Are you paying too much for your POS software?
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A first for local specialty Aussie retailers: self-checkout POS software
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Tower Systems has developed a self-checkout POS software specifically for local small business specialty retailers. This software allows small businesses to offer self-checkout to their customers in a way that is beneficial to their business. It is available now for retailers in Australia and New Zealand.
With Tower’s self-checkout POS software, customers can scan their items, make a payment, and receive a receipt. They can also scan their items, save the sale, and then complete the sale at the main counter if they prefer.
The self-checkout POS terminal honors all special prices, catalog prices, and other settings configured by the retailer. It also offers the same loyalty program benefits that customers can access at the sales counter.
The software is available for a low monthly rental fee that can be canceled at any time. This rental fee is per location, so you can run multiple self-checkout terminals for the same price.
Integrated EFTPOS is required for the software. Tower will initially offer integrations with Tyro and Linkly Cloud (the major banks).
When you first use Tower Systems’ self-checkout POS software, you will go through a setup process that includes uploading your own startup and sale close images. You have complete control over these images.
Tower Systems sells self-checkout computer and stand options separately. You can also purchase the computer hardware from elsewhere.
Why Use Self-Checkout in Local Small Business Retail?
- To easily handle sales during busy times of the day for customers who don’t need counter service.
- To open up another service lane during busy times of the year without hiring additional staff.
- To project an image of a modern and forward-thinking business.
Tower Systems is grateful to its teams of software developers, hardware specialists and retail experts who have worked together to bring this opportunity of self-checkout POS software to life for local small business retailers.
The innovation delivered in this solution is considerable as it is build on a fresh software platform that utilises the latest tech available for in-store retail settings.
Tower Systems is a specialty retail POS software solutions provider delivering solutions across sixteen different retail challenge including jewellers, garden centres, bike shops, toy shops, sewing shops, farm supply businesses, landscaping businesses, pool maintenance business, newsagents, pet shops and bike shops.
Now for a Q&A on self-checkout.
Is there a camera? What we have created is self-checkout POS software. It’s not integrated with a camera. We have left the choice of a camera up to each retailer to consider.
Could I run this in a pop-up shop? Yes, you could. All that is needed that the self-checkout is network connected to the main software.
Could I run self-checkout and nothing else? No, you need the base Tower software to manage the back end.
Is there anything that I might want as a retailer that the self-checkout software does not do? It does not do customer quotes or invoicing to a customer.
What if I want to use it for a couple of months of the year only? Easy. Rent it for those months and suspect rental, and costs, for the rest.
Can I test it to see if it suits? Rental is so cheap it’s costs little to try.
Can I run this on a regular computer? Yes.
The POS screen appears to be in portrait more. Is that all you offer? No, you can run it in landscape as well.
Am I able to report on sales only through the self-checkout terminal? Yes.
Can I suspend a sale and finish it at my traditional sales counter? Yes, a staff member can suspend the sale so it can be completed at the counter.
Afternote: true to form, a small former competitor has commented they did this first, years ago and cite evidence of others.
The thing is, in our specialty retail marketplaces, what we have delivered is a first and we are proud of that.
Retail business advice: make every day your pay day
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This is advice we first shared many years ago. We have updated it, updated it more, and updated it again this morning.
We think this is the best advice we could give any local small business retailer as it focuses you on what matters most – nurturing daily value from your business.
Everything you do today has to about making money today because what you make today may matter more than what you make when you sell your business.
Let’s get into it:
Retail business advice: make every day your pay day.
It starts with the mindset of every day being your pay day. Every decision needs to be considered in this context.
Here are some suggestions for making every day your pay day:
- Make your shop happy, appealing. Play good music. Smile. be happy to be there. Greet shoppers. Offer free samples. Be engaged.
- Make sure your sales counter maximises the opportunity. Keep it efficient. Pitch products that are easily understood and easily bought on impulse.
- Charge more every time you can. Where you can, charge more. Even and extra 1% or 2% can make a difference. In our experience, price is often not the factor retailers think it is. So, look at your prices for opportunities to increate margin.
- Get people buying more each visit. Look at what you have where and make sure that key traffic lines have impulse purchase opportunities along the way.
- Stock what sells. Use your data. Make sure you don’t run out of good selling items. 75% of retailers miss revenue by not having items shoppers want when they want them. Buying stock based on evidence is more valuable than buying based on emotion.
- Be cleverly frugal. When you are considering spending money, think about the value for the business from the spend. Think about the return you could get and the speed of the return. Have some checks and balances in spending decisions to slow them down.
