The POS Software Blog

The POS Software Blog

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

Categorygift shop software

How retailers are using POS software integrated ChatGPT to create more valuable product descriptions

June 2, 2023
1 Min read
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Local small business retailers are short on time and challenges in competing with well-resourced big businesses.

The ChatGPT AI integration delivered by Tower Systems in its local specialty retail POS software early this year is being used by small business retailers to create for search friendly product descriptions.

Using this optional and free facility, retailers are able to describe products faster and in search friendly terms. Here’s a short video we made for our customers to show how it works:

No, we’re not going all AI is replacing the world on our customers. Rather, we are providing access to optional time saving tools. Feedback from our local retailer community has been wonderful, for which we are thankful.

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Free demo of awesome Gift shop software $155/mth no lock in contract

May 23, 2023
2 Min read
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Watch a fresh demo of this Aussie made and supported gift shop POS software right away, without handing over any of your details, see if this 4155 a month POS software is right for your gift shop:

Rent For $155 A Month – Unlimited Terminals.

  • Unlimited registers. No extra cost.
  • Integrated accounting link.
  • Integrated e-commerce links.
  • Integrated payments.
  • Loyalty programs.
  • Advanced reporting.
  • Customer marketing.
  • Visual analytics dashboard.
  • Special customer orders.
  • Sell by fractions, sell by weight.
  • Integrated LayBys.
  • Customer gift vouchers.
  • Customised onboarding.
  • 24/7 support.

Why do gift shops need specialty POS software? Why can’t they use basic software? They can. However, the more specialty the software, the more facilities the business has to attract shoppers and leverage what’s special about the business.

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.

The Tower Systems gift shop software is specialty POS software made for gift shops. It has been made to help gift shops leverage what is unique about their businesses. We think this is a reason many hundreds of gift shop retailers have chosen our software.

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How to convert a PDF invoice into a CSV file for easy POS software import

May 21, 2023
2 Min read
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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.

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5 ways retailers can use the POS software from Tower Systems to pitch value to shoppers

May 9, 2023
3 Min read
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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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. Bundling products together into something that only your business offers can pitch a value proposition unique to your business.
  5. 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.

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7 ways retailers can use POS software from Tower Systems to help improve the value of their business

May 8, 2023
3 Min read
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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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Bloated roster. Some prefer to spend money on people, so they have time to themselves for relaxing, golf or to sit in the back office, where no customer purchases from. We often see a bloat cost equal to around 10% of the roster.
  4. Wrong trading hours. Some stay open too long while others are not open long enough. Either way has a cost to the business.
  5. Being blind to theft. Theft in local indie retail costs on average 3% – 5% of turnover. Our software can help you see it, track it, and mitigate against it.
  6. 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.
  7. 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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Free POS software

March 28, 2023
3 Min read
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If you are looking for free POS software, Tower Systems is not the right company for you.

We don’t offer free POS software.

Typically, free POS software comes with payment made in other ways, such as being required to use a particular EFTPOS platform or service or being committed to some other cost in the business.

So, you can see, free is not really free. There is no such thing as free POS software.

What any retail business really wants / needs is the best POS software for their business. The best POS software will provide benefits in time and money that make the POS software truly valuable for the retail business.

Now, to be clear, we don’t know if our Tower Systems POS software is the best POS software for your needs. Only you can know that by comparing what our software does to what it is you need from POS software.

Our message today is buyer beware. Don’t get suckered in by a claim of free POS software because, for sure, it will not be free, and it may not be best for you.

We mention this today as we see many retailers in Australia searching for free POS software. It is worrying because every bad experience someone has with POS software.

Here at Tower Systems we want relationships with value at the core. We want to partner with customers we value, and who value us. This mutual respect helps both businesses prosper and if we do prosper then it’s the classic win win. That can’t happen with free as the starting point.

Software developers and help desk professionals cost money. And, you want that because you want good outcomes for your business. These good outcomes flow from good POS software that ids backed by good customer service.

If you look at it from a retail business perspective, you want people in your shop prepared to pay money for what you have on offer. If they don’t have money they are not customers you want. If their wage growth is flat their capacity to spend more is non existent.

All of this feeds into what is a circular economy.

But on price, we are fair, with a modest cost, which has not changed since 2019. So even though we do charge for our POS software, it’s modest and reflective of what we think the good businesses in our target marketplaces can afford.

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Here’s an easy local small business retailers can better connect with their community

March 24, 2023
3 Min read
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Community connection is vital in local small business retail, authentic community connection at a level that is loved by folks in the community.

