The POS Software Blog
News from Tower Systems about locally made POS software for specialty local retailers.
We were thrilled with the participation at our first Melbourne retailer POS software user meeting yesterday. This was day three of a tour that will cover every state and territory, capital cities and major regional centres, offering free training, small business retailer networking and open-ended Q&A sessions.
Every session is different thanks to the mix of attendees. We are loving it.
With the rush of summer over, garden centre and nursery business owners are ready to work more on their businesses, getting processes and practices setup so they can be more efficient and successful through the next major busy season.
Tower Systems has been busy preparing for the opportunity of Autumn by enhancing its garden centre software to deliver additional facilities garden centre and nursery retailers can rely on to drive better business outcomes.
Our loyalty tools are particularly loved with their fine tuning for the garden retail channel. Indeed, Tower Systems has many retailers already using the loyalty facilities in the software. Some of the loyalty tools retailers love the most has their early beginnings in garden centres. We are grateful for that early work as it has helped up deliver an exceptional suite of tools today.
We’re here to help is our motto and our latest garden centre software is an excellent reflection on our commitment to making the motto real for our customers.
We have competitors who install software with a lock or barrier that blocks access to the software unless an annual software support fee is paid. There are instances of retailers not being told that such a fee is payable, thus surprising retailers when they have no choice but to pay so they can use the software.
When we first heard of this we thought it was ransomware as access to business data was denied until a fee as paid, a fee not previously disclosed to the small business retailer.
Tower Systems does not do this. We think such action by any software company is unethical.
If you are considering POS software, ask the question: will the software stop working or my access be impeded in any way if I do not pay support? Get the answer in writing, on letterhead, from a director.
The best way to assess a POS software company is to see first-hand how they interact with their customers.
Starting next week, Tower System is hosting its first round of free face to face retail business user meetings for users of its POS software.
We invite you to attend – without obligation or cost – to check us out. CLICK HERE TO BOOK.
Come and see how we work with small business retailers from a range of channels to help them drive more value from their technology investment. At these sessions we will talk about shopper loyalty, business intelligence reporting. webcore integration and retail trends we have seen overseas.
Launceston User Meeting
Date: 07/03/2016 Time: 8:00am
Venue: Quality Hotel Colonial Launceston
Address: 31 Elizabeth St Launceston TAS 7250
Breakfast: Coffee, Tea and Egg & Bacon Muffins on arrival
Parking: Limited Free onsite parking
Hobart User Meeting
Date: 08/03/2016 Time: 8:00am
Venue: Hotel Grand Chancellor
Address: 1 Davey St Hobart Hobart TAS 7000
Breakfast: Tea, Coffee and Swiss cheese and ham croissants on arrival
Melbourne User Meeting
Date: 09/03/2016 Time: 8:00am – 11:00am
Venue: Hawthorn Art Centre, Mayor’s Room
Address: 360 Burwood Rd Hawthorn VIC 3122
Breakfast: Tea, Coffee and mini tomato and cheese croissants on arrival
Brisbane User Meeting
Date: 10/03/2016 Time: 8:00am – 11:00am
Venue: Quality Inn Airport Heritage
Address: 620 Kingsford Smith Drive Hamilton QLD
Breakfast: Tea, Coffee, selection of biscuits, slices, cakes and muffins on arrival
Adelaide
Date: 11/03/2016 Time: 8:00am – 11:00am
Venue: Rydges South Park
Address: 1 South Terrace Adelaide SA 5000
Breakfast: Tea, Coffee, egg and bacon muffin as well as fresh fruit served on arrival
Parking: Limited Free onsite parking as well as 2 to 3 hour free street parkingSydney User Meeting
Sydney
Date: 15/03/2016 Time: 8:00am – 11:00am
Venue: Novotel Sydney Olympic Park
Address: Olympic boulevard Sydney Olympic Park NSW 212
Breakfast: Tea, Coffee and ham and cheese croissants on arrival
Parking: Hotel car park fees apply: All day rate $25.00, or $13.00 for 1 hour, every additional hour charged at $5.00.
