The POS Software Blog
News from Tower Systems about locally made POS software for specialty local retailers.
Newsagency software company Tower Systems has advice for newsagents wanting help with the out of cycle special issues of Woman’s Day and New Idea this Thursday. First to market, best practice … as always.
Tower Systems is funding Newsagency of the Future workshops for more cities. These sessions will explore changes which will affect the newsagency channel in the next few years, new traffic opportunities and changes newsagents can make today to improve their future. They will also spend time on the magazine supply model and open discussion about the proposed magazine supply rule changes.
Each session is free and open to any newsagent. The dates are as follows:
Click on the link for each city to book or book by emailing bookings@towersystems.com.au.
There will be more locations and dates added including TAS, WA, Cairns and Newcastle.
Our goal is for you to have practical steps you can take right away and new information to consider in your business planning.
Small business retailers are set from more suppliers joining the Tower Systems EDI user community offering access to electronic invoices, stock files and other benefits.
With someone dedicated full-time in our business to help wholesales and others connect with retailers, we are well positioned to be able to help overcome hurdles in suppler organisations. This service is one reason we have more suppliers connected with our customers through our software.
The latest supplier coming on board to offer electronic invoices will be a help to many customers as they trade in the newsagency and gift marketplaces – where we serve over 2,000 small businesses.
The moment they are ready we will announce to our customers.
People purchasing gifts want to ensure that the recipient can exchange the gift if it is not quite right.
Retailers using the Tower Systems specialist gift shop POS software have the ability to print a gift exchange receipt detailing the items purchased but not the price paid.
This facility has been in our software for years. It was developed with retailers offering gift exchange services. The receipt printed was recently enhanced to connect with quality gift purchases.
This gift / exchange receipt facility is another point of difference for Tower in several of our retail channels it is am important pert of the Tower AdvantageTM.
Talk to any small business newsagent today and they will tell you about renewed competition from supermarkets. Thanks to our ownership of newsagency businesses we have insights and experience we can leverage to help Tower Systems newsagency customers through our industry standard newsagency software.
Through our newsagency management software and the customer service which backs the software we can help newsagents reflect a point of difference they can leverage against competitor supermarkets.
The leverage opportunities in our software and services are unique to us. We’re not writing about them in detail here because to do so would give followers something to do.
The purpose of this post is to remind our customers we can help in non-traditional ways, ways on which you can bank to leverage a point of difference over businesses you worry about and see as too big to compete with.
Our management team is here for you with advice, training and assistance for you to use our industry standard software to compete efficiently and effectively.
Tower Systems helped develop the most comprehensive response on behalf of small business newsagents to a conference hosted by the ACCC on magazine supply arrangements.
The issue at the core of the conference was a proposed trial of new magazine supply rules which would not provide newsagents with any opportunity to be more competitive than the current arrangements which newsagents say, and we agree, make them uncompetitive against supermarkets.
Only Tower Systems and newsxpress petitioned the ACCC for the conference. It is because of these that the ACCC hosted the historic conference in which more than thirty participated in several states.
Tower Systems updated newsagents with an email about the conference this morning.
Every retail business can sell more to every customer. This is easy when you have good business data and use this to make good business decisions.
Making more money from every sale starts with you understanding shopper behaviour today.
Get a report from your Point of Sale software listing your top ten selling items, by unit sales for the last three months. Do not look at dollars. Unit sales is the far more valuable count since this is a discussion about leveraging volume.
In the Tower software the report is a 10×10 Report. This lists the top 10 items and the ten items selling with those 10 items. (You can set the number to anything besides 10.)
In a typical retail store, the top ten selling items will account for between 30% and 50% of revenue of the business.
Look at your top sellers report and concentrate on the top selling items. Consider these questions about the top selling items:
The idea embedded in these questions is very simple. Use the top ten sellers, or top twenty or top thirty, to focus your attention on items with which you can work to achieve more sales in your business.
By focusing on the top sellers and what you can sell with them you can increase the size of the average shopping basket.
If you can’t see opportunities for achieving more sales by placing products next to or with the top sellers then speak with your team and speak with trusted customers. Don’t rest until you unlock suggestions to try.
There is plenty of additional money to be made from your top sellers. Invest time and attention on this project and get ready to bank the results.
Small business bike shops, jewellers, garden centres, gift shops, pet shops, homewares shops, newsagents and more are using the targeted marketing facilities in the smart POS software from Tower Systems to more closely engage with shoppers.
