The POS Software Blog

The POS Software Blog

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

CategoryJewellery software

Software made and supported in Australia, for local Aussie jewellers

August 5, 2026
3 Min read
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A local jeweller is a different business to a chain jewellery store, and everyone in town knows it. You made the engagement ring for a couple who now bring their daughter in for her 18th. You have served some families across three generations. Being local is a superpower, and we think POS software should help a jeweller lean into it rather than flatten it into something generic.

Our jewellery software is made in Australia and supported from Australia and New Zealand.

We compete with software made overseas, that’s often supported overseas.

Being Australian made is a point of difference for our Tower Systems jeweller software.

We have served local jewellers for decades, and that shows up in practical ways.

Call our help desk and you speak with our own people, in your time zone, who know Australian retail. Second-hand goods record keeping is handled. Xero is connected. You choose your own EFTPOS provider. The software was built around how jewellery shops here trade, which is a different thing to software written for shopping malls in another hemisphere and adapted later.

Occasion marketing is where localness pays most directly. You already know your customers personally. The software records the anniversary, the birthday, the wedding date, and prompts you to reach out at the right moment. Customers notice when a jeweller remembers. They tell people about it too, which is marketing money cannot buy.

If you run a workshop, repairs are tracked from intake to collection, with notes, status updates and customer contact along the way. Repairs deserve more respect than they sometimes get. People hand over pieces that matter to them, and a repair handled well often earns more loyalty than the original sale did.

The inventory side is built for jewellery. Stone details, metal types and certifications sit against each piece. High-value items are tracked by serial number. Rings and designer collections are managed by colour, size and style, and special orders let you sell a piece before it arrives. There is also club pricing, so you can give a local sporting club or community group their own pricing. Small thing, strong tie.

When the town show or a local market comes around, the Retailer Roam app takes sales away from the counter with stock kept in sync. The Shopify integration keeps the web store and the shop on the same data, which matters when a piece is one of a kind. Selling it twice is not a mistake you get to make quietly.

The AI tools handle the tedious parts. Supplier invoices import automatically from almost any PDF, product descriptions for the web store are generated from your stock data, and reports explain themselves in plain English, so understanding your own business does not require an evening with a spreadsheet.

We also do business the way local businesses tend to prefer. Monthly rental, cancel any time, and we take no fee from your transactions.

If you are local independent jeweller keen to leverage your localness, consider our locally made and supported software for jewellers.

Book a demo and we will show you the software with your shop in mind: towersystems.com.au/pos-software-free-demo.html, or 1300 662 957 (AU), 0800 444 367 (NZ).

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Garbage In, Garbage Out: How to Know if Your Retail Stock Data is Actually Accurate

May 27, 2026
3 Min read
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A POS system reflects what you put into it. Feed it bad data and every report it produces is wrong. That might sound obvious, but in a busy retail environment — where stock arrives daily, staff turn over, and returns pile up — inventory data degrades faster than most retailers realise.

Poor data costs real money. It means stockouts on best-sellers, cash locked up in product that will not move, and numbers you cannot make decisions from. You do not have to guess whether your stock-on-hand figures are right. There are practical ways to check, and the right tools make staying accurate far less work than most people expect.

The stocktake: still the gold standard

Nothing confirms inventory accuracy like a physical count. Closing the shop for a full weekend count is not necessary anymore.

Tower Systems supports targeted rolling stocktakes on a specific shelf, category, or supplier group. Run them during quiet trading periods — before opening, after a delivery, or during a slow mid-week afternoon. Small, frequent counts catch discrepancies early, before they distort your buying decisions and margin reports. A full-store stocktake a couple of times a year, combined with regular section counts, gives you a solid base to work from.

Stop errors at the back door: AI invoice import

A lot of bad retail data enters at inward goods. Manual entry of cost prices, supplier codes, and product descriptions from paper invoices introduces typos. Every time. It is not a staff problem — it is a process problem.

Tower Systems has an AI Invoice Import tool built directly into the software. It reads digital PDFs, spreadsheets, supplier accounting exports, and even photos of printed invoices, then matches items and imports the data without manual entry. Fewer keystrokes means fewer mistakes, and fewer mistakes means stock counts you can trust.

Two daily habits that hold it all together

Systems help, but discipline matters too.

Track every sale individually. Generic open-department keys destroy stock counts over time and make category reporting worthless. Process returns at the time they happen — scanning them back in later means the numbers are wrong in the gap, sometimes for days.

Neither habit takes long. Both make a material difference.

The bottom line

Every manual entry is a risk. Every workaround compounds the problem. Rolling stocktakes and automated invoice importing reduce human handling of data, and less handling means fewer errors. When the data is right, you buy better, you waste less, and your reports tell you something useful.

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

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Scale integration, serial num bar tracking and Repairs: specialty POS software tools for specialty retailers

September 5, 2025
3 Min read
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Many independent retail businesses are wonderfully complex. It’s what makes the unique and sought out. Specialty retail needs often go far beyond a simple transaction at the counter. You might sell bulk pet food by the kilo, track the unique serial number of a valuable item, or manage an intricate in-house repair service. In a specialist business, the details matter, and your Point of Sale software should be built to handle them with precision and ease.