Canberra
Date: 16/03/2016 Time: 8:00am – 11:00am
Venue: Mercure Canberra
Address: Cnr Ainsille & Limestone Ave Braddon ACT 2612
Breakfast: Tea, Coffee and a chefs selection of breakfast items on arrival
Perth User Meeting
Date: 17/03/2016 Time: 8:00am – 11:00am
Venue: Assured Ascot Quays Apartment Hotel, Marina Room
Address: 150 Great Eastern Highway Ascot WA 6104
Breakfast: Tea, Coffee, whole fruits and warm muffins served on arrival
Gold Coast User Meeting
Date: 05/04/2016 Note date change.
Time: 8:00am – 11:00am
Venue: Mantra Twin Towns
Address: Wharf Street Tweed Heads NSW
Breakfast: Coffee, Tea, Mini ham and cheese croissants and mini Danish on arrival
Geelong User Meeting
Date: 06/04/2016
Time: 8:00am – 11:00am
Venue: Mercure Geelong
Address: Cnr Gheringhap & Myers St
Breakfast: Coffee, Tea and Breakfast muffin on arrival
Several weeks ago Tower Systems launched a direct Magento e-commerce platform link, in addition to the excellent web-store link in our smart POS software.
The Retailer to Magento Link uses the Tower Advantage Link platform to allow Retailer to connect directly to Magento. The Tower Advantage Link platform is a subscription-based service that acts as an intermediary between Retailer and the Magento API.
What is Magento?
Magento is one of the world’s most popular e-commerce or webstore platforms. Being built on open source technology provides a flexible shopping cart system, giving you control over the look, feel, content and functionality of your online store. Magento offers powerful marketing, search engine optimization, and catalog-management tools. Find out about Magento at www.magento.com
How does the link work?
The link works by using the Magento API allowing the TALink platform to connect to Magento and synchronising on a periodic interval or request basis.
Stock
Retailer becomes your master stock database. You flag what stock items you want to appear on your web store. Descriptions and extended descriptions are added as your product names and descriptions in Magento.
Department and Categories
Your Retailer Departments and Categories become Categories and Sub-Categories in Magento. If you choose to link these, your existing structure will be mirrored and managed in Magento automatically. If, however, you decide not link your Department and Categories in Magento, you can allocate Categories manually to products once they are added.
Classifications
Retailers Classifications are treated as Attributes in Magento. If you choose to link these in Magento your existing Classifications will be mirrored and managed in Magento automatically. If, however, you do not want this to occur you can manually manage your own Magento Attributes.
Prices and Quantity On Hand
You have control over your webstore pricing from within the Retailer Stock Screen. Bulk updates of the webstore price can be performed in Stock Manager. Once new prices are set, your web store is updated automatically.
Quantity of hand is also managed automatically, when your sell or arrive an item into stock these adjustments are sent directly to Magento. If the quantity on hand of an items drops to 0, the item is marked as out of stock in Magento.
Images
The images you set against stock items in Retailer are automatically uploaded to your website. If images change, then old one is removed and the new one is added. You can upload as many images, as you like per stock item.
Customers
Customers that purchase off your webstore are added as customers in your Retailer database, allowing you to track what they buy and market to them if you desire. Existing customers with an email address will also be added to your web store to facilitate easy sales.
Sales
These are downloaded on a periodic basis and imported into Retailer. These are imported into our Customer Invoice Maintenance facility allowing you to place orders and print invoices. Once sales are imported it reduces your quantity on hand so you maintain accurate stock control. Sales can be allocated to a specific location or merged added to you main sales data, giving you excellent control over how you report on your webstore sales.
This is just some of the information we have to share about this exciting and leadership innovation from Tower Systems.
Yes, retail can be tough.