Our targeted marketing tools leverage shopper details including purchase history to facilitate selective highly-targeted marketing to attract known shoppers back into the business. These smart POS software tools are vital to small business retailers keen to be noticed in a crowded marketplace.
Tower Systems is hosting another free training workshop on targeted marketing for retailers using its software on May 6. This is part of the weekly free training workshops run by the company for many years now. These workshops are a true point of difference for Tower Systems, they are a benefit retailers love.
Linked with loyalty facilities including discount vouchers, the targeted marketing tools in the Tower software are unique to Tower, they offer a genuine point of difference on which small business retailers can rely. We have case studies which offer evidence of engagement growth as a result of using the facilities.
Targeted marketing is another part of the Tower AdvantageTM.
Small business retailers want to grow, who doesn’t? With rent and labour costs increasing each year, growth is mission critical. POS software company Tower Systems helps its customers grow by providing advice on how to use the software to grow.
As retailers ourselves we can provide practical advice on how to use the software to more than transact sales, we can help retailers use the software to grow their businesses. We do this every day on our help desk, through our consulting services, through our knowledge base and through our business mentoring assistance.
We encourage, guide, educate and support our small business retailer customers in their desire to grow their businesses. it’s something we take serviceably.
Even on the weekend. Take today, Saturday … we have been helping one business owner understand opportunities in their slow selling inventory pool to unlock cash and space for more productive use.
We are serious in our commitment to small business retailers from our software through to the practical advice and support we provide.
The POS software from Tower Systems has excellent facilities for handling special orders, pre-orders and other forms of orders for customers that are unique to the customer and a point of difference for the business to offer.
Special orders and customer pre-orders are a point of difference for small independent retailers over big businesses. Being bale to do this with consistency and certainty can help these businesses more successfully compete.
Thanks to years of refinement and working with retailers in a wide variety of retail situations, Tower Systems offers a competitive advantage from the recording of customer details, tracking an order,k advising its arrival and handling a range of payment options including time payment.
We have retailers today transacting valuable business in pre-orders of highly valuable product as a result of these tools in the software. They are financially better off today and over the long term as special order customers tend to return for more orders.
Too often we see small business retailers running their businesses thinking that they will make their money when they sell. Our experience working with thousands of retailers is that focusing on today, on the right now, will ensure the best outcome for the future of the business.
Our strategy – Make every day your pay day – is simple and effective. It’s made up of basic points:
Be responsible for the profitability of your business. Don’t blame your suppliers, your landlord, your employees or some other external factor … it all comes down to you – the decisions you make and the actions you take.
If you relentlessly pursue profit with a clear focus you’re likely to see profit grow. That’s better than waiting to make money when you sell because that’s less likely to happen in this market.
Tower Systems is proud to have been able to help newsagents deal with the challenges in the proposed changes to magazine supply. Our submission to the ACCC has been appreciated by many as has been our public support of small business newsagents in the face of what appears to be unfair treatment by magazine distributors in their planning to change supply rules.
Our most recent work was in a submission to the ACCC. From what we can see we are the only newsagency software company to have made a submission. Click here for the Tower Systems submission.
Tower Systems has been helping more retailers using its POS software POS software to deal with employee theft situations. We have a structured process for independently checking evidence without being influenced by stories. The process has been praised by police and prosecutors. It has been on show in court rooms where we have provided expert witness evidence.
Employees in retail businesses using our software are on notice. We have tools you will never find which can uncover behavior which indicates without a doubt that theft is occurring. This evidence has stood up scrutiny and resulted in successful action.
Our advice to retailers is to use the facilities in our software for theft reduction. If you have a concern, ask us for a free Theft Check service.
We’re here to help. That’s our motto. When it comes to employee theft, we’re in your corner and there to help you deal with it and get through the emotional and operational challenges of discovering a theft situation.
Our theft related work is undertaken at senior levels within the business. It is highly confidential. Our most cases are never discussed until completely closed and even then only ever without identifying details.
Newsagency software company is proud to have lodged a submission to a draft determination of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in relation to a trial of a new model of magazine supply.
Click here to download the Tower Systems submission.
Our submission is made as part of our commitment to help our customers and their colleagues – across a range of retail channels.
Newsagency software company Tower Systems has launched a newsagency sales benchmark study for the first quarter of 2015. This latest study is expected to include comprehensive sales and basket data from more than 150 newsagencies who comply with industry standards. Past studies have provided guidance to suppliers and others on trends in the newsagency channel.
