Selling, managing and tracking gift vouchers in a retail business is simple, safe and easy using the POS software developed and supported by Tower Systems.
Gift vouchers can be issued by the POS software easily, quickly and accurately. There is no need for a printed card or note. Alternatively, a business can create the gift vouchers externally from the POS software yet have all of them easily tracked and managed.
Loaded with whatever amount suits a customer and fits within the rules of a business, gift vouchers are a wonderful solution for a retail business to offer where a customer likes a shop but does not know what to buy. From the moment a gift voucher is loaded with a value it is tracked by the POS software. The amount loaded is managed as a liability of the business, as is required by accounting standards.
Tower Systems has managed gift vouchers in its POS software for decades. The gift voucher facilities in the software have evolved as the needs of small business retailers have evolved. The company has ensured that its offering in this space is fit for purpose for today’s retail environment, to enable its customers to be competitive in this space.
Gift voucher setup in the POS software is easy. Thanks to not requiring pre printed cards, a business can test the appetite of its customers for gift vouchers by having computer generated vouchers. This trial can help guide whether a business should invest ini professional design and production of vouchers, which is also a service that Tower Systems offers through its in-house graphic design tools and services.
We see gift vouchers successfully used in small business retail in the channels of garden centres, bike shops, jewellers, gift shops, homewares shops, book shops, newsagencies, pet shops, toy shops and even firearms shops as well as many other types of retail business situations. We are grateful for the opportunity to work with gift retailers to help them build customer appeal.
Gift vouchers are a vital tools for small business retailers to offer, to help broaden the appeal of a shop beyond what it may have available for customers to purchase today. Tower Systems makes them financially and operationally appealing to small business retailers through its smart POS software.
Secret audit tools in POS software are critical in small business retail for they provide insights into behind the scenes activity in a business that could be harmful to the business. By tracking activities including keystrokes designed to manipulate business data, good POS software is able to help a retail business compare bad behaviour including fraud.
The Tower Systems small business POS software has terrific audit tools that can only be accessed with the most secure password managed by the software, a password only given by the comp0any to business owners.
Using the smart audit tools, we have been able to help retailers to track employee fraud, supplier fraud, customer fraud and what could have been expensive but unintentional mistakes.
The Audie tools and the secret mirror data they have access to represent a valuable asset to any indie retailer as they make the POS software operational smart for and protective of that business.
This area of data curation and management is not often talked abut because it can be construed as a negative given the connection with bad things happening in a business. The reality is that knowing the tools are there creates a positive situation, a comfort, a peace of mind as the POS software is offering a set of eyes and ears watching over the business and providing the business access to insights to help reduce the negative.
The Tower Systems small business POS software provides to indie retailers audit tools that are exemplary in their service of ethical business operation. This is especially useful inn businesses that are run with owners and even senior managers not in a location full time.
So, in addition to accurately and quickly transacting retail sales, the Tower Systems POS software offers retail business owners access to tools through which they can review data that sheds light on behaviour that could compromise the business. This is what a good audit is about.
Our POS software audit tools have been used in legal cases and by business financial auditors and forensic accountants to track potential misbehaviour. the resulting data can be a body of evidence in criminal or commercial legal action. It is data on which expert evidence can be offered as to actions taken in a business that cold be the matter of such a case.
Our hope is that the audit tools in our POS software do not find misbehaviour and that simply having the tools in a business is the most value achieved. However, should they be needed and should they uncover misbehaviour, the audit tools stand strong and tall for the business and those who own it.
Tower Systems offers Retailer Roam as an easy to setup and run POS software solution for pop-up retail shops situations.
With Pop-up retail becoming more prevalent, having a sweet POS software solution to help owners and managers of pop-up retail stores makes sense.
From selling to store management, the Retailer Roam pop-pop retail solution from Tower Systems offers an easy to setup, easy to use and easy to fund pop-pop retail management solution. Pop-up retail is easier thanks to this solution from Tower Systems.
Running in the cloud with easy to use redundancy built in should the internet be down, Retailer Roam works in a variety of situations and for a variety of businesses. It is safe, secure and accessible.
Retailer Roan is another cloud based POS solution from the web team at Tower Systems where cloud based POS Solutions have been delivered for indie retailers for years.
Retailer Roam is a tablet app-based POS extension to the Tower Systems Retailer POS software. The app runs on Apple iPad and Android based tablets. It can run connected over WiFi or any other network. It can also run disconnected, syncing when connected again to a network at a later time.
Retailer Roam is designed to help retailers better manage buy times without the need to install considerable hardware as well as to transact business away from the counter, from an outpost or from a vehicle some distance from the shop.
Pop-up retail needs to be easy, fast, safe and secure. Retailer Roam from Tower Systems is all of these things. It is a wonderful solution for indie retailers looking to expand their retail business reach into the pop-up retail space.
If you are considering a pop-up retail store, consider Retailer Roam from Tower Systems and enjoy the flexibility of selling anywhere, anytime and with safety, security and speed as benefits at your fingertips.
Tower Systems is a small business focussed POS software company serving in excess of 3,500 indie retailers in several niche retail channels.