What are you doing about it?
Here is a letter we sent to retailers recently who have said it is tough. It is part of a confronting education campaign based on a truth that even in the toughest of circumstances, retailers can grow their businesses – yes, even small business retailers who are facing tough competition from big businesses.
We have used this letter to try and jog people to see their businesses differently…
I’d love a dollar for every retailer who has told me how tough it is in the last few years. Heck I’d retire with the money I’d have.
The thing is, retail is tough, especially small business retail like a gift shop. It’s always been tough for the little guy. I know because I own a small retail business myself.
We really do think we need to stop saying retail is tough and start challenging ourselves. Hence the question: What are you doing about it? Put another way…
These are the four most important things for a retailer to act on. They sit at the core of every retail business failure and success.
Taking small steps in each of these areas can help you weather tough times. These same small steps can help you find success with less effort.
Tower Systems is a software company for small business retailers like you. We’re retailers too. We combine retail experience with tech smarts and a passion for small business to help our colleagues to grow their businesses. We’d like to help you.
Using our Point of Sale software for gift shops like yours we can help you
Big claims yes … we have existing customers who will tell you that we do this.
Our system can cost as little as $7 day. Besides great software, hardware you can trust, friendly training and software support, you have access to our business skills, acumen and passion. We have your back, helping where we can with advice and ideas to help you grow your retail business.
We’re not your average software company. Tower Systems is a full-service passionate and engaged software company that wants you to succeed. We firmly believe…
In business, through our own actions we make our own success.
Being the only software company exhibiting at the Sydney Gift Fair has been terrific for tower Systems and we have two days to go. Already the company many new prospective customers looking at the software and even better connections with many existing customers.
The experience over the first three days is a reminder of the value of being at trade shows such as this to help small business retailers learn more abut the software and improve the returns they achieve from their IT investment.
While we are happy to have the show to ourselves, any POS software company serious about newsagents, gift shops, garden centres, pet shops or jewellers ought to be at this show given the mix of retailers we have already seen. It is good customer service to do so.
POS software company Tower Systems is proud to announce the release last week of a new software platform for small business retailers.
This new platform is a completely new product from the Tower development team. It leveraged data cultivated by the Tower Point of Sale software and makes it available anywhere, in a stimulating visual form and in a way than encourages the discovery of business performance insights.
Introducing The Visual Deck.
Retail business performance, seen differently.
The Visual Deck is a platform through which you can see the performance of your business, visually. Graphs replace reports, making trends obvious and a path ahead clearer to follow. Graphs that change with time and through which you can dive deeper into what is happening in your business.
Why did we call it the Visual deck? It is visual because, well, your business data is presented in a visual way. It is a deck because it is a platform off of which you can see far and wide. It is a perfect place to see what you cannot see when you are on the ground.
Retailers can access the Visual deck from anywhere, anytime, and through this access their business data in a way not previously accessible ninth small business retail world. You can compare periods, graph using a broad selection of formats, dive deep into the data as well as focus on data points that matter including transactions, revenue, grow profit and more.
Better still, the visual insights can easily be shared with colleagues.
The Retail Visual Deck is a fresh approach to sharing business intelligence and business performance insights with small business retailers. It is mass retailer computing in a small business retailer’s hands. This is the tool join which you can rely to grow your business.
This is 100% Tower Systems innovation.
Having been tested with data from a range of businesses and trialled for months on many different platforms, the Visual deck is ready for small business retailers to engage, to use it to better manage and grow their businesses.
Footnote: If things go as usual, at least on competitor will claim they had this before us and that we copied them. Such a claim is not true. Prior to our launched last week we checked all our competitors in each specialty marketplace in which we live and not one has a product like this.
Beyond ensuring the shop is well stocked, clean and pitching appropriate offers to customers, here are tasks you must act at least weekly on to offer a fresh and relevant pitch to customers:
It is important to finish a week more ahead than where you started. This is only achieved if you make it so, if you do it.
