The POS Software Blog

The POS Software Blog

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

Categorynewsagent software

The school booklist management software newsagents are loving

October 12, 2016
2 Min read
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We are thrilled with the response to the school booklist management software we released for newsagents to use. Newsagents are loving the cloud based software, the subscription model and the evolution of the software since release.

Our new web based school booklist facility is now available live.

Once you have had a look around, if you want to proceed and use Booklist in your business, please sign up for a year access and you are good to go.

Built from the ground up, this facility will provide all we outlined in our earlier email. The cost will be $795.00 (inc. GST) a year.

Using the site you will be able to:

  1. Setup a school.
  2. Setup classes in a school and load all the booklist requirements.
  3. The booklist items could be loaded by a CSV file. You would record item description, price, supplier and supplier stock cost.
  4. You would setup order close dates.
  5. Plus you would have the ability to note when an order is ready for collection.
  6. The site would allow for you not having stock, thereby adjusting the amount to be collected.
  7. Share a link for parents to sign up and add their kid(s) to a class and to either take the whole booklist or select what they want.
  8. The site would allocate logins to parents so they would have access to their order.
  9. Receive payment from the parents.
  10. Alternatively, the site would give the transaction to your Retailer software for payment by the parents in-store.
  11. Export a file of all items required to fulfil booklists, by supplier and by school. CSV you could load into Excel.
  12. Report on total revenue by school and class.
  13. The site would be accessible by desktop, tablet and phone.

In addition to the per year fee there would be a small card processing fee, on a cost recovery basis, for payments made online.

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How we handled the Blueshyft debacle demonstrates our customer service commitment

October 5, 2016
3 Min read
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A couple of weeks ago start-up Blueshyft mishandled communication with small business newsagents – saying POS software companies were responsible that Blueshyft ought be responsible for. The result was many POS software help desk calls that caused use to spend money on calls that were 100% the responsibility of Blueshyft.

Here at Tower Systems we did the work, provided the service. Then, we took a look at what Bluieshyft did and wrote to our customers:

Poor communication from Blueshyft disrespects you and us.
Blueshyft emailed newsagents today asking them to call their POS software company for a file update.

Blueshyft had not told us about the update, we did not have the file, we had not seen the file and could, therefore, not help.

But the support calls came. In huge number. Newsagents calling us because Blueshyft told them to. Some customers were rude to Tower employees, saying we were fools for not knowing about this.

This all happened when Gavin Williams, our COO, and I were on a flight from there Gold Coast back to Melbourne. We had been on the Gold Coast on business.

Our help desk was slammed – all because Blueshyft had kept us in the dark and because some newsagents didn’t believe that we had no knowledge of this new file.

I spoke with Blueshyft CEO Kain Warwick 45 minutes ago and expressed by frustration at what is, in my opinion, appalling communication from Blueshyft and a lack of respect for what Tower Systems does for them.

We get no compensation for any work related to Blueshyft. XchangeIT is paid to do what they do. I suspect Blueshyft pays VANA for their support and kind words. Yet the POS software company with the most newsagents is expected to be mind readers and know about a file we have never seen.

What happened today is ridiculous.

I have told our help desk we will not take calls on this new file. Instead, we have updated our online advice. This has all the instructions you need to load the file. Click here for our advice.

Had Blueshyft been professional, they would have provided the file, let us test it, let us provide them with advice on loading and then communicated with you. Instead, they dumped the heavy lifting on companies like ours for no compensation at all.

But on the file, it has 2,700 stock items. It does not make sense they want to bloat your system with all these but that is a separate issue.

Yes, I am frustrated as it is things like this that divert our attention from providing support individual customers of ours call us for – calls from the businesses that pay for our support services.  Blueshyft is freeloading at my expense and, ultimately, at your expense.

Mark Fletcher
Managing Director
0418 321 338

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Why newsagents trust Tower Systems more than any other POS software company

August 20, 2016
2 Min read
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More newsagents are switching to the Tower Systems newsagency management software. We can connect you with reference sites who will speak to the valuable difference we offer.

