The POS Software Blog

The POS Software Blog

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

Categorygift shop software

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
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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
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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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7 free marketing tips for local indie small business retail to drive traffic and sales

September 29, 2022
4 Min read
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Shopping ought to be enjoyable and, preferably, fun. Often it is the experience itself which separates one retail store from another. This is why every retail business needs to devote management and front line attention to delivering a memorable and enjoyable experience.

The pandemic fundamentally changed retailing 2020. These changes prevail today. It’s time we re-awakened the inso-tore experience.

While Tower Systems its a POS software company, we offer retail management advice to our community of local indie small business retailers, advice beyond our POS software itself, advice designed to help our retailers thrive, and have fun.

One way to provide a memorable shopping experience is to have fun – among the sales team and with customers. Here are seven tips for having fun in any retail store:

  1. Theme days. Embrace an era which with interest your customers. For example, the 1970s. Dress the store and employees in keeping with the 1970s. Have a couple of items on sale at 1970s prices – to connect the theme with a commercial outcome. Get some stories from the 1970s related to products you sell and place these on display boards in the window. Consider a competition for the customer in the best 1970s costume. Other theme days include: school days, foreign country days where you wear traditional dress from a foreign country, crazy hair day and, of course, more theme days around key decades.
  2. Local sports competition. Fully embrace any major local sporting event, choose a team, dress in their colours and dress the store in their colours. Be unashamedly parochial and show your customers your local support.
  3. In-store buskers. Find some local musicians you enjoy and who have a repertoire which would connect with your customers and invite them in to play live for your customers. This would bring a vibrancy to the store and provide welcome entertainment for your customers as they shop. The local performers get to reach a new audience and you get to change up the feel of your business.
  4. Repurposing day. Host an event where customers compete for a prize for the most innovative repurposing of a product you sell. The idea would be that they take something you sell and demonstrate a use for it in a way which is completely different to what the manufacturer expected. There would need to be a rule that the new use is genuinely useful.
  5. The cutest baby. Invite your customers to bring in a photo of whey they were a baby, the older the better. Stick the photos on a wall and take votes on the best. You could change this up with two photos: as a baby and today and get customers to connect the two. Family members will come in to look at the photos and vote. A local store could get a real buzz with a promotion like this. While there is no obvious direct sales imperative, the traffic and word of mouth should drive good business.
  6. Stand up comedy in store. Invite local comedians to try out their stand up routines with your customers. While you would need to be careful about content, such an event would show the store supporting local artists and it could bring some fun to quiet retail times.
  7. Crazy tie day. While this has been done before plenty of times, you could kick it up with an amazing tie display – collect these from local Goodwill stores, invite customers to donate. As with the theme days idea, interact with customers and offer a prize for the best / worst. This tie day ist especially fun given that ties are a thing of the past in business today.

These seven ideas are the tip of the iceberg for in-store promotions. They are designed to kick start your own thinking on engagement ideas that could work well in your situation.

Retail is very much about the shopping experience, especially local indie small business retail. While good customer service and a friendly shopping experience are vital, sometimes it is the wonderful unexpected experience which can get people talking about a business.

Be bold and have fun.

Tower Systems makes software for local specialty retailers, software designed to help you run more successful, valuable and enjoyable businesses. Along the way, we have collected plenty of management and marketing tips. We share them here and in our customer emails from time to time. We hope you find them useful.

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ANNOUNCING: Tower Systems announces new free online marketplace for local independent retailers

September 20, 2022
4 Min read
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Tower Systems is launching www.findit.com.au, a free marketplace for local indie retailers like you. Listing products on FindIt will be free for Tower Systems customers.
Our goal for FindIt is to help customers looking online for items you sell, to drive traffic to your shop.
All Tower Systems POS software customers have access to FindIt for free.
We have built FindIt because of the growing importance of being online to in-store retail, and because some retailers are challenged with creating and running their own website. This is a no cost / low cost solution to help you be found online.
If you do have your own website, you will still be able to list on FindIt if you wish.
Retailers can choose to sell through FindIt, or just list what they have available in-store. If they do sell through FindIt, there is a fee of 10%. This covers Tower for credit card fees and Afterpay fees once that is live. It also covers us for credit card fraud claims. Retailers choose whether to sell through FindIt or not. Again, to list products and have your shop found is free.
We are hosting the website on a large secure and fast server in a remote data centre. We are also doing the backend SEO work to raise the Google profile.
Customers will land on the website from Google. As the ranking of the site increases, products on FindIt will list in Google results. Customers will be able to add items from multiple retailers to a FindIt basket in a transaction.
The FindIt website confirms the order to the customer and provides the retailer with a recipient created tax invoice. Retailers will be able to go to their FindIt vendor panel to download a picking slip.
  

