit, their break fees, the cost to retailers of offering the payment method and the entry of new competitors into the space – like banks and Apple.

It feels like the glory days of buy now pay later as a traffic driver for retail are over.

In our Tower Systems POS software we have good LayBy tools, which any retailer can offer and manage easily. We developed these many years ago and have maintained them. Today, we have some retailers handling thousands of LayBys every year. We bring structure and support to offering LayBys in any local business.

Here is a 6-minute video we shot about this yesterday morning.

Using the LayBy tools in the Tower Systems POS software, small business retailers can offer professional management of LayBys including:

  • Structured terms and conditions.
  • Collecting a deposit every time.
  • Managing payments.
  • Handling the adjustment of what is in a LayBy.
  • Managing the collection of the LayBy.
  • Understanding the total LayBy situation of a business.
  • Knowing the location of a LayBy.
  • Feeding LayBy data through to any connected accounting software.
  • Giving even casual employees a structured process through which they can be certain with LayBys.

Best of all, the LayBy facilities in the tower Systems POS software help a retail business to bring structure, certainty, to the LayBy offer in a business and this leads to good business, efficient business, profitable LayBy business.

We make LayBy easy but certain, a differentiator on which local retailers can rely to win business and provide a service local shoppers love.

For too many retailers, offering LayBy can be a grind, problematic to manage. Using our LayBy tools we offer structure. many retail businesses in our POS software community find this useful to LayBy being a more enjoyable part of their businesses. We like this. One of our goals is to help small business retailers enjoy their business more.

With the advent of BNPL, LayBy can be a small business win, a true differentiator, and Tower Systems helps achieve this.

Read onRead later

POS software for antique shops, made and supported in Australia

May 24, 2022
3 Min read
P

Tower Systems is grateful to offer locally made and supported POS software for antique shops.

There is so much specialisation in this software, so much in the way of facilities that antique shop owners and operators will find helpful, useful. here’s a bit of a Q&A we did for antique retailers …

We sell products on behalf of others. Can the software track this? Yes, the software can report on sales by those you carry antiques for in the business, enabling you to easily calculate your commission.

We carry items on consignment, can the software manage this? Yes, you can track consignment items and report on sales.

We rent access to part of our shop to people who display antiques here, can we charge for this through the software? Yes.

We do not barcode products, can we easily sell items without a barcode? Yes, you decide the level of tracking and reporting you require and that determines the best approach to recording sales.

Can we use the software to print barcodes for products if I want? Yes.

We sell very small items, does the software support barcode labels for these? Yes, we offer a fine butterfly label that you could use on a ring or fine bracelet.

Does the software track the purchase and sale of second-hand goods? Yes.

Can we produce a valuation certificate from the software? Yes. This software is also used by jewellers, who do valuations.

We repair antiques, can the software help in tracking this? Yes, the software has a repairs management facility built in, which tracks components and labour for you.

Can we market to members collector groups or clubs? Yes. You can tag customers as belonging to a club and target market to club members.

Can we track sales to club members to rebate the club as a fundraising opportunity? Yes.

Can you pass on product provenance or care information? Yes, you can load files, images, documents or PDFs for products (information sheets, advice, notices) and have them automatically included in emailed receipts.

Can we do this by text or email? Either, we support both.

Can we look-up historical servicing records for a specific customer? Yes.

Can the software track special or one-off orders for customers? Yes, from the moment the order is placed.

Does the software track product serial numbers? Yes. You have a couple of different ways you can do this.

We sell items by colour, size and style, can the software do this? Yes.

Can we integrate the software with our suppliers? Yes. We have many customers importing stock files and invoices. If you want to provide a supplier a data feed of sales of their product, our software can do this too.

Does the software connect with our website? We partner with Shopify, Magento and WooCommerce and offer direct links to these.

Can we email receipts? Yes.

Can we track where our customers come from? Yes.

Do we have to pay for software on additional computers in our business? No.

Does the software handle LayBys? Yes.

Can we connect with our EFTPOS terminal? Yes. We have a direct link to Tyro and through Linkly we connect to all major banks.