Back in the day, sponsoring a local sports club, donating prizes for a raffle or helping the local Rotary or Lions were the go to ideas for retailers. And while those ideas continue today, there are another local small business retailers can engage in providing community support that is funded buy the community itself.

Through our loyalty tools and, in particular the discount voucher tech we offer, local small business retailers can reward shoppers and they can offer in store a way for these shoppers to pay it forward, to support a local charity or community group organisation.

The Grill’d burger chain was an early adopter of something similar with their bottle caps and giving customers the caps to vote for one of three local charities the store would donate cash to.

Our suggestion is to invite shoppers to donate their discount voucher to one of several local charities in your business, which you could have every month or so, accruing the value of the vouchers for a gift card donation to the charity, or you making a cash donation of a portion of the voucher value to the charity.

It pitched well this could see people who support the local charity shopping with you so that funds are raised for the charity.

We know form years of data that around 20% of all vouchers handed out to shoppers are used by those shoppers within 28 days. This means there are other vouchers that expire unused. A nuanced campaign in-store connected with loved local charities and community groups could drive engagement, do good in the community and show the business as community connected in a fresh and loved way. That is the goal here.

Of course, the execution will be different in each location. Our job as a tech company is to provide opportunity. Our job as retailers ourselves is to share what we have seen work well, and what we have learned.

Your job as a local small business retailer is to make decisions that are right for you and your situation.

Using the discount vouchers generated by the software in this way, to support loved local community groups and charities, could be the reset you want, the engagement driver the business needs. The beauty of it is that it is low cost, self funding and truly community focussed.

We are grateful to the feedback from our customers and this has guided our own activity in this space of local community group connection.

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6 best-value insights that will benefit any local small business retailer

March 22, 2023
5 Min read
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Retailers in local small business shops can feel alone sometimes when working on their business. They can sometimes get lost in a cave of thoughts without seeing a way out.

We thought about this and considered the thousands of different retailers in our POS software user community, and we developed the Insights Dashboard in our POS software, to deliver easy access to local small business retail insights that any retailer could leverage, regardless of size, location, specialty area or setting.

We wanted to ensure that what we delivered would be useful regardless of level of business management literacy and financial management literacy. We wanted to deliver the insights without the retailer having to seek them out. We wanted to genuinely add value to what a local small business retailer could gain from using our POS software.

So, via the Insights Dashboard in our POS software, we provide insights in six broad areas – with the insights delivered visually.

Where Are We Today 

Gives you a snapshot of the overall sales & liabilities as it stands today.
 
You can access additional options by clicking the … symbol next to Todays Sales.
  1. Date Range – Expand the sales period covered by changing the start & end dates.
  2. All Locations – Multi-store locations can use this option to include/exclude other locations from the sales figures.
  3. Show Gross Profit Values – This option will show / hide GP values in the Daily Sales Dashboard, which you can access from the Point of Sale screen by pressing [Ctrl] + [D] on your keyboard.

What’s Not Selling 

This gives you a visual understanding of what is not performing in your business.  Deadstock in any business is lost cash.  This report gives you the ability to make decisions on this underperforming stock whether it be discounting or other stock reductions strategies to unlock this lost cash.  
 
You can click any stock item listed to show a graph of sales of that item broken down by month.
There are a number of options available to filter the stock items that appear in the list:
  1. Date Range – Limits the list to stock that has not sold in the amount of time specified.
  2. Listing Bottom – Maximum number of items to list.
  3. Rank By – Determines the order that items appear on the list in.
Click the … symbol for additional options:
  1. Departments – Select between showing stock from all departments or tick the desired departments from the list.
  2. Suppliers – Select between showing stock from all suppliers or tick the desired suppliers from the list.
  3. Exclude Recently Added Items – Exclude stock items that were added to your system inside the time period chosen in the drop down box.

What Am I Missing Out On 

This give you a list of items that have sold out and potential missed opportunity. The visual sales history will assist in ensuring the right items are restocked to ensure future revenue is not missed out on.
 
You can click any stock item listed to show a graph of sales of that item broken down by month.
There are a number of options available to filter the stock items that appear in the list:
  1. Date Range – Limits the list to stock that has sold more recently than the amount of time specified.
  2. Listing Bottom – Maximum number of items to list.
Click the … symbol for additional options:
  1. Departments – Select between showing stock from all departments or tick the desired departments from the list.
  2. Suppliers – Select between showing stock from all suppliers or tick the desired suppliers from the list.
  3. Exclude Recently Added Items – Exclude stock items that were added to your system inside the time period chosen in the drop down box.