Retailers choose the price of what they sell – it can be their web price or their retail price. In the Tower Systems POS software, retailers choose whether a product is listed online.
The image for a product will be the first image loaded for a product. If a retailer has a better image than the first one loaded by another retailer, it would take a manual process to change it, a process not currently in place. The same applies to descriptions.
We connect products by barcode. If a retailer generates their own barcode for an item already on FindIt, it will treat that product as a new item.
The price will be the retailer’s price – yes, multiple retailers on FindIt could result in different prices for the same item.
The product description is the key. Our advice on this is to try and think about what someone is likely to type into Google.
Retailers will have the option to be either freight free or charge. If a retailer has product dimensions and have selected to charge freight, the Australia Post plug-in we have will calculate a freight charge. Retailers will also have an option, on their vendor page in FindIt to set a flat freight charge if you wish.
We currently serve over 3,000 local small business independent retailers. Across that eco system there are more than 100,000 unique products. FindIt has the potential to be an important marketplace.
We are around 3 weeks away from launch.
In terms of the launch tho, it will be soft, no major fanfare. We’re taking a Field of Dreams approach … building it in the hope they do come.
This is a new space for us and for our customers. There will be missteps along the way for sure. We will evolve the site based on what we learn from these and from your feedback.
We are excited to help local indie retailers find new shoppers for your business.
Find out more about our Tower Systems POS software at our website, www.towersystems.com.au, where you can also easily watch demonstrations of our software. We only supply independent retailers. Plus, our software is Aussie made and supported.
For a personal demonstration or to discuss your POS software needs:
  • sales@towersystems.com.au
  • 1300 662 957.
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How well does your POS software connect to Shopify?

September 10, 2022
3 Min read
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We won more new retail customers this week for our POS software because of our beautiful and trustworthy Shopify link.

Our software packages for jewellers, garden centres, bike shops, gift shops, sewing shops, toy shops, pet stores, firearms dealers, newsagents, produce and farm supply businesses, knitting shops, game shops, vape shops, adult shops, music shops, antique shops and charity / op. shops like to Shopify through a direst Shopify link.

It’s a two-way link.

We are a proud Shopify partner.

Our Tower Systems POS software manages the inventory, the text, the images, the videos. Plus, in-store, it transacts the sales. Shopify manages the sales online. And, Shopify and our tower Systems POS software sync – so you always have accurate stock on hand data.

Our Shopify connected POS software is helping many local retailers safely, efficiently and accurately sell online.

We won the business this week from the new clients once they compared the operation of ur link live to what they had using other POS software. This direct comparison resulted in quick decisions given the importance of online sales for their businesses.

I can’t believe how much better this is. You are going to remove a massive pain point for us. The time it’s going to save!

We were thrilled to hear this.

Okay, we know our POS software Shopify integration is good because we use it ourself in a couple of gift / homewares related retail businesses we also own. But it is wonderfully validating when someone using other POS software, well known POS software, shows us where we shine.

We felt pretty good.

But we’re not resting on this. We continue o tune there Shopify integration, just as Shopify themselves tune their own platform. This is what good software companies do. Change is daily, and important.

If you run a physical store and you sell online, the Tower Systems POS software and Shopify integration marriage could be the productivity and performance move you have been looking. We;’d be happy to show it to you free, without obligation. You can make up your own mind.

We are a no-pressure POS software company. Ask for a demo and we’ll give it to you. We won’t call or chase you. We trust local small business retailers to make business decisions in their own time. The last thing they need or want is sales people chasing them.

Now, if you have 50 minutes or so, you could watch this video from one of our Tower Systems POS software experts and one of our own Shopify experts. It’s packed with free advice you could find useful:

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Discovering the beautiful Tufted Titmouse at our POS software company

September 10, 2022
3 Min read
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It’s fascinating what you learn working with specialty retailers. While we like birds, except swooping magpies, we’d never thought much about the Tufted Titmouse. That is, until we saw this adorable ornament in the Hallmark Keepsake range.

It’s a product item in our POS software and being sold online, too, through a website we created.

It caught our attention as our advice on keywords helped it be a Google page 1 find for people looking for the Hallmark Keepsakes as well as bird lovers interested in the Tufted Titmouse.