We make and support what we sell, including Retailer Roam. For pop-up, online and fixed location high street retail.
A free workshop for small business retailers: How to find new customers by selling online direct from POS software for your specific type of business using Shopify and Magento.
Join us for a free workshop where we will explore Shopify and Magento direct connected POS software for specialty retailers: jewellers, garden centres, produce, toy, firearms, fishing, outdoors, newsagents, pet, gift, book, bike and adult.
At the interactive and engaging workshops we will focus on new online insights for 2020 and beyond that are relevant to indie small business retailers.
Hear from current case studies what other indie retailers are doing.
Find out how to use online to drive in-store shopping.
Learn how click and collect actually works.
Find out about the different buy now pay later options for online sales.
See how stock data including images flow easily from the POS to online.
Each workshop will be live and interactive and relevant to your type of business. It could save you thousands in web developer fees. This will not be a sales pitch. We will share what we know having done this work ourselves for the retail businesses we own in the homewares, pop culture, collectible, plush, gift and games segments of retail.
We live everyday the challenges of pricing, marketing, shipping and more and we will share out learnings.
We will cover hot topics including: SEO, shipping options, free shipping, the role of social in online sales, returns, bundles, branding and a plan b for your web strategy.
Click on your preferred city below to book. Each workshop (except for online) will be in an easy to get to capital city location.
We are local. Tower Systems serves 3,500+ specialty businesses – with POS software and websites. We make what we sell. We use it ourselves too, in our own retail and online businesses.
With these workshops and all we do, goal is to help you enjoy a more successful and valuable business.
While it was RUOK? Day last week, the mental health challenge for businesses owners and, indeed, the whole community is a 365 day a year challenge.
Recent Bureau of Statistics figures reinforce why this is a 365 day a year challenge:
As an employer of many 15-34 year olds, the stat for suicide is horrifying. The broader suicide rate in Australia is horrifying.
We have written a few times here about mental health. Not as an expert, because we are not experts. Rather, our interest is as an employer and as someone who craves for a healthier and happier country.
We share here today a revised version of information we have shared here before on this topic, and in particular about the mental health of newsagents and those in our businesses.
Despite all the ads on TV, despite the work of R U OK?, despite the work of agencies like Beyondblue, despite the stories in the media, mental health, especially mental health within the small business community, and especially the newsagency community, is not talked about.
The challenge is that we cannot always see unhealthiness. If someone is physically unhealthy, we can usually see it, but not mental unhealthiness. For sure there are occasional signs like behavioural outbursts that don’t make sense but you can’e be sure and often you don’t want to ask for fear of making it worse.
In small business retail and in our channel there are challenges that can make things worse: bullying landlords, overbearing suppliers, demanding customers, relentless competitors. These and other factors can make someone see the road ahead through clouded eyes. For some of those on the other side, however, how they handle a situation could be driven by how the small business has dealt with it up to then.
We are all for personal accountability and often say we need to own our own situation – we sign our leases, we sign magazine contracts, we go into business. However, we do these things expecting fairness. Too often there are people on the other side of a commercial relationship who do not act with fairness.
Social media is a factor with mental health as it gives everyone a megaphone and the ability to publish an opinion without thinking it through. In schools social media is a big focus in mental health awareness, especially around bullying.
It is hard to know the mental health of anyone. That person smiling at you or joking with you could be in a dark place in their mind. This is why it is important we talk and ask colleagues how they are doing and why we all need to help when we think help could be what is needed.
In the workplace, we think being open with each other so that everyone has a shared and open experience. If there are business performance issues, rather than keeping them secret, talking about them could help ease tension: a problem shared and all that…
There are wonderful resources from government departments available. For example, The Victorian Government has a page online on this topic, which includes good practical advice:
Make time to exercise each day: For example, a simple daily lunch time walk can help maintain a positive outlook.
Practice mindfulness: Mindfulness means being aware of your reactions/feelings/thoughts as you have them. This helps you choose how to manage matters as they arise. Mindfulness is a great tool to help lower stress and anxiety levels.
Adopt work/life boundaries: Don’t let work overtake your life. Set some boundaries to ensure you have time for both work and a social life. You might decide not to discuss work from 5pm Friday night to 8am Monday morning because weekends are for family time only.
Connect with others: Find someone worthy of your stories – a confidant or mentor you can talk to about your business experiences. Make sure this person is supportive, a good listener and someone whose opinion you value.
This website also lists indicators:
Physical signs: For example, a constant knot in your stomach, tense neck and shoulders, feeling nauseous, heart palpitations or chest pains.
Changes in behaviour: For example, being unable to sleep, crying regularly, feeling moody or often irritable, increase or loss of appetite.
Unclear thinking: For example, not being able to make decisions, not understanding directions, not being able to focus, being inattentive.
Feeling sad or anxious regularly: We all have bad days – they’re a normal part of life. This flag needs attention if you begin to notice feeling like this regularly.
Disconnecting from others: This may include not joining in social activities, choosing to spend time away from family and friends or stopping hobbies/sporting activities.
Feeling overwhelmed: It is difficult to find solutions to problems, and in some instances it feels like they are insurmountable. Problem solving becomes difficult
And it lists useful resources:
Business In Mind: Business In Mind is an online resource specifically designed to support business owners who may be experiencing mental health challenges.