Tower Systems helps small business retailers with smart POS software. We back this with friendly live support based on your needs. We are an engaged software company, not working from overseas call centres, not focussed only on winning the next customer. We have customers for the long term, customers who love what we do and the relationships we share. This is what being an engaged POS software company is all about.
Plants Plus withdrew from the marketplace starting late in 2015. Tower Systems partnered with the group and members of the group to help migrate from the Plants Plus loyalty program to the Tower Systems POS software loyalty program. Here is one of the resources we created to help Plants Plus members. We share it today to offer another example of the extent to which we go using our in-house video and other resources to help small business retailers confront technology changes and challenges. This video from last year is our actions speaking louder than our words.
There is no mystery to choosing goos POS software for your retail business. It is simple and straight forward. Here is a video from us explaining how:
Tower Systems is proud to have its Garden Centre Software on show at the NGIA national conference in Adelaide this week – showing off breast practice software and processes to garden centre and nursery experts.
As an independent retailer you can choose from several software providers, each of which claim to help you grow your business. But why buy overseas POS software only masquerading as local when you can benefit from real Australian specialist POS software?
For years, retailers using the Tower Systems POS software have had access to multi-store POS software – the ability to run POS software across multiple locations of the same business.
This cloud based POS software solution allows retailers to open and close businesses faster and with greater flexibility. It also enabled group wide performance reporting and data tracking.
Based in the cloud, on a central server, the software is accessible from stores connected via the internet. Multi-store operation facilitates:
Good multi store POS software is important for groups and this is what Tower Systems delivers. Used by a variety of groups in different specialty retail niches, the Tower Systems software has a strong customer base in this multi store environment.
We have a group of 14 stores in Queensland using the software in shopping centre situations. Nationally, we have a group of 16 stores using the software for products and services – leveraging consistency across the full needs of the group.
In a variation to the multi store software option, we have a group of seventy stores linked with a common stock file, common pricing, common shopper terms. Again, cloud based, delivering an excellent flexible solution for small independent stores with a common banner or commercial objective.
Through the Tower Systems multi store POS software, retailers are able to evolve their businesses without the need to duplicate IT setup work. The time and capital savings and improved consistency help these retailers to achieve better business outcomes.
This really is an approach to retail IT infrastructure made for our times of pop up shops and other emerging and evolving retail situations we are seeing on the high street and in shopping malls. Tower Systems is well positioned to continue to evolve its multi store POS software solution to serve emerging needs in retail.
As a further example of practical help for small business retailers, Tower Systems last week published the following suggestions / tips. This content demonstrates how the company leverages its retail experience and knowledge way beyond what it traditional for a POS software company.
FIVE FUN AND LEFT-FIELD WAYS ANY RETAILER CAN EMBRCE VALENTINES DAY
While Valentine’s Day is an unashamed commercial season, how you embrace it in your business beyond selling Valentine’s Day products can speak to your unique style of business.
Here are ways you can embrace th season without being purely overtly commercial.
Each one of these ideas is designed, of themselves, to increase your sales or foot traffic. They will, however, speak to who you are and what your business stands for in the local community.
While bigger businesses will run overt Valentine’s Day promotions screaming shop here, your focus will be on touching people’s hearts in a meaningful way, rejoicing in this day for heartfelt reasons beyond the cash register.
Small business POS software company helps small and independent retailers leverage the opportunity of the Tyro broadband EFTPOS solutions. We do this through a direct integration with our smart POS software as well as through the friendly small business focussed help desk service.
Serving retailers across a range of retail niches, we have experience from many channels and situations from which to draw when helping retailers save time, cut mistakes and benefit from a best-practice EFTPOS integration. This is an integration supported by tower for many years.
While the Tower Systems POS software works with a range of platforms, Tyro is featured by the company thanks to the relationship with the folks at Tyro, a relationship that benefits the Tower Systems small business retailer user community.