Bird lovers are especially interested since this is the 18th in the series of birds by Hallmark.

https://myornaments.com.au/products/the-beauty-of-birds-tufted-titmouse-hallmark-keepsake-ornament

We get pretty involved with our customers – as much as they want, with the usual POS software help and support as well as business advice on how to leverage the software at attract new shoppers and encourage existing shoppers to spend more.

It’s why we love working with local indie small business retailers. It’s personal. #Grateful #ShopLocal #SmallBusiness #Happy #Weekend

These Hallmark Keepsakes are beautiful Christmas ornaments. Crafted with care.

Our roles are to provide the software for the shop and there website for online sales. By providing both and ensuring they are seamlessly integrated we are able to help the retailer to sell in-store and online with surety and certainty. The two-way data flow between the website and Tower Systems POS software save time, improve data accuracy and offer a comfortable shopper experience.

Our POS software manages the images and product information – allowing these to flow to the beautiful Shopify site that we created. It saves so much time for the retailer.

If you go too the My Ornaments website you can see a large range of products – the data for which flow from our POS software. Look at the data that flows across for the Tufted Titmouse product:

Add nature’s splendour to your holiday celebrations with this handsome Tufted Titmouse Christmas tree ornament. Gem details and metallic gold embellishments pair with a dangling holly branch, sure to delight bird enthusiasts.

  • Key Features: 18th in the Beauty of Birds Keepsake Ornament series.
  • Additional Details: Artist crafted by Edythe Kegrize and Emma Leturgez-Smith. Plastic Christmas tree ornament.
  • Includes: One 2022 Keepsake Ornament in gift box for easy gift giving, preservation and storage.
  • Ornament Size: Approx. 3.57 x 7.07 x 9.16 cm
  • Product Code QXR9063

All this, plus the photos, and videos too if that is available for any product.

The integration between the Tower Systems POS software and Shopify sites is something we are proud of and grateful to provide to many indie retailers.

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Inspiring indie retail in Cold Spring, New York.

August 22, 2022
1 Min read
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I got back Friday last week from a leading a group of Aussie indie retailers on a retail study tour to New York and Los Angeles. We primarily focussed on local indie retail, retail relevant to our local indie retail businesses here in Australia.

We spent a day in Cold Spring, in upstate New York. Today, I shot a short video in which I share some takeaways from this visit to one of the best local retail towns in the US. Scroll down to see the video, or use this link: https://youtu.be/Gu1_W64rzCU

My name is Mark Fletcher. I own Tower Systems. We make POS software for local specialty retail. We also run and operate 4 shops in Melbourne in the gift / homewares / collectibles spaces as well as 7 online shops. We understand the challenges of being small and local, and we have built into our software tools to help you thrive.

Cheers,
Mark Fletcher
M | 0418 321 338 E | mark@towersystems.com.au
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-fletcher-tower/

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Australian cloud based POS software helps Aussie retailers thrive

August 19, 2022
2 Min read
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The Tower Systems cloud based POS software is helping local Aussie retailers be more competitive, efficient and happy. This is what smart technology does for retailers: improves the bottom line, the workplace and the value of the business to all involved.

Tower Systems has offered cloud based POS software for more than 10 years now. The software has continued to evolve as tech has evolved, to make its cloud based POS software current standard tech for local small business retailers.

From a fully hosted solution through to a self hosted cloud POS software solution, what Tower Systems offers retailers is choice. This gives small business retailers the ability to be flexible in terms of their approach to cloud hosted POS software.

With our full service cloud hosted option we cover everything, shielding retailers from the tech, updates and more. They can concentrate on making the software sing for their businesses and their customers.

We have single local shops using our cloud hosted POS software solution and groups with 5, 10 and even more shops using our cloud hosted POS. We are happy to share these details so that you can see if being cloud hosted is the right choice for you.

Our POS software can be run on a local PC or in the cloud. You can choose the right approach for your business.

With the cloud based option, you can choose to be hosted anywhere you prefer or you can go with our full-service hosted option.

We have plenty of customers in each scenario – running locally, self hosted for multiple locations or hosted by us in a full service model.

Big tech companies have spent hundreds of millions of dollars in marketing the term cloud. They have done this because they know buzzwords sell. The reality is, your software has to run somewhere. It has to be maintained. Whether it is running on computers in your business or in the cloud, the costs are not that different. The key difference is one approach feels sexier than the other, because of the marketing.

Tower systems offers local retailers choice when it comes to where and how our POS software is run. Do your homework and work out which of the options best serves your situation.