Beyond Blue: beyondblue provides information and support to help everyone in Australia achieve their best possible mental health, whatever their age and wherever they live.
The Ripple Effect: A resource for rural communities that addresses suicide in rural areas.(Ph: 03 5551 8587)
Sane provides online information, support and connection for every Australian affected by complex mental illness through its website, peer-to-peer forums and helpline. SANE also has a range of factsheets on managing mental health in the workplace. (Ph: 1800 18 7263)
Our approach to mental health as business owners has to be continuous, on-going. It can’t be a one day of the year focus or a stunt. It has to be part of how we run our businesses, everyday.
In our experience, talking is key – offering an environment where people can talk, where they know it is safe to talk, where they are encouraged to talk and where active listening happens. While it is not always perfect and does not always achieve what is hoped for, it is documented as being valuable.
While RUOK? Day today is important for awareness, that awareness and engagement need to be year-long.
All users of the Tower Systems POS software have access to free training. Long after the software is installed, this free training is available for people to learn more about our POS software and how to leverage the software for the benefit of the retail business.
POS software training is critical to make good use of tools the software. Some of the best learning can be done years after a business started using the software. This is why we make access to POS software training free for our indie retail customers.
We run several online training sessions each week across a wide range of subjects. These are an excellent way for you and your staff to learn in detail about specific areas of the software. Each of these sessions is genuinely interactive and offers a free-flowing Q&A session at the end where any topic can be canvassed.
To participate in an online meeting all you need access to is a computer with a broadband internet connection and a phone to receive a call so you can hear the audio. Each session runs for approximately 45-60 minutes depending on questions. Being in front of our POS software is not critical for the training.
We also host face to face meetings where further training can be accessed. These meetings are free. The face to face meetings are yearly in capital cities and regional centres across Australia. These are in addition to our weekly online live sessions. We also attend more than twelve industry trade shows offering face-to-face meeting opportunities with users.
Free and easy access to POS software training is critical for small business retailers and those who work in their businesses. It provides for unlocking genuine value from the POS software.
Tower Systems is proud to be able to offer this training and to have done so for many years. It is one thing to talk about it and another entirely to actually do it. This is what we are committed to, doing – we really do believe that actions speak louder than words.
Tower Systems serves specialty small business and independent retailers with specialty POS software.
Retailer Roam is a beautiful piece of new software from Tower Systems that facilitates small business retailers selling from anywhere at any time.
Roam is an App that can run on any iOS or Android device. It is POS software on the road. Hence, the name Roam. Retailers really can sell anywhere. From a pop-up store, market stall, school, a truck – anywhere on the go at any time. It is easy, fast and secure, and it can trade even without an internet connection.
Retailer Roam is next generation POS software, bringing facilities engaged and transforming retailers want to their businesses, helping them reach new customers, helping them sell places that are hard to sell at today. Retailer Roam helps small business retailers transform how they sell and through this to find new shoppers for their businesses.
It is fresh software unique and made in Australia by Tower Systems as an extension to our specialty retail small business suite.
Retailer Roam is ideal for retail businesses in these retail segments: jewellers, garden centres, produce, toy, firearms, fishing, outdoors, newsagents, pet, gift, book, bike and adult.
Retailer Roam is portable POS software with all small business retailers expect from portability yet with access to the power of wonderful data held in systems in the back office of these retail businesses. It brings to life out in the field, away from the shop, tools through which the retailer can find new shoppers and win new business.
Retailer Roam in a game changer for small business retailers looking to innovate how and where they sell products for their business. It places into the palm of retail employees on the shop floor the ability to sell to and serve customers that help ease the counter log-jam, that helps provide assistance and service to customers in the store but away from the counter.
It is fast, flexible and evolving. Retailer Roam today will evolve as more use it and provide feedback to guide further enhancement. This iterative approach to development is loved by small business retailers who like a say in the evolution of the POS software they use in their businesses.
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.
A free workshop for small business retailers: How to find new customers by selling online direct from POS software for your specific type of business using Shopify and Magento.
Join us for a free workshop where we will explore Shopify and Magento direct connected POS software for specialty retailers: jewellers, garden centres, produce, toy, firearms, fishing, outdoors, newsagents, pet, gift, book, bike and adult.
At the interactive and engaging workshops we will focus on new online insights for 2020 and beyond that are relevant to indie small business retailers.
Hear from current case studies what other indie retailers are doing.
Find out how to use online to drive in-store shopping.
Learn how click and collect actually works.
Find out about the different buy now pay later options for online sales.
See how stock data including images flow easily from the POS to online.
Each workshop will be live and interactive and relevant to your type of business. It could save you thousands in web developer fees. This will not be a sales pitch. We will share what we know having done this work ourselves for the retail businesses we own in the homewares, pop culture, collectible, plush, gift and games segments of retail.
We live everyday the challenges of pricing, marketing, shipping and more and we will share out learnings.
We will cover hot topics including: SEO, shipping options, free shipping, the role of social in online sales, returns, bundles, branding and a plan b for your web strategy.