Our specialty retail POS software is made to help specialty retailers lean into their specialisation, to transact efficiently in this space of specialisation. For decades we have delivered and fine-tuned the specialty retail facilities in our POS software.

Selling by weight

If your business sells products by weight, you know that speed and accuracy are crucial. Manually pre-packing items or double-typing prices at the counter wastes valuable time and increases the risk of mistakes that can affect your bottom line.

Our POS software offers automatic scales integration that meets government standards, ensuring compliance and efficiency. From bulk foods and animal feed to soil and confectionery, any store selling products by weight can rely on our integration for fast, accurate selling. This simple feature saves time, reduces errors, and improves customer satisfaction.

Serial numbers tracking

For businesses dealing in specialised goods like firearms, bicycles, or high-value jewellery, tracking individual items is essential. Our software allows you to easily and consistently track the serial numbers of your inventory. You control the process, choosing whether to track items from the moment they arrive in your business, at the point of sale, or both.

This provides a higher level of service that customers appreciate. Serial numbers are printed on receipts, creating a record they can use for warranty or insurance claims. It also sets your business up for longer-term tracking of an item’s service history, creating a valuable point of difference.

Streamlined repairs management

Made first for jewellers and now used in so many specialty retail business settings. Managing repairs can be a significant operational challenge.

Whether you’re managing a jewellery workshop, a bicycle service centre, gunsmithing jobs, or even landscaping projects, our software streamlines the entire process. The system provides:

  • Detailed Job Tracking: Follow every job from initial receipt to completion, with real-time tracking of staff actions.
  • Accurate Billing: Precisely track labour and parts used for accurate inventory control and billing.
  • External Repairs Management: Efficiently manage items outsourced to contractors, including warranty claims.
  • Integrated Customer Communication: Keep customers informed with automated SMS or email notifications when their repair is ready for collection.

By streamlining the repairs process from start to finish, our software helps you deliver a professional, efficient, and personalised service that builds customer trust and loyalty.

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While the right POS system for any retail business depends on the specific needs of the retail business, Tower Systems was built to serve  Australian and New Zealand local small business specialty retailers. To see how we can help you…, request a free, no-obligation demo today. 

Call 1300 662 957 in Australia or 0800 444 367 in New Zealand. Or, email sales@towersystems.com.au. 

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What is good POS software to connect to Xero?

August 21, 2025
3 Min read
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Our Tower Systems POS software connected to Xero. For many years we have been a partner of Xero, listed on their website, with a direct to Xero POS software integration that meets the Xero requirements as well as the requirements of the small business retailers we serve.

We are grateful to Xero for listing us as a POS software integration partner and for the opportunity to reach more local small business retailers through this.

What’s the best POS software to connect with Xero? That depends on your needs. We think our Tower Systems POS software is worthy of consideration for jewellers, garden centres, bike shops, pet shops, newsagents,. toy shops, games shops, fashion shops, fabric shops, haberdashery businesses, landscape businesses, music shops, firearms dealers, bookshops, health food shops, organic goods shops and plenty more.

Our POS software is made for local, independent specialty retail shops. Our POS software Xero link saves time, reduces mistakes and helps local retailers run more efficient and successful retail businesses.

Our powerful Tower Advantage Link platform allows Tower Systems’ specialist retail software to connect directly to Xero, one of Australia’s most popular and streamlined accounting services. Linking Retailer to Xero saves you precious time by completing the majority of your day-to-day accounting for you. We are experts at bringing independent retail businesses and Xero together and pride ourselves on connecting business owners with such an innovative, useful service.

If you are in Australia or New Zealand, select a POS software solution that is equally local like Xero. Our Tower Systems POS software is made in Australia and supported in Australia and New Zealand.

Save time, eliminate bookkeeping costs, cut mistakes and make better business decisions sooner with the Tower Systems POS software Xero integration.

The direct connection between your Tower Systems POS and Xero provides a live, accurate snapshot of your business’s financial health. Sales data, inventory adjustments, and customer payments flow seamlessly, eliminating delays and giving you the clarity needed to make informed, strategic decisions on the fly. This real-time visibility is crucial for agile specialty retailers, and our local support team is on hand to ensure your connection is set up smoothly, so you can leverage these powerful insights from day one.

So, to the question What is good POS software to connect to Xero? we think our Tower Systems POS software solution is good POS software to connect to Xero.

While the right POS system for an retail business depends on the specific needs of the retail business, Tower Systems was built to serve  Australian and New Zealand local small business specialty retailers. To see how we can help you…, request a free, no-obligation demo today. 

Call 1300 662 957 in Australia or 0800 444 367 in New Zealand. Or, email sales@towersystems.com.au. 

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Streamlining Repairs: a professional approach for specialised retail using POS software

August 20, 2025
3 Min read
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A streamlined repair management process is a cornerstone of good customer service, nurturing loyalty and trust. For businesses offering specialised services, from jewellers to bike shops, managing repairs can be a complex yet vital part of their operations. Our specialised retail POS software is meticulously designed to simplify these intricate processes, whether repairs are handled in-house or outsourced.