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Small business retail advice: make every day your pay day

August 1, 2022
9 Min read
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This is advice we first shared many years ago. We have updated it, made it more 2022 and beyond relevant.

Not wanting to be too proud, 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 for today, and for when you decide to sell the business.

Everyday in local retail it can feel challenging, busy, attention distracting and demanding. Local small business retail is tough, competitive and consuming.

Our advice for local small business retailers in this article is practice, everyday, straightforward. It is advice any local small business retailer could follow without needing a business degree, bags of spare capital or a huge team to manage execution in-store.

This is fundamental advice, code advice. It’s like getting out of bed in the morning, showering, brushing your teeth, getting dressed. this advice is as basic and fundamental as eating and treating. And, while that sounds dramatic, it is what it is, good advice that every local small business retailer could benefit from.

So, here it is:

Retail business advice: make every day your pay day.

There was a time when small business retailers could rely on selling their business for a handsome increase on the price they paid thereby providing a good pay day, when businesses sold for a good multiple of net earnings. This was a time when retailers would focus on the sale of their business being their payday.

No more. Today, the best way to extract value from local retail businesses is to make every day your pay day, to not rely on your pay day being the day you sell the business.

By this we mean make the most you can today, so that tomorrow is valuable. It’s a small target approach. A narrow approach. That’s at the heart of this … that today is what matters most to you today. In every decision, every action. It’s why this is about making every day you payday. because it is an every day thing. Like we said at the start, like eating and breathing.

The challenge is how do you do this?

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:

  1. Find new customers. New customers are the future lifeblood of any retail business. if you are not attracting new shoppers, you are treading water. Every day there should be an action designed to reach people who do not currently shop with you. It could be a social media post, a stunning front window display or engagement with a local event. Do something, have it planned as part of a regular action. Always, every day, chase new customers.
  2. Charge more every time you can. Look at what you see and your approach to mark-up. Consider why people buy from you, and not somewhere else. If there is a factor, such as convenience, that enables you to charge a little more. Considering what you charge is not a blanket approach, not something you rush at. Take your time. Look at part of the business in fine detail and consider whether a small increase could help you achieve more. Also, loyalty programs such as discount vouchers, bundling into hampers, multi buys such as 2 for 3 and other opportunities enable you to do this by blocking price comparison. You can stop price being a consideration.
  3. Get people buying more each visit. What you place with what can encourage people to buy more than what they intended. Unpacking and pricing new goods on the shop floor can get people noticing and buying things they did not visit today to buy. Look in your data at what sells with what. Often that can reveal opportunities. Too often, retailers think placing things at the counter drives a deeper basket and while it does, there are other things you can do in-store to drive this.
  4. 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. There are other ways to enable trimming the roster. Be smarter. If there are things you can cost-effectively automate, do that. If you can adjust opening hours to better fit when sales occur, and same some labour costs, do that. If you can save an hour a day with owner time on the shop floor, do that.
  5. Stock what sells. This may sound obvious, because it is. But, in many retail businesses we look at, they do not stock what sells. Analyse your business data. Know not only the products that sells, but the types of products. If you think something is a success, go to the evidence to see if it is. Too often we can’t find evidence supporting a feeling that something is successful. Your data can guide your buying so that you stock more of what sells.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. Have stunning displays that attract people from outside the shop. Stunning displays are the unexpected, the must-see, the magnets that people notice and stop. Anyone can create these. It starts with thinking about what could be unexpected and then being bold with that seed of an idea.
  9. Have compelling displays in-store that encourage people to browse beyond their destination purchase. In-store displays need to be about showing people what they can engage with. these displays are for people to see themselves or those they are buying for.
  10. Always have impulse offers at high traffic locations.
  11. 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.
  12. 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.
  13. 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 set-and-forget business that rarely changes, you give people a reason to walk on by. So, everyday, 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.
  14. Stop all busy work. It is easy in a local small business retail setting to get caught up in back office work and while some office work is vital, too often it can be work for the same of work. For example, one retailer used ton take their daily numbers and enter them in a spreadsheet for analysis when, in fact, their POS software provided even better reporting than the spreadsheet offered – they have never thought to use that. In another case, the business owner banked everyday as they liked the walk. but, it took an hour by they time they chatted to people and while sometimes it was good for them to do it, doing it every day, 5 hours a week, came at a cost to the business.
  15. Be cleverly frugal. When you are considering spending money, think on it, think about the value for the business from the spend. The money you spend has a cost. today and in the future. 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.