Here are our commitments to you:

  1. We will not leave the newsagency channel. With more than 1,750 newsagent customers today we are here for you.
  2. We will fight for you. Beyond our software, outside of support, we will help with supplier issues, business strategy and other challenges you confront.
  3. No locked-in support. Taking support coverage is optional. We never block access to your software if you choose to not take support coverage.
  4. Lower support costs.
  5. Fast support. Most calls are handled when you call. If not, we call back fast.
  6. Easy management access. The leadership team of Tower Systems is available if you need them. We take customer service seriously and personally.
  7. Updates when you choose. You are in control of when you load updates.
  8. You are listened to. We offer the only transparent, user driven, software enhancement suggestion service. All our customers are listened to.
  9. Regular user meetings. Around the country, in city and regional locations – we offer free face to face training and networking through the year.
  10. Free training. Long after you install our software you have access to free personal training to refresh knowledge or provide training on new facilities.
  11. More integrations. Our direct links to Xero, Magento, Shopify and more mean you have more direct link options to help you grow your business.
  12. Business management insights. We can look at your business performance data and provide a personal analysis of what we see
  13. The Tower AdvantageTM. Our professional and friendly help from training to support to business advice. We are not your average software company.
  14. Owner access. Our owner, Mark Fletcher, is easily accessible: 0418 321 338.

You can purchase our software, lease it or even rent it by the month. You choose the path most appropriate to your needs. We make doing business easy.

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Newspaper home delivery software from Tower Systems popular

August 1, 2016
3 Min read
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While some are writing off the the Australian small business newsagency channel, here at Tower Systems we are proud to be enjoying growth in the use of our newsagency software and our newspaper home delivery software.

The growth is coming from new business – people switching to Tower from other software and people expanding their businesses.

We have geared for the growth with expansion of the help desk and other customer facing services in the business.

With the most widely used software in the newsagency channel, we are chosen as the safe software company, the one strong enough to help newsagents navigate change as they transform their businesses.

Last week, here at this blog, we shared our commitments to newsagents. We think these commitments are a positive reflection on our support for the newsagency channel. The commitments differentiate us:

Here are our commitments, our promises, to you:

  1. We will not leave the newsagency channel. With more than 1,750 newsagent customers today we are here for you.
  2. We will fight for you. Beyond our software, outside of support, we will help with supplier issues, business strategy and other challenges you confront.
  3. No locked-in support. Taking support coverage is optional. We never block access to your software if you choose to not take support coverage.
  4. Fast support. Most calls are handled when you call. If not, we call back fast.
  5. Easy management access. The leadership team of Tower Systems is available if you need them. We take customer service seriously and personally.
  6. Updates when you choose. You are in control of when you load updates.
  7. You are listened to. We offer the only transparent, user driven, software enhancement suggestion service. All our customers are listened to.
  8. Regular user meetings. Around the country, in city and regional locations – we offer free face to face training and networking through the year.
  9. Free training. Long after you install our software you have access to free personal training to refresh knowledge or provide training on new facilities.
  10. More integrations. Our direct links to Xero, Magento, Shopify and more mean you have more direct link options to help you grow your business.
  11. Business management insights. We can look at your business performance data and provide a personal analysis of what we see
  12. The Tower AdvantageTM. Our professional and friendly help from training to support to business advice. We are not your average software company.
  13. Owner access. Our owner, Mark Fletcher, is easily accessible: 0418 321 338.

You can purchase our software, lease it or even rent it by the month. You choose the path most appropriate to your needs. We make doing business easy.

Tower Systems has more newsagents using its software than all other newsagency software programs combined.

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Small business Newsagents trust Tower Systems to help build more valuable businesses

July 18, 2016
2 Min read
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Hundreds of newsagents have switched their software to Tower Systems. We can connect you with reference sites who will speak to the commercially valuable difference between our software and what you use today.