What Sells With What 

This gives you an insight to consumer basket analysis. Through this you will see exactly what stock items sell with other stock items and from this you will be able to leverage upsell opportunities, co-location and promotion opportunities.   This also shows the sold alone percentage so you can see item upsell efficiency.
 
You can change the period of time in the Date Range to limit the data to the period chosen. The ten items displayed are the ten best selling items by quantity for the selected time period.

Is Theft An Issue 

This provides a in-depth visual overview of all the retailer audit log records by reason, number of occurrences by time day. This will assist in identifying staff theft/training issues that may need to be addressed within the business.
 
You can change the date range to limit the data to the time period chosen. Changing the time increment alters the lengths of time each day is broken up into.
You can view more complete records by using the Audit Log directly. Please contact Tower Support for help using the audit log.

When Are We Busiest & Quietest 

This is a visual overview used to detect any quiet or peak times in your business by displaying over the week as well as detailed by hour.
 
You can change the week ending date to see data from other weeks. Next to chart value type, you can choose to measure by sales value or number of sales.The top graph shows sales broken down by day of the week. You can change the type of graph used to display this data by clicking the diagram type in the bottom-right. The bottom graph shows sales broken down by time of day. You can change the type of graph used to display this data clicking the diagram type in the bottom-right. You can also view this data as a table by clicking the table symbol in the top-right.
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Tower Systems launches weekly POS software user Q&A session for all

March 17, 2023
2 Min read
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Tower Systems is grateful to be able to launch a weekly POS software user Q&A session fort all comers, all users of the software, from any business using the software.

This session is a natural progression from our regular live Zoom sessions for customers. It not schedules as weekly’s every week of the year, so customers have certainty that it’s on.

Each session will be open for at least 45 minutes every Thursday. One of more of our POS software specialists will be in the Zoom room to answer questions and share insights. The goal is for open two-way discussion. Having the right people from our team there will drive the value of the sessions. We will demonstrate local retail knowledge and the value of local support compared to offshore call centre support.

We are open to covering POS software training, answering support queries and exploring enhancements in our POS software.

By offering the sessions via Zoom with no cap on attendees we demonstrate, again, our openness and transparency and the ease of accessibility for all of our customers regardless of location, support coverage status and more.

By making this open to everyone, those who like to listen to the queries of others and the answers provided will be satisfied. We think this openness will help us explore topics way beyond what me might set if we were in control of the agenda ourselves.

The goal is an enhanced customer service experience, something unique among POS software companies.

We know the closer we are with our customers the better the experience for them and the better for us. This is why our leadership team will regularly be available for these sessions, as they have been for our other customer Zoom meetings.

These weekly customer meetings will differentiate our Aussie POS software company and offer our customers another free training opportunity that will help them get more from their investment in our technology.

People participating will not have to register or jump through hoops. Accessing the session will be easy, fast and secure.

Tower Systems serves several thousand local retail businesses today. This new weekly customer free training and Q&A meeting initiative is another way we are demonstrating our commitment to engaged and easily accessible customer service.

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POS software update helps local retailers keep up to date

February 3, 2023
2 Min read
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Good software keeps changing, evolving, needing emerging needs and embracing new opportunities.

The Tower Systems POS software continues to evolve. What we offered a few months ago is not what we offer today.

In good engaged software companies, change is normal. This matters because needs change, opportunities change. Evolving POS software is all about local businesses keeping up.

The latest POS software update from the Tower Systems development team delivers access to:

  • Allotrac integration.
  • SmartPay integration.
  • CentrePay integration.
  • International barcode search integration.
  • Image background removal integration.
  • New security bridge integration for better and more capable security camera integration.
  • An enhanced, faster and more insightful end of shift process.
  • A customer servility sensitive data cleanup tool that helps your business better protect against unwanted data leakage.

These are just some of what is delivered in the latest POS software update from Tower Systems.

We are grateful to the customers who suggested some of these enhancements and to the customers who engaged in testing them as part of our comprehensive beta release program.

For this first update of 2023 it is considerable. Especially once you add the many other changes / enhancements not included in the list above. This update is the result of hundreds of man-hours of development investment. And, while our customers are embracing this update, we are advanced in our work on the next update, which we are excited for.

Engaged software developers are always working on their software products. That is our commitment here at Tower Systems – continual improvement based on continually evolving tech, market conditions and other factors.

We invest on behalf of our customers son that they can be sure that their Tower Systems POS software does evolve and can embrace opportunities of value and usefulness in the local small business retail settings in which we serve.

Included with this latest POS software update is advice for our retailer customers about data security. This refreshed advice is in the light of hacks in the last months of 2022. We have explained steps local retailers could consider taking to better protect data they are entrusted with. We have backed our advice with software tools to equip retailers with useful tech for better data protection.