- Seek out new customers. New customers are the future lifeblood of any retail business. Attract them with smart and entertaining social media posts, a window display that plays outside what people expect from your shop.
- Run with the leanest roster possible. Just about every retail business we review has capacity to lower labour costs. Trimming the roster can come at a cost for the owners – putting in more hours.
- Bring people back sooner with a thoughtfully calibrated loyalty offer that funds itself, and drives value. Every retail business needs a core action designed to bring people back. A timed loyalty offer, which expires, is a good way to do this.
- Have your best people working the floor, helping customers spend more. Today, retail is not about may I help you. Rather, it is about engaging with the products and subtly showing them off, like theatre.
- Have at least one stunning display that attract people from outside the shop, a display people talk about.
- Buy as best you can. Take settlement discounts where possible. Pick up supplier offers. never pass on your better buying to customers, unless it suits for some event you are running. Oh, and with this advice about buying – only do it for items you know you will sell for buying product at a discount and having it on the shelves too long is too much of a cost for the business.
- De-clutter. Sometimes the best way to be able to see your business and what it can do is for you to have less to look at. This means getting rid of dead stock, dead fixtures, dead corners of the shop. Always be trimming, cleaning and looking.
- Change. Every day in your shop change something. Get known as the shop that is never the same. This can be a reason to visit for some shoppers. If you run a business that rarely changes, you give people a reason to walk on by. So, every day, make a change or two. Encourage your team members to suggest changes. By moving a small stand from one part of the business to another could get it noticed and boost sales.
- Stop all busy work. It is easy in a local small business retail to get caught up in doing things. Often, things can be what you do to be busy. Being busy is only good if it is profitable, productive. Declutter your schedule.
Be responsible for the profitability of your business. Don’t blame your suppliers, your landlord, your employees or some other external factor … it all comes down to you – the decisions you make and the actions you take.
By making every day your payday you bring focus on what matters today and what will matter when you’d decide to sell your business.
Doing all this relies on your measuring the performance of your business. The Tower Systems POS software helps with this. It is easy.
My name is Mark Fletcher. I am the owner of Tower Systems. I also own retail shops and several online businesses. Every day here at Tower Systems we live what we say, in our software company and in our shops. We make mistakes, and learn from them. It’s some of those mistakes that got us thinking about this, about the approach of making every day your payday.
While our core mission is to grow the customer base for Tower Systems, we know that key to achieving this helping retailers. Plenty of the help we provide is not software related.
In sharing this advice we demonstrate a care for local small business retail and a transparency as to the advice and help we provide.
Serial number tracking in POS software helps local retailers more completely track inventory
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The POS software from Tower Systems offers serial number tracking of products sold.
From the moment an inventory item with a serial number arrives in the business it can be tracked easily and accurately.
This is a powerful point of difference for the POS software as serial number tracking is not common in POS software solutions.
Developed originally for jewellers, the serial number tracking facilities have been found to be useful for bike retailers, farm supply businesses, firearms dealers, collectible businesses, sewing machine business and more.
Using the Tower Systems POS software, retailers can record the serial numbers of all items arriving in-store that have unique serial numbers. These can be tracked at the point of sale. They can also be tracked for warranty, servicing, valuation and insurance purposes. Stores can also record serial numbers only when they sell – when they record, at arrival or sale, is up to them.
The serial number tracking facilities in the POS software become valuable in almost any retail situation in which they are used.
Thera are some retail sectors where suppliers require the tracking of product serial numbers at the point of sale. There are some regulatory situations where tracking serial numbers is key. Doing this through the POS software brings certainty and consistency to retail businesses.
Tower Systems is proud to offer serial number tracking in its POS software. We are grateful to the many suppliers and retailers who have guided us on this over the years, keeping us on top of the needs of all stakeholders in this serial number tracking space.
Serial number tracking in our POS software has been available for many years. Sure, it has been enhanced over time as needs have evolved, but we first started offering it in software we sold close to 20 years ago. Of course, the software we sell today is completely different, made for today, for today’s needs.
Using the serial number tracking tools in our POS software, retailers can also maintain good records that are useful for themselves in their own management of their businesses.
Find out more at our POS software business website: www.towersystems.com.au.
Tower Systems first with Linkly Cloud POS software integration
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We are grateful for the opportunity and proud to deliver a world first – a POS software integration with Linkly Cloud.
That’s right, we have retailers live with our Tower Systems POS software connected to Linkly Cloud for EFTPOS transactions.
Tower Systems makes POS software for specialty retailers in a range of local specialty retail channels.
Linkly is all about Making every payment seamless.