Here are our commitments, our promises, to you:

  1. We will not leave the newsagency channel. With more than 1,750 newsagent customers today we are here for you.
  2. We will fight for you. Beyond our software, outside of support, we will help with supplier issues, business strategy and other challenges you confront.
  3. No locked-in support. Taking support coverage is optional. We never block access to your software if you choose to not take support coverage.
  4. Fast support. Most calls are handled when you call. If not, we call back fast.
  5. Easy management access. The leadership team of Tower Systems is available if you need them. We take customer service seriously and personally.
  6. Updates when you choose. You are in control of when you load updates.
  7. You are listened to. We offer the only transparent, user driven, software enhancement suggestion service. All our customers are listened to.
  8. Regular user meetings. Around the country, in city and regional locations – we offer free face to face training and networking through the year.
  9. Free training. Long after you install our software you have access to free personal training to refresh knowledge or provide training on new facilities.
  10. More integrations. Our direct links to Xero, Magento, Shopify and more mean you have more direct link options to help you grow your business.
  11. Business management insights. We can look at your business performance data and provide a personal analysis of what we see
  12. The Tower AdvantageTM. Our professional and friendly help from training to support to business advice. We are not your average software company.
  13. Owner access. Our owner, Mark Fletcher, is easily accessible: 0418 321 338.

You can purchase our software, lease it or even rent it by the month. You choose the path most appropriate to your needs. We make doing business easy.

Tower Systems has more newsagents using its software than all other newsagency software programs combined.

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Tower Systems POS software on show at Gift HQ this weekend

July 8, 2016
1 Min read
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Our team is in Brisbane and ready for the Gift HQ trade show that starts tomorrow morning in Brisbane.

On show on our stand will be new software that helps gift retailers to drive shopper engagement. We will also be showing off our smart integrations that help retailers. These include our integrations with Xero, Magento, Shopify, Tyro and our smart Business Intelligence platform.

Trade shows like Gift HQ are vital in that they provide us an opportunity to connect with shoppers, gain feedback on our new facilities and provide personal training to users connecting with us at the event.

Gitf HQ is one of sixteen trade shows we will do this year, one of sixteen trade organised events where we personally face to face connect with customers and prospective customers.

We are grateful for the opportunity and appreciative of the time small business owners will give to connect with us at the event.

GiftHQEmailJuly16

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Best practice advice on how to do a stocktake using your POS software

July 6, 2016
3 Min read
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Here is some of the advice we published to ur POS software customers in the lead up to the end of the financial year – to help them efficiently and accurately handle stock take requirements.

Take the technology to the stock and not your stock to your technology.

For the process to be as easy as possible you will need a wireless network – vital for OH&S reasons.

The best way to do a stocktake in your business is by using a laptop (or laptops) or tablet computer with a scanner attached. This enables you to do the stocktake live with no impact on sales and absolute integrity of your stock on hand data.

While using a laptop (or laptops) or tablet computer may seem cumbersome, it is our best practice advice for speed, data integrity and the ability to address data issues you may encounter on the shop floor. It enables you to do management work to ensure completely accurate data.

The alternative is to use a PDE. The challenges with this are the many different PDEs and it is challenging to be expert in all plus the PDE counts at that time and you load the data at a later time – meaning a gap in time in which sales could have been done. While PDE software is available for live to data updates, we have seen this be problematic and so we do not use it.

Given the advances in technology, our best practice recommendation is either a laptop of tablet computer as either offers a better solution than a PDE.

We suggest you setup a Laptop or tablet and use Team Viewer or the like to connect in and count this way. This approach means you do not need to purchase an additional software licence for the laptop. Team Viewer is easy to setup. If you do need our help on this there would be a support cost.

For the physical stocktake, we suggest you approach the business aisle by aisle, counting and rearranging stock as you go.

Once you have completed your first full stocktake, our advice is you engage in a rolling stocktake, doing parts of the business, through the year. The Tax Office does not require businesses with full sock control implemented to do a stocktake at the end of the financial year. They will accept data from your system if you manage stock through the year.

On the stocktake itself, follow carefully our Knowledge Base advice. Choose the type of stocktake wisely. Backup before you commence.

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A fresh approach to POS software EOFY training from Tower Systems

June 27, 2016
1 Min read
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Screen Shot 2016-06-27 at 8.14.19 AMThe long-form training video published to small business retailers using our POS software is proving to be a hit with plenty engaging with the video and ensuring they are informed how to be fully prepared for the end of the financial year.

The training video is another free training resource produced in-house at Tower Systems by our customer service team and our video production team.

This latest video was filmed during a live online training workshop – so it shows off that free training resource as well.

