Video: Op Shop software / Charity Shop software / Community Enterprise software
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Cat Protection Society of NSW uses our portable POS Software for Cat Lovers festival
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We share here with permission details of how The Cat Protection Society of NSW used our Retailer Roam portable POS software at the recent Cat Lover’s festival at Olympic Park in Sydney:
We had a large stall for the Cat Lover’s Festival at Olympic Park last month.
We’d set up 3 counters, with a mini netbook, a laptop, and a Samsung tablet, each running Retailer Roam.
The netbook and laptop had Bluetooth scanners and the tablet was used for cash only purchases.
All the Roam sessions were linked to our Marrickville Rd retail store, which was closed for the festival weekend.
Staff were all very impressed with Roam, the last time we attended Cat Lover’s, we had one laptop accessing Retailer via a Remote Desktop Tunnel. It was a slower process with no scanner.
It all worked really well; people’s sales were processed promptly. We made over $20,000.00 over the two days and generated new membership and adoption inquiries.
We will definitely keep using Roam at future festivals.
We love hearing from customers and how they use our POS software.
The Retailer Roam product used by the Cat Protection Society of NSW is truly portable POS software, ideal for on the road selling, market selling and pop-up retail. We first released it five or so years ago. It has just gone through a major refresh with many new facilities and benefits added, helping retailers achieve more from their shop.
Retail is changing so much and rapidly. Retailer Roam is one of several opportunities we provide retailers to lean into these changes, to reach customers closer to where they are, rather than relying solely on business at a fixed location, like your shop.
Using retailer Roam, retailers can do more than transact sales (while online as well as while offline). They can also:
- Take product photos for use in an online store.
- Do a stock take.
- Order products.
- Process invoices for stock received.
Retailer Roam is a web service from Tower Systems. It’s smart, fresh and easy to use, a perfect tool for local small business retailers keen for expansion opportunities in and outside of their shops.
Tower Systems makes and supports POS software for local independent small business retailers across a range of retail channels.
Empowering Retail Team Members: Seamless POS Software Training with Tower Systems
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At Tower Systems, we understand the importance of a skilled and confident retail team. That’s why we’ve designed our POS software with user-friendliness at its core, complemented by a comprehensive and easy-to-access training resources. This empowers local small business retail staff to become POS software experts quickly, maximising its potential to streamline your retail operations.
It also helps retail staff remind themselves of parts of the POS software easily.
Our training resources offer flexible learning options tailored to individual needs and preferences. Staff can access a library of up-to-date video tutorials covering a wide range of topics, from core functionalities to advanced features. This allows them to learn at their own pace, regardless of prior experience and regardless of their situation.
This easy access to POS software training for retail staff is vital for any retail business, especially so in local independent small retail businesses where staff have to multi-task, where they need to help the business be efficient so the it may compete with bigger and better resourced retailers.
For those seeking a structured approach, we offer a subject-matter focussed curriculum that guides them through the software functionalities step-by-step. Alternatively, staff can dive right into specific topics by choosing individual video tutorials or in-depth articles from our extensive and up to date POS software knowledge base.
All these resources from Tower Systems are freely available and accessible 24/7, making them a valuable addition to your existing training regime. Additionally, they seamlessly integrate with our POS software help desk service, which provides further support for any questions or challenges your staff might encounter.
Helping local retailers thrive is core to what we offer at Tower Systems, through our POS software, and through the training resources provided with our POS software. The training assets are enhanced regularly, to ensure genuine value for our small business retail customers.
With Tower Systems, you can rest assured that your retail team is equipped with the necessary skills to leverage the full potential of our POS software. This translates to increased efficiency, improved customer service, and ultimately, a competitive edge for your business.
To learn more about Tower Systems’ POS software and our comprehensive training resources, visit our website at www.towersystems.com.au.
Half price POS software for op. shops. charity shops and community enterprises
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Op. shops, charity shops and community run shops benefit from software made for their needs and software priced in a way that reflects the good they do in the community.
Tower Systems is grateful to serve these not for profit retail; businesses with a 50% discount off our usual pricing while providing access to the software and full kit of support service.