Read onRead later

Made in Australia: POS software for antique shops

December 15, 2021
2 Min read
M

Antique shops have some unique needs, often complex needs. It is rare there is perfect fit software for every situation.

Here at Tower Systems we have evolved a version of our Antique business software to serve antique dealers and retailers, to serve as many of their needs as we can in software priced at $185.00 a month.

We made a video recently in which we look and discuss some of the facilities in our Antique business software. We’d be grateful to provide a more comprehensive look at the software, a personal demonstration guided by what it is that you are looking for to serve your business.

Antique businesses are unique and special businesses. Here are some of the ways our POS software for antique dealers helps leverage that uniqueness:

  1. Rare visit loyalty.  The customer visit cycle in antique shops is infrequent. Our loyalty tools nurture shoppers to provide more value each visit.
  2. Pre-orders. Easily manage selling products before you have them in-stock. You might be asked to source a piece. These tools help you lock that in.
  3. Valuations. provide a professionally presented valuation certificate.
  4. Second-hand goods. Track details into a digital register for easy data management and record keeping.
  5. Leverage buyer and seller interests. Through easy to leverage database management you can connect people through their special interests.
  6. Buy Now Pay Later and LayBy. Through our software you can have both.
  7. Repairs management. Track labour and parts for each repair, from the moment of the request. Advise the customer when the repair is complete.
  8. Group marketing and support. Leverage groups and clubs with offers and pricing. It’s easy to serve multiple special interests.
  9. Product care. Product care knowledge can be differentiating. Sharing this in a systematic and consistent way can separate your business.
  10. Serial number tracking. If products have serial numbers, track them.
  11. Anniversary marketing. Collectors love their antiques. Remembering purchase anniversaries can help maintain a connection with collectors.

Our Australian made and supported antique shop software does much more than this. Be sure to see it for yourself, live and obligation free, to see if it could serve you and your business.

While our Antique business software will not serve every need, a personal demonstration is the best way to see if it serves your needs. We’d love to arrange this demonstration for you: 1300 662 957 or sales@towersystems.com.au.

Read onRead later

POS software made for Australian Antique businesses

November 9, 2021
3 Min read
P

Tower Systems makes POS software for specialty retail settings. Our POS software for Antique shops has evolved from work in other specialty settings. It has been tuned to the needs we have seen in Antique businesses.

Antique businesses are unique and special businesses. Here are some of the ways our POS software for antique dealers helps leverage that uniqueness:

  1. Rare visit loyalty.  The customer visit cycle in antique shops is infrequent. Our loyalty tools nurture shoppers to provide more value each visit.
  2. Pre-orders. Easily manage selling products before you have them in-stock. You might be asked to source a piece. These tools help you lock that in.
  3. Valuations. provide a professionally presented valuation certificate.
  4. Second-hand goods. Track details into a digital register for easy data management and record keeping.
  5. Leverage buyer and seller interests. Through easy to leverage database management you can connect people through their special interests.
  6. Buy Now Pay Later and LayBy. Through our software you can have both.
  7. Repairs management. Track labour and parts for each repair, from the moment of the request. Advise the customer when the repair is complete.
  8. Group marketing and support. Leverage groups and clubs with offers and pricing. It’s easy to serve multiple special interests.
  9. Product care. Product care knowledge can be differentiating. Sharing this in a systematic and consistent way can separate your business.
  10. Serial number tracking. If products have serial numbers, track them.
  11. Anniversary marketing. Collectors love their antiques. Remembering purchase anniversaries can help maintain a connection with collectors.

Our Australian made and supported antique shop software does much more than this. Be sure to see it for yourself, live and obligation free, to see if it could serve you and your business. Or, watch this video in which we demonstrate some of the features.

Here are answers to some of the questions we have been asked about our Antique Shop Software over the years

When you are ready, we’d love to show you our Antique Shop Software and through that show you answers to other questions you have.

We sell products on behalf of others. Can the software track this? Yes, the software can report on sales by those you carry antiques for in the business, enabling you to easily calculate your commission.