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 whatwnll matter when you’d decide to sell your business.

If you relentlessly pursue profit with a clear focus you are likely to see profit grow. That’s better than waiting to make money when you sell because that’s less likely to happen in this market.

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 4 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. While, for sure, our software can play a role, the real focus is on how, when and where local retail; business decisions are made, and that is a reason we share this and other advice at this POS Software News Blog.

In sharing this advice we demonstrate a care for local small business retail and a transparency as to the advice and help we provide.

Today is August 1. It’s a new month. A good day to start on this mission of making every day your payday.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-fletcher-tower/

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Easy and fast setup POS software for Australian retailers

July 29, 2022
13 Min read
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Retailers who want to get up and running with good POS software quickly have a solution in Tower Systems.

We help retailers get live with smart POS software quickly in their businesses.

You can sign up today and be transacting today, that to our smooth, fast and professionally supported POS software ramp-up opportunity.

We help retailers across a range of retail channels with awesome POS software. Jewellers, garden centres, bike shops, sewing shops, pet shops, newsagents, gift shops, fishing and outdoors shops, produce businesses, firearms dealers, antique shops, charity shops, bookshops … and more.

The easy POS software setup road is smooth, safe and ready for local small businesses to get live with awesome Aussie made and supported POS software.

Our installation, training and setup professionals are in-house, they work for us, helping you. We don’t use third party companies. We don’t tell you to find someone for yourself to setup the software and train you.

Good POS software companies do do this themselves, working with you, helping you, encouraging you and guiding you to get live with the new POS software as quickly as you want. Yes, you can work at the pace that best serves your needs.

The fast setup and go-live pathway for the Tower Systems POS software helps businesses that need it now, need to be live today, need to be transacting sales right away. All of us here at Tower Systems will do our best to make this happen for you, to satisfy your needs and make what you ant and need a reality in the way you want.

While our POS software is off the shelf, and available to rent for a few dollars a day, it is very flexible. This is why we guide you in terms of systems settings and setup, to help you make sure the software is tuned to meet the needs of your business. Yes, the off the shelf software can work differently in different retail businesses.

If you need good POS software up and running in your shop quickly, talk to the team at Tower Systems and find out if this software serves your business needs. You can see demonstrations of the software at our POS software YouTube channel. You can call our sales team on 1300 662 957. or, you can email them at sales@towersystems.com.au.

We won’t chase you or push you or drive you to make a decision. What you decide, when you decide it and what happens from there is 100% up to you. This is how Tower Systems operates. We offer a smooth and certain road towards getting live with our POS software – if that’s the software you choose for your local retail business.

The software itself is comprehensive and tailored for each of the marketplaces in which it serves. But, at its core, this POS software offers access to a range of loved benefits, including:

  1. Say goodbye to LayBy With our buy now pay later options.
  2. Customers will love your product use and care instructions on receipts.
  3. Make more money offering special orders that you can easily track from the counter and notify shoppers by email or text when the goods arrive.
  4. Get one-time-only shoppers spending more with an awesome and differentiating loyalty facility.
  5. Sell online easily, direct from your POS software.
  6. Bring customers back with reminders on dates important to them.
  7. Save money on bookkeeping by integrating with accounting software.
  8. Make more money from the one time only shoppers.
  9. Save time, load electronic invoices from suppliers.
  10. Cut mistakes with integrated EFTPOS.

This is software that handles, easily and if you need:

  1. Selling by touch button, barcode scanning or product code entry.
  2. Selling by fractions.
  3. Selling by weight – this software is government approved for scale integration.
  4. Creating barcodes for items that don’t have a barcode.
  5. Tracking the location of a box for an item.
  6. Tracking products baby serial number if they have them.
  7. Tracking customer details when appropriate and if you want.
  8. Comparing supplier performance.
  9. Seeing what’s not working in the shop.
  10. seeing opportunities for growth in the shop.

There are so many options in this POS software, ways you can make selections in the software to do more, as the business needs. here is a Q&A covering some of these specialty needs.

Can you pass on hazardous good information? Yes, you can load files, images, documents or PDFs for products (information sheets, advice, notices) and have them automatically included in emailed receipts.

We sell on the road, is there a mobile version? Yes, our Retailer RoamTM option is perfect for selling from anywhere.

Does the software work with and easily load supplier provided electronic invoices? Yes, many across a range of specialty retail channels.

Can you manage breaking up bulk product and selling at smaller quantities? Yes, you can receive product in bulk and break it into smaller selling packs.