Together, we have delivered a solution that helps retailers save time, cut mistakes and more easily compete with big business.
Local retailers keen for a seamless payee its integration and needing a POS solution that is capable, functional, enhanced and reliable – the Tower Systems Linkly Cloud partnership is worth considering.
Tower Systems integrated EFTPOS, connects your Retailer Point of Sale with your EFTPOS terminal, making it the fastest and easiest way to sell.
Tower Systems is not prescriptive to its retail business customers as to what payment gateway must be used. We let our retailers choose what is right for them. There is no financial penalty flowing from their choice either. Payments is their choice. We focus on making money from our software.
Being the first in the world to deliver this solution sees us helping those who will come after us. We’ve made it easier for them. We love being the innovators and appreciate the opportunities this affords us along the way.
Our purpose is to empower local retailers to thrive.
Almost everyone working at Tower Systems has experience working in local indie retail. All of our customers get a say in software enhancements.
We know the more we help local retailers thrive the more they will help us thrive.
We know that our software can make a difference in businesses for which it is made, and that our training and support can help businesses thrive.
Our software is made for specialty retailers, retailers in a range of channels like jewellers, garden centres, bike shops, toy shops, newsagents, pet shops, music shops, sewing shops, clothing shops, pool maintenance shops, garden landscape businesses, produce businesses, stockfeed businesses and fishing and outdoor shops.
If you are looking for a secure, fast and time-saving payments integration, Linlkly Cloud connected to the Tower Systems POS software is worth considering.
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!
Top reasons local retailers benefit from a website connected to POS software for their business
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$0 transaction fee POS software
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Savvy retailers are price comparing POS software and gaining a better understanding of the cost of ownership of the software as the cost of ownership includes monthly rental cost as well as fees imposed on transactions and costs associated with any required payments platform.
Here at Tower Systems you can choose the payments platform you prefer, for no cost.
Our POS software connects with Tyro, Linkly, Linkly Cloud, MX51, CentrePay, SmartPay, Quest and others. These are integrations, saving time, cutting mistakes and offering seamless engagement.
There is no payments charge when you use our POS software. Tower Systems has a $0.00 transaction fee cost.
There is no payments platform requirement when you use our POS software.
This is why the total cost of ownership of the Tower Systems POS software is less than plenty of comparable products.
If you are looking for POS software for your business, do your homework, check out pricing, all the pricing, compare and decide what is functionally and financially right for your business.
When you compare our POS software to others, ask the question about payments fee or transaction fee or any percentage surcharge on transactions.
We think software companies should make money from software and not from each transaction a retailer makes in their business.
We also think that transaction fees and payment fees are like a tax, an awful tax, and impost on your business for making sales. It’s why we have taken the approach we have and why we are so transparent about it.
We don’t have the marketing funds to match the POS software companies that do charge a transaction fee. We rely on word of mount and other grass roots marketing. we’re doing okay, too, for which we are sincerely grateful.
Now, to be very clear, Tower Systems does not charge any fee whatsoever for transactions or payments. Nothing fee for debit cards. No fee for credit cards. Tower Systems has no fee whatsoever for any form of payments put through its POS software.
Ultimately, the best POS software for your business will depend on your specific needs and budget. Be sure to compare the features and pricing of different POS systems before making a decision.
Helping retailers quickly and easily load product images to their online store
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The free web app we created for retailers to facilitate fast and easy loading of product photos to our POS software and feeding these to Shopify, magenta, Woo and Big Commerce websites is being loved by our customers.
Using this free tool our customers open their phone, take a photo, check that it looks okay and click to share it. The back end software does the rest, including removing the background of the image if you like.
This is another time saving tool created by Tower Systems to help local retailers more easily get new products online.
The photo management and upload app is 100% our tech, designed to serve our 3,000+ local retail customers. we created it once we understood the frustration of retailers at how long it took to take photos, remove the background and upload them to the software. Removing plan ty of steps and making it a 2 or 3 click quick process is helping local retailers get more products online in a time efficient way.
Small business retail advice: trust your data
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Helping local small business retailers save time and improve efficiency
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Labour costs are under the spotlight in businesses around the world. The obsession with AI is, in part, because it reduces reliance on labour. In San Francisco 3 autonomous (driverless) car companies now operate taxis. We saw them when there on business just a week ago. 7-Eleven in Australia is trialling just walk out type tech. several shops where registered shoppers can walk in, take items off the shelf, and walk out. WH Smith now has self-checkout terminals in most of its Aussie c-store businesses.
We are working on several fronts for you in related areas.