Click on your preferred city below to book. Each workshop (except for online) will be in an easy to get to capital city location.
We are local. Tower Systems serves 3,500+ specialty businesses – with POS software and websites. We make what we sell. We use it ourselves too, in our own retail and online businesses.
With these workshops and all we do, goal is to help you enjoy a more successful and valuable business.
The cost of employee theft in small business retail is considerable. It is one of those costs to business that is not known until a business actually looks at the data. Most small business owners, however, do not look at the data until they are forced too. Often, by then, it is too late to recover all of what has been taken from the business.
Retailers can cut the cost of employee theft. Smart POS software makes this easier to achieve.
In the Tower Systems POS software there are secret tools that help small business retailers detect employee theft. detection is the first step to cutting the cost of theft. Knowledge is power as they say. The secret tools cannot be found by any9one unless they know the path and have access to the secret kay.l This information is only provided to business owners – if they want to know, if they want to cut the cost of employee theft.
Using POS software to cut the cost of employee theft in a retail business is, in our view, smart. It saves money, saves time and encourages the business onto a path of greater prosperity.
Tower Systems advises, encourages and guides small business retailers on cutting the cost of theft. We do this using the secret tools embedded deep within our software. We also doo it through our work with the police, crown prosecutors, private investigators and other who9 are also working to help cut the cost of employee theft in retail businesses, especially in small business retail.
This is critical for businesses for too often we see them come to a realisation abut theft only after the money is long gone.
People can be clever and smart as to how they go abut stealing from a retail business. The secret tools in our POS software help small business retailers to see the theft early in the cycle, before the damage is too great and in a way that enables the business owner to think about appropriate next steps to get the evidence necessary for police engagement. This is critical.
Small business retailers can cut the cost of employee theft. Tower Systems can help with this. We have people in our company skilled and experienced to help small business retailers achieve this.
The Xero connects POS software from Tower Systems is helloing indie and small business retailers ro run more efficient, enjoyable and successful retail businesses.
Thanks to the seamless integration from the Tower Systems POS software with the Xero cloud based accounting solution, small business retailers have a solution through which they can expect to achieve reduced bookkeeping costs, lower accounting costs, easier access to business performance projections, reduced data entry errors and an overall better outlook for the retail business.
Having partnered with Xero for the POS software integration for years, Tower Systems delivers to small business retailers a proven and valuable solution through which retailers have access to their P&L and balance sheet from data sales, invoice and other data flow from the POS software.
This is smart for the business and financially positive from the outset thanks to the elimination of accounting costs.
Tower Systems is a partner of Xero, listed by the company on its website. We go further, though. We use Xero ourselves, for retail businesses we own and operate, walking daily in the shoes of our customers integration POS software with Xero and overseen by our own in house CPA. This is a unique position for a POS software company – being a retailer too and using our POS software and its Xero integration for valuable advantage.
Our Xero POS software integration is one of many approved integrations provided by the software to serve the needs of retailers. Other integrations include:
Tyro broadband EFTPOS, which is fast, efficient and secure.
Links to all major banks through PC-EFTPOS. This includes, NAB, ANZ and CBA.
Magento e-commerce. Magento is an excellent platform for website sales for small to medium businesses.
Shopify e-commerce. Shopify is an excellent entry-level solution for small to medium businesses.
FlyBys in New Zealand.
Transactor loyalty in New Zealand.
Scale integration for selling by weight.
Touch networks for vending event tickets, phone recharge, fishing licences and more.
These integrations, like the Xero POS software integration, deliver time saving, cost saving and other benefits to the small business retailers with whom we happily partner.
Our goal is to help small business retailers run more successful and enjoyable businesses.
Gun shops and firearms retailers have needs beyond traditional retailers, needs that are often not covered in off the shelf POS software. This is where the gun shop software from Tower Systems helps, we address needs unique to the channel including these important areas.
The specialty POS software from Tower Systems delivers access to an extraordinary range of benefits including…
Sell accurately by weight or measure – by whole numbers or
Leverage you. If your knowledge is a differentiator, offer it through structured opportunities in the software.
Easier record keeping with serial number tracking of items sold.
Ensure compliance with structured age checking.
Easily handle special customer orders. Bring product in for a specific customer and have them notified automatically by email or text when the goods are in and ready.
Business differentiating loyalty. Stand out from the crowd. Have customers coming back to youfor this.
Maximise the basket with easy to use one-time shopper loyalty tools.
Trade and club pricing profiles. Set pricing rules based on customer type.
Pre-orders – Easily pre-sell a delivery so that when the stock arrives you can manage distribution and billing efficiently.
Differentiate with informative receipts. These can include product care, use and safety information based on what customers buy.
Differentiate with bundles. Selling items bundled together makes price comparison hard.
Track who sold what.
Time saving invoicing and account management – manage accounts in a way tailored to your
Market to customers based on past purchases.
Save time by importing electronic invoices.
Sell more with a direct connect to buy now pay later services.
The firearms business / gun shop POS software from Tower systems is deeply specialty in nature, for the specialty businesses in this unique and important retail channel.
In developing these and other facilities, Tower Systems has consulted with professional gun shop owners to ensure that our software is indeed a useful and appreciated solution.