Comprehensive repairs management

Initially developed for the unique demands of jewellers and bike shop operators, our repairs management tools have been embraced by a diverse range of our retail partners. These tools offer a suite of key functionalities tailored to various specialised industries:

  • Jewellery: Efficiently manage both jewellery and watch workshop repairs, alongside the precise tracking of time-sensitive manufacturing projects.
  • Bicycle Shops: Enjoy comprehensive management of bicycle and tricycle repairs, coupled with a streamlined process for handling warranty returns.
  • Garden Centres: Effectively organise and manage landscaping service workflows, ensuring smooth project execution from start to finish.
  • Firearms Stores: Manage gunsmithing and equipment repairs, as well as an efficient system for processing warranty returns.
  • Pet Shops: Facilitate the management of specialised installations, such as intricate aquarium setups, ensuring accurate scheduling and completion. As demonstrated in our video on managing a grooming business, the system can track services, costs, products used, and even allocate images to a job.
  • Irrigation Businesses: Keep track of product repair and care with ease.

Beyond basic tracking

Our repairs management tools extend beyond simple tracking to offer comprehensive operational management capabilities. From the moment a repair job is received, the system provides meticulous tracking of its progress. This transparency is key to building customer trust. The software also enables precise tracking of both labour and resource utilisation, leading to accurate billing and efficient inventory control.

For businesses that rely on external providers, our system offers efficient management of repairs outsourced to contractors or suppliers, including the seamless handling of warranty claims. To optimise internal operations, the software also provides real-time tracking of repair staff actions, contributing to efficient service delivery and resource allocation.

Enhanced communication and efficiency

Integrated customer communication is a cornerstone of our repairs management system. Automated customer notifications via SMS or their preferred communication method are triggered upon repair completion, ensuring prompt updates and enhancing the customer experience. The system also facilitates seamless payment processing through a variety of methods, including cash, EFTPOS, and various digital payment platforms, offering convenience for both the business and the customer.

By streamlining the entire repairs process, Tower Systems’ software significantly improves communication, enhances operational certainty, and ultimately empowers businesses to deliver a professional, efficient, and personalised service. Our commitment to continuous improvement, in collaboration with our customer community, ensures that our software remains a relevant and powerful tool for the specialised retail marketplaces we serve.

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While the right POS system for making a switch smooth and easy depends on the specific needs of your retail business, Tower Systems was built to solve these exact challenges for Australian and New Zealand local small business specialty retailers. To see how we can help you, request a free, no-obligation demo today.

Call 1300 662 957 in Australia or 0800 444 367 in New Zealand. Or, email sales@towersystems.com.au.

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While plenty preach you to pursue scale, staying small may be more profitable

June 6, 2025
3 Min read
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Everywhere you look, the message for small business owners is the same: bigger is better.  Business gurus applaud “scalable” and “replicable” models. Influencers celebrate follower milestones and encourage everyone to join the race for numbers.

It’s as if size is the only yardstick of success.

It’s not.

Sure there are the headline stories of small business owners who have made it big. The thing is, for each one of those there are hundreds, thousands, who did not make it, and not for lack of trying.

Who benefits most when you chase this endless pursuit of “more”? Often, it’s the very people telling you to do it – consultants, gurus, and influencers who profit from your participation in the game. Their goals might not align with yours, and their interests might be served far more than your own.

This pressure to chase size feels a lot like the relentless societal push to be slim, have perfect white teeth, or a full head of hair. It’s as if being content with what you have simply isn’t an option.

But what if the true goal isn’t endless expansion, but happiness? Happiness for you, the business owner; happiness for those who rely on your business for their income; and happiness for your customers.

A profitable small business can often generate more money for its owners than a business relentlessly pursuing scale, especially if that pursuit involves significant financial risk. Think about the emotional toll of taking on a hefty loan to fund growth. Compare that to the peace of mind that comes with a small, debt-free, self-sustaining business. It’s a different kind of wealth, one measured in peace of mind rather than balance sheet zeroes.

In our experience, small businesses are inherently more nimble, innovative, and efficient than their larger counterparts. They’re often more profitable too.We suspect this is because in a small business, everything matters, and nothing goes unnoticed. Inefficiency simply can’t hide. In big businesses, it can easily get lost in the noise.

Today, technology makes it easier than ever for us to achieve more with less in our small businesses, and with less risk.

Another significant benefit of being small is easy differentiation. Your people, their knowledge, and their personal approach to transacting business are your unique selling points. In a big business, this kind of personalisation is often systemised into something average and, ultimately, lost.

If you genuinely value your independence and understand the power of differentiation through personal service, you’re likely to find more happiness and fulfillment running a small to mid-size business than perpetually chasing scale.

So, don’t let anyone dictate your path or your definition of success. Reach your own conclusion about what’s truly right for you and your business.

Here at Tower Systems we serve local small business retailers, independent retailers. We made that decision long ago. It keeps us close to our customers, focussed on their needs and not beholden to one huge customer. Local matters to local communities. As cliche as that sounds, it’s what we believe. We are grateful to serve local small business retailers.

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Artificial Intelligence embedded in POS software helps local small business retailers move smarter, faster

May 5, 2025
2 Min read
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Here at Tower Systems we are seeing Artificial intelligence embedded in POS software help local small business retailers move smarter, faster.

We released our first POS software embedded AI tools in mmid 2022 with our most significant Artificial Intelligence advances released earlier in 2025.

I am shocked at what I can get done in a day now, one retailer told us. This is a game-changer for my shop, another said. I am discovering opportunities I’d have missed previously, another said. I love it, a retailer in their mid seventies said.