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Small business advice: A checklist for those buying a retail shop

June 26, 2016
2 Min read
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A common question we are asked at our POS software company has nothing to do with software. It is from people considering purchasing a retail business. The question is:  what should I ask for when looking at buying a retail shop?

The question itself, when asked, indicates how green a prospective purchaser is when it comes to purchasing a business.

Here is a list of data points we suggest retail business purchasers access from the vendor or their representative:

  1. P&L from the accountant for the last two years. i.e. not a spreadsheet created for the purpose.
  2. A good explanation of any add-backs.
  3. Sales data reports, for the last two years, from the POS software in use – to verify the income claim.
  4. Sales data reports from the lottery terminal to verify the income claim.
  5. BAS forms to confirm data in the P&L.
  6. A list of all inventory to include purchase price and date last sold for each item.
  7. A copy of the shop lease.
  8. A copy of any leases the vendor expects you to take on board.
  9. A list of all employees: name, hourly rate, nature of employment, start date, accrued leave.

This is good basic information that will enable any purchaser to undertake reasonable assessment of a business.

A good business will shine through the numbers just as a business with upside achievable by new owners will shine through.

My advice to vendors looking to sell who are concerned about this list is: think about it now and focus on your business so the data listed looks good.

Every day you make decisions in your business that impact many of the data points listed.

This is why we say every day is your pay day. Run a smart, lean and profit focused business and you will have a good pay day today and a good one when you come to sell.

The most appealing businesses are those that are easier to run and are making money.

The time to focus on that is now.

Sure, a purchaser can turn a business around. They should get the rewards if they are expected to do that for your business.

The price you can sell your business for will be based on what it is making now.

Getting the data ready for the sale of the business could, of itself, help you improve how you run your business.

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TOWER SYSTEMS HELPS SMALL BUSINESS NEWSAGENTS WITH NEWS CORP. OFFER

June 4, 2016
1 Min read
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image[1]Tower Systems has published advice for newsagents to work with the latest News Corp. newspaper retail offer that has been timed to run for the last weeks of the federal election campaign.

Our advice is comprehensive and was released to newsagents, after thorough testing, in time for the News announcement to newsagents.

Providing newsagents with step by step advice on how to easily handle supplier marketing initiatives is what Tower Systems does across its various vertical marketplaces.

This is another example of the value of the Tower AdvantageTM in action for the small business newsagents we serve.

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Mailing the POS software customer newsletter

May 5, 2016
1 Min read
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Screen Shot 2016-05-05 at 3.28.47 pmHere at Tower Systems we think too many POS software companies have distanced themselves from their customers.

We stay close.

Not only do we offer easy communication via email, online, by voice and face to face, we have a snail mail newsletter that offers tips and advice – delivered the old fashioned way so the information can be shared with all users of the software in the business.

The image shows one of the pages of our May newsletter put i the mail this week.

Communicating with customers by mail demonstrates our care of service for those not keen for electronic communications.

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HELPING TELL THE STORY OF AUSTRALIAN SMALL BUSINESS NEWSAGENTS

May 5, 2016
1 Min read
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cmh-companion_coverTower Systems founder Mark Fletcher was invited to contribute a chapter to A Companion to the Australian Media, a comprehensive guide to media in Australia including a history of media – including Australian newsagents.

The large book was published over a year ago and has received acclaim as an excellent guide to media in Australia.

It was an honour to represent small business newsagents on this project. This work continues years of service to the Australian newsagency channel serving on panels, committees and at supplier conferences in support of better outcomes for small business newsagents.

Serving more than 1,700 newsagents, Tower Systems is one of the largest suppliers in the newsagency channel. Our 35+ years in business make us one of the longest serving. What is even more staggering is the growth we are achieving in the channel this year as more newsagents switch to Tower.

While there are some who talk down the small business newsagency channel in Australia, we see opportunity in change and upside for those embracing the opportunity.

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HELPING SMALL BUSINESS RETAILERS MAKE POS SOFTWARE HELP DESK CALLS

May 4, 2016
3 Min read
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Calling a help desk, any help desk can be confronting and challenging for anyone. It can be even more so for small business retailers who may not be experienced computer users. To help our 3,500+ small business retail customers using our POS software to get the most from our help desk, we developed and published this practical advice. We shared this with them as part of our regular weekly customer service communication:

Calling any help desk can be intimidating. To help ensure you get the best possible experience, here is our advice on how to prepare for and make a call to our POS software help desk. This advice should work for jus about any help desk.