We carry items on consignment, can the software manage this? Yes, you can track consignment items and report on sales.

We rent access to part of our shop to people who display antiques here, can we charge for this through the software? Yes.

We do not barcode products, can we easily sell items without a barcode? Yes, you decide the level of tracking and reporting you require and that determines the best approach to recording sales.

Can we use the software to print barcodes for products if I want? Yes.

We sell very small items, does the software support barcode labels for these? Yes, we offer a fine butterfly label that you could use on a ring or fine bracelet.

Does the software track the purchase and sale of second-hand goods? Yes.

Can we produce a valuation certificate from the software? Yes. This software is also used by jewellers, who do valuations.

We’d love to show you more of this software if you think it could serve needs in your business.

Read onRead later

A Covid lockdown To-Do list for local small business retailers

July 24, 2021
4 Min read
A

Here in Melbourne we are in our fifth Covid lockdown. As well as owning our POS software company and working with local small business retailers every day, I also own three retail businesses and several online businesses.

This Covid lockdown To-Do list for local small business retailers is practical advice you can action without cost, to make the most of the lockdown opportunity.

Whether your shop is closed or open but with less traffic, now is an ideal time to work on your business.

  1. List what’s not sold. Run a report listing all inventory in the business that has not sold at all this year. This list gives you a starting point for action. We did this last week for one customer and identified $15,000 worth of dead stock, stock the owner to that point was not focussed on.
  2. Act on what’s not sold. Dead stock is dead weight. If you have long since paid for it, cents in the dollar for it is better than nothing.
  3. Look at what’s been selling with what. Often the items in the same basket are not seen by retailers as items you can put together. This list, which you should be able to get from your POS software, can guide shop floor placement changes.
  4. Front to back clean. Literally, start at the front of the shop and work your want to the back. Clean every single product. We often find that the act of holding every product leads to decisions about some products, decisions we might otherwise not have made. We have just done this at one of our own Westfield shops and the decisions we made along the way have been liberating.
  5. Work on your roster. Look at what usually sells by day of week and by time. Your POS software should be able to help with this. Take time to review your roster to ensure it is set appropriately. Labour is usually the top or second highest cost in a retail business outside of inventory.
  6. Reset the front third of the store. Look carefully at that front third of your store. Make bold changes simply by moving things, so that when shoppers return they see things they’ve not noticed before.
  7. Prepare social media content that leverages you. Using your phone, film short videos of you or a team member talking about products. Prepare these to load over time on Facebook, Instagram and more. Have fun.
  8. If you have a website for the business, write blog posts as they are absolutely the single best thing you can do to attract traffic to the website. A blog post should be single topic, pitch a consistent keyword at least five times and be over 350 words. We have a lot of experience with this and note, again, this is the single most effective online marketing for a website. The only investment is your time – don’t outsource this.
  9. Learn something new. Ask your POS software company for the best report in the software to reveal what you are unlikely to know about your business. Run that report. Read it. Make a list of things you could do. Act on it.
  10. Be a shopfitter. Shopfitters are expensive. Look at an area of your shop that you want to change that you would usually hire a shoplifter to handle. Think through how you can do it yourself. I know many retailers who have done this and vowed to not use shopfitters for such changes in the future.
  11. If you are online, undertake a data driven review of your website. Look at your traffic and the traffic of your competitors. Review your site and theirs. Look for opportunities to attract more shoppers to your site based on the data. Whoever developed your website should be able to collate this data for you.
  12. Personally: refresh. If you can take a break from business, even for an hour a day, read fiction, listen to music you love, go for a walk outside. These nourishing things can help reset mood and that could help you discover new opportunities for your business.

We are a local Aussie POS software company serving 3,500+ local small business retailers with POS software and beautiful Shopify websites. Beyond this, we also offer retail business management advice and help to our customers every day.

Thanks for reading. have an awesome rest of your weekend …

Mark Fletcher | mark@towersystems.com.au.

Read onRead later
The POS Software Blog

Categories

Categories

Categories

Recent Comments

Monthly Archives