Op. shops, charity shops and other community run retail businesses have unique needs such as easy to learn for volunteers, the ability to track and sell items that are not barcoded, the opportunity to price by different categories and the ability to serve community members with discounted or free product while still tracking product movement.
Our charity shop softwares op. shop software and community enterprise software manage this for these organisations. Plus, the software can connect to deputy and others for rostering, Xero and others for accounting and many different banks for easy to use and manage EFTPOS.
It also offers the opportunity of different pricing for members of the community group as well as offering fund raising opportunities from within the software.
Here at Tower Systems we are grateful to serve many charity related businesses with our op. shop and related POS software.
Our offer of a half price solution is genuine, it’s part of our giving back commitment.
Here is some of what our charity shop, op. shop and community enterprise software offers:
- Easy shopper loyalty. While the software offers a loyalty points system, we have found the cash-off approach in our loyalty tools works better in local retail. People understand money. A receipt showing an amount they can save on their next purchase gets, usually, at least 20% of people spending more that visit.
- Manage inventory your way. You can sell by barcode, products code, department, category within department, price point. You can sell, measure and report at the level point appropriate to your needs.
- Easy to learn. We have found that in community enterprises easy to learn / easy to use really does matter. Volunteer turnover makes this essential. We can record training specific to your needs and make these videos available for future volunteers.
- Secure. You can lock down parts of the software to secure them for management access only.
- Check and balances. This software guides processes. It also provides hidden tracking so you can investigate should the need arise.
- Club / group marketing and support. Leverage clubs and community groups with offers and pricing just for them.
Let us know about your needs. We’ll be sure to let you know if we are not a good fit.
Business performance insights from POS software helping local small business retailers shine
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Local small business retailers are often time poor and struggle to wade through reports looking for data needed to guide business decisions. Tower Systems has made it much easier for them.
The Visual Deck with our POS software sends an email weekly and monthly outlining business performance across a range of key performance indicators for the business. The visual representation of performance makes understand the health of the business easy and the decision opportunities even easier.
We have dramatically cut the time needed by retailers to access data, understand it and make decisions based on it. The emails weekly and monthly is another way our Tower Systems POS software is helping small business retailers run more enjoyable and valuable local retail businesses.
Giving back: Tower Systems is grateful to support local charity shops and community enterprises
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Tower Systems is proud and grateful to be able to support local op shops, charity shops, and community-owned enterprises with Point of Sale (POS) software tailored to their specific needs.
Our charity shop POS software is designed to address the unique challenges faced by these organisations, particularly those with a volunteer workforce. Recognising the frequent turnover of volunteers, we have prioritised ease of use and learning in our software.
Our offer to charity businesses is half price for the software and for any training. This is part of our giving back commitment.
Key features of our software include:
- Intuitive Interface: Our system is straightforward to learn, making it suitable for staff with varying levels of computer proficiency.
- Flexible Inventory Management: Track stock by product type, size, colour, style, or individual item, providing valuable insights into sales trends.
- Customer Loyalty: Our cash-off loyalty program has proven effective in increasing customer spending and encouraging return visits.
- Security and Control: Protect your business with robust security features and built-in checks and balances.
- Community Focus: Leverage our software to engage with local clubs and groups through targeted offers and pricing.
- Data-Driven Insights: Gain valuable data to optimise stock management and decision-making.
- Online Presence: Expand your reach with seamless integration between your POS and a professional website.
We understand the vital role these organisations play in their communities and are committed to supporting their success.As part of this commitment, we offer significantly discounted pricing on our POS software.
We have a curriculum of training videos made specifically for charity enterprises. Short format training designed for volunteers to make it easier fort them to learn and to support their charity.
By providing essential tools for inventory management, sales tracking, and customer engagement, we empower your organisation to focus on its core mission. Let Tower Systems help you transform your charity shop into a thriving hub of community support and sustainability.
Tower Systems is an Australian-owned and operated company with a long history of serving the local community. We are dedicated to providing exceptional software solutions that help our clients thrive.
Thank you for supporting local Aussie charities.
POS software for op. shops, charity shops and community owned enterprises
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POS software for Op. Shops, community enterprises, not for profit and charity shops
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Op. shops, charity shops and community run shops benefit from software made for their needs and software priced in a way that reflects the good they do in the community.