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Advice for local small business gift shop owners: You are what matters most in relation to every decision you make in your retail business

January 30, 2023
2 Min read
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Our advice for local small business retail gift shop owners in the form of questions to ask when considering new POS software for their gift shop, and, indeed, every business decision:

  • Will it make money for the business?
  • Will it save time?
  • Will it make the business more valuable?
  • Will it make you happier?

Here at Tower Systems we make software for Aussie local gift shops, software that helps you make more money, save time, make the business worth more and make you happier.

Rent our Aussie made gift shop software for $159.00 a month (inc. GST).

This $159.00 a month cost includes the software, support (Melbourne based), half a day of training, access to training videos and a knowledge base of advice.

You can cancel the rental at any time.

There is no lock-in contract, no requirement for you to pay up front for a year.

And, that $159.00 costs is for as many computers as you use in the business.

There is no requirement that you use a particular EFTPOS service. We mention this as some POS software companies lock you in on a service with a high price.

Find out more at www.towersystems.com.au/gift.

Watch a demonstration: https://youtu.be/0kArDkAKE4E

We are grateful to already serve more than 3,000 local retailers. We’d love to serve you. Call us on 1300 662 957 or email sales@towersystems.com.au.

From sales to special orders to pre-orders, from Xero integration to digital receipt integration, from loyalty that works to easy shopper postcode tracking, from smart ways to pitch shop local to featuring locally made products … our gift shop software is made for gift retailers, made to help you thrive.

For EFTPOS, link to Tyro, the major banks  as well as SmartPay.

For selling online, link to Shopify, BigCommerce, Magento and Woo.

Our software does smart things, too, like making it fast and easy to remove the background of photos you take of products.

We have loyalty tools that can set you apart, and make shopping with you more appealing.

Our insights dashboard serves data insights about the business that retailers tell us they L O V E.

Call us to see if our software is right for you.

We won’t pressure you.

Call 1300 662 957 or email sales@towersystems.com.au.

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Small business retail advice: how to deal with challenging trading circumstances

January 9, 2023
7 Min read
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Here at Tower Systems we get to work with and learn from many local small business retailers across many different retail channels who use our POS software. Here’s a list of some of the advice we have provided to retailers facing tough times. It’s offered as a resource for any in need. we also offer personal assistance based on specific circumstances.