- Our ChatGPT AI integration is saving time on writing product descriptions and has been since January this year. Retailers are loving it – the time saving and the improvement in product descriptions.
- Our free version of Retailer Roam makes it easy and fast to photograph products using your phone or tablet, load these into Retailer and sync with your website. In seconds you can take and load images of products via your phone, or tablet.
- We are trialling our new Retailer Self-checkout facility using a new shopper-friendly portrait checkout screen. It’s an easy for shoppers to self check out, a labour saver in some settings.
- Qjump, our new mobile customer-accessible true self-checkout facility is in trial. Think the new 7-Eleven app but for local indie small businesses without the weirdness of capturing shopper images and the high tech implementation cost.
- Our new EasyEDI platform offering easy access to time-saving electronic invoices is in early trial with a supplier who, until now, has not offered these.
We are working on more innovations in our small business focussed Retailer POS software to help improve your efficiency. Time saving is a key focus, as is data accuracy.
It’s in these areas of work that we genuinely differentiate for our local small business retailer customers.
We are grateful for the support of our customers. Thank you. We hope you have an awesome lead into the Christmas retail season.
Oh, one more thing … Google has released a core update, which will impact website rankings. We shared advice by email with our customers about this in the last week of August. Let’s know by email if you’s like a copy. sales@towersystems.com.au
How do I find the best POS system for my business?
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Don’t rush it. Take your time. Make decisions when you are ready.
Many POS software companies and sales people will want you to rush. Some will apply financial pressure. Others will say it’s easy, start today, be selling today … and they will often say this without understanding your business needs.
Take your time. Make decisions when you are ready.
The goal has to be to choose the POS software that best serves your needs. So, start there, with your needs. Think about them, what matters most to you, what’s not negotiable. Start there and cast aside any software company that is not interested in starting with your needs.
Some will offer a free trial, some will even push hard at this. That’s lazy selling. They want you to use their software to see if it is suitable, and knowing that some customers will stick because of concerns that it could be hard to switch software. We think free trials are a crock.
Some will offer you free software. There is no such thing. Software developers don’t work for free, nor dog help desk people, the accounts office in the software company, the sales team. Since they don’t work for free, the company has to make money so, no, there is no such thing as truly free software.
All the sales claims can make it challenging.
Take your time. Make decisions when you are ready. Start with your needs.
If this sound like hard work, it is. Good software can make you a lot of money, it can save businesses. Spending time getting this decision right could be worth a ton of money to your business. But the work has to come from you, not the sales person.
The best POS system for your retail business is the one that covers the most of your needs at a price you are prepared to pay.
No software company can claim theirs is the best, although plenty do. They can speak to customer numbers, of course, which is fine, but not a measure of best.
Here at Tower Systems. we start with you, and your needs. We want to understand them first. If we think our software is not right for you, we’ll say so.
How do I find the best POS system for my business? Don’t rush it. Take your time. Make decisions when you are ready.
POS software Deputy roster app integration helps local retailers and their employees
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The Tower Systems specialty retailer POS software integration with the Deputy employee roster management app helps local retailers more easily manage staff rosters and employees to manage their engagement with the businesses for which they work.
Managing staff rosters can be a daunting task for small business retailers and shop managers. It can be difficult to keep track of employee availability, hours worked, and breaks taken. This can lead to scheduling errors, overspending on labour, and employee dissatisfaction.
The integration of our Tower Systems POS software with the Deputy employee roster management app can help you to more easily manage staff rosters:
- Create and manage staff rosters.
- Send rosters to employees via SMS or email.
- Track employee hours worked and breaks taken.
- Generate reports on staff productivity and performance.
The Deputy employee roster management app also provides employees with a way to manage their own engagement with the businesses for which they work. Employees can use the app to:
- View their schedules.
- Request time off.
- Swap shifts with other employees.
- Track their hours worked.
The integration of Tower Systems POS software with Deputy employee roster management app can help retailers improve staff management practices and nurture employee satisfaction. This can lead to improved customer service, increased sales, and reduced labor costs.
Here are some specific examples of how we have seen the Deputy POS software integration help local retailers:
- To create a roster that ensures that there are always enough employees on hand to meet customer demand.
- To track employee hours worked and breaks taken, which can help to ensure that employees are not being overworked or underpaid.
- To generate reports on staff productivity and performance, which can help to identify areas where training or improvement is needed.
Employees can:
- View their schedules and request time off, which can help to reduce the number of scheduling conflicts.
- Swap shifts with other employees, which can help to accommodate last-minute changes in availability.
- Track hours worked, which can help them to ensure that they are being paid correctly.