A retail expert from Europe speaking at a high-profile retail conference in Sydney last week declared traditional loyalty is dead, people want instant gratification. In the Tower Systems POS software retailers have the opportunity for instant gratification.
Data from a range or retail businesses using the Discount Voucher facilities within the Tower Systems POS software report 33% engagement on the day of issue. Most often, these customers are not regulars, they are infrequent visitors who look for opportunities to leverage the value of the reward in that visit.
Tracking shopper behaviour we can see that those spending the reward tend to spend equal to or more than the initial purchase value. A further 20% spend on a third item or basket, further extending the value of the reward.
We are thrilled to see retailers enjoying double digit year on year growth as a result of their use of the Discount Voucher facilities. The voucher reports, sales data and business P&Ls we see show this approach is profitable and valuable for the longer term prospects of the business.
The Discount Voucher facilities fit with the model of loyalty promoted by the recent retail experts speaking in Sydney.
There is loyalty software and then there is loyalty software. The Tower Systems approach to loyalty software in its POS software for small business retailers is broad, flexible and shopper-focussed.
With options from the more traditional points based approach through to an immediate benefit engagement offer and the ability to blend the two, the Tower Systems software provides retailers with tools they can use appropriate to local needs.
Feedback from retailers using the Tower Systems loyalty facilities is thrilling. Stories of growth, shopper engagement and terrific bottom line results. This really excites us.
While many businesses like points based programs, evidence indicates the immediate benefit engagement offer is more valuable in many retail situations. The results on a P&L and elsewhere in business reporting are compelling.
Beyond the software, Tower Systems is engaged with its retail partners to help them choose the right mix of loyalty offers which work best in their circumstances.
Tower Systems is helping newsagents handle a cover price increase scheduled for The Australian Financial Review and Sun-Herald newspapers commencing April 7, 2015 and April 5, 2015 respectively. Price changes are easy for newsagents using our software.
The cloud backup service launched last year by small business retail management software company Tower Systems is proving to be popular with retailers. The backup process is seamless, not taking any noticeable time thanks to the smart technology engaged. The result is double protection offering peace of mind to small business retailers.
While Tower Systems has supported external and automated backup services for years, this new even more hands-off cloud-based backup service that offers excellent protection to participating small retail businesses users of our POS software.
Run on a subscription basis and backing up to the cloud real-time through the day, this is a comprehensive replacement of the old end of shift backup approach for small and independent retailers.
Tower Systems has launched free roster cloud-based roster software developed specifically for small business retailers.
This easy to use platform is serves single location and multi location retailers. It offers a variety of tools and helps retailers with budgeting to drive a better labour cost outcome.
The new employee roster software for retailers is another enhancement from Tower Systems, delivered at no cost to its customers – demonstrating innovation in a practical and no cost way.
This is another way we live up to our motto: We’re here to help.
Here at Tower Systems, paying annual software support is optional. We want our POS software customers to pay to access support because they value it rather than because it is a tax imposed which must be paid for them to access the software.
Our support fees are transparent and consistent.
If you use other POS software, before you pay your bill check what others are paying. In one case recently one business was paying around $1,000 while another nearby using exactly the same software purchased at the same time was paying over $3,000. The second business was being grossly overcharged.
One way you can save money on POS software support is by shopping around.
One of our POS software team members this week saw first hand the value of the latest loyalty facilities in ur software in a business which switched from MYOB to us and from a points based loyalty system to our $$$ based front end loyalty solution. Here is their story:
I popped in to see a client who swapped to our software late last year from MYOB, they were doing a points based loyalty system before, and changed to our discount vouchers on launch of our software. The result is excellent sales growth. This is a good report to show you can still get engagement of vouchers, even at low customer numbers and low values. Average voucher issued was $2.06.
We love hearing stories like this as they reflect on our value proposition of helping our customers. While we help in many ways, it is through the loyalty offer where we see excellent business growth results.
Tower Systems is in the middle of hosting a series of newsagency supplier forums up the eastern Seaboard of Australia – to provide suppliers with an opportunity to discuss the newsagency channel and to explore how to list the level of engagement.
These free sessions are running well with plenty of supplier engagement among a diverse group of industry suppliers.
This is another way Tower Systems is investing in the newsagency channel.
While some retailers gravitate to stories of doom and gloom, others are chase and enjoy success large and small.
Through our work with our POS software we get to meet with plenty of retailers and look at many businesses.
