The POS Software Blog

The POS Software Blog

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

CategoryEftpos

Tower Systems helps small business retailers reduce payments fees

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We are grateful to help our POS software customers reduce the cost of processing payments in-store.

The low EFTPOS payments rate offered is an excellent starting point in service of this goal. Add to that the easy ability to automatically calculate the appropriate fee to collect from customers as a cost of business and our retailers can make taking EFTPOS in-store cost neutral to the business.

The highlights of what we offer our customers in the payments space include:

  • Low base rate for payments cards.
  • Integrated = fewer mistakes, faster processing, streamlined counter, easier problem resolution.
  • Easy recovery of costs from customers per transaction.
  • Easy tracking of all aspects of the transaction.
  • easy back office management.
  • Easy problem resolution.

We we have delivered to our customers is genuine saving, and stye are loving it.

We have offered integrated EFTPOS with our POS software for fifteen or so years. It continues to be refined as the technology at the heart of it evolves and as banking itself evolves. We leverage changes to ensure that our customers have access to something genuinely useful and fresh, safe and secure, fit for purpose.

The POS software payments solution we offer our customers is not mandatory’s required or demanded. What our customers decide for taking payments in their businesses is 100% top to them. Our offer is an option put to them. We have leveraged our buying power on their behalf. But we are not forcing anything as to do so on local small business retailers would be unfair.

From the shop floor to the counter to online, retailers can rely in our EFTPOS payments integrations to serve their evolving payments needs, whether it is through the low cost option we pitch or any of the major banks and BNPL platforms in Australia and New Zealand. We offer an open platform with plenty of choice for our customers, we make it easy for them to be in control of payments in their business.

We make POS software for bike shops, garden centres, jewellers, gift shops, pet shops, landscape supply businesses, repairs businesses, bookshops,
fishing and outdoors shops, newsagents, produce / farm supply businesses, fabric shops, sewing shops, music shops, computer shops, firearms dealers, charity & op. shops, community enterprises and more.

We are grateful to serve 3,500+ local retailers already.

Advice for local retailers on how to deal with EFTPOS fees

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It’s an easy complaint for a retailer to make – my EFTPOS merchant fees are too high, it’s not fair, time for me to consider another supplier or to consider charging customers a surcharge.

Customers hate surcharges, especially if there is another retailer selling what you sell who does not charge a surcharge.

Every method of payment has a cost, including cash. In my experience working with retailers, the cost of cash is higher because of theft. However, it is not easily seen, especially in retail businesses that do not research or teach theft.

Here are some business ideas for addressing the cost of EFTPOS:

  1. Promote cash payment – if you want the costs associated with cash of course.
  2. Be clear as to the cost of using a card. You could apply a surcharge, which I think is a ridiculous idea though.
  3. Price knowing that cards will be used by customers. Build the cost into your pricing model. Keep the bump under 1.5% and it is less likely to be noticed.
  4. Lower a cost elsewhere to cover the cost. Shaving a hour of employee rostered time can save you around $30.00, that’s equal to purchases of $3750.00 on a card – depending on the type of card used.
  5. Increase sales. While you should be focussed on this anyway, increasing sales helps you address the EFTPOS cost and more in the business.

If you are annoyed/upset/angry about EFTPOS fees, I’d like to gently and respectfully suggest you look at parts of your business over which you have control and that offer a better return from your physical and emotional attention. These are things that I regularly see ignored in favour of complaining about someone or something else:

  1. Dead stock. A problem not seen is not a problem to too many. In the average indie retail business, dead stock is equal to at least 3% of turnover.
  2. Stop running out of stock. Manual process for stock reordering, by retailers and suppliers, regularly result in sell-outs, and, therefore, missed sales. Every time that happens it is a cost to the business. In a retail business I looked at recently, the cost of sell-outs was more than $12,000 in a year, or $6,000 in gross profit, all because of poor re-ordering management.
  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. I 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 between 3% and 5% of turnover. Not watching for it, tracking it and mitigating against it has a cost to the business.
  6. The wrong product mix. GP% is a key measure of retail business performance. Increasing yours beyond what is traditional for your channel provides you with a buffer. For example, transaction count / sales can decline and you can be okay. Measure GP%. Set a goal. Chase it. The air is cleaner in above average.
  7. Ignorance. No, it’s not bliss. There are insights in your software that can guide better decisions, faster decisions, more financially rewarding decisions. Yet, too many in retail don’t want to know. That failure costs them plenty.