This integration of Tower Systems POS software with Deputy employee roster management app can be a valuable tool for local retailers. It can help retailers to improve their staff management practices, increase employee satisfaction, and improve their bottom line.
POS software integrated Slyp digital receipts help small business retailers compete
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The integration of our Tower Systems POS software with the Slyp digital receipt platform is helping local small business retailers demonstrate their engagement with leading tech ology to enhance the shopper experience.
In today’s digital age, shoppers like seeing good tech used to enhance their shopping experience. Shoppers want a seamless, convenient, and tech-savvy shopping experience.
That’s where Tower Systems and Slyp come in. Our two companies have partnered to create a solution that helps local small business retailers deliver on these expectations.
Tower Systems makes, sells and supports POS software for local specialty retail businesses. Our software is used by thousands of businesses to manage their sales, inventory, and customer data and plenty more.
Slyp is a digital receipt platform that allows businesses to send receipts to customers’ mobile devices. Slyp receipts are more than just a digital version of a paper receipt.
The integration of Tower Systems POS software with the Slyp digital receipt platform is a game-changer for local small business retailers in our community. It allows businesses to:
- Deliver a more convenient shopping experience for their customers. Customers can now access their receipts instantly on their mobile devices, without having to dig through their pockets or bags.
- Enhance the customer experience with interactive receipts. Slyp receipts can be used to track spending and more. This gives customers more control over their shopping experience and makes them feel more valued.
- Demonstrate their engagement with leading technology. By using Slyp, businesses can show their customers that they are committed to providing a cutting-edge shopping experience.
Our POS software Slyp integration has been live for some time, under the radar, under beta release. This followed comprehensive live acceptance testing. Through the beta release we enhanced the integration, to reach a point of delivering something we are truly proud of. The POS software Slyp integration is terrific, useful and differentiating for our local small business retailer community.
If you are a local small business retailer, you should consider using Tower Systems POS software with the Slyp digital receipt platform. It is a great way to enhance the shopper experience and stay ahead of the competition.
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.
Advice for small business retailers on the best value approach to decision making
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How decisions are made in local independent retail businesses can determine the value of those decisions, the consequences on those decisions.
Too often in our work with small business retailers we have seen decisions based on emotion rather than evidence.
The POS software we make for specialty small business retail collects and curates business data that can inform decisions. New have seen wonderful and valuable success flow in retail businesses that make decisions based on evidence is this data.
A common situation of poor decision making is buying stock. Too often we see small business retailers buying because they like a sales rep or because they like the look of something when their own business data indicate that buying that stock is not the right move for their retail business.
In our POS software we make it easy for local retailers to access this data about stock performance, we make it easy for them to have the evidence of their own data to better inform decisions they are considering. retailers who do this, who rely on the evidence in their own business data, tend to run more successful and valuable retail businesses. They tend to enjoy their businesses more too.
Buying stock has to be black and white: will this decision make money for the business in the time that the business needs? As a retail business trades using POS software like ours it builds up knowledge in its trading, knowledge that can be accessed, analysed and understood by the POS software itself to make it easy to see the right stock buying decisions to make.
We upset a retailer a while back when they happened to mention that products from a supplier were not working for them. They were unhappy when we showed them their own data that disagreed with their opinion. It turns out that their opinion was based on a dislike of the manager of the supplier business. They were letting their emotion get in the way of facts. The situation turned out well, the business made more money as a result.
If you are in retail to be successful, we urge you to make decisions based on your business evidence. Our POS software can help. We back its facilities with terrific training and customer support materials that are easily accessible.
We love helping local small business retailers make good decisions. It’s something that makes us feel good.
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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.
Advice for local small business retailers: how to enhance your local credentials
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In 2023, embodying the essence of local in the retail become more vital than ever. Big businesses are engaged in local, but they are using systems, processes and tech. The conundrum for genuinely local small business retailers lies in authentically cultivating a local identity.
The term local means different things to different people. It isn’t restricted to geographic proximity. Local can be perceived as the degree of personalised care you offer to your customers, the supplementary advice you give, living within the locality yourself, sourcing products locally, or serving the community on a personal level. It may also be linked to the availability of locally sourced products.
For instance, a product produced anywhere within Australia could be deemed as locally sourced. Narrating the story of where a product originates, along with the family involved in its creation, can add a local touch to it, distinguishing it from similar overseas products. This narrative is crucial because it underlines the local aspect.
Small retail businesses can leverage Tower Systems’ retail POS software to effectively promote their local attributes in various ways:
- Enhance your receipts: Use receipts to provide product care instructions, usage guidelines, or other beneficial information automatically, turning your receipts into a valuable information source.