We are it here to show what we now understand to be another example of the Tower Systems difference, the Tower AdvantageTM.

Here is our POS software help desk advice:

BEFORE THE CALL

Know for certain what your query is about. Know the error message, what you were doing before it and whether anything different was done this time compared to last time you did this and it worked.

Being clear in describing a problem or stating a question is the most important step in getting the response you want.

Check to ensure you don’t have the answer already or cannot access the answer through the knowledge base.

MAKING THE CALL

Be ready with your business name (and account number if appropriate.

Explain the problem or ask your question.

Stay on point, be calm and focus on your query.

Follow the advice provided. Do not type ahead or act without the full advice. This can see you make mistakes without the full picture.

If you are not sure about what you have been told ask for the advice to be repeated.

If written advice, an advice sheet or a knowledge base article, is offered, take that as it will provide step by step advice that is peer-reviewed rather than one person’s opinion on what to do.

If we cannot answer the call right away, please tell our receptionist who answers the call how urgent it is – we will get back to you according to the urgency you allocate.

CALL ETIQUETTE.

Please don’t serve customers, stay focused on the call.

Don’t swear.

Listen.

Take notes.

ESCALATE.

If, for any reason, you are unhappy with the call, escalate the matter out of the help desk. Tower Systems has an escalation process to serve your needs. This is detailed in our weekly email.

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REINVENTING THE POS SOFTWARE EXPERIENCE FOR SMALL BUSINESS RETAILERS

April 30, 2016
2 Min read
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Change is the order of the day for retail as it has been since the first shops opened. What is different in 2016 is that the pace of change has picked up. Indeed, the pace of change today is greater than at any time in the past. Technology is playing a key role in that: online and offline technology is facilitating, pushing and even forcing change.

Staying up to date is a challenge, especially in small and independent retailer businesses where having the time and resources to stay open can be difficult.

Tower Systems tries to insulate its customers from some of the challenges of change by leveraging changes in the software without needing to change hardware infrastructure.

In software updates we bring to the businesses of our customers tools and resources they can use to be more competitive. Tools and facilities through which they can enhance the relevance of their businesses in a changing retail landscape.

We think and work strategically on such technical changes, always thinking about what we can do to help our customers drive their relevance for we know if you customers feel more relevant and are more successful as a result of our software then a need of our business plan is satisfied.

What we do is more than about the software though. Enhancing our POS software is only part of what we do. The even more important aspect of helping our small business retailers compete is how we communicate with them about the enhancements. Our live training workshops, regional user meetings, training videos, advice sheets, personal training and other touch points help our customers learn about and embrace opportunities for change in their retail businesses through what we deliver in our POS software.

In our latest work we have helped retailers redefine the over the counter sales experience, leveraging important touch points, driving value from shopper engagement. For retailers, changes like these are money in the bank.

Our work directly linking with Magento, Shopify, Xero and other respected and widely used platforms is an example of us delivering on our commitment to help our small business retail community to embrace change and leverage change for their commercial success.

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HELPING NEWSAGENTS HANDLE THE NEWS CORP. COIN COLLECTION PROMOTION

April 6, 2016
1 Min read
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Earlier this week we published advice to our newsagent software customers on how to handle the News Corp. commemorative coin collection promotion. This advice leverages facilities in our smart software to make it easy for our 1,700+ newsagent customers to handle this important promotion with ease.

Thanks to early notice of the promotion we were well prepared and provided not only how-to advice but considerably more, helping our newsagent customers make more from this traffic-driving promotion.

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Q1 2016 NEWSAGENCY SALES BENCHMARK STUDY.

April 1, 2016
2 Min read
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We are proud to have announced our first newsagency sales benchmark study for 2016 in an email sent to newsagents this morning:

We are preparing a fresh benchmark study for the newsagency channel to look at the latest sales trends overall and in key product categories. This quarterly newsagency sales performance study will help newsagents see the future based on the data trends. It will also reveal the difference between emerging newsagency model changes.