  1. Know your truth. If you run a computer system, analyse the data it collects. If you don’t know how to do this, find out. Look for surprise information in your data, things you did not know about your business. For example, look at the top selling items. If there are surprises there they could inform other decisions you make to urgently address your situation. Talk to your computer software company, ask for their assessment. Knowing your truth is key to owning your situation.
  2. Quit dead stock. If you have stock on the shop floor which is old – ‘old’ can vary between product categories – and for which you have already paid, quit it. However, stock that is greater than six months old is a reasonable guide – then take action to sell this at a substantial discount. Move the stock off display units. Line it up to look like clearance stock – stacked up on tables. Setup plain and simple signs indicating the discount prices. Create signage to show it as clearance stock. If you have enough clearance stock in your business, consider signs across your front windows. Give your sale a name that is unrelated to your situation. Here are some suggestions: MEGA SALE, FIRST EVER MARCH SALE, AUTUMN SALE, SMALL BUSINESS MIGHTY BIG SALE. Give it a name you can theme around.
  3. Run a loyalty offer. Immediately setup and run a loyalty program rewarding shoppers with dollars off their next purchase. The most successful loyalty offer in recent times is discount vouchers whereby vouchers are included on receipts offering an amount which is cleverly calculated by your software based on the items in the purchase. The goal has to be encouraging shoppers to purchase again soon based on the offer on the receipt for items they just purchased.
  4. Move things around. If your business is in trouble it is possible that it has not changed much in recent years. Change it. Move departments around, shake things up so your customers trip over things they did not think you sold.
  5. Review prices. Look at the common items you sell, consider a small increase in your prices. It could be a small increase will not hurt sales volume yet will add profit to your bottom line.
  6. Upsell well. At the counter, work to extend the basket for every sale possible. Do this with clever counter product placement and witty and engaging banter with customers offering upsell products. You goal has to be to make more from each customer.
  7. Stand for something. What is different about your business? What is special about it? What makes people want to come back? If you don’t know the answer to these questions you’re in trouble. If your answer is we’re the only shop of your type nearby you’re in trouble. If the answer is people have always shopped here you’re in trouble. You need to have a difference that people want and will talk about to others. It could be a product or a service. However, it cannot be a product line that is traditional to your type of business as that will not add value to your shingle in the way you want or need. What do you stand for?
  8. Different retail options.
    1. Consider becoming an outlet shop selling items from a supplier keen to quit bulk items.
    2. Rent space in your shop to another retailer.
    3. If you have higher priced items consider offering employees commission on sales.
    4. Maybe become an outlet for local artists taking on items on a consignment basis.
  9. Stop unprofitable behaviour. If you are doing things in your business which lose money or do not contribute to a good future for the business, stop doing them. Regardless of history or what your business might stand for, continuing with unprofitable activity only makes your situation worse. If you know something to be unprofitable and yet you say you can’t stop it, think carefully about that, about why you can’t stop losing money.
  10. Get suppliers to help. Suppliers often have old stock themselves which they want to quit at a substantial discount. Buy items you have not stocked before, negotiate good prices and put the stock out with a healthy margin but still at a discount to what others would be charging. Negotiate to pay once you are paid by customers.
  11. Trim employee costs. Cut employee hours and work more in the business yourself if you are not doing so already.While this can have a significant personal cost, the less you pay others the more be business benefits in financial terms.
  12. Trim overheads. Cut everything you can: cleaning, power usage, insurance, freight, banking. Look at every supplier relationship you have and see if you can negotiate a better deal to cut your operating costs. However, do not turn off lights as darkness is death in most retail businesses.
  13. What assets can you sell? Do you have computers, retail fixtures, vehicles or other assets you no longer use in the running of the business? If they are not being used, turn them to cash as quickly as possible.
  14. Get a job. If you have a partner in the business with you and the business can run with one partner, one of you should get a job outside the business. This is especially helpful in a husband and wife situation where the family income can benefit.
  15. Talk to your landlord. A good landlord will prefer a good business to stay rather than have then close down and a new tenant having to be found. Talk to the landlord, be honest with them about your situation. Given the landlord all of the information they need to make the decision you need them to make. This information will include sales figures, expenses and margin information.  Usually, the more transparent you are with the landlord the more they will support your business.
  16. Talk to your bank. While banks tend to not get involved in lending to businesses that are struggling, it may be that they have contacts that can help you navigate to a solution. Maybe talk to another bank.
  17. Talk to colleagues. If you have nearby business colleagues in the same line of business, they might have stock they are happy to provide you for free or at a discount to give you stock to move for a good price.
  18. Refresh the business. Make the business look, smell and sound fresh. Beyond the products you sell and where tings are located, change the environment itself using scents and sounds. Too often when a business is struggling, those involved let standards slip and the business does not look attractive to shoppers. Avoid this laziness at all costs.
  19. Deliver amazing customer service. When serving customers be the perfect shop assistance and not the owner of the business facing closure. Keep your mind on the job at hand and not the cliff you’re worried might be a few steps ahead.
  20. Whoever is pressuring you the most to close or contemplate closing, talk to them. If it’s a supplier, the tax office or some other organisation or individual pressuring you about debts, be upfront with them, lay out for them your plan detailing the action you will take to turn your situation around, be clear about what you are doing and outline a timeline step by step for them. Seek their support.
  21. Set a timeframe. Decide where you want to be in a week, four weeks, eight weeks, twelve weeks. Set realistic goals. Measure yourself against those goals. Know what you will do if you fall short.

No situation is impossible. No business is dead until the doors are closed for the last time.

Never give up. Fight hard and fight smart to turn your business around.

Facing tough circumstances in retail can be like the deer in the middle of the road facing an oncoming vehicle. Don’t freeze. Take action to mitigate your situation. A series of small steps could be the difference between closure and trading out of the problem.

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2 minute read: 3 free things any local retailer can do to compound profit

January 4, 2023
2 Min read
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3 things any retailer can do to compound profit.

Individually, these strategies work. Done together, the profit value compounds.

  1. Chase new customers. Serving the same customers is likely to give you the same results. Every day, do something to attract new customers through: a brilliant and different window display, engaging social media posts, a community group connection, a club member fundraiser.
  2. Maximise gross profit percentage. Buy at the best price you can. Be engaged in how you price what you sell. Every cent matters. Rounding up to .99 is a good start. Pricing based on the value you offer is more important than trying to compete with the cheapest. You’re worth it.
  3. Drive a deeper basket. Be smart about what you place where in the shop in pursuit of people buying more. At you’re counter and at the busiest points in the shop, make adding things to the purchase easy. Look at what people buy with what and use that to guide product placement. Use smart loyalty tools to disrupt shopper behaviour.

Our Aussie made and supported POS software can help with these three strategies, and more. We help our 3,000+ local retail customers run more successful, enjoyable and valuable businesses.