- Disclose product origins: If a product is made by a small business or family within Australia, include this detail on the receipt. Highlight the local product, giving customers additional information to foster a local connection.
- Advocate for local shopping: Attach an image or poster promoting the advantages of shopping local to every receipt. Tower Systems offers free images for this purpose, available in the downloads section on their website.
- Show customer appreciation: Personalise a thank-you message to customers shopping with you. Sign off with your name and contact number. This personal touch is typically absent in larger businesses.
- Monitor local product sales: Keep track of local suppliers’ product performance using various reporting tools.
- Reward local shopping: Implement discount vouchers named “Thanks for shopping local” or “Local shopping reward” to emphasise the benefits of supporting local businesses. You can establish rules to offer discounts off the next purchase.
- Merely advocating for local shopping isn’t enough; you must showcase its value and integrate it into your retail business operations. The most effective approach to accomplish this is by incorporating suitable systems and procedures into your POS software.
There are plenty of ways local small business retailers can authentically pitch local. In this post we have covered just some of them. We are a local POS software company ready to help you pitch local.
Specialty POS software for local small business retailers in Australia and New Zealand
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Here at Tower Systems we are grateful to serve a diverse mix of specialty retailers in different marketplaces. These include:
- Bike shops. $195/month.
- Fashion retail. $195/month.
- Gift shops. $165/month.
- Garden centres. $165/month.
- Produce / farm supply businesses. $210/month.
- Fishing and outdoors businesses. $165/month.
- Jewellers. $165/month.
- Pet shops. $165/month.
- Toy shops. $165/month.
- Health Food shops. $165/month.
- Newsagents. $195/month.
- Firearms dealers. $195/month.
- Game shops. $165/month.
- Sewing shops. $195/month.
- Pool Supplies and Maintenance. $195/month.
- Charity / op. shops. $105/month. (Giving back)
- Doll / Bear / Collector shops. $165/month.
- Antique Dealers. $195/month.
- Music shops. $165/month.
- Mobility Scooter businesses. $195/month.
- Computer Shop / repair businesses. $195/month.
Here’s what’s included in the monthly rental cost: software licences for unlimited computers in the location, help desk support (by phone or email) 6 days a week (including Saturday), access to a comprehensive support knowledge base, after hours support call access for urgent system down queries, access to our Shopify, Xero and other integrations, access to our supplier invoice import tools.
- NZ and Aussie based customer service by us. No call centre.
- Humans answer our phones.
- Email us and a retail knowledgable human responds.
- Our office is open Monday through Saturday.
- Month to month rental – no lock in contract.
- No lock-in EFTPOS contract. You choose the EFTPOS that suits you.
- Self serve training videos and knowledge base.
- Low cost training for those who want it.
- The listed prices are genuinely monthly – not annual paid up front.
Tower Systems currently serves more than 3,000 local small business retailers.
It may be that our software is not right for you. Let us organise a personal live demonstration by Zoom. We’ll record it with you and give you a copy so you can show colleagues and others you’d like to consult.
If we think we are not a good fit for you we will say so and wish you all the best.
Email us: sales@towersystems.com.au.
Call us: 1300 662 957 (Australia) 0800 444 367 (NZ toll free).
We have a crew of awesome software developers, caring customer service people and a business support crew skilled in serving local indie retailers.
At our website, we have easily accessible recent demonstrations of our POS software, which you can access immediately and without sharing any personal contact details whatsoever. The transparency we demonstrate on our website reflects how we operate as a company.
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.
Retailers simplify accounts management with Xero integrated POS software from Tower Systems
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The Xero accounting software integration with POS software from Tower Systems helps local independent retailers save time, save money, reduce mistakes and make better informed business decisions.
Using the Xero link with our POS software retailers can streamline their processes, connecting POS software and Xero accounting software, removing double entry and cutting mistakes.
The Tower Systems POS software offers:
- In-Store Point of Sale from the register, shop floor, or mobile thanks to Roam.
- Integrated eCommerce with Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce and Big Commerce.
- Streamlined Inventory Management through the business from arrival to sale, or return.
- Customer tracking and marketing based on purchases.
- Smart fulfilment based on criteria you can manager.
- Powerful Loyalty and and Customer Retention – with flexibility and differentiating options retailers love
- Advanced Reporting and Insights – see what matters.