The Artificial Intelligence tools now embedded in ur Tower Systems POS software are practical and success outcome focussed for our local small business retail customers. Using them is like choosing the pen you wish to write with, they are everyday tools designed to save time and to get you to the best possible decision for your business.

Leveraging the very latest LLMs from OpenAI and Google, the AI tools in our POS software provide our retailers with options hitherto unavailable.

Our AI POS software empowers retailers to optimise their online presence by generating compelling product names and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) ready descriptions. They simplify administrative tasks by effortlessly converting PDF supplier invoices into import-ready electronic formats. Retailers can also leverage AI for price comparison, identifying opportunities to improve profitability and stay competitive.

One customer told us recently that they now do in five minutes work that previously took them three hours. This is work they had to do twice a month, delivering a saving a at least six man-hours a money. This is senior staff work that costs $38.00 an hour. The business is saving $228.00 a month or $2,736.00 a year from this one Artificial Intelligence facility alone. That’s real money in the bank for the retailer.

The core advantages of our AI tools are time savings, improved decision quality, and faster decision-making. We are committed to ongoing research and development, with exciting enhancements on the horizon.

We love hearing stories from our customers on how they are benefitting from the AI tools embedded in our POS software and we are excited for the stories that will come as we deliver more in this space.

Helping local small business retailers efficiently run profitable businesses is our goal here.

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Aussie made and supported software for independent jewellers helps them thrive

July 11, 2024
2 Min read
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Tower Systems is proud to offer Australian made and supported POS software for jewellers. In a market with imported software, offering locally made and supported jeweller software is a win for businesses that like a good shop local pitch.

By focussing only on independent jewellers, Tower Systems is able to well serve the unique needs of these local businesses. Whereas franchise and chain jewellers focus on a cookie-cutter approach where everything is the same, local jewellers provide personal service and, often, personal products. This is what being local is all about – being engaged in ways that serve local needs well.

In the Tower Systems software for jewellers there are plenty of ways jewellers can provide local services, such as:

  • Anniversary reminders.
  • Benefits for local club members.
  • Local community engagement for fund raising.
  • Connecting with local events and celebrations.
  • Representing local makers.
  • Offering care information when there are local situations requiring them.

This jeweller software from Tower Systems is deep in jeweller functionality and robust in service. It can transact from the counter, the shop floor, local markets and elsewhere.

Jewellers can run their businesses efficiently:

  • Save time with supplier links: Automate purchase orders and streamline communication with suppliers.
  • Manage stock by weight and grading: Accurately track precious metals and gemstones, ensuring you always have the right inventory on hand.
  • Second-hand goods made simple: Specialised features help you handle pre-owned jewellery efficiently.
  • Free EFTPOS links: Accept payments seamlessly with integrations for popular EFTPOS terminals. This can help you save money.
  • Surcharge. Automatically apply an EFTPOS surcharge ton transactions if you wish.
  • Roster integrations: And with these, effortlessly manage staff scheduling and payroll.
  • Actionable business insights: Gain valuable data on sales trends, inventory levels, and customer behaviour to make informed decisions.
  • Local human-delivered support: Get the help you need when you need it, with friendly and knowledgeable support staff based right here in Australia.

Tower Systems understands that jewellery stores are about more than just transactions. We have served jewellers for 24+ years now. Our software for jewellers is designed to empower you to focus on what matters most – providing exceptional customer service and creating beautiful pieces. With Tower Systems, you’ll have the tools and support you need for your jewellery business.

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AI generated content can show why a business is not worth doing business with

May 15, 2024
3 Min read
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Plenty of AI generated content online is junk put there to try and drive the position of a website. Often, it offers little genuine value. It’s text written for the tech bots, and not for humans.

You can see it on plenty of company blogs: boring content with the same bubbly emotions, similar lists and the ever present use of bold text.

There is a sameness to AI generated content that shows it for what it is – filler put there as a marketing exercise.

Here at Tower Systems we serve local small business retailers, independent retailers. Their point of difference is their product knowledge, their local knowledge and their ability to share this. An AI engine is unlikely to capture the knowledge of those in the business and share it in a meaningful way.

Our advice to our customers is: the more you share your knowledge in ways that are genuinely useful to your customers the more they will trust you, the more your business will grow. Retail is human at its core. AI content is unlikely to add value to the human contact. While it will save time, it is unlikely to add appreciated value.

We get that local small business retailers are time-poor and looking for ways to do more in less time, using AI to generate content about your business and what you do is not the saving you think it might be for your AI generated content joins data centres full of AI generated content. It’s value is limited.

We think a local small business could get more value from one authentic and genuinely useful blog post than ten AI generated blog posts on the same topic for in that one human-generated blog post you can share genuinely new information or insights that add real value to what is know about the product or service of which you write.

AI cannot replace you, it cannot replace your innovation. This is your point of difference, it is what you need to share so people see the value of you and your business. It’s what helps you stand out.

With the advent of more tools available for identifying AI generated text and image content, it is easier to rank content, to determine the authority of it. AI generated fodder will be seen for what it is, and we think this is a good thing. By all means use AI tools as a springboard or to treat a thought drought. For the content you publish in your name or the name of your business, give of yourself for that is what matters the most.