We use Tyro ourselves in our own retail businesses. This enables us to support from a basis of personal experience. It sets us apart.
Too often we hear stories of POS software companies threatening small business retailers either through deliberate use of technology jargon or through threats of costs being imposed that were not part of the original contract.
As many small business retailers are not experienced when it comes to technology and not used to dealing with technology companies, they can become confused and think this is how it works, this is normal.
It is not normal.
Small business retailers deserve to be treated with respect, using terminology they understand and with business contracts that are clear and straightforward.
Any POS software company engaging in overt or covert threats ought to be ashamed of themselves. If this is what they have to do to win or keep customers then shame on them and shame on those who work for the company and support such approaches.
Tower Systems is a safe haven for small business retailers looking for an empathetic POS software company, a place where any question can be asked, where regular free training is offered, where business advice is freely available beyond what is usual for a POS software company help desk.
We go into relationships for the long-term rather than a quick sale. This is reflected in our approach to initial training and on-going training, much of which is provided to our small business retail customers for no additional cost. We make this investment knowing the value of a happy customer, especially in small business retail circles where retailers network with colleagues in their retail channel, talking about supplier experiences.
If you are experiencing fear or anything close to fear in your dealings with your POS software company, get out, quit that software as a relationship based on any such fear is an unhealthy relationship for you personally and for your business.
Seek out a professional, respected and trustworthy POS software companies where fear has no place, where small business retailers are communicated with as a peer and not as someone to mock or confuse.
We are writing about this today as we have recently seen a stream of communication between the owner one Australian POS software company and a customer. It is appalling: unprofessional and unnecessarily aggressive. No wonder the retailer experienced fear. The threats in the communication give all software companies a bad name.
Don’t let fear rule your relationship with your POS software company.
Small business retailers fall in love with POS software companies for a range of reasons, often layered upon each other to provide a comprehensive view of the software supplier business.
We know from years of experience at Tower Systems what many factors play into the small business retailer relationships on which we rely and that we cherish so dearly. The software is a factor, as is the software support. There are other factors too, such as customer communication.
Our small business retail customers love that we communicate with them across a range of platforms and at different times of the day and days of the week. From the reliable weekly email, pictured, to print newsletters, to training videos, to outbound calls to drop-ins to their businesses to user meetings, we offer touch points of a wide variety and through which our customers can connect with us and what we do, touch points on which small business retailers can rely to leverage their POS software to achieve better business outcomes.
Take the weekend email – pictured – this is sent each Sunday. Our weekly email contains news about the POS software, update information, business management advice and business management training. The weekly email from Tower Systems goes way beyond what retailers are used to from their POS software company. It is a professionally presented email. Brief yet complete, providing links to more information for those who want to explore a topic further. Most important is the contact points we publish in the email – we don’t leave small business retailers with vague information. No, we are specific in our contact points, specific with advice on the names of people they can speak with about software and general business management questions and issues.
We know from customer feedback and engagement that the email is used, shared and relied upon. It is a key differentiator for Tower Systems as we demonstrate personal and committed support for small business retailers across a range of retail channels.
Whereas some software companies rely on customers contacting them for and business to business communication, here at Tower Systems we understand the importance of professional business outcome focussed outbound contact. Our goal is to provide our customers with useful information prior to them needing it. Timely information appropriate to retail seasons. Helping information attuned to changing economic conditions. Target information specific to specialty retail channels in which we serve.
Through decade of service to small business retailers we have learned the value of this timely and professional communication. feedback from our small business retailers encourages us to continue our approach and to maintain our commitment to professional outbound contact and support.
We are careful in our communication to ensure it is not geek-talk. No, we prefer plain English help, aimed at supporting those using computers in business because they know they have to rather than because they love technology. This is where our business management advice is particularly useful – we show how our retailer customers can leverage the technology for practical business outcomes in their business. We do this weekly in the email and daily on the phone through our accessible and friendly help desk support.