Find out more:
www.towersystems.com.au
1300 662 957
sales@towersystems.com.au

Tower Systems is not your usual POS software company. We own and run retail businesses where our software is used to maximise value. When we suggest ideas and opportunities too our POS software customers, we have tried them ourselves. We walk in the shoes of our customers in a way that is rare in POS software businesses.

This matters in local small business retail as practical advice matters more than theory. It’s kind of like show, don’t tell. We show how our software works in our diverse portfolio of retail businesses and have done now for more than 26 continuous years. Like we said, we are not your usual POS software company.

In addition to advice and support in how to use our POS software, we provide insights based on customer data for those customers keen for this. Our business analysis and advice services are all part of what we offer here at Tower Systems.

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Tower Systems helps more local small business retailers move to scanned based trading

December 15, 2022
2 Min read
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The Tower Systems POS software has for many years provided a data feed to suppliers to facilitate scanned based trading in situations with which they wish to trade.

As a result of advocacy, we are grateful to offer more scanned based trading opportunities to retailers in our small business POS software community.

What is scanned based trading?

This is a commercial relationship between retailer and the supplier where the retailer pay for products when or at an agreed time in a scheduled way after they are sold.

Scanned based trading can be a game changer for local small business retailers as it frees capital for more useful purposes in their business.

It also focusses the attention of suppliers as their commercial benefits are more acutely tuned to the sales results in the business.

The retailer is no longer responsible for shopper theft in some scanned based trading relationships that we have seen.

Some scanned based trading facilitated through our Tower Systems POS software have resulted in significant growth in retail sales and local business success and, of course, the partner suppliers benefit from this too.

Accessing scanned based trading through the Tower Systems POS software is an easy step for any business. The Tower Systems POS software support team can help retailers with this and our leadership team is ready to engage in advocacy to help local small business retailers convince suppliers to engage.

Success with scanned based trading starts with accurate data shared between retail business and the supplier, and accurate trading at the sales counter. These steps are easy to achieve with the right systems and business practices. Our training and support services help retailers with this.

While scanned based training is not for everyone, we see it successfully run in a host of retail situations across a variety of retail business channels.

Our years of experience in scanned based trading through our POS software offer us a perspective that we are grateful to leverage for our small business retail customers. They are our focus.

Tower Systems is grateful to offer specialised retail POS software for garden centres, sewing shops, music shops, pool maintenance and supply businesses, produce businesses, fishing bait and tackle businesses, firearms dealers, newsagents, pet shops, adult shops, bookshops, jewellers, toy shops and more.

Our customers are local family run businesses across Australia and New Zealand.

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Aussie made and supported gift shop software – $155 a month

November 30, 2022
2 Min read
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We are grateful that our gift shop POS software promo video has passed 141,000 views, and we are even more grateful to be welcoming plenty of new customers as a result.

Aussie made and supported POS software is better than anything supported out of an offshore call centre. Our Tower Systems gift shop POS software is awesome, delivering wonderful benefits:

  • Get rid of manual books at the counter for LayBys, special orders, stock you need to order and more.
  • Guide shoppers to spend more with loyalty tools we think you will love.
  • Drive community group member engagement with group pricing.
  • Pre-sell hot items – get paid before the stock arrives.
  • Leverage your knowledge on receipts and elsewhere. Sell you.
  • Reach beyond your four walls with a directly linked Shopify store.
  • Eliminate LayBy and get paid sooner with buy now pay later.
  • Cut dead stock and re-order based on data facts.
  • Cut theft by knowing what is being stolen.
  • Make price comparison harder with bundled packs.
  • Easily and consistently pitch locally sourced products.
  • Bring customers back with reminders on dates important to them.
  • Save money on bookkeeping by integrating with Xero.

We are grateful to every retailer who relies on our software to support their local retail business.

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The last thing retailers want then they call the POS software help desk is to speak to someone in an offshore call centre

November 28, 2022
3 Min read
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There are POS software companies selling into Australia that support their POS software via an offshore help desk.

We think local Aussie and Kiwi retailers want locally based POS software support. Our Tower Systems POS software help desk people work from two countries: Australia  and New Zealand, with the vast majority in Australia, where the vast majority of our customers are located.

Here’s why we think local retailers would not want to speak with a POS software help desk located offshore:

  1. They don’t understand local retail.
  2. They have no reference point for your type of retail.
  3. They are less likely to have a conversation and more likely to run you through a structured Q&A script;
  4. They are likely managed per call, making calls about numbers, and not about customer outcomes.
  5. They are disconnected from the POS software development team.
  6. They can’t look out the window and comment on the weather.
  7. What they are paid does not add to the local economy.
  8. Offshore help desk employees tend to not have retail experience.