We sometimes play a game here at Tower Systems: spot the AI junk. It’s fun for a while and then it makes us sad that businesses feel it’s okay to publish what they publish, thinking that something is better than nothing, except that it’s not.

Our difference is us, each of us here in this business. We interact with our customers authentically, one-on-one. What we publish here reflects that. Retail is human after all.

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Thank you to 309 jewellers for choosing our Jeweller software

April 2, 2024
3 Min read
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Tower Systems offers industry standard software for jewellers.

Our jeweller software continues to attract new customers, 14 so far this year, for which we are sincerely grateful. 309 users live today is a good number for our Aussie made and supported software for jewellers.

We help local independent jewellers run valuable and enjoyable businesses. Our software helps you evolve your customer mix and grow business performance.

We are independent – we don’t may anyone to recommend us, we don’t pay a commission to any group.

Our software also handles so much: tracking inventory in a jeweller specific way, importing supplier invoices, repairs management, second-hand goods, sell by fractions, sell by length, track product variants, special customer orders, tracking customers purchase history, reducing employee and customer theft and more.

We help you target market to customers based on past purchases.

Our link to Xero for accounting, Tanda, Deputy and Planday for rostering, Slyp for digital receipts, Shopify and Big Commerce for online, ChatGPT for smart product descriptions and RemoveBG for photo background removal all nurture productivity.

One facility our customers really love is loyalty. You can tune this to jeweller specific needs, to encourage your shoppers to return sooner.

With Tower you have EFTPOS choice. There is no financial penalty, no per transaction cost from us. We also make it easy for you to charge customers a surcharge based on the card presented.

We don’t lock you in, you can cancel at any time. Also, choose the EFTPOS provider that suits your business, we don’t lock you in on that either.

Training is one-on-one. This is backed by a library of training videos and an awesome knowledge base – both of which you can access 24/7 for free.

See this software chosen by so many jewellers for yourself. Click here to watch a product demonstration and more information. We don’t ask for any contact details to view.

Let us know more about your specific business needs, call 1300 662 957 or email us at sales@towersystems.com.au.

Local Aussie jewellers serve local communities. They live and work in local communities, and they hire locally, too.

Local Aussie jewellers are good for your local community.

Tower Systems is grateful to support hundreds of local Aussie jewellers with our Aussie made and supported POS software for jewellers.

Tower Systems is a small business focussed POS software company developing, and supporting POS software for niche specialty retailers.

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Retailers loving the 1% EFTPOS fee rate offer

February 8, 2024
2 Min read
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Many of our local retail business POS software customers have jumped on the 1% EFTPOS fee rate. This is an optional rate with the choice entirely up to our POS software customers.

Here at Tower Systems we do not require our POS software customers to use any particular EFTPOS or payments platform. We leave the choice to them without any cost or penalty applied. This is a difference we are proud of, that we do not charge customers based on the EFTPOS platform they use. There is no penalty, no demand they use a particular platform.

The 1% EFTPOS cost offer for Tower Systems customers is another way we have sought to reduce operating costs for our small business retail customers.

Customers are loving it.

We also make it easy in our POS software for our customers to pass on actual EFTPOS costs to their customers, making EFTPOS cost them nothing at all in their businesses. That they are passing on a low cost is another way they can differentiate their business.

This 1% EFTPOS cost is for a solution integrated with our software. This means a bunch of benefits, such as:

  • Reduced keystrokes.
  • Reduced mistakes.
  • Reduced accounting and bookkeeping overhead.
  • Faster sales processing.
  • Better sales counter workflow.
  • Lower business costs.
  • Easy refund management.
  • Easier customer query handling.
  • Single point takings balancing for the beguines.
  • Reduced employee fraud.

There are plenty of benefits of this POS software integrated EFTPOS solutions beyond the low 1% EFTPOS cost to businesses.

Local retail business management benefits from integrated solutions. They do save time, and they reduce operating costs. That the financial costs are low is a loved benefit too.

We are proud to have been able to leverage this 1% EFTPOS fee rate for our Tower Systems customers, all of whom are local independent retail businesses, small businesses. It’s another way we have been able to help these small businesses get benefits that are often only available to big and national businesses.

Tower Systems is a small business focussed POS software company developing, and supporting POS software for niche specialty retailers. Jewellers, garden centres, bike shops, toy shops, produce businesses, farm supply businesses, fishing shops, pet shops, charity businesses, landscape gardening businesses, antique shops, sewing shops, haberdashery businesses, newsagents and more benefit from this software.

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Have you got stock hiding in boxes in your retail shop? It’s time to put it to work or let it go

December 7, 2023
3 Min read
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Have you got piles of stock tucked away in boxes, gathering dust in your garage or under shop tables? If so, you’re not alone. But if you’re serious about making a profit, you need to get that stock out on display where customers can see it.

It seems obvious to write, but some retailers still don’t understand this basic principle of business: stock that’s hidden away isn’t going to sell. If you’ve got stock sitting in boxes because you don’t have room to display it, it’s time to re-evaluate your purchasing decisions.

Think about it this way: every dollar you spend on stock is money you could be using to pay bills or invest in your business. So, before you buy any more stock, ask yourself:

Do I really need this stock?
Do I have room to display it?
Can I realistically sell it within a reasonable timeframe?
Is having this stock in my shop going to be valuable for the business?