The items on the above list are all on the retailer to address. The benefit is that addressing these results in a stronger, leaner and more valuable retail business.

Adding a surcharge to each EFTPOS transaction is an easy step, but the wrong step in my view as doing that could shield you from more important and valuable business moves you can make.

One of us here at Tower Systems ate at a Melbourne restaurant recently while in the city for the Comedy Festival. The bill was $195.00. They only took payment by card. They presented the EFTPOS terminal. After navigating the tip screen on the EFTPOS terminal a message appeared: If you proceed a surcharge may apply. There was no option but to proceed. The surcharge was $2.14.

What was annoying was that paying by card was the only option and that they control the prices of what they sell.

Maybe we are ignorant about restaurant management but this place could have charged 10% more on each item and not charged a surcharge and customers would be happier than with them now. In fact, customers would probably have been more likely to return than now.

We think EFTPOS fee question is more one about acting on what we can change rather than what we cannot change.

We worry too much about price in local indie retail. A retailers we know selling a range of products widely available increased their price by 10%. Unit sales continued on their upward trajectory. This business now makes more GP from each item sold. The owner does a back of the envelope calculation about the value and tips the additional GP into a bucket, a buffer if you like, for when they see something not going their way.

In the Tower Systems POS software you have facilities for addressing the 7 points listed above. If you’d like help navigating these, please reach out.

We are keen for you to maximise value from your Tower software.

POS software EFTPOS machine options that help small business retailers save money

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A modest Aussie gift shop was paying more than $9,000 a year for their POS software from a US company by way of EFTPOS fees. They went with the company because the software was free.

It was only when they needed the software to do something that it did not do that they started looking around.

The owners of this awesome local gift shop were shocked to discover that switching to us cut their POS software and EFTPOS costs in half. It was a bonus that our software had the additional facilities they were seeking.

The cost of ownership of POS software is something retailers need to consider if they are required to use EFTPOS services provided by their tech company.

There may be circumstances where it works well operationally and financially. There will be other circumstances where it does not.

This is why we say to local small business retailers, do your research, be sure you understand the total cost of ownership. What is pitched as FREE is unlikely to be free as every company needs to make money.

EFTPOS machines connected to POS software are a valuable tool. Partnering with a POS software company that connects with multiple EFTPOS machines offers the retailer choice and from choice flows competitive opportunity.

Tower Systems connects with multiple different EFTPOS machines through its POS software. retailers choose what is right for them. The company has offers available, retailers are also welcome to choose their own. The key is to make an informed decision about what is right for the business.

And, thanks to smart POS software EFTPOS machine integrations, charging a surcharge can be done, mistakes are reduced, end of shift reconciliation is easier and handing EFTPOS transaction queries is managed with ease. The EFTPOS machine POS software integrations from Tower Systems serve many different retail channel requirements.

The key, though, is retailer choice.

As our gift shop customer found, the saving could be worth thousands of dollars to the bottom line of the business. “Who’d have thought that something promoted as free cost more than something not wormed as free”, the gift shop owner commented to us after making the shift and experiencing the significantly lower operating cost.

We own and run retail shops ourselves, where we use our own software. We see first hand the value of getting a core cost such as EFTPOS fees right for the business. We know that smart retailers appreciate choice. That’s what we offer a Tower Systems, choice.

Retailers wary of the cost of some EFTPOS payments through POS software

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Processing credit and credit card payments through POS software can be expensive. Some POS software companies have arrangements that add to the cost.

This is why we say to retailers to take care, to take the time to understand the transactional cost of using the POS software.

In one situation recently a new customer for our Tower Systems POS software was grateful to create, through us, a low cost for EFTPOS transactions since through their other POS solution provider the cost was over 2% per transaction. The saving in their business amounts to a saving of $30,000 a year. That’s right, more than $30,000 in EFTPOS fees saved by switching to Tower Systems.

It is not uncommon to see 2% and higher fees for EFTPOS as plenty of companies operate at the core with this model of a per transaction clip to fund their business.

We think this approach is unfair. It is disappointing that the real details are often not obvious.

We’re a POS software company and charge a fair price for the software. That;s how we make our money. Our customers are free to choose the EFTPOS partner that best suits their need. We can share our insights through which they could save money.

It is frustrating seeing some POS companies make slick marketing pitches and hiding in fine print high operating costs, like we see from some through their EFTPOS fee arrangements. It’s expensive, and unreasonable in our view.