Can you manage creating your own custom products using multiple products whilst keeping track of qty on hand figures? Yes, you can take a number of items, mix them and then bag up your own product made from them.

Can you set specific pricing for special groups of customers ie trade customers? Yes.

Can you manage quotes? Yes, you can create quotes and then turn them into sales if they proceed.

Can you manage deliveries? Yes, the software has a couple of ways of doing this.

Will the system print picking slips for local deliveries? Yes.

Are the stock labels the system produces weatherproof? Yes, as long as you purchase our weatherproof label stock.

Can you handle repairs and servicing of machinery like mowers etc? Yes, repairs facilities included with the software track repairs, parts used, labour used and advising the customer the item is ready to collect.

Can you reach back out to customers you remind them of previous seasons they purchased in?Yes, you can select customers for marketing past on a range of criteria, including past purchases.

Does the system handle account customers? Yes, you can setup and manage customer accounts.

Does the system produce invoicing and statements? Yes, these can be printed or emailed.

Can I offer a special price to members of a club? Yes.

Can I share local information such as local or seasonal information?  Yes, on receipts.

Can I remind customers about equipment servicing? Yes.

The Tower Systems POS software is mature yet fresh. The visual appeal of the software is loved by many thanks to the design refresh just rolled out. This, along with significant under the hood enhancement, provides access to software that goes much further than you may see in other POS solutions.

The challenge, though, is how do you choose the POS software that is right for your business. Our advice is take your time, do your homework, know your needs before you talk to any software companies. What you need is what you need. It is vital that you know what you will compromise on, and what you will not.

Choosing the right software for your jewellery shop can be easy if you follow some simple steps: be sure of what your business needs; understand the value of this to your business; and, remain focused on the business outcomes important to you.

It is easy for professional software sales people to confuse you along the way.  This can be avoided is you stick to the three simple steps.  Some sales people need to be reminded that this is your choice and that you will choose the system which is right for your business.

While we could write thousands of words on how to go about determining your needs and preparing an appropriate specification document, the reality for many independent jewellery retailers is that this is not appropriate.  Instead, we recommend a single sheet of paper approach. Yes, old-school.  It’s easy and achievable by business people of all skill sets.

So, take out a sheet of paper rule a line down the middle.  On the left hand side, note down the requirements of a computer system which you consider will be unique to your business.  What is it you do which you feel not many other jewellery retailers would require?  Do you put extra emphasis on ease of use? Will your business need comprehensive support? How important is securing your database and business information? Do you operate off a non standard markup policy? Do you handle repairs internally, externally, or both?

Most good Point of Sale systems have common functionality in the traditional areas of selling, printing receipts, handling customer accounts, managing discounting and reporting on sales.  It is in the ‘fringe’ and use of use where you will find differences and these often are differences in businesses as well.

In creating this list of functions and facilities which are unique to your business consider these questions:

  • How computer literate are your people?
  • How do you handle Lay Bys?  Is your approach common?
  • Do you have a loyalty program and if so is it unique  to your business?
  • What needs do you have that you think may be unique?
  • Do you sell by fractions?
  • Do you need a seamless and direct link to selling online?
  • Do you have a need to compare the performance of multiple suppliers in a specific department?
  • Do you wish to compare staff sales results and process commissions accordingly?
  • How do you market to existing customers and would use your software to help?

Next to each of your requirements, and they have to be your requirements and not a cut and paste of the list above, be sure to note the amount of time you spend with current systems and processes.  This could be the amount of time you save by purchasing another system.

There are many other business specific questions and requirements you could consider.  The list above is provided to stimulate your thoughts about the specific needs you have in your jewellery shop.

It may be that your needs are not covered in any existing system.  This is when you need to decide on whether the cost of NOT having access to these needs being covered is worth the considerable saving of going with an off the shelf system.

On the right hand side of the paper, note down what is important to you in the software company from which you purchase your software.  These points ought to be the must haves without which you will knock out a business.  For what it’s worth and based on many years serving small businesses similar to yours, here are my suggestions for this list:

  • They own the software.  That is, you are purchasing from the company which develops the software. There is nothing worse than buying through an agent who does not have easy direct access to the software developers.
  • The software is regularly updated.
  • Training.  The system is provided with training by the company itself.  Too many software companies nowadays contract training out or do not provide training. This provides an opportunity for them to point the finger if there are later support issues.
  • Easy support access. They support your business by investing seriously in their support. 24/7 telephone software support is available.
  • User meetings.  Make sure there are opportunities for you to meet , probably online via Zoom, with the leadership team of the POS software company. Have them show you how the voices of their customers are heard and responded to.
  • Enhancement suggestions.  Make sure that the software company has a mechanism for you making your enhancement suggestions known to them.  This demonstrates that your opinions really do matter.