Tower Systems is grateful to serve these not for profit retail; businesses with a 50% discount off our usual pricing while providing access to the software and full kit of support service.
Op. shops, charity shops and other community run retail businesses have unique needs such as easy to learn for volunteers, the ability to track and sell items that are not barcoded, the opportunity to price by different categories and the ability to serve community members with discounted or free product while still tracking product movement.
Our charity shop software, op. shop software and community enterprise software manage this for these organisations. Plus, the software can connect to deputy and others for rostering, Xero and others for accounting and many different banks for easy to use and manage EFTPOS.
It also offers the opportunity of different pricing for members of the community group as well as offering fund raising opportunities from within the software.
Here at Tower Systems we are grateful to serve many charity related businesses with our op. shop and related POS software.
Tower Systems is a small business focussed POS software company developing, and supporting POS software for niche specialty retailers.
Jewellers, garden centres, bike shops, toy shops, produce businesses, farm supply businesses, fishing shops, pet shops, charity businesses, landscape gardening businesses, antique shops, sewing shops, haberdashery businesses, newsagents and more benefit from this software.
Advice from Tower Systems on how to choose the right POS software for your business
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The best advice on choosing the right POS software for your retail business is that you do it yourself. This is not something to outsource, not something to use one of the comparison (marketing) websites for. Do your own research.
Choosing POS software is an important decision, a decision for the long term, a decision directly connected to the financial viability of your retail business.
Take your time.
Start with what you want and what you need. These are different things. Write lists. yes, write them down for the more organised you are the more likely you are to make the best decision for your retail business.
Choosing POS software is not something to rush. Beware of the POS software companies that put limited time deals in front of you. Those companies likely offer POS software that is not ideal and they try and make your choice about price so as to distract you from your lists of needs and wants.
The decision is about what you need and want and each of the POS software companies that you consider. It’s not about what representatives of those companies think about software from other companies. Asking them to comment on competition is not ideal. If you do ask though and if they bag a competitor, ask them how they know this, ask them for evidence.
Be sure to gather evidence in writing. If a representative of a POS software company makes a claim that they will do this or that or that their software does a specific thing you need be sure to describe your need fully and to get their response to this in writing – it could be you rely on this later.
If being local is an important part of what you pitch for your business, think about the local situation of POS software companies you consider. Find out how local a company you are considering is, how local their people are, think about whether their answers factor into your decision making.
See, don’t hear or read. See the software for yourself. Come to the demonstration with unique sales scenarios you see play out in your shop. See how the software handles these. Ask for a recoding of the demonstration so you can share it with others in your business who will use the software for if they feel they are part of your decision making they are more likely to support the decision you ultimately make.
No marketing company, so software comparison website, no consultant can substitute for what you invest in considering POS software for your retail business. Invest the time, your time, and it will reward you with the best decision for your business, you, people who work in the business and the customers of the business.
No software is perfect, and doubt anyone who claims it is. Software that is the best will not be perfect. best is good though. This is why controlling the consideration process yourself is vital, it helps you find what you decide is best.
Free FindIt marketplace from Tower Systems helps local shoppers find local retailers
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In today’s world of online shopping giants, it’s easy to forget about the fantastic array of shops right on our doorstep.Supporting local businesses is about more than just convenience; it’s about investing in the lifeblood of our communities.That’s where FindIt, a free online marketplace from Tower Systems, steps in.
Only serving local independent retailers, Tower Systems has a track record of shining a light on this most vital of retail sectors. It’s work on FindIt drawn on decades of service and a community of 3,500+ retailers served.
FindIt bridges the gap between local stores and shoppers like. It’s a platform offering products from a wide range of independent retailers across Australia. Whether you’re after that perfect birthday gift, a unique piece of homeware, or something special for yourself, FindIt allows you to browse and discover hidden gems from local businesses, all from the comfort of your couch.
But what makes FindIt special is its focus on ease and accessibility. Here are some of the key benefits for both shoppers and retailers:
For Shoppers:
- Support Local: FindIt makes it easy to find and support businesses in your area. You’ll be putting money back into your community and helping to create a vibrant local economy.
- Diverse Range: Discover a treasure trove of unique products you won’t find on mainstream online retailers.From handcrafted jewellery to locally-sourced produce, FindIt offers something for everyone.