With more gun shops added to our users community in the last few months, we are building better experience and expertise which we can use to help more businesses drive efficiency and business success.
How to find new customers by selling online direct from POS software for your specific type of business using Shopify and Magento.
Join us for a free workshop where we will explore Shopify and Magento direct connected POS software for specialty retailers: jewellers, garden centres, produce, toy, firearms, fishing, outdoors, newsagents, pet, gift, book, bike and adult. We will focus on new online insights for 2020 and beyond
Hear from current case studies what other indie retailers are doing.
Find out how to use online to drive in-store shopping.
Learn how click and collect actually works.
Find out about the different buy now pay later options for online sales.
See how stock data including images flow easily from the POS to online.
This workshop will be live and interactive and about your type of business. It could save you thousands in web developer fees. This will not be a sales pitch.
We will cover hot topics including: SEO, shipping options, free shipping, the role of social in online sales, returns, bundles, branding and a plan b for your web strategy.
Click on your preferred city below to book. Each workshop (except for online) will be in an easy to get to capital city location.
We are local. Tower Systems serves 3,500+ specialty businesses – with POS software and websites. We make what we sell. We use it ourselves too, in our own retail and online businesses. If you think we could help you, please call 1300 662 957 or email sales@towersystems.com.au.
Our goal is to help you enjoy a more successful and valuable business.
Small business retailers can easily sell in bundles, kits and packs thanks to the smart tools in the Tower Systems POS software for specialty retailers.
A Bundle is where several items are packed together and prices together so that a customer purchases one item with all items in the bundle recorded as having been purchased together, with all inventory tracking undertaken and completed.
The Tower Systems POS software can manage the creation, selling and tracking of bundles and all items win a bundle. This is key to helping small business retailers compete.
A kit is a variation on a bundle for some specialty retailers. In Fishing businesses, for example, a kit might include a rod, reel, hooks and 0ther components which can be sold separately or together, as a kit.
Being able to create, disassemble and sell kits is critical to many types of specialty retailers and having this facility in the Tower Systems small business POS software s a bonus.
A pack is another variation on this theme. Many types of retailers can buy from suppliers in a a pack and then break down the pack for single product sale in-store. They can also keep some of what they have purchased in pack form for sale as a pack. having the flexibility to handle these and related shop floor moves goes a small business retailer flexibility and terrific margin opportunity.
Handling packs, kits and bundles is another way the Tower Systems software is delivering to specialty retailers specialist tools through which their businesses can differentiate from big businesses as well as from online businesses. Specialty facilities make specialty retailers stand out and that is good for business.
Tower Systems works closely with specialty retailers and their suppliers to deliver valuable tools like supporting packs, bundles and kits using the Tower POS software.
The more small business retailers can do to differentiate their businesses, too stand apart from the crowd, the better. Tower Systems supports this goal and delivers tools n the software through which this can be achieved.
Just as our software helps small business retailers differentiate and benefit it helps us as a POS software company differentiate. For example, many POS software products do not handle kits, bundles and packs.
POS software company Tower Systems provides its small business retailer community with access to a secure cloud backup service.
This service provides on-location and secure off-location backups of data, giving retailers double protection in the event of an attack or major hardware crash that necessitates access to backed up data.
The benefits are clear:
Time saved thanks to no more end of day backup.
Fast restore in the event of a cyber attack or system crash.
Incremental backups meaning the ability to restore back to prior some event occurred.
Peace of mind.
No need to remember to backup.
Double backups = more protection.
Security of off site backups.
The best way to any business, especially any small business, to be prepared for an attack, beyond firewall and other force-field protection is to have easy and fast access to up to date backup data, of whole of systems backup data.
The Tower Systems cloud backup service is safe, secure, offsite and on site and updated regularly as each day transacts.
Our cloud backup service for small business retailers has professional redundancy built in. We will not provide details here as to do so could compromise the security.
There have been instances recently where after a crypto lock attack on a client we have had them up and running, fully restored, within the hour.
This is what professional backup looks like. It is insurance for getting over the attack quickly and professionally. Without a hefty price tag.
We monitor the backups. for no additional cost to customers This is bonus coverage beyond the notifications on your local computer about backup status.
The peace of mind is valuable and appreciated by small business retailers and people who work in small business retail and have been responsible for undertaking the daily backups. It frees them to focus on other requirements, other parts of their business.
Cloud back is, in our view, the only safe backup for small business retailers. It is what we recommend. It is what we use ourselves in our own retail businesses.
Tower Systems is proud to offer this service to its small business retailer POS software community.
The ABC has reported the ATO is clamping down on small businesses using sales suppression software to minimise tax.
Ms Jenkins said the ATO was also cracking down on the use of sales suppression software that disguised the transactions within a company’s records.
“There is some really sophisticated software out there that is helping people avoid paying the right amount of tax.
“But whether it is cashless payments or whether it is the use of platforms or apps, it means there is really a trace of your transactions.
“We use merchant data and other sources of information to identify where things just don’t look right. Then we go and have a chat to them and say, ‘Hey, can you explain?’