We see many newsagency businesses embracing tremendous change already in 2016. In the sea of change are wonderful opportunities. These opportunities are revealed in the business data in each business and in the benchmark results we publish.

How to participate.

  1. Please run a Monthly Sales Comparison Report for 01/01/2016 – 31/03/2016 compared to 01/01/2015 – 31/03/2015.
  2. Tick the category box.
  3. Tick to exclude home delivery and sub agent data.
  4. DO NOT tick the supplier box.
  5. Preview the report on the screen. Save as a PDF and email this to us.

We will email the results to all participating newsagents and publish the results on the Australian Newsagency Blog as a community service.

Tower Systems serves in excess of 1,750+ newsagents with best practice newsagency software.

Note: the study reflects performance as reported by a range of newsagency businesses trading under a range of brands.

The results of each study are backed up by circulation results published later by the Audit Bureau.

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HELPING A SMALL BUSINESS RETAILER CONFRONT THE WORST TYPE OF THEFT

March 26, 2016
1 Min read
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The worst type of theft any small business retailer can encounter is that by a business partner. It can be challenging to detect as a smart partner can know processes and opportunities to steal without detection. A well run business, however, has checks and balances, checkpoint opportunities to indicate theft that can be investigated and proven.

We have been working on this for a customer through this Easter period, helping to gather evidence that will resolve the matter.

While we offer excellent theft mitigation opportunities in our POS software, retailers can choose the level to which these are used. Offering local choice is something retailers want. We confront the risk of choice in our training and support of retailers as we want them to choose what is best for their business, to keep the cost low.

We are proud to offer management level business assistance and advice to help retailers uncover evidence of theft and to take appropriate steps to recover stolen funds and bring perpetrators to justice.

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TERRIFIC NEWSXPRESS TRADE SHOW AND CONFERENCE

March 23, 2016
1 Min read
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IMG_7784Tower Systems connected with many small business newsagents in the proactive newsXpress newsagency marketing group at their national conference yesterday. As well as shown off new newsagency software, our team at the conference engaged in valuable business building discussions aimed at building more successful and valuable newsagency businesses. Our team also got to have good discussions with suppliers about deeper retailer / supplier engagement through smart new technology.

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POS SOLUTIONS CONTINUES ITS OBSESSION WITH TOWER SYSTEMS

March 9, 2016
3 Min read
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Screen Shot 2016-03-09 at 10.37.46 pmBernard Zimmermann one of the owners of newsagency software co POS Solutions has continued his company’s ‘attack’ on Tower in another blog post about us today. This post, like others before it, contains inaccuracies.

Zimmermann hones in on the issue of Windows 10 and our advice to customers in the early days of Windows 10 to not install it.

Zimmermann provided the same advice to his customers at the time.

While our software worked fine with Windows 10, installing Windows 10 triggered a hog of hard disk space. As our advice to clients at the time noted, this was the reason we recommended against not installing Windows 10 at that time. We were transparent in our reasons. From the information available to us we are unable to say the same about POS.

Not one Tower Systems user was ever locked out yet Zimmermann claims: The second claim is also false, clearly users in their software were locked out some clearly for some time. Clearly, their user running old versions of theirsoftware would be locked out and forced to ring their accountancy department to gain access to their system. I say this statement by Zimmermann has been published by him to harm the reputation of Tower Systems. he offers no evidence for there is no evidence. It did not happen.

Let me be clear: No user of the Tower Systems software has ever been locked out of their software by any actions of the company.

So I have to ask, why is Bernard Zimmermann so obsessed with Tower Systems now? I think it has to do with where his company is at compared to ours.

While we have launched a series of important partnerships such as our direct Xero integration, direct Magento integration, the new Visual deck BI product, a national user meeting tour, enhancements to our knowledge base, excellent user interaction through our Software Ideas portal, and other benefits for our 3,500+ customers, he has realised our businesses are very different. It appears to me that his decision is to attack rather than innovate.

I think innovation is one reason hundreds of newsagents have switched from using POS Solutions to Tower Systems.

Never one for an original thought in my opinion, Zimmermann uses statements first published here as if they are his own, statements such as: the best way to assess a company is to see how they interact with their customers and the world. This reads as puerile to me.