- Convenience: Shop from the comfort of your home and choose between in-store pickup or home delivery (depending on the retailer).
- Transparency: FindIt provides clear information about each retailer, including their location and contact details.
For Retailers:
- Free Listing: Tower Systems POS software users can sign up for FindIt for absolutely no cost. This eliminates the need for expensive individual online stores, making it easier for smaller businesses to compete in the digital marketplace.
- Wider Reach: FindIt exposes your products to a broader audience of potential customers who are actively seeking out local businesses.
- Simplified Sales: The platform integrates seamlessly with Tower Systems POS, streamlining the sales process and reducing administrative headaches.
FindIt is a win-win situation for everyone involved. Shoppers get access to fantastic local products, while retailers gain a valuable platform to showcase their offerings and reach new customers. It’s a fantastic initiative that fosters a sense of community and strengthens the backbone of Aussie commerce – our independent retailers.
To have product data – text and images – flow to FindIt is easy thanks to the integration with the Tower Systems POS software. Tower helps retailers with advices training and support to get connected.
The goal really is to encourage more local shoppers to want through the front door of local retail businesses.
POS software from Tower Systems helps retailers manage duty free sales and tax free sales
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For years, Tower Systems, through its POS software, has helped retailers who do duty free sales and tax free sales to easily manage them at the sales counter with good record keeping, streamlined workflow and sound business management practices guided for the employees of the retail business. Let’s break that down:
Streamlined Workflow: This POS software from Tower Systems automates tasks and calculations associated with duty free and tax free transactions, reducing the time it takes to complete a sale. This minimises wait times for customers and frees up employee time to focus on other tasks or provide better customer service.
Easy Record Keeping: Tower Systems’ POS software ensures accurate and efficient record keeping for all duty free and tax free sales. This can include capturing customer information, flight details, and itemised receipts that meet customs regulations. Having this information readily available simplifies reporting and audits.
Sound Business Practices: The POS software from Tower Systems guides employees through the duty free and tax free sales process, ensuring they follow all the relevant regulations and procedures. This can help to minimise errors and ensure that the retailer remains compliant with all the requirements.
Improved Customer Service: By streamlining the sales counter processes for duty free and tax free sales, employees can focus on providing excellent customer service. This can mean spending more time with customers to answer questions, recommend products, and create a positive shopping experience.
Tower Systems has offered POS software for managing duty free and tax free sales for many years. Retailers are able to identify products that have the tax free status if they have products that do and do not have tax applied to them.
The best way to see if this POS software may suit your needs in magazine duty free and / or tax free sales is to see the software for yourself. This can be done via a personal and one-on-one demonstration where you outline what your business needs and the software functions in those areas can be shown. If the software is not right for the needs you have outlined, we will say so. It’s not in our interests to promote our software where we know it will not suit your needs.
If you do duty free sales and / or tax free sales, take a look at the POS software Tower Systems offers.
Retailers should not have to pay their POS software provider a fee for each transaction
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POS software integration for international barcode lookup saves time for small business retailers
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Retailers are loving the international barcode lookup integration in our POS software. This connects with a respected worldwide database of product barcodes and provides excellent access to descriptions and much more: improving data accuracy, saving time and enhancing in-store and online product engagement.
Here is how we train our POS software customers on how to use the POS software integrated international barcode lookup facilities:
Like all of our POS software customer training videos, we also provide a transcript for those who prefer to read. It is time coded to match the video. here is an example:
0:00 My next favourite integration with Retailer is Barcode Lookup. Barcode Lookup is an online database of barcodes, their descriptions, their web descriptions or extended descriptions, images, classification information such as brand, manufacturer, dimensions.
0:15 It’s massive. Now over the time that we’ve integrated with Barcode Lookup, it’s grown from 100 million records right through to today at time of publication nearly a billion records.
0:26 That’s massive. So, what can it do? Well, Retailer can integrate with it and pull data down when you create a product or choose to update a product with data from that website.
0:37 Let’s have a look. The very first thing you’d want to know is how to sign up and how to get it working.
0:41 So, you should always read our knowledge base articles. Which will be linked to this video down below and it goes through the entire sign up process and how it works.