In the mid 1990s there was sales suppression scam operating in the newsagency channel. I became aware of it because my newsagency software company lost businesses because we refused to offer such a facility.
There was a software program into which the retailer could enter a code and then an amount of cash they wanted to take out of the business unreported. A second set of records was maintained for the ATO and another records for the business owner.
I know because the software was demonstrated to me several times, by someone who had worked for the software company that created the software. They had approached me. I did some more checking with newsagents and discovered the facility in the software was being used.
The matter was reported to the ATO. At their then Box Hill office in Victoria they assembled a task force including representatives from the ATO, Federal Police, Federal Attorney General office. Victorian State Revenue and Victorian Attorney General office. Several of us with knowledge were brought in for a demonstration of the software. There were several follow up meetings with the ATO in Sydney.
Eventually, my software company stopped losing sales due to us not having the tax avoidance facility in our software.
Any retailer deliberately and systematically underreporting their income to avoid tax deserves what they get from the ATO and from any suppliers they impact through their actions.
We refuse to help any retailer avoid tax.
We will not code for tax avoidance in o0ur software.
We will report it if we see it.
Retailers and taxpayers need to be able to trust POS software.
Retailers who sell age restricted products can bring structure to their business processes and ensure compliance thanks to the age check facilities in the Tower systems smart POS software.
Built into the Tower POS software are facilities to tag items as having an age requirement prior to purchase proceeding. This can bring structure and consistency to the management of the sale of these items in any shop.
The age check facilities are another point of specialisation and difference delivered in there Tower Systems software. They help small business retailer run better businesses and are less likely to be caught in a compliance challenge./
Using the age check facilities in the POS software, retailers can benefit…
A structured approach to selling age restricted inventory.
Proof of a process that can support any situation where a mistake is made. By demonstrating a structured process the business can show that it has processes for appropriate action.
Certainty for employees knowing that you have systems that have their back.
Peace of mind for businesses where owners are located away from retail outlets.
Professionalism. By conducting a structured age check you demonstrate a professionalism and dare to customers, which plenty will appreciate.
Developed originally years ago for managing the accurate sale of tobacco products, he age check facilities in the Tower Systems POS software also serve needs in the firearms retail,. bike shop, jeweller and produce business channels. All have varying needs that are served by there age check facilities in the POS software.
The age check facilities are user managed – you can determine the products to which they apply and how they are used.
This is another differentiator for specialty retail POS software from Tower Systems compared to generic POS software. It is another way you can drive better business outcomes rather than being an average shop using average POS software tools.
Age checking is required for a raft of products for good reason. being able to do this with certainty and consistence is commercially valuable for any retail business involved.
Tower Systems serves in excess of 3,000 small business retailers with specialty POS software for a range of niche retail channels., We are proud to serve the small business sector.
Firearms retailers in Australia and New Zealand can tap into a terrific pool of benefits by using the POS software for firearms businesses developed and supported by Tower Systems.
Regularly updates with facilities that are finely tuned for firearms retailers this software is specialty software fit for purpose for these specialty retailers.
The benefits help firearms retailers run more successful, enjoyable and saleable businesses.
Here are some of the benefits in the Tower Systems firearms business software…
Sell accurately by weight or measure – by whole numbers or
Leverage you. If your knowledge is a differentiator, offer it through structured opportunities in the software.
Easier record keeping with serial number tracking of items sold.
Ensure compliance with structured age checking.
Easily handle special customer orders. Bring product in for a specific customer and have them notified automatically by email or text when the goods are in and ready.
Business differentiating loyalty. Stand out from the crowd. Have customers coming back to youfor this.
Maximise the basket with easy to use one-time shopper loyalty tools.
Trade and club pricing profiles. Set pricing rules based on customer type.
Pre-orders – Easily pre-sell a delivery so that when the stock arrives you can manage distribution and billing efficiently.
Differentiate with informative receipts. These can include product care, use and safety information based on what customers buy.
Differentiate with bundles. Selling items bundled together makes price comparison hard.
Track who sold what.
Time saving invoicing and account management – manage accounts in a way tailored to your
Market to customers based on past purchases.
Save time by importing electronic invoices.
Sell more with a direct connect to buy now pay later services.
Cut mistakes with integrated EFTPOS.
Cut accounting and bookkeeping fees with integration to Xero and others.
Easily sell online with a direct to Shopify / Magento or WooCommerce link from your POS software.
Tower Systems has a structured process for harvesting software change ides from firearms retailers that helps the company keep the software ahead when it comes to best practice specialty software for these specialty retailers.
With regular POS software being unsuitable for these specialty businesses, Tower Systems delivers highly tuned and focussed software that serves their specialty needs. This is an excellent example of the value of local software for local businesses.
Here are five ways you can use our small business focused, specialty retail business POS software to increase sales. We can help you implement each of these:
Discount vouchers. A voucher on receipts offer customers $$ off a purchase. The pitch is easy. Differentiate your business from old-school loyalty. Usually, 20% of vouchers are redeemed. Guys redeem immediately, girls a week or so later. Get shoppers back sooner and spending more.
Multi-buy. Easily offer a deal for the purchase of more than one of an item. This approach is used effectively in big businesses like Officeworks and Bunnings. Setup is easy. Tracking the results is a dream.