We back our communication strategy with engagement on social media such as Facebook and Twitter. We are where our customers want us online as well as off line. This is why mail, email, web, social media and other platforms are engaged with by Tower Systems – to reach our customers where they are and not only where it suits us. Sure, it is hard work, relentless work. However, it is rewarding work when we receive feedback fro customers thrilled with outcomes they have achieved as a result of the engagement we have driven through our communications strategy.
The consistency of our communication is a key factor in the bond of trust between Tower Systems and its customers. It drives loyalty on both sides and demonstrates an understanding of customer businesses – as the communication is more than lip-service, more than spin, it is real life action, seeking to genuinely make a difference for the positive in the small business retail businesses in which we proudly serve in Australia and New Zealand.
This is the Tower AdvantageTM. A suite of tools, software, strategies and platforms through which we serve specialty retailers, helping them create better, more enjoyable and more valuable businesses. We trade-marked the Tower AdvantageTM because it deserves it. It is unique to us, unique for our customers. The trademark represents our pride in what we do and those who we serve. It represents the difference we make in the world.
We are thrilled to be a long term development partner with the Xero cloud based accounting software and listed as this on their website.
The Australian Financial Review recently published a terrific article about Xero, reporting how the company is primed for growth in Australia. We have seen this for some time through our work with Xero and retailers using Xero and their accountants. It is excellent accounting software.
Our experience is Xero is on the move. We are grateful to be part a small of the Xero story.
Being local in retail is more important than ever.
Local can mean different things to different people – it does not necessarily mean proximity. Being local could be about the level of care and attention you provide customers, the additional advice you provide, that you live locally, that you source locally or that you serve the local community personally.
Locally sourced products could be products made in Australia. For example, detailing where a product is made and the family behind it pitches local compared to a similar product imported from overseas.
You can use your Tower Systems POS software to pitch local in a range of ways:
It is not enough to tell people to shop local, you need to demonstrate the value of this, you need to live it transactionally in your retail business. The best way to do this is through systems and processes in your Tower Systems POS software.
Many retail businesses use scales to weigh products they sell. Pet shops weigh out bulk food and litter, produce stores sell feed by weight, garden centres weigh out soil and many other horticultural products, while supermarkets, whole foods stores, confectionery retailers, home brew shops and others need scales for processing many food products at the counter.
Tower Systems offers automatic scales integration with its specialist retail POS software, aspiring to government standards to ensure your independent business meets all relevant compliance requirements. We developed this feature in the software in response to feedback from our existing customers. Our independent business owner customers regularly provide feedback and feature requests direct to the company; when you buy our software, you’re entering into an equal partnership with us.
Any store selling products by weight can rely on our scales integration for fast and accurate selling. Although there are alternatives to selling by weight such as splitting and pre-packing stock and double-typing prices at the counter, both these methods waste valuable keystrokes and time while increasing the risk of avoidable mistakes that affect your bottom line. Set up your point of sale right with Tower Systems’ scales integration.
Specialist software must demonstrate specialist services and that is what Tower systems does every day through niche and unique facilities such as scales integration.
One of the benefits of using the Tower Systems POS software in your retail business is the professional training curriculum available through the company’s website.
New retail employees can undertake training specific to their role and the owner can track their progress through the training. The training is in a multi media form including text, images and video. The quality is exceptional.
This professional approach to employee training by Tower Systems helps retailers pursue consistency in their business by ensuring all employees have undertaken the same training.
Tower Systems people are featuring on marketing material from the National retail Federation for the NRF Big Show that starts in two weeks in New York. Attended by 30,000+ each year, the Big Show is an extraordinary business conference and trade show for large and small retailers. We have attended for many years. The event is an excellent networking opportunity with overseas based peers as well as with engaged Australian retailers on matters of technology and retail business management. The photo being used by the NRF was taken at last year’s event.
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