0:49 So, just follow the article and go from there. If you want to have a look at the website, we even have a link to the website and this is it here.
0:56 So, you can see right now 978 million people products exist on this site. to give you an example, I’ve got a few items here.
1:05 I’ve got a package of um electrical tape and a box of glasses cleaners to clean my glasses. I’ve done a little search on those and believe it or not, here’s my glasses cleaners and this is the description that it’s going to pull down from the site.
1:17 It will pull down the menu. Manufacturer information and it’ll also pull down this extended description and put that where I choose to put it.
1:25 There’s only one attribute to go with it, which is an MPN or a manufacturer’s product number. And these are all the images that it will pull down with it.
1:33 If we go look at this. The electrical tape pulls down this description one by three meter PVC electrical tape and has a much better description to explain what it comes what it’s all about no classification information with this one and then I’ve got my three pens so we’ve got the the blue tip which
Be sure to watch the video and check out the transcript to the right side of the page.
This video is another from our growing library of training videos for retailers using our POS software.
Small business retail management advice: map your GP by shop floor layout
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A few minutes spent analysing space allocation performance often reveals opportunities based on our years working with and helping local small business retailers.
With retail space usually costing between 11% and 15% of (non agency) revenue, it is usually the next highest cost outside of the cost of stock itself. The key is to make the space work well, to be financially efficient for the business.
Retailers often argue that rent should be lower. It could be that a different view of shop floor performance helps you achieve a better return.
Here’s a quick and easy way to assess your current use of your floorspace:
- Take a blank sheet of paper and sketch out the layout of your shop, marking in display units, shelving, the counter – everywhere you have product. Include your back room if you have stock there.
- Colour-shade the layout by department.
- List the departments on the side of the floor plan.
- Calculate the percentage of total space used for each department. This does not need to be accurate to two decimal places. List this next to each department you have listed.
- Use your POS software to report on gross profit dollars earned by each department over the last year, or calculate it from sales figures knowing the average GP% per department.
- Calculate the percentage of total gross profit contribution earned by each department and list this next to the floor space allocated to each department – on the floor plan map you have done.
- Circle in green those performing the best, where the GP% contribution is more than the GP% space allocation, and in red those performing the worst.
Typically, a business owner doing this for the first time will have an ah ha moment, seeing something they had not realised.
This is advice anyone can use, as any good POS software will report on GP by department. Getting this mapped on the floorpan of your shop lets you see the hot and cold spots, where you are making money, and where you are losing it.
This is retail management advice for any business owner, regardless of education level.
We have seen business owners make changes including to floor layout, quitting suppliers and increasing stock weight for some departments.
You can take the analysis a step further by looking only at one department and analysing performance by category within that department, using the method outlined above.
Our specialty retail POS software can help with this and more business performance analysis.
Our goal is to help you run a more appealing, successful and valuable retail business. As retailers ourselves, we use our software this way every day.
We can help if you are interested.
Find out more: www.towersystems.com.au 1300 662 957 sales@towersystems.com.au
Thanks for reading.
Excellent POS software for charity shops, op. shops and community owned enterprises
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Here at Tower Systems we are grateful to serve plenty of local op. shops, charity shops and community owned and run enterprises with POS software that suits the needs of these businesses.
Our charity shop POS software is made to serve needs unique to charity shops, op. shops and community owned enterprises where the day to day workforce is often volunteers who may only do a few hours each month.
Our software is easy to learn and suitable for a variety of settings common to charity shops, op. shops and community enterprises. For example, it’s easy to track sales at a high level buy product type to a next level down based on size / colour / style or a mix of these, down to individual item level. Using our POS software these organisations can learn more about what they sell, when they sell and how products sell.
In service of the valuable work of charity shops, op. shops and community owned enterprises we offer our POS software at a significantly discounted price. This is part of our own commitment to give back where we can, to help support the good work of these enterprises.
We have traditional Aussie op. shops using our POS software, community owned enterprises in the nursery / garden space, church related charity shops, community owned enterprises in other spaces too.
Charity and op. shops are unique and loved businesses and our software covered unique needs like:
- Easy to learn. We have found that in community enterprises easy to learn / easy to use really does matter. Volunteer turnover makes this essential. We can record training specific to your needs and make these videos available for future volunteers.