If the answer to any of those questions is no, then don’t buy it.

Some retailers buy stock to impress sales reps or make their shops look busy. Others buy stock to make themselves feel better about their businesses. Some retailers buy stock because they are lonely. These are all the wrong reasons to buy stock.

There are even some sales reps who know they’re selling stock to businesses that don’t need it. Shame on them for putting their own financial gains ahead of the well-being of their customers.

If you don’t know the value of the stock in your business, it’s likely you have too much stock. A good but very basic rule of thumb or starting point of s=consideration at least is that stock should not be more than 20% of your total annual revenue from those products.

If you have boxes of stock that you haven’t opened in six months or more, you have too much stock. And if your back room, garage, or under-display table space is filled with boxes, you’ve got a big problem.

The best way to deal with an overstock of inventory is to stop buying new stock and focus on selling down what you already have. Don’t get emotional about it – just make a plan and stick to it.

If you don’t address the issue of overstocking, it will eventually overwhelm you and your business. Don’t let that happen. Take control of your inventory and watch your profits grow.

Yes, we’re a POS software company. We own and run shops, which is very rare for any of our competitors. Our daily experience in retail helps us better serve our customers in the software we make and the support we provide.

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Helping local small business retailers save time and improve efficiency

September 2, 2023
2 Min read
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Labour costs are under the spotlight in businesses around the world. The obsession with AI is, in part, because it reduces reliance on labour. In San Francisco 3 autonomous (driverless) car companies now operate taxis. We saw them when there on business just a week ago. 7-Eleven in Australia is trialling just walk out type tech. several shops where registered shoppers can walk in, take items off the shelf, and walk out. WH Smith now has self-checkout terminals in most of its Aussie c-store businesses.

We are working on several fronts for you in related areas.

  • Our ChatGPT AI integration is saving time on writing product descriptions and has been since January this year. Retailers are loving it – the time saving and the improvement in product descriptions.
  • Our free version of Retailer Roam makes it easy and fast to photograph products using your phone or tablet, load these into Retailer and sync with your website. In seconds you can take and load images of products via your phone, or tablet.
  • We are trialling our new Retailer Self-checkout facility using a new shopper-friendly portrait checkout screen. It’s an easy for shoppers to self check out, a labour saver in some settings.
  • Qjump, our new mobile customer-accessible true self-checkout facility is in trial. Think the new 7-Eleven app but for local indie small businesses without the weirdness of capturing shopper images and the high tech implementation cost.
  • Our new EasyEDI platform offering easy access to time-saving electronic invoices is in early trial with a supplier who, until now, has not offered these.

We are working on more innovations in our small business focussed Retailer POS software to help improve your efficiency. Time saving is a key focus, as is data accuracy.

It’s in these areas of work that we genuinely differentiate for our local small business retailer customers.

We are grateful for the support of our customers. Thank you. We hope you have an awesome lead into the Christmas retail season.

Oh, one more thing … Google has released a core update, which will impact website rankings. We shared advice by email with our customers about this in the last week of August.  Let’s know by email if you’s like a copy. sales@towersystems.com.au

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Why hundreds of jewellers use the jeweller POS software from Tower Systems

August 24, 2023
2 Min read
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We are grateful here at Tower Systems to serve many hundreds of jewellers with our jeweller POS software. Plenty have been with us for more than 15 years and plenty have joined us just this year.

Thank you to all, we are grateful.

We’re not connected with any marketing group, we don’t pay a commission for referral. We also don’t lock you in to any particular EFTPOS platform.

Here is some of the benefits in our jeweller POS software that jewellers tell us they like:

  • Sell accurately by weight or measure – by whole numbers or fractions.
  • Load electronic invoices from suppliers.
  • Sell on the road.
  • Leverage you. If your knowledge is a differentiator, offer it through structured opportunities in the software.
  • Easier record keeping with serial number tracking of items sold.
  • Ensure compliance with structured age checking.
  • Easily handle special customer orders. Bring product in for a specific customer and have them notified automatically by email or text when the goods are in and ready.
  • Business differentiating loyalty. Stand out from the crowd. Have customers coming back to you for this.
  • Maximise the basket with easy to use one-time shopper loyalty tools.
  • Trade and club pricing profiles. Set pricing rules based on customer type.
  • Pre-orders – Easily pre-sell a delivery so that when the stock arrives you can manage distribution and billing efficiently.
  • Differentiate with informative receipts. These can include product care, use and safety information based on what customers buy.
  • Differentiate with bundles. Selling items bundled together makes price comparison hard.
  • Track who sold what.
  • Time saving invoicing and account management – manage accounts in a way tailored to your
  • Market to customers based on past purchases.
  • Save time by importing electronic invoices.
  • Sell more with a direct connect to buy now pay later services.
  • Cut mistakes with integrated EFTPOS.
  • Cut accounting and bookkeeping fees with integration to Xero and others.
  • Easily sell online with a direct to Shopify / Magento or WooCommerce link from your POS software.

This is Aussie made and supported POS software, locally made for local businesses. We are passionate about helping local businesses compete with big business chains when they want to and to stand out in their local community by running a best practice business.