Here at Tower Systems we think local support matters for locally used POS software in the indie small business retail space.

Our help desk is run by people with retail experience, Aussie retail experience. They do not operate with a script. A typical call starts with them listening to your explanation of the reason you called. Next, is two-way conversation, in pursuit of a solution for you. If need be, they will speak to people from the software development side of our business.

Good POS software support is all about understanding the query and core to this is understanding retail and in particular, the specific type of retail – because not all retail is the same.

When you call a POS software help desk, your call is about your business, it is about you. Too often, we hear that offshore POS software help desks are about the software with little consideration given to the retailer business itself.

Retail is personal. Good POS software support is personal. This is what we understand, it’s what our customers tell us matters to them.

While an offshore POS software help desk is considerably cheaper for the POS software company to run, the money saved does not translate as a better situation for the retailers who call.

Here at Tower Systems we are proud to offer a locally based help desk service for the thousands of retailers using our locally developed POS software.

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7 ways small business retailers use POS software from Tower Systems to reduce labour costs

November 21, 2022
3 Min read
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Here are 7 valuable and easy to implement, proven and safe ways retailers are today using our Tower Systems  Point of Sale software(POS software) to reduce labour costs in their local businesses:

  1. Sales counter workflow. In our POS software it is smart, efficient, streamlined and labour cost saving. Best practice too. A competitively run counter can drive business success.
  2. Match revenue and roster. Focussing on rostering to revenue and revenue opportunity is a challenge for small business retailers. Tools in the POS software from Tower Systems help indie retailers do this with ease and consistency. These are tools retailers love as they can drive revenue reduction and / or labour cost reduction.
  3. Smart stock control including reordering. By eliminating manual processes around placing orders for replenishment stock, retailers are able to, in one place and at one time, accurately create orders based on business performance data.  By ordering based on business activity (sales) the business do working based on success rather than gut feel. A business switching to ordering from within their Point of sale system can expect to free up cash by reducing non-performing stock. This process is further improved through digitally engaged supplier relationships.
  4. Customer management including accounts and loyalty. Through computer-based customer accounts and loyalty management, the retail business is able to transact with customers accurately, in a timely manner and in a way which puts customers first.  Generating monthly customer statements, for example, could take a few minutes whereas manual processes could take many hours and face challenges with accuracy.
  5. Fact assisted decision making.  Too many retail businesses spend too much time spinning their wheels pursuing decisions because they are not using business facts to feed these decisions.  All to often we see poor business decisions made based on emotion and or ignorance rather than historical business data.  Replace the error prone and fact-less approach with a fact-based approach and a business will soon find that decisions are more right than wrong.  Retail businesses can bank on the results.
  6. Roster integration.
  7. Online sales. Leveraging existing roistered hours to transact with more revenue can make it more efficient. Through a multiple website strategy, local small retail businesses can use existing space and labour, and even inventory, to drive business efficiency.

These are just 7 of the ways in which our Point of Sale software is helping more than 3,000 small business retailers across Australia to improve the management of their businesses, streamline processes and drive more efficient allocation of labour resources.

Tower Systems is not your usual POS software company. We own and run retail businesses, too. We leverage this personal experience to provide our customers with advice options that may help them get more from their POS software investment than in an average situation.

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Easy to setup and run POS software for gift shops: $159 a month total cost

November 18, 2022
3 Min read
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There are no hidden extras with this POS software for gift shops from Tower Systems.

No add ons.

No extra cost based on sales volume.

no extra cost based on the number of terminals you run.,

no extra cost if you go with this or that EFTPOS solution.

No lock-in requirement with an EFTPOS solution.

No extra cost for paying monthly.

No extra GST cost.

It’s all included. $159.00 a month, is the monthly cost, including GST, and including a starter kit of training, and access to awesome local Aussie support.

We are so proud here at Tower Systems to offer this solution to retailers in the gift, greeting card and allied retail niches.

So many POS software businesses offering gift shop software charge extra for monthly payment, GST, number of terminals and even retail sales volume. As we mentioned, with Tower Systems, there is one fair price.