- Easy shopper loyalty. While the software offers a loyalty points system, we have found the cash-off approach in our loyalty tools works better in local retail. People understand money. A receipt showing an amount they can save on their next purchase gets, usually, at least 20% of people spending more that visit.
- Manage inventory your way. You can sell by barcode, products code, department, category within department, price point. You can sell, measure and report at the level point appropriate to your needs.
- Secure. You can lock down parts of the software to secure them for management access only.
- Check and balances. This software guides processes. It also provides hidden tracking so you can investigate should the need arise.
- Club / group marketing and support. Leverage clubs and community groups with offers and pricing just for them.
Our Australian made and supported charity shop, op. shop and community owned enterprise shop POS software does more than what’s on this list.
We understand the importance local community groups to the local community.
- Local matters. Community groups contribute to local communities and families. Our software helps you leverage your localness through many touchpoints.
- You are a key asset. Only your business has your people. You can leverage them through facilities that share your knowledge of what you sell.
- You can encourage loyalty. Our loyalty facilities are tuned to charity shop opportunities.
- The unseen can reveal opportunities. Data, good data, is evidence on which you can expect to make better business decisions, decisions like what can be placed with what to speed sell-through.
- Not every shopper will walk past your door. A seamless connection between your software and a beautiful website can reach them.
Tower Systems offers local charity shops, op. shops and community owned enterprises exclusive special pricing as part of our community outreach and support commitment. This is something we have thankful to have been able to do for decades.
POS software for Not For Profit, Charity Shops, Op. Shops and Community enterprises
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Tower Systems is grateful to offer Not For Profit, Charity Shops, Op. Shops and Community enterprises special, significantly discounted, pricing of its POS software as part of our commitment to give back to the community where we are able.
All retail businesses in the Not For Profit, Charity Shops, Op. Shops and Community enterprise sectors qualify for this pricing for accessing our Aussie designed and development POS software.
Not For Profit, Charity Shops, Op. Shops and Community enterprises are unique and loved businesses, providing valuable service to the local community and to those supported by the charity. We are grateful to serve these community enterprises with POS software made for charity / op. shops:
- Easy shopper loyalty. While the software offers a loyalty points system, we have found the cash-off approach in our loyalty tools works better in local retail. People understand money. A receipt showing an amount they can save on their next purchase gets, usually, at least 20% of people spending more that visit.
- Manage inventory your way. You can sell by barcode, products code, department, category within department, price point. You can sell, measure and report at the level point appropriate to your needs.
- Easy to learn. We have found that in community enterprises easy to learn / easy to use really does matter. Volunteer turnover makes this essential. We can record training specific to your needs and make these videos available for future volunteers.
- Secure. You can lock down parts of the software to secure them for management access only.
- Check and balances. This software guides processes. It also provides hidden tracking so you can investigate should the need arise.
- Club / group marketing and support. Leverage clubs and community groups with offers and pricing just for them.
We understand it can be a challenging and fine line walking between running a business and serving a community in need, especially in a setting that relies on many volunteers. We try and walk this road with you, helping where we can, helping you to serve while at the same time respecting the tech. professionals on our team who help us do this.
Embedded in our Not For Profit, Charity Shops, Op. Shops and Community enterprises software are tools to help the charity or community enterprise more efficiently focus on the mission of the organisation.
Our POS software for Not For Profit, Charity Shops, Op. Shops and Community enterprises is constantly evolving. we are grateful to so many who have helped and continue to help us on this path.
Do good in the community with charity boxed Christmas cards
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Christmas all about connecting with others, and what better way than through a charity boxed Christmas card.
At www.myornaments.com.au we offer charity boxed Christmas cards. This is a website we built, connected to a shop we run. That’s right, we are a POS software company that runs shops and online businesses. We do this to walk in the shoes of our customers.
If you’re looking for a way to make your Christmas greetings extra special, consider buying charity boxed Christmas cards as each box purchased supports a local Aussie charity, enhancing the good delivered through your purchase and sending of the cards.
The charity boxed Christmas cards support many charities and they’re often printed right here in Australia, so you can feel good about supporting your local community.