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For the record: responding to POS Solutions on newsagency software

March 7, 2016
1 Min read
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Screen Shot 2016-03-07 at 8.14.07 pmThe folk at POS Solutions appear to be criticising Tower Systems in a series of blog posts including this one included here in the photo.

While they do not name Tower Systems, there is enough information and context in their blog post for any reader likely to read the POS Solutions blog to think they are writing about Tower Systems.

 

For the record, here are facts:

  • The Tower software works with Windows 10.
  • Not one of our customers has ever been blocked from access to their Tower Systems software.
  • We repudiate the claim of ‘ransomware’.
  • POS Solutions has, in the past, had a barrier in their software inhibiting access to the software is a software support invoice remains unpaid.
  • Hundreds of newsagents have switched from using POS Solutions to using the Tower Systems software.
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YOUR POS SOFTWARE SHOULD NOT STOP WORKING IF YOU CHOOSE TO NOT PAY AN ANNUAL SUPPORT FEE

March 7, 2016
1 Min read
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We have competitors who install software with a lock or barrier that blocks access to the software unless an annual software support fee is paid. There are instances of retailers not being told that such a fee is payable, thus surprising retailers when they have no choice but to pay so they can use the software.

When we first heard of this we thought it was ransomware as access to business data was denied until a fee as paid, a fee not previously disclosed to the small business retailer.

Tower Systems does not do this. We think such action by any software company is unethical.

If you are considering POS software, ask the question: will the software stop working or my access be impeded in any way if I do not pay support? Get the answer in writing, on letterhead, from a director.

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TOWER SYSTEMS LAUNCHES NEW MAGENTO POS SOFTWARE LINK

March 4, 2016
3 Min read
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Several weeks ago Tower Systems launched a direct Magento e-commerce platform link, in addition to the excellent web-store link in our smart POS software.

The Retailer to Magento Link uses the Tower Advantage Link platform to allow Retailer to connect directly to Magento. The Tower Advantage Link platform is a subscription-based service that acts as an intermediary between Retailer and the Magento API.

What is Magento?
Magento is one of the world’s most popular e-commerce or webstore platforms. Being built on open source technology provides a flexible shopping cart system, giving you control over the look, feel, content and functionality of your online store. Magento offers powerful marketing, search engine optimization, and catalog-management tools. Find out about Magento at www.magento.com

How does the link work?
The link works by using the Magento API allowing the TALink platform to connect to Magento and synchronising on a periodic interval or request basis.

Stock
Retailer becomes your master stock database. You flag what stock items you want to appear on your web store. Descriptions and extended descriptions are added as your product names and descriptions in Magento.

Department and Categories
Your Retailer Departments and Categories become Categories and Sub-Categories in Magento. If you choose to link these, your existing structure will be mirrored and managed in Magento automatically. If, however, you decide not link your Department and Categories in Magento, you can allocate Categories manually to products once they are added.

Classifications
Retailers Classifications are treated as Attributes in Magento. If you choose to link these in Magento your existing Classifications will be mirrored and managed in Magento automatically. If, however, you do not want this to occur you can manually manage your own Magento Attributes.

Prices and Quantity On Hand
You have control over your webstore pricing from within the Retailer Stock Screen. Bulk updates of the webstore price can be performed in Stock Manager. Once new prices are set, your web store is updated automatically.

Quantity of hand is also managed automatically, when your sell or arrive an item into stock these adjustments are sent directly to Magento. If the quantity on hand of an items drops to 0, the item is marked as out of stock in Magento.

Images
The images you set against stock items in Retailer are automatically uploaded to your website. If images change, then old one is removed and the new one is added. You can upload as many images, as you like per stock item.

Customers
Customers that purchase off your webstore are added as customers in your Retailer database, allowing you to track what they buy and market to them if you desire. Existing customers with an email address will also be added to your web store to facilitate easy sales.

Sales
These are downloaded on a periodic basis and imported into Retailer. These are imported into our Customer Invoice Maintenance facility allowing you to place orders and print invoices. Once sales are imported it reduces your quantity on hand so you maintain accurate stock control. Sales can be allocated to a specific location or merged added to you main sales data, giving you excellent control over how you report on your webstore sales.

This is just some of the information we have to share about this exciting and leadership innovation from Tower Systems.

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