For any retailer reading this and wondering how to tap into the significant saving on EFTPOS fee costs, talk to us. We will share our insights and what we did in our own shops to keep these per transaction EFTPOS fees low and to a level that they are not a pain point in the business. Being retailers ourselves we live these concerns every day and we are grateful for the opportunity to share our knowledge.

If EFTPOS is used regularly in your retail business, consider looking at your arrangements to see if a fee reduction could be achieved. As plenty of Tower Systems customers have found, switching software can unlock financially rewarding benefits.

Linkly EFTPOS integration with Tower Systems POS software helps local retailers

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The Tower Systems POS software integrates with the Linkly EFTPOS platform to make it easier for local retailers to take credit and debit cards for over the counter purchase payment.

The Linkly POS software integration has been part of the Tower Systems software for many years.

There is no additional cost for retailers to use the Linkly POS software integration from Tower Systems.

Using the Linkly POS software integration, retailers can take payment without re-entering same amount details. There is an integration between the Tower POS software and the credit card terminal and through the Linkly connection, processing of the sale is accurate, fast and easy … providing for a smooth transaction flow at any sales counter or elsewhere bin the business.

Tower Systems first worked with the Linkly business many years ago when it was called PC Eftpos. That work continues through their transition to the rebrand as Linkly.

We don’t force our POS software customers to use Linkly. It is 100% optional, like any of our EFTPOS handling integrations. We create the solutions and let our customers choose those that work best for them in their circumstances. Customers like this, that we do not require them to use one company or another. They like the purity if us focussing on what we make rather than forcing them down a payments path that is not ideal for them but which may enrich the POS company – yes, we have seen that happen.

The integration in our POS software with Linkly is in all options of our software, for all marketplaces. This means our customers across a diverse mix of specialty retail situations can rely on the POS software tinkly integration to provide a stable and secure solution for handling the processing of credit can debit card payments in the business.

We have no commercial terms with Linlky. The relationship is purely Technical ical, in service of our POS software customers, local retailers serving local communities. we will continue to support the Linkly POS software integration since so many of our customers rely on this. It is important to them, which makes it important to us.

in addition to the link itself, we provide advice, help and support for our customers, to make using it easy and certain. This is what good POS software customer service looks like.

Tyro EFTPOS for small business retailers through POS software

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Tyro EFTPOS has been integrated with our Tower Systems POS software for small business retailers for more than ten years. The Tyro integration is simple, effective, seamless and fast… all factors that matter to small business retailers keen for a smooth counter operation for their businesses.

The thousands of retailers using the Tower Systems POS software for specialty retail can bank on Tyro for delivering counter and mobile based EFTPOS access, including through the Tower Systems Retailer Roam product that takes retail on the road, out of the shop and into the field, the markets and the farm gate.

We like Tyro because it is a smart interface, one that works well for small business retailers, delivering EFTPOS solutions that are best-practice and secure.

Through the recent COVID-19 challenges, Tyro has been our preferred payment solution for small business retailers, as it offers contactless EFTPOS integrated with the Tower Systems Point of Sale software.

At Tower Systems, we use Tyro EFTPOS in our own shops and have done so for many years. We like the streamlined operation, the security, the speed and the ease of settlement. Tyro makes doing business a breeze for our retail shops and we think many retailers using Tyro EFTPOS integrated with our POS software would agree.

Tower Systems is well positioned thanks to a solid relationship with Tyro and our experience across eleven specialty retail channels. The Tyro and POS software solution is robust, proven and used in more than 1,000 retail outlets in Australia.

Together, our integration is regularly updated, ensuring it is current and continues to be useful in serving the evolving needs of small business retailers. This matters now more than ever, because the environment of the retail industry is constantly changing.

Working with the tech folks at Tyro, we are able to deliver an integrated Tyro and POS software solution that is dependable, useful and financially rewarding.

Tower Systems offers first level support for retailers using the integrated Tyro and POS software solution, offering a one stop shop support entry point, delivering fast access to help on any Tyro related query. We pass these queries to Tyro’s 24/7 Australian-based Customer Support team if they are outside our remit. In both support cases, most are easily handled and retailers are able to get back to business quickly.

Tyro is a breeze to work with. We are grateful for the relationship and the value it brings to our small business customer community.

Helping small business retailers easily add a surcharge of credit card transactions through POS software

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With tight margins, tough competition, higher labour costs and higher tenancy costs, it is no wonder more retailers are charging a fee for some, maybe all, card use by customers.

Some cards, the premium cards, are especially expensive for retailers to take. These cards typically offer their customers benefits, which are paid for through higher fees for the participating retailers.