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How to handle consignment stock using POS software from Tower Systems

July 10, 2023
4 Min read
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Consignment stock is growing in popularity in retail, especially local small business retail. Here is advice from our POS software company on handling consignment stock.

We have developed this advice following work with gifts shops, antique shops and other businesses offering consignment stock and using our POS software.

Retailers who sell consignment stock, or commissioned goods (typically from a local supplier or artisan) and want to keep track of the products through sales and potentially receiving/returning stock. There are a few ways to handle this in the Retailer POS software from Tower Systems, using different setups, with their own benefits and limitations.

Three of the ways for handling Consignment stock in the Tower POS software are covered here, and since they are not mutually exclusive, you could mix them together to get something that works for your business. For all three methods, you can also arrive/receive stock through Invoice Arrivals, and Returns of the item can be done through Invoice Arrivals, without much change.
When doing arrivals and returns of consignment products, consider the following. If you need to see quantities on hand of the product in the system when you sell, you will need to arrive, or manually adjust the product quantities. Then, process returns on the products later. Alternatively, you can sell into negatives, and only arrive the final quantities of product later.

Using Supplier
A particular supplier can be assigned as a consignment supplier (or multiple suppliers). You can differentiate them simply by adding ‘Consignment’ to their names (or in any other effective manner).

Many reports in Retailer (such as Supplier Sales Analysis and Stock Listing Report) can be set to run for and exclude certain suppliers. The same can be done in stock ordering so this may be the easiest one to implement.

The limitation is that certain reports like the Detailed Takings report cannot be told to include/exclude particular suppliers.

The benefit is you can continue organising stock in Departments and Categories that are mixed with other, non-consignment stock. Carrying a larger amount of consignment products is also fine with Department names and stock tags on reports still meaningful and descriptive of the product itself.

Using Department
A particular department can be setup as a Consignment department, specifically used for holding items on consignment. This department could be named to include the word ‘Consignment’ to differentiate it, and can also be marked as an Agency Department. Agency Departments have the added feature of being able to be excluded as a tickbox option on many reports (e.g. Detailed Takings Report).

This can mean that the Department name is not as meaningful or descriptive of the products, which should be fine for small numbers of consignment products that are quite similar.

Many reports can be run to exclude Agency Departments (if used here) which can be very helpful. This includes the very useful Stock Listing report, which gives you a total stock value on hand.

Using Stock Tags
Stock tags can be created to track products on consignment, and you can have as many as is meaningful to your business without impacting or bloating reports and information.

E.g. Kitchenware Consignment tag, Foodstuff Consignment tag, Fashionwear Consignment tag.

These will need to be assigned to the relevant products.

The main drawback with this is that reports are only going to be able to include these products based on tags. The reports cannot exclude items based on these tags so if you need to run particular reports and easily exclude consignment products, this method may not be suitable.

The big advantage in using tags is allowing your products to be assigned to meaningful Departments together with other product. Any reports that use tags (e.g. Stock Listing report, Detailed Takings report) will also find it easy to list these products, and potentially show subgroups of the consignment products (if more tags were added) or include other products that have similar tags.

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Aussie made software for jewellers helps local independent jewellers compete with big chains

March 14, 2023
2 Min read
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Local independent jewellers can compete with big groups and national retail businesses by offering good products backed by good service and supported by competitive offers.

The Jeweller POS software from Tower Systems helps them do this.

Our software for jewellers continues to evolve. Here are enhancements from 2023 already:

  • Smart Pay integration offers free EFTPOS.
  • Barcode lookup offers access to an international products database.
  • Our new Big Commerce integration opens selling online through them, joining our integrations with Shopify, Woo and Magento.
  • Image flow to e-commerce has been enhanced.
  • Easy and auto background remover for images now integrated.
  • Easy email marketing to customers based on purchases.
  • 25 new self-serve training videos have been added to our library.
  • A new dashboard offering visual insights into business performance, revealing easy win business decisions.

$185.00 a month (inc. GST) is the total cost. This includes up to 2 hours of our time installing the software. You can choose to access our self-serve training library, or purchase personal training time. It’s 100% up to you.

We don’t pay any marketing group a commission for endorsement.

We are grateful to serve hundreds of local independent jewellers today with our jeweller POS software, in Australia and New Zealand. This is a marketplace we have served for more than twenty years.

Using this software for jewellers, you have access to:

  • Loyalty facilities through which you can genuinely differentiate your business, … shoppers respond to the levers you can pull.
  • Sell online, easily. Our Shopify integration is seamless, official and easy to use and manage.
  • Special orders: sell in advance of having physical stock to sell.
  • Repair facilities through which you can track and manage repairs.
  • Secondhand goods. Easy accurate record keeping.
  • Colour / size / style: smart and efficient inventory tracking.
  • Event marketing through which you can create contact lists of customers based on anniversary, birthday and other life event dates.

The rental can be cancelled at any time. There is no annual payment.

Jewellers love that they have control over learning the software, that there is no mandated requirement as to training they must undertake. That they are in control demonstrates a respect between their business and the Tower Systems business.

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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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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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7 steps to choosing the right POS software for your local specialty retail business

June 23, 2022
4 Min read
7

The POS software you choose for your indie retail business is an important decision. Get it right and the business could prosper and become considerably more valuable. Get it wrong and it could cost you plenty.