We are certain that success is not an accident.
Success is planned for and chased. It is the goal reflected in every business decision. It comes from refusing to let the business run you.
We’d like to share three real-world stories with you.
The small shop turning over $380,000 a year and growing 28%
Talking with a gift shop owner about their 28% increase in sales in the financial year just ended.
Yes, you read right, a 28% lift in sales in the 2012/13 year. This is on the back of a 17% increase the year before. This is a business that is more than ten years old.
This is no accident. They planned for it by carefully looking at their business data and shedding products that were not working. They adjusted opening hours too as they discovered business later in the day that they had not realised was there. This knowledge opened them to opportunities for last minute shoppers.
The owner of the business decided to chase success because the turnover was barely enough to cover rent, wages and the loan taken out to fund the business. It was grow or bust.
They planned for success by using their business data. The first year – 17% up from a low turnover base – was encouraging. The 28% increase this past financial year proves value of paying attention to business data.
Sales data guided them as to the suppliers of the best to focus on. One employee was eased out of the business for failing to achieve minimum sales targets.
The owner spent more time on the shop floor selling to achieve minimum margin dollars per sale rather than just chatting with shoppers.
The result shows what can happen when you focus on being a retailer, the owner said to me with a huge smile.
A gift shop reengineers and saves itself
Another gift shop we have been working with was in trouble. Shops nearby were closing and the small shopping strip had a dark feeling. For a while they were sucked into the cloud of doom and gloom.
Checking their data we saw that several special interest items sold well and provided an above-average margin. They used this knowledge as the basis for small expansion.
Over six months they increased their range of the special interest items and they connected with community groups to share knowledge.
Over six months sales grew, not into double-digit growth but they were happy to have at least stopped the decline.
In the second six months sales grew further. Now they were into double digit growth territory. Shoppers happy with their specialisation were telling others. Word of mouth was driving extra traffic.
That was a year ago. Today, this business is very different. People travel for up to two hours to see their range. The average sale value has more than doubled, margins are up 15% and customer traffic is up 25%. Combine these three and you can see why the owner is very happy.
They did not plan to become a product specialist. The survival of their business demanded it.
How a product category drove sales and profit
This gift shop owner came to us because they were in trouble. Sales were falling. Together, we took an in-depth look at their data.
The category performing best in terms of return on investment and return on floor-space was plush, teddy bears and some soft toys. That can’t be right, said the owner, it’s stuck in the back of the shop.
Data does not lie. It revealed that their small selection of plush was selling well despite the owner and the employees not being all that interested in it.
Fast forward six months and this business has turned around. They are now a plush shop at the front with other gifts. Sales are up 65% and climbing. They have increased their margin too – because they have products others nearby don’t have.
Turning this business around was easy as the data offered the guide. The changes took a week to complete and initially required only a $5,000 capital investment in additional stock.
Own your success
Small and independent retail businesses can achieve growth in any economic situation.
People don’t stop shopping in tough times – they just change what they buy.
By taking a fresh look at business data gift shop owners can change focus, attract new shoppers and get existing shoppers spending more.
We’re happy to help.
Two weeks ago Tower Systems became aware of a problem for newsagents using software from another newsagency software company (not Tower) as a result of its handling of price correction advice from a specific magazine distributor.
Our understanding is that it is only users of this other software package (not Tower) affected. The result is newsagents using this other software fail part of the industry data standard compliance criteria which is assessed continuously.
With users of only one software company affected, it appears that software company needs to modify its software to behave as all other newsagency software products do.
On hearing of the problem we went back to the IT standard. We think we can see how our competitor may have not fully embraced the standard and if so this could explain the situation they find themselves in today.
Newsagents are asking questions about responsibility for the problem and how they can claw back failures which they say are no fault of their own. The compliance rules are such that gifting them compliance when they did not comply could create challenges for the suppliers involved.
All this matters for newsagents as compliance is a key factor in lucrative newsagency of the year awards. The compliance failure denies affected stores points and points are the currency of consideration for the awards.
Our approach to industry standards is to encourage suppliers and software companies to all meet at the same time in the same place to discuss and agree on a common goal. Unfortunately others don’t agree with this, they prefer to meet alone with supplier representatives. Their disagreement leads to situations whereby different software companies can have different take aways from these private discussions. This is not good for industry standards.
Update: since we published this post earlier today, another software company has written and published material which appears to be related to this topic, information which is, in our opinion, misleading.
Recent Comments