At MyOrnaments, we have a wide selection of charity boxed Christmas cards to choose from, with many different packs available. We also offer a variety of designs and price points, so you’re sure to find the perfect cards for your loved ones.
Whether you’re sending cards to clients, staff, or community members, charity boxed Christmas cards are a great way to show your appreciation and support. And with so many different charities to choose from, you can find a card that benefits a cause that’s close to your heart.
What we are doing with charity boxed Christmas cards at our www.myornaments.com.au website is another example of how Tower Systems plays outside what is usual for a POS software company. By using the software and websites we make ourselves we are thankful to have a user perspective on our software and services. This changes what we do and how we do it.
You can’t buy the insights of someone using your software. We have learnt so much by being our own customer, not only selling charity boxed Christmas cards at www.myornaments.com.au but with so many other things we do in businesses we run that use our POS software.
Managing inventory, connecting to the POS, calculating freight and handling special price point offers is part of what Tower Systems has created at the MyOrnaments shop and part of what brings the charity boxed Christmas card 0ffer to life. We are proud to have this website as part of our calling card mix of websites we have developed, to show the comprehensive nature of what we offer.
Now, think about buying charity boxed Christmas cards for your customers, friends, neighbours and others this Christmas and spreading not only greetings but the feeling of doing good in the community. That’s a wonderful Christmas spirit.
Christmas marketing tips for local small business retailers
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It’s November 1. The countdown to Christmas is well and truly under way. The next 8 weeks are probably the most important weeks of trade for most retailers.
Here are some free tips to help you make the most of the opportunities, to help you separate your business from the Christmas noise.
Over the next 8 weeks most retailers will pound hard Christmas products, sales and opportunities. Many will be loud, screeching for people to look at them. In local retail businesses it’s hard to compete with the noise of national retailers.
The best advice we think we can give local retailers is to have fun, enjoy yourselves, help customers enjoy themselves.
In your social media posts, focus on having fun and sharing joyful stories.
In your window, be local, shine a light on local talents from kids to retirees. have your shop software people want to visit to see their friends and neighbours and themselves reflected.
In your shop be sure to keep it light, relaxed and fun.
We could give you a list of things to do. Not this year. This year we think you’ll get more value from a relaxed and fun-focussed Christmas season. let the others do the heavy lifting with Christmas noise. In your shop let people relax and catch their breath.
Being calm and relaxing will separate your shop, get it known for being this place rather than the shrill and bustle of Christmas retail elsewhere.
Make it easy, too. People often talk about how hard Christmas is. Be the business that makes it easy. The ways to do this are have bundled gifts ready to go, pre-bagged or wrapped, with some card selections that are relevant, offer easy payment options including buy now pay later, 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.
You could also help your shoppers help others. 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.
Stand out this Christmas by being different, calm, relaxed, fun. Shoppers will notice this, and appreciate what you have done.
Have an awesome run up to Christmas!
Aussie made POS software for charity shops and community enterprises
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POS software for op. shops and community enterprises
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Advice for small business retailers on dead stock
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Dead stock has no value in any retail business. Indeed, it has a cost as it takes up space and needs labour to keep it clean at least. It sits there, occupying this space, not being bought, paging with each day.
What constitutes dead stock will vary by type of retail business. In some, stock has an expiry date, making that the drop-dead date for the stock. In other businesses, stock is dead when a new version or new release of an item is out.
For the purpose of the advice we provide here, our definition of dead stock is that which has not sold whatsoever in six months or more. The is, you have a quantity of an item on hand and have not sold any of then in six months.
Knowing what stock is dead in your small business shop is critical. It is the start, the beginning, of resolving the issue of dead stock.
Our Tower Systems POS software helps local small business retailers easily identify dead stock. You can decide what constitutes dead stock in your business and list it, bring it up on the screens for attention.
Start there, start with your definition. next, use your software to identify what’s dead. Once you have this information you need to jump, what for some, is a hurdle … you need to decide to quit that stock.
Some retailers are adamant that they need to make a profit on everything they sell. These retailers don’t like discounting to quit dead stock. The thing is, the stock on the shelf is worthless until someone pays you something for it.