Once you have this sheet of paper you are almost ready to start looking at software systems.

Take some time to get together copies of all the key documents you use.  You will need to compare these with what any POS system you consider offers.  This includes receipts, orders, reports and especially any spreadsheets you work on to manage the business.

You are almost ready to look at possible systems.  First up, compare the websites of the companies you are considering.  Be sure to assess the ease of navigation of the websites, the professionalism and speed.  These are all indicators of the software the companies sell.

When you are ready, arrange the demonstrations.  Book these for your shop so that the sales people can see your business first hand.  If they offer you a demonstration copy of the software say no as this is a lazy way to sell, leaving you to do all the work.

If you are looking for POS software for your business, take your time, do your research, choose software that serves your needs.

Tower Systems is a full service POS software company. We make what we sell. We support it. Our software is regularly enhanced – and we rely on suggestions from our customers for plenty of enhancements. We are specialist, too. Take a look, for example, at what we offer pet shops in our pet shop software:

  • Save time with electronic invoices from suppliers.
  • Easy special customer orders. Smart tracking and customer notification.
  • Make money from pre-orders – Easily pre-sell before release.
  • Community group pricing. Set pricing rules based on customer type.
  • Easy record keeping: pet microchip tracking.
  • Recall customers based on worming and other needs.
  • Business differentiating loyalty. Stand out from the crowd. Drive sales.
  • Differentiate with bundles. Make price comparison hard.
  • Say goodbye to LayBy – with integrated buy now pay later options.
  • Market to customers based on past purchases.
  • Cut accounting and bookkeeping fees with integration to Xero and others.
  • Easily sell online with a direct to Shopify link from your POS software.

We tell retailers to love their shop as much as their customers love yotheirr pets. Here are 6 ways this pet shop software helps achieve this.

  1. Easy small wins. The one-percenters make a business. This pet shop software is packed with one-percenters, helping you to small wins in efficiency, add-on purchases, smarter buying and more.
  2. Healthier pets. Pet owners will love your reminders about a treatment that is due. They will also love that you treat their pets as a member of the family. You will love that this software makes it easy.
  3. Hands off. Every keyboard click has a cost and could be a mistake. Look at your last Kongs invoice and reflect on the time it took to process. Imagine importing an accurate electronic version in seconds.
  4. Standing out from the crowd. While dog breeds are judged to a set of strict standards, in retail being different matters. When it comes to loyalty, we help you stand out, be noticed and be loved.
  5. You are the difference. When it comes to pet food and other items that make up the bulk of your revenue, standing out from the crowd can be a challenge. The thing is, you and your people are the difference. This software helps you shine a light on that.
  6. Not every shopper will walk past your door. A smart and seamless connection between your software and a beautiful website can help you easily and with low overhead sell to people you will never meet.

This is an example for the pet shop software from Tower Systems. Each marketplace is as fine-tuned and targeted in terms of software function as this.

Tower systems is here to help local specialty retailers achieve more with their POS software, and we can do this with our fast go-live approach, if that is what you want.

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Our POS software helps local retailers hire and retain employees

July 22, 2022
2 Min read
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Finding employees is a challenge for many businesses in 2022. It is especially tough for local retailers.

Our Tower Systems POS software helps local retailers hire and retain employees, and here;’s a short video on how we do this:

Of course, there is more to this than we cover in the short video.

The key, however, is how much people enjoy their job. By providing learning opportunities, structure and certainty, our POS software can help employees in local retail businesses love their jobs more.

The structure offered within the Tower Systems POS software helps retail employees spend less time on mundane tasks and more time nothings that benefit the business, and through this, themselves. It also helps them help customers, and everyone loves that!

Loving your job starts with being good at it and being good at a job in retail starts with having good software to use to enable you to serve the business and its customer well. There is where the 4 points covered in the video play.

Tower Systems offers access to a knowledge base, a live, searchable, online documentation resource. Each article is training, writing in plain English, offering dot point step by step advice on how to do things, and why. It its perfect training for anyone wanting to learn how to use our POS software.

Our POS software is elegant, enjoyable, efficient and of current design. All of this matters as retail employees can be sure they are using something up to date, something relevant, and learning skills that will be transferable either within the retail business or in another retail business where they move.