In thinking about the software you want, think about your business. The software you choose needs to serve your needs. Here are some headline level thoughts … 7 steps to choosing the right POS software for your local specialty retail business

  1. If you see your business as specialist in nature, the software you choose should be specialist.
  2. If part of your business pitch is to shop local, choosing locally made and supported software supports your pitch. Local software is software made and supported in Australia.
  3. If you want to be known as the local specialist, you need software that helps you do this consistently and effectively.
  4. If you do repairs or maintenance of any sort, you need software that can handle this.
  5. If you sell items bundled such as a rod, reel and line pack, you need software that can handle this.
  6. If you are in a tourist area and sell to people once, or once a year, you need software with loyalty facilities to maximise their rare visits to your shop.
  7. If you sell products by weight or measure, you need software that can do this, you want software that allows you to sell by fractions.

Think about these things and think about what you want in software in your business to help you stand out. If it does not feel right, say no thanks and look elsewhere.

Here at Tower Systems we will tell a sales prospect if we think our software is not a good fit based on the needs they have explained to us. There is no value to us or the sales prospect in them going with software that is not a good fit.

We have won plenty of customers who made a poor choice before landing with us. We take care to ensure we fit their needs because the last thing we want for them is another poor tech experience.

There are many generic and cheap point of sale systems in the marketplace. Price does matter. You would know that in your business. Think about the shopper who wants a full kit but says they want the cheapest. Think about your advice to them. If you say price does matter and that you get what you pay for, the same is true with retail business software.

A small higher price today for the right software could save many times the gap between it and cheap generic software.

So, work out what you want. This must come first, ahead of any budget.

Be flexible. Once you have chosen software, follow the advice provided by the software company and the expert they send to your business to train you. If they suggest changes to your business processes, embrace them. While changing what you do can be frustrating, software designed specifically independent specialty retail businesses is specialist in nature and it does what it does based on years of development and feedback from many customers.

Be disciplined. Software is like a machine. It needs the right fuel. For software, that fuel is data. Ensure everyone in your business is disciplined in how the software is used. From the moment stock comes into the business to when it is sold. Track it. This will help you make better business decisions.

Be engaged. Your software company will want a two-way relationship If you have suggestions, share them Play a role in the continued evolution of the software. This helps you and other businesses in your channel.

Save time. The right software will help you eliminate manual processes. Embrace these opportunities as much as possible. Time saved is time you can invest in yourself or in the business. Seek time saving opportunities out.

Be realistic. Any new software will be a challenge. Know that you will have some rough days learning the new things. Accept these by focussing on the main goal of enjoyment and efficiency once you know the software well.

The software you choose reflects your business. Take your time. Be certain about what you want. Invest well and the right software will easily pay for itself.

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With buy now pay later facing so many problems, LayBy is back in vogue

June 16, 2022
2 Min read
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Buy now pay later businesses are having a rough ride. They face challenges due to the ease with which people can get credit, their break fees, the cost to retailers of offering the payment method and the entry of new competitors into the space – like banks and Apple.

It feels like the glory days of buy now pay later as a traffic driver for retail are over.

In our Tower Systems POS software we have good LayBy tools, which any retailer can offer and manage easily. We developed these many years ago and have maintained them. Today, we have some retailers handling thousands of LayBys every year. We bring structure and support to offering LayBys in any local business.

Here is a 6-minute video we shot about this yesterday morning.

Using the LayBy tools in the Tower Systems POS software, small business retailers can offer professional management of LayBys including:

  • Structured terms and conditions.
  • Collecting a deposit every time.
  • Managing payments.
  • Handling the adjustment of what is in a LayBy.
  • Managing the collection of the LayBy.
  • Understanding the total LayBy situation of a business.
  • Knowing the location of a LayBy.
  • Feeding LayBy data through to any connected accounting software.
  • Giving even casual employees a structured process through which they can be certain with LayBys.

Best of all, the LayBy facilities in the tower Systems POS software help a retail business to bring structure, certainty, to the LayBy offer in a business and this leads to good business, efficient business, profitable LayBy business.

We make LayBy easy but certain, a differentiator on which local retailers can rely to win business and provide a service local shoppers love.

For too many retailers, offering LayBy can be a grind, problematic to manage. Using our LayBy tools we offer structure. many retail businesses in our POS software community find this useful to LayBy being a more enjoyable part of their businesses. We like this. One of our goals is to help small business retailers enjoy their business more.

With the advent of BNPL, LayBy can be a small business win, a true differentiator, and Tower Systems helps achieve this.

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Helping local small business retailers surf

June 9, 2022
1 Min read
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Learning how to use POS software is like learning to surf on so many ways. It’s about knowing when to push off, which wave to catch, how to balance, how to ride it is and when yo feel exalted.

It’s kinda how we approach training, mentorship and support here at Tower Systems for our 3,000+ local retail business POS software customers.

Every local retail business has different waves, different challenges and opportunities. Every local retail business owner and team member has different skills. We know that a one size fits all approach does not work, that there is no corporate approach you can take to implementing POS software. It’s why our approach is personal, fit for each customer business.

We like the surfing analogy because it reflects the unexpected we see in local retail, the need to be flexible, to read the waves and to adjust accordingly. This is what our POS software helps with, and our training guides local retailers on this.

Tower Systems is not your average POS software company.

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