Buy now pay later. Zip Pay, Zip Money, Humm and others integrated in our software offer easy and fast settling buy now pay laterplatforms where you carry no financial risk. This is better for your business than LayBy.
Show off your value-add. Include product care information and local area knowledge related to what you sell on receipts. Share your knowledge to differentiate your business.
Easily sell online. Connect your business to a beautiful Shopify website and sell way beyond your local area. We can develop the site for you on a fixed price basis and link it to your POS software to save time and money.
This advice is part of regular advice we provide our customers in a customer service email ent weekly. For each advice point we have specific implementation guidance that we share to make it easier and more consistent to achieve what we pitch.
This is all part of the Tower Systems service, part of what we do beyond the software itself to help our customers achieve more from and with our POS software.
We think they type of service is a differentiator for us. It is a way we demonstrate deliverables for our customers that are not common from POS software companies. We are grateful to our community for the opportunity to share these and other business beneficial ideas.
Of course, we have more than these 5 ways to use our POS software to increase sales, many more. These ideas are a start, a simple demonstration. We help our customers way beyond these five.
Our lead referral program is for bookkeepers and accountants who invest time and knowledge to help introduce us to prospective POS software customers. To express interest please email sales@towersystems.com.au. To find out more: Click here for an information document from us.
We link direct to Xero.
We link through a partner to MYOB and Quicken.
We link to Tyro for fast, safe cost effective EFTPOS as well as the big banks.
For buy now pay later, we link to Oxipay (Hmmm) and ZipPay ZipMoney.
We integrate with Shopify, Magento and Woo for easy e-commerce.
We also develop websites for retailers at our Hawthorn, VIC, head office, websites finely tuned to the needs of local retailers..
Our POS software is purpose built with versions for garden centres, jewellers, bike shops, toy shops, firearms businesses, fishing and outdoors shops, gift shops, newsagents, farm supply, rural and stockfeed businesses, adult shops and newsagents. We dive deep into the needs of each retail channel.
We are keen to work with bookkeepers and others who also specialise in their service of specific retail channel retailers. We’d love to get sales leads from you.To engage please emailsales@towersystems.com.au. This is also the entry point for any queries. Click here to access an information document.
ABOUT US.
Tower Systems is a vertical market POS software company. That is, we sell software designed for specific retail channels. The home page of our website lists all the retail channels in which we serve at any time.
While we may sell/rent/lease our software to businesses outside the retail channels listed, it is rare and only when approved by the leadership team of the company.
We currently serve in excess of 3,000 small business retailers primarily in Australia and New Zealand.
We actively promote our software through direct mail, social media marketing, search engine ads, trade shows and, recently, on radio and TV.
WE ARE RETAILERS TOO.
We own and run three unique retail shops, offering us hands-on retail experience where we can test and refine our software. This has been particularly useful in workflow management where we have tuned our software for efficiency in counter-based retail.
Owning and running retail businesses enables us to provide a unique and valuable level of practical, retailer-focussed, advice to our customers.
ACCOUNTING LINKS AND SERVICES.
We have a full time CPA in the business as our CFO.
Our software is directly integrated with Xero. We are a Xero partner.
Our software also links with MYOB and Quicken through a third party product.
Our customers, through our help desk, have access to comp0lete support in the use of our software as well as practical advice on the correct linking of our software with accounting software. We help our customers achieve and maintain a seamless link.
Thank you for considering working with Tower Systems to empower small business retailers to run more efficient and successful businesses.
To find out more about our POS software and support for specialty retailers, please call our sales team on 1300 662 957 or email them at sales@towersystems.com.au.
We are local. Local matters in local communities. Tower Systems is Australian owned, developed and supported. Call us and a human answers the phone.
We listen to your needs and engage in conversation with you.
Our training is personal, in your business. We think people learn better from face to face training.
Customers guide our software enhancement. We offer a transparent, democratic, process for guiding software update content.
In the cloud or in-store. You choose where the software runs.
Rent or buy. You choose how to acquire and fund the software.
Retail channel specific. This software is developed for your type of business.
We help with business performance analysis and theft checks, services where we take a deep dive into your data and provide confidential insights.
Every customer has the direct contact details for our leadership team for easy and safe escalation of any query.
No pressure. You buy when you are ready.
Unlimited free training. Long after you install the software, ask for free top-up training and all we will organise it.
Retail group engagement. Groups and members of groups have opportunities for group level customisation website sales and more.
New customer care. All new customers have a separate specialist team with which they connect, to ease settling-in.
It’s personal. Retail is personal. This is why we prefer to train you in your shop. Yes, we said this above. We say it again as it is a differentiator.
Tower Systems is not an average POS software company. We are a small business, indie business, focussed POS software company developing software in Australia and New Zealand for Australian and New Zealand based specialty retailers.
Thank you for considering us.
Serving over 3,000 small business retail customers, Tower Systems is engaged locally, across multiple specialty retail channels, delivering solutions retailers want and need to differentiate their businesses. We help indie retailers specialise, locally. This matters because it helps local businesses thrive locally.
Shopping local is key to the fabric of any local community.