We back up our training with one on one training opportunities for anyone keen to go further. This training is tailored to specific business needs. We are grateful to have served many of our customers with this personal training.

We also offer group training, which is recorded for people to access wherever and whenever they wish.

We know that the better retail employees understand a business and the tools it uses, the more valuable they feel and value is central to enjoyment … and retention in a business.

These are just some of the ways Tower Systems helps.

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Local high street retail continues to benefit from people working locally

July 12, 2022
3 Min read
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Just about all local high street retailers will tell you trade is good, even if the face or a returned wave of covid infections.

High street retail is strong because shoppers are concerned abut big shopping centres. They prefer the easier local high street situation for shopping. We hear from shoppers that they feel this situation is safer for them. So, in a comparison of a shopping mall visit versus a high street retail visit, for plenty of shoppers the preference will be the high street visit.

The other reason local high street retail is strong is because plenty who shifted to work from home at the start of Covid have not returned to the city, to big offices. People are loving working from home, living and working locally … and, local retailers are loving serving them, helping out with new needs of this now more regional office based workforce.

We are not part of the camp calling for workers to return to the office. For our customers and even for our own business we support people working where they are able, where they are happiest. This is good for local communities, and especially good for local high street retail.

Of course, our views are selfish in that the vast majority of our Tower Systems POS software customers and local high street retailers. Jewellers, garden centres, bike shops, toy shops, pet shops, games shops, sewing shops, fishing shops, charity shops, music shops, produce businesses, newsagents, camping shops, firearms dealers, convenience shops … and more.

These local shops benefit from shoppers preferencing local high street retail over a shopping mall or shopping during a lunch break from office work in the city.

Plenty of local retailers have adjusted their businesses to better serve these new opportunities that emerged from Covid and while some saw the shift as temporary, engaged retailers have planned for the permanent shift of some from city based work to suburban and regional work. The benefit for the local community of this shift is considerable as local retailers will spend more of what they make locally than a shopping mall big business or than a city based business.

What we are seeing in Australia, and globally, is a reset of how, where and when we work and having a front seat to this shift, this change, is a wonderful opportunity not only as an observer, but as a participant.

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See our POS software running live in one of our shops

July 11, 2022
3 Min read
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One of the benefits of us owning and running retail shops is that we can offer a live and behind the counter demonstration of our POS software.

Retailers considering our Tower Systems POS software can get in behind the counter, watch transactions, and even do transactions so that they get up close and personal with the software in a live situation. Better still, they can talk to our store managers and team members on a retailer to retailer level and ask any questions.

Typically, these visits happen without sales people there, offering a more authentic opportunity to see this POS software live.

We also have customer who watch from the customer side of the counter, to see how that plays out, the workflow and efficiency.

Some retailers like to look in the back room and see any back office management using our POS software – where stock bay be arrived into the business,s stock scanned out to be returned to suppliers or other more office related work undertaken.

Having shops available for retailers to visit is a unique situation. We are not aware of any other Australian POS software company that has this resource – shops they own and run where their POS software can be seen, used and observed first-hand.

POS software démonstrations are good and can show off the detail of how the software works. It is in-store where you get to see real life situations, how the software can help with queries, actually save time, genuinely cut mistakes and more. It is in smooth workflow in specialty retail settings that the Tower Systems POS software shines and we think our ownership of retail businesses is a factor on the tuning of our software to a level that it is easily seen as valuable.

We have more retailers going through our softens for personal in-store demonstrations and hands-on use this week. It’s all organised through our sales team: sales@towersystems.com.au or 1300 662 957.

We do have retailers who just turn up at one of our shops and look and while there is no barrier to this, it’s more respectful of our retail team members if we schedule the visit as in the shops we put the needs of our retail customers and our retail team members ahead of everything else.

So, come see awesome locally made and supported POS software live in one of our shops, serve some of our customers and see whether it suits your own business.

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What an awesome, Aussie made, Father’s Day card

July 8, 2022
1 Min read
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What a perfect Father’s Day card for a cyclist dad this Father’s Day. Even better, it’s Aussie made just like our software for bike shops and our software for card, gift shops and newsagencies where this awesome Father’s Day card is for sale.

We are grateful to also have this card from Aussie company Henderson Greetings in our own shops, as part of our Father’s Day card range.

Aussie made does matter to Aussie shoppers.

Tower Systems is a proud Aussie POS software company serving local Aussie retailers with specialty retail POS software.

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