This awesome gift software POS software is packed with facilities, delivering wonderful benefits:

  • Get one-time-only shoppers spending more thanks to an easy to pitch loyalty system embedded in the software.
  • Leverage you. If you believe your knowledge is a differentiator, offer it through structured opportunities in the software.
  • Encourage customer happiness by serving product care info. on receipts.
  • 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.
  • Easily sell online with a direct to Shopify / Magento or WooCommerce link from your POS software – including image flow.
  • Go cashless if that is your goal – we make it easy and affordable.
  • Save time with electronic invoices from suppliers.
  • Use tags to get a fresh perspective, side-view, on stock performance.
  • Bundle items together to make price comparisons harder and thereby increase sales.
  • Business differentiating loyalty. Stand out from the crowd. Have customers coming back to you for this.
  • Trade and club pricing profiles. Set pricing rules based on customer type.
  • Make money from 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.
  • Track who sold what.
  • Say goodbye to LayBy – with integrated buy now pay later options.
  • 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.

This software for gift shops does much more. Check out this demonstration:

We are so proud to have hundreds of gift shops in our community. This is local Aussie POS software made for local Aussie retailers. We proudly only do business with small businesses.

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17 ways POS software from Tower Systems helps small business retailers market their businesses

November 8, 2022
3 Min read
1

There are more than 17 ways local small business retailers can promote and market their local retail shops using the Tower Systems POS software, many more than 17 ways.

But, since we needed a catchy headline for this blog post, we figured we would list 17 for you, because 17 is authentic, and that is what we are, authentic. We are a local Aussie PSO software company that makes and supports POS software for local Aussie retailers.

Let’s get into it. Here are 17 ways local small business retailers can market their shops using POS software from Tower Systems:

  1. Include a promotional message on receipts. This image, or text, is auto-served, making the passive paper document a sales tool, giving you a good reason to include receipts.
  2. Send emails to customers based on past purchases.
  3. Send emails to customers based on timing indicating their next purchase is due.
  4. Sending emails to groups of customers with common interests inviting them to a shared event.
  5. Bundling and promoting BOGO, buy one get one free, or similar.
  6. Running a coffee cards loyalty stamp program but without the stamps. The more people buy, the closer they are to redeeming their free gift or purchase.
  7. Running discount vouchers that offer cash off the next purchase based on this purchase.
  8. Bundling kits made of individual items that then look like products unique to your business and therefore pitch you in a different light.
  9. Sharing product use information thereby adding value to the relationship with your business.
  10. Shopper loyalty. Old school. Points based. Collect points. redeem. Get stickier with a business.
  11. Converting loyalty points to vouchers and tending these to shoppers to encourage them to return, and spend.
  12. Sell online through a seamless Shopify link and through this reach people who do not shop locally near you.
  13. Manage tracking purchases by local club members encouraging the club and club members to support your business.
  14. See what sells with what and change product locations in the shop to leverage these data insights.
  15. Show shoppers using your software what is sourced locally, thereby encouraging local connectivity.
  16. Replenish so you have stock people want. Empty shelves can’t be sold. Replenishment is a marketing activity.
  17. Share local product use advice and insights with items you sell so people get more form their use.

We have shared this list as encouragement for any local indie small business retailer considering how they can promote their business.

Tower Systems makes POS software for local small business retailers. Our goal is to help you thrive.

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Here’s how we use the POS software we make in our own retail shops in pursuit of value, enjoyment and success

October 12, 2022
2 Min read
H

Tower Systems is a rare POS software company that uses what it makes, in its own shops, to learn, and make better software, and, of course, create more valuable, enjoyable and successful local retail businesses.

late in 2021, we bought an old-school newsagency business in malvern, Victoria. It had been in the same family for 28 years. We are slowly enjoying the business, on a frugal budget, and based on where data take us. here’s a look at how September 2022 has done in this business, where we have leveraged the ideas from the newsXpress newsagency marketing group, which we also own.

While this video was made to demonstrate what newsXpress helps its partner retailers achieve, it also speaks to the value from the Tower Systems POS software.

There is a narrative put about by some POS software companies that they started because they could not find software that suited their needs. We went the other way. In 1996 we bought our first sop to learn, and walk in the shoes of our customers. In the 26 years since, every day, we have experienced value and enjoyment from owning and running retail shops.

Tower Systems is not your average POS software company. We live and breathe retail, and can engage with our customers from a position of experience, empathy.

Our owning and running retail businesses informs decisions we make about our software, how we train our customers and how we support them. It is a whole of business benefit for us and for our customers.

The last thing any retailer wants is a tech person telling them something about retail that’s out of context or disconnected from the world of retail. We make software here at Tower Systems that seeks to integrate with retail in a more meaningful and useful way, and we can do this thanks to our everyday retail experience.

Every person working in our business has retail experience. This matters because when they talk with any of our customers, they can know what it’s like in a shop. The empathy from personal experience makes for a better POS software support experience we think.

We are grateful for the people in the shops we own for their experience and advice helps us make better POS software and provide it with more valuable POS software support.

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