Selling a retail business is like selling a house, you need to prepare it so that it looks appealing to prospective purchasers. Selling a newsagency is more challenging because of assumptions out there and changes in what a newsagency is can could be.
Here at Tower Systems we are often asked for retail advice beyond our POS software. Preparing a retail shop for sale is one example of advice we are asked for. We have developed a package of information to help small business retailers as they navigate this. What we share in this blog post today is some of the information we have put together.
Tower Systems POS software customers have access to this and more business management advice and insights.
Make it look and feel appealing. While there are people who will look for a challenge (opportunity). Most buyers will want two see a retail business they understand and feel they can run.
Eliminate dead stock. It looks bad on the shelves and looks bad on the books. Purchasers should not pay full wholesale for inventory more than six months old as your poor buying or management is not their obligation.
Streamline operations. Make the business look easy to run by ensuring it is easy to run for you. The easier it looks to run the more interesting to people who don’t understand the business.
Maximise profit. What anyone will pay will depend on actual profitability of the business.
Be happy. Owners who talk their business down will find it harder to sell the business. You never know who is shopping your shop and the broader interest they may have.
Keep your social media presence up to date. Today, many people check out a business online prior to looking at it in-store. Maintain up to date Facebook, Instagram and elsewhere.
Get your paperwork in order. Early on, get business documents together:
Premises lease.
Equipment lease.
Employee records.
Product forward orders.
Franchise documents.
Supplier agreements.
Details of any forward orders.
Any other documents relating to the operation of the business including manuals for any equipment items.
Choose a broker for your circumstances.
Success at selling your retail business depends on the work you do to prepare it for sale. Focus months, even a years, out can make for an easier and better sale.
Get it right and you can expect to make more than you might have thought possible.
Small business retailers using the Tower Systems POS software can easily, quickly, safely and accurately sync product images from their PSO software to their Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce or other POS software site easily, quickly and accurately thanks to smart image management in the Tower Systems POS software.
Syncing images without the need for human intervention saves time. It also cuts mistakes, streamlines workflow and provides a better e-commerce as well as in0-store management outcome.
This is good for business.
Tower Systems has offered this POS software website image sync for ages, as part of its core e-commerce interface benefits.
As retailers with multiple websites and active in-store use of POS software in businesses it owns, Tower Systems is delivering solutions it itself wants for more efficient, accurate and successful e-commerce trading. This personal experience is a key factor in why Tower Systems is able to differentiate its offer over other POS software companies in this and other areas.
With the POS software the keeper of the images – multiple per product and any size that is appropriate to what you sell – connecting to the website is easy and seamless. Each new image loaded for a product is synced to the website based on rules established and managed in-store. This enables the software to behave in accordance with the wishes of the business.
Tower already partners with Shopify, Magento and WordPress – WooCommerce. The interface for each with the Tower software is direct and not through a third party. This is also key in the service of accurate, seamless and safe product image transfer.
Tower Systems is able to demonstrate these facilities live to any retailer contemplating the Tower software or website development services.
Image syncing between POS software and a website is critical for any small business that wants to sell online as it reduces the workload involved in managing images. Too often, small business retailers are asked to manually cut and paste and do other work on images. The Tower software makes the process easier, more certain and more enjoyable in that getting to the opportunity its to sell online is faster.
Any POS software that cannot facilitate the automatic and easy flow of images to a Shopify, Magento or WooCommerce website could be considered to be inappropriate for a business that prides efficiency and accuracy.
In a demonstration of a commitment to customer service and transparency, Tower Systems is leveraging secure, smart and mobile technology to offer anyone a free video of the live and interactive demonstration of the Tower POS software.
This is an offer for any retail business owner, their consultant or their accountant. It is risk free, putting the needs of the customer at the centre.
Thanks to smart online meeting technology, we can bring together retail business partners, their accountant and others for an online, live and interactive demonstration of ourPOS software. Better still, we offer you a video recording of the demo every question you ask, and our answers.
While we welcome live in-store demonstrations, with work scheduled today and distance, online live demonstrations are more popular. Here at Tower Systems we have invested in technology to deliver a quality online demonstration where there software is shown live, all questions are answered and open discussion is encouraged.
Our demonstrations are 100% customer driven. This is why a video of the demonstration is good as it reflects the personalised nature of what has been covered, the questions that are business specific that have been answered. The approach demonstrates the realness of the approach taken by Tower Systems in serving customers.
If you have ever wanted to recall, for certain, answers given or promises made in a sales situation, we make it easy because, to us, transparency matters.
The demonstration video offer from Tower Systems its another way the company backs itself, its promises and its personal service. It demonstrates a point of difference that small business owners love because … retail is personal … after all.
We offer locally developed and highly tuned software for specialty retail businesses including garden centres, produce / farm supply businesses, jewellers, bike retailers, pet stores, toy shops, gift shops, homewares shops, fishing and outdoor businesses, newsagents and adult shops.
To find out more about our POS software and support for specialty retailers please call our sales team on 1300 662 957 or email them at sales@towersystems.com.au.
Tower Systems is an Australian POS software company serving 3,500+ specialty retailers in Australia and New Zealand.
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