The Xero accounting software solution offers:
- GL, P&L and Balance Sheet management and reporting
- Payroll management
- Invoice management
- Inventory management
- Expense claims
- Payments management
- Bank connections & reconciliation
The Tower Systems POS software Xero integration is a solution made for local small business retailers, to save time and money, to help nurture stronger and more valuable retail businesses.
Connect the Tower Systems POS software with Xero in minutes and keep everything in sync. Simply connect the tow and map your accounts. Our crew of retail experts can help;p you do this.
Once connected, your Tower systems POS software will upload your chosen key financial data to Xero – saving time on admin and cutting data mistakes.
Tower Systems is proud to deliver the advanced Xero POS integration local specialty retailers deserve for the complexities and competitiveness of modern retail.
Tower Systems is grateful to support thousands of Australian and New Zealand retail stores with our comprehensive POS software. We give retailers the tools they can understand and use to run more valuable, enjoyable and successful local retail businesses.
Tower Systems only serves local specialty retailers. This ensures that every customer matters. Are are thankful that more than 3,500 retailers have already chosen to partner with us.
Our service is local, from Aussie and NZ based retail experts. Our software is local, too, made here, for you.
The Xero integration with our POS software is one example of the value of integration relationships that we bring to life for our local indie retailer community.
Advice for local small business retailers confronted by big business competitors
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Small and independent retailers can sometimes feel helpless when a big national retailer opens up nearby. There is no match for their range, buying power, advertising coverage or even news coverage.
The sheer size of a national competitor is what scares many smaller retailers. It can feel overwhelming.
Here at Tower Systems, all of our customers are local small business retailers, indie retailers, because that is the community we seek out.
Here are 5 practical tips for small businesses on how to face and deal with a national retailer moving into the area:
1. Don’t compete. By not talking about the competitor, pricing against them or pitching your business in any way, you separate yourself. While they may have similar products, it is unlikely that they are targeting your specific business so why target them? Focus instead on your own business. Not competing should include not advertising price comparisons, not focusing on the competitor at staff meetings, not expanding your range to sell more of what they sell and not obsessing about them.
Know why you are different and lean more into that, and, it’s likely that price is not a significant difference in your mind.
If you know why customers shop with you, you have the opportunity of not giving up margin out of fear.
2. Run a better business. From the moment you hear about a new national retailer coming to town, look at every aspect of your business for opportunities for improvement. From the back room to the front counter fine tune your processes, employee training, stock buying and the look of the business. Dramatically improve your business from the inside out. This will improve your business health and help you weather challenges which may lie ahead.
Too often, independent retailers wait until the national retailer is open to react. This is probably a year or two too late.
3. Be unique. Look for ways to make your business unique. It could be on product range, operating hours, add-on services or something else. Embrace any opportunity to make your business unique.
Even a unique niche range of products can give you traffic a big competitor will not chase. Try and focus on products which require a level of retail skill and knowledge to sell – national retailers have challenges hiring and retaining retail employees with specialist knowledge and skills.
4. Engage the community. Like, really engage. Support local groups, speak at functions, get known as someone and a business who care deeply about the local community. Subtly make the connection that you are fortunate to be able to help because of your local business.
Being smaller and independent you are better able to personally engage with the community. You and your team are the business whereas a national chain will always be the corporate. They can throw money around locally, you can throw time, knowledge and more flexible assistance.
5. Tell your stories. Your retail narrative, your stories, connect you with the local community. Tell these through the people you contact, your own blog, a Facebook page and in the pages of the local newspaper. Tell human stories about your business, the people who work in it and the local stories which connect with it.
Your stories could be about local community connection, convenience of shopping, commitment to range, personal customer service, product niche knowledge … there are many different narratives with which an independent retailer can connect. It is important that one you have your narrative you stick to is, that it inhabits your decisions, marketing and public presentation.
Local indie retailers can compete against with any big business by not acting as a big business would. This is the key. Be yourself. Have faith in yourself. Sell yourself.
Now, why is a POS software company sharing something like this? That’s easy – we care about our customers, we care about local indie retail. We’ll embrace any opportunity to help local indie retailers shine.
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.
How to convert a PDF invoice into a CSV file for easy POS software import
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Tower Systems offers help to local small business retailers to help them save time and money. We do this through training, written advice and easy to access and follow video advice.
A couple of weeks ago we shared with our small business retail POS software customers this video on how to convert a PDF file to a CSV file that can be imported to our POS software.
By converting the PDF invoice to a CSV file the retailer saves time, improves data accuracy and helps the business have a better handle on business performance.
Tower Systems is grateful for the opportunity to help retailers convert PDF invoices into CSV files foe EDI import into POS software
We also connect with many suppliers for importing electronic invoices and more, making importing invoices easy and fast. But some suppliers have challenges implementing this. hence, this solution for converting a PDF invoice into a CSV file.