In our pragmatic view, getting something, anything just about, is for stock that is dead is better than waiting longer and getting nothing for that same dead stock.
Quitting dead stock is best considered a freeing cash move. That’s what we say getting anything at all is better than the stock sitting on the shelves and not moving.
Use your POS software to identify the dead stock and then jump that hurdle and quit it, quickly, freeing the space and allowing you to focus on what’s next.
In our Tower Systems POS software, the Stock manager tool is best for identifying stock that is dead. You can easily see when you last arrived stock, what’s on hand and when it last sold. In seconds you can have a hit list of stock that could benefit from action. Stock manager operates in a way that any retailer could use it. It’s not complex, not daunting. We have a terrific video showing how to do this with Stock manager. We also have a wonderful advice sheet.
Retail businesses exist to support those who rely on them for income. Dead stock is not helping with this.
Unfortunately, too many small business retailers do not actively engage with the opportunity of dead stock.
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We are grateful to serve more than 3,000 local and independent small business retailers here at Tower Systems. Our POS software community is diverse and very much appreciated by us for their support and feedback.
The advice we share here comes from our years of engagement with them and our own experience as engaged retailers ourselves.
POS software for charity shops, op. shops and community enterprises
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Our POS software for op. shops, charity shops and community enterprises is part of our giving back commitment
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We price our POS software for op. shops, charity shops and community enterprises differently to our commercial offer. The pricing is subsidised by us to make the cost as low as possible for these valuable community enterprises.
Charity and op. shops are unique and loved businesses, providing valuable service to the local community and to those supported by the charity. We are grateful to serve these community enterprises with POS software made for charity / op. shops:
- Easy shopper loyalty. While the software offers a loyalty points system, we have found the cash-off approach in our loyalty tools works better in local retail. People understand money. A receipt showing an amount they can save on their next purchase gets, usually, at least 20% of people spending more that visit.
- Manage inventory your way. You can sell by barcode, products code, department, category within department, price point. You can sell, measure and report at the level point appropriate to your needs.
- Easy to learn. We have found that in community enterprises easy to learn / easy to use really does matter. Volunteer turnover makes this essential. We can record training specific to your needs and make these videos available for future volunteers.
- Secure. You can lock down parts of the software to secure them for management access only.
- Check and balances. This software guides processes. It also provides hidden tracking so you can investigate should the need arise.
- Club / group marketing and support. Leverage clubs and community groups with offers and pricing just for them.
Our Australian made and supported charity / op. shop POS software does much more than what’s on this list. See it for yourself, live and obligation free, to see if it could serve you and your business. We’d be glad to show it to all involved in the operation.
We understand it can be a challenging and fine line walking between running a business and serving a community in need, especially in a setting that relies on many volunteers. We try and walk this road with you, helping where we can, helping you to serve while at the same time respecting the tech. professionals on our team who help us do this.
Embedded in our software are tools to help the charity or community enterprise more efficiently focus on the mission of the organisation.
Our POS software for charity / Op. shops is evolving. we are grateful to so many who have helped and continue to help us on this path.
It’s stocktake season and Tower Systems is helping small business retailers be ready
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Our advice to retailers re stocktake is first and foremost: never pay an outside party to do your stocktake and never do a stocktake outside of your POS software.
The most accurate stocktake result for any retail business is doing it yourself, using your POS software. The Tower Systems POS software offers easy to use and reliable stock facilities and workflow.
Last year (2022), we got together with one of the stocktake experts at Tower Systems to discuss this and answer common stocktake questions we are asked. Here’s the video.
Our help goes beyond this. We have written advice, and we offer personal training. We make stocktaking easy and reliable for local samall business retailers.
How retailers are using POS software integrated ChatGPT to create more valuable product descriptions
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Local small business retailers are short on time and challenges in competing with well-resourced big businesses.
The ChatGPT AI integration delivered by Tower Systems in its local specialty retail POS software early this year is being used by small business retailers to create for search friendly product descriptions.
Using this optional and free facility, retailers are able to describe products faster and in search friendly terms. Here’s a short video we made for our customers to show how it works:
No, we’re not going all AI is replacing the world on our customers. Rather, we are providing access to optional time saving tools. Feedback from our local retailer community has been wonderful, for which we are thankful.
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