More and more retailers are applying a surcharge automatically to each card paid transaction to help defray the costs of taking the cards.

Retailers using the POS software from  Tower Systems have the tools in their software today to auto charge a surcharge for card use.

Our view as a software company is to serve the needs of our customers. They asked us some time  ago  for the auto surcharge facility and we delivered – giving our customers the flexibility to charge if they wished. There is no pressure from us, no requirement, no mandate. Rather, we have delivered through the software tools that make charging a credit card surcharge through the POS software easy.

We are grateful to our customers for their guidance as the the flexibility needed to serve their credit card surcharge needs, to ensure that the POS software levies the charge how and when they want, in a way that does not disrupt or challenge the sales counter experience.

Setting up any surcharge in the POS software, as opposed too on asn EFTPOS terminal, allows the sale total, including the surcharge, to appear on your Retailer receipts as well as your EFTPOS merchant copies. This is a better outcome for the business as well as for the shoppers.

Tower Systems customers have flexibility and ease of implementation, to enable them to use this in a way that minimises the risk or challenge for any retail business. It offers transparency, tracking and management oversight to enable a business to assess the use of and income from the surcharge and to also determine the positive or negative impact of the credit card surcharge on the broader business.

Credit card surcharges by retailers are common as they look at the costs in their businesses. By charging customers based on a cost of a specific service they can guide customers to make other decisions, which may cost less.

Small business retailers benefit from Tyro fast and secure EFTPOS

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Tower Systems has partnered with Tyro broadband EFTPOS for many years as a preferred partner in handling over the counter payment by credit and debit cards.

We like Tyro. Their service is excellent, fast, secure and ideal for indie retailers, like our POS software customers.

We like the Tyro approach to business, like letting customers choose their settlement time. This and other features demonstrate a commitment to small business needs.

We also like the business banking services they offer our customers…

The Tyro Bank Account pays a base interest rate3 of 1.00% p.a. and for funds left for more than 90 days, you can earn up to 1.75% p.a. interest. Maintaining a balance of at least $10,000 throughout the year can give you an extra $166 in interest back in your pocket3.

To make the most of your money, have your daily settlement deposited directly into your Tyro Bank Account to begin earning interest right away, plus you can utilise the convenience of recurring payments, so you can help automate the running of your business.

From within our POS software, retailers can transact with Tyro with certainty and security, knowing that they are offering a best-practice credit and credit card solution to their customers.

We use Tyro ourselves in the retail businesses we own and operate. This gives us hands on experience that we leverage in servicing our customers.

Tyro flexibility on card fees helps small business retailers

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We are thrilled with the announcement from our EFTPOS partner Tyro on the release of their dynamic surcharging facility, a facility that makes it easy for retailers to charge a surcharge appropriately. This is good news for retailers. especially small business retailers where some card fees are a serious post on small margin products.

How often have you struggled with surcharging? The new RBA regulations will make it even more complicated.

That’s why we have upgraded all Tyro EFTPOS terminals with a dynamic surcharging option, it will recommend surcharging rates to you based on the RBA’s regulations and your card transactions in the last 12 months. You can easily review and alter these rates at any time. Check out Dynamic Surcharging and see how it works.

This announcement from Tyro to our customers is part of a broader communication strategy from the company and supported by us in educating small business retailers about greater flexibility thanks to tyro.

Valuable insights from Tyro on EFTPOS and more

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IMG_2646We benefited from a terrific briefing from broadband EFTPOS experts Tyro today at their Sydney headquarters in a special briefing for their POS software partners.

The briefing also covered other products from the company that benefit small businesses. We like this as here at Tower Systems we only serve small business retailers.

The session today was enlightening.

The meetings following the session were even more enlightening. We are grateful to Tyro for the opportunities.

Helping retailers save time with integrated eftpos

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Tower Systems is using the rush of trade for small business retailers at Christmas to reinforce the commercial value of the Tyro integrated eftpos solution we offer. With 1,000 retailers connected through Tyro we have excellent data reflecting time saving, mistake reducing and other benefits for retailers that help at the sales counter as well as in the back office management of the business.

In the middle of the busy trading of Christmas, the benefits of the Tower Systems Tyro broadband eftpos integration are clear and felt on small business retail shops across a range of marketplaces:

  • Fast eftpos processing.
  • Accurate eftpos processing.
  • Reduced keystrokes at the counter.
  • No clogging of the phone line.
  • Streamlined counter management.
  • Happier customer engagement.
  • Better control over possible points of fraud in the business.
  • Reduced cash handling costs.
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