This snackable video is one of many offered to all of our POS software customers. We produce the regularly and share them in our email and print newsletters, and as part of our video training curriculum.
We are grateful to local small business retailer customers for their feedback on these videos as that informs our weak developing more useful training and support solutions.
5 ways retailers can use the POS software from Tower Systems to pitch value to shoppers
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Plenty is being written about the economy at the moment and it is negatively impacting consumer confidence. There are things you can do with the Tower Systems POS software to show your business offering value to shoppers, and thereby nurturing more value for you.
And here in this post, value means the value shoppers perceive in dealing with your business. You could also use the term savings.
While value can be about price, it is often not as straightforward as that. Something could cost more but it could last longer or you might get more pieces than if you pay a lower price or there may be some other add-on that drives value.
While our POS software offers many ways retailers can pitch value to shoppers, here are 5 ways retailers can use the POS software from Tower Systems to pitch value to shoppers:
- Discount vouchers in Retailer are a perfect way to pitch value. A dollar amount discount is better understood than points. You can set the vouchers up in a way so costs are covered by benefits. Show your shoppers what they can save.
- Offer to fund raise for local charities, community groups and clubs. They could give their members a card that gets them, say, a 5% discount off purchasing from you while also earning for the charity a 5% donation. The goal here is to bring new shoppers into your business.
- Offering a coffee card type discount of, say, buy 9 and get your 10th free for habit-based purchases, like coffee, pet food, cards, magazines, fertilizer etc. can help nurture shopper stickiness to your business.
- Bundling products together into something that only your business offers can pitch a value proposition unique to your business.
- Volume pricing, where the cost of an item decreases as the quantity purchased increases, can help shoppers save and you sell more.
Your software offers more ways of pitching value to shoppers than these, and it helps you systemise pitching value. Being consistent about this is key to it working for you.
Consider this list of 5 a starting point, a jumping off point for exploring other ways for your business.
Tower Systems offers business management advice like this to all of its POS software customers, taking the POS software help desk experience beyond the technical and onto the shop floor, to help our local small business retailer customers to themselves get more value from their use of our POS software.
7 ways retailers can use POS software from Tower Systems to help improve the value of their business
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When we talk about the value of a retail business we mean what the business is worth when it comes time to sell, which is dependent on the profitability of the business as reflected in the profit and loss statement.
Value is the key business measure here and while there can be non-monetary value perceived by the owners and other stakeholders, it is the value as seen by others, as through P&L results that is the common measure.
Using POS software from Tower Systems, retailers can drive value. Here are 7 ways they can do that:
- Dead stock. In the average indie retail business, dead stock is equal to around 3% of turnover and often around 12% of total current inventory investment. Using our software, it is easy to identify dead stock. That’s the first step to converting it to cash.
- Stop running out of stock. Selling out of items that will sell costs the business money. In a small retail business we looked at recently, sell-outs cost more than $3,000 in a year, or $1,500 in gross profit, all because of poor re-ordering management. Your Insights Dashboard has this information.
- Bloated roster. Some prefer to spend money on people, so they have time to themselves for relaxing, golf or to sit in the back office, where no customer purchases from. We often see a bloat cost equal to around 10% of the roster.
- Wrong trading hours. Some stay open too long while others are not open long enough. Either way has a cost to the business.
- Being blind to theft. Theft in local indie retail costs on average 3% – 5% of turnover. Our software can help you see it, track it, and mitigate against it.
- The wrong product mix. GP% is a key measure of retail business performance. Often, we see retailers chasing transaction volume and not watching and chasing GP%. Growth in business GP% is often more valuable than transaction growth.
- Reordering. Ordering based on data reduces mistakes. It’s better, too, than letting a supplier order for you. The software can help you with reordering, so there are fewer mistakes, fewer sell-outs, less dead stock.
This list is incomplete as our POS software can help cultivate value in plenty of other ways. We created this list to provide our customers with a starting point, some low hanging fruit.
We shared the advice with our customers via our regular customer email and our regular print newsletter. This is another example of the proactive approach we take to guiding our customers to achieve more from their use of our POS software.
While, for sure, our help desk answers support questions and helps with technical queries, we often go beyond with business advice that crosses the intersection of the technical; aspects of the software and the use within a retail business of the software to better serve the business and its owners.
7 ways retailers can use POS software from Tower Systems to help improve the value of their business is all about showing our POS software user community ways they software they already have can be used to help cultivate business value.
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