The POS Software Blog
News from Tower Systems about locally made POS software for specialty local retailers.
We kinds smile when we see POS software companies use avatars on their website. here at Tower Systems we prefer to be authentic, showing ourselves for it’s us who will serve you. Well, us and and awesome team of software developers, help desk people, trainers and back office admin people.
Here’s a video we made recently where we speak to this authenticity.
We urge small business retailers to take care when selecting an individual or business to undertake Shopify web development. Inside the Shopify web developer ecosystem there are people who take the money, do the bare minimum and run – failing the retail businesses that paid them.
How do you spot a Shopify web developer who is not likely to serve the needs of your retail business? Here is our advice …
Look at their quote. Is it professionally laid out? Is it well written? Is it understandable? Is it complete? If it is none or only some of these things they may not be the developer for you for if they take this approach representing themselves what approach will they take representing you?! we say … be particularly concerned about text based quotes.
Look for understanding. In their words there should be indicators that they understand your needs and that they want to understand your needs. The website is all about you and your business after all.
Speak to them. We have seen shonky web developers void this at all costs. Speak to them. Talk with them. Engage in conversation. You are looking for someone you can trust your business with. Speak to them.
Look at them. Ask for a Zoom meeting, so you can meet face to face. Ask them to show you sample Shopify sites in this meeting and to explain why each is a good sample site for you to consider./ Sometimes we see web developers avoid Zoom meetings so they can hide behind typed words. face to face c an be revealing.
Say you don’t understand. Tell them you don’t understand some or all of their pitch. Test their patience. See if they meet you at a tech jargon level that you are comfortable with. Challenge them. test them. It is vital they use words and terms you understand. They haver to meet you, not you them.
Be in control. You are the customer. You choose the web developer you go with. decide whether you accept their quote and their terms. You do these things when it suits you. Do not succumb to pressure as anyone pressuring you on timing may be serving their needs and not yours.
Website development right now is like the 1800s gold rush – fast, unregulated with a lot of people being negatively impacted along the way and only a few finding gold.
Take your time. Be sure of what matters to you. Choose the business you want to work with, they business you think can hell you achieve what you want.
Know that you get what you pay for. by that we mean … some web developers under quote as a business model either because they will cut corners or because they know they can charge extra for what they did not know at the start. Again, take your time, be sure of your needs, and remember the carpenter adage: measure twice, cut once. Time spent before you make a decision on your Shopify web developer could ensure that the outcome is better for you and your business.
here at Tower Systems, we develop Shopify websites for retailers using our POS software.
There is POS software and then there is the right POS software for your business. The difference between POS software and the right POS software can be huge.
It’s not about price.
Even though plenty of companies what you think it is about price.
They want you think it is about price because they compete on price.
Competing on price is easy, and lazy, as any retailer knows.
People who buy based on price are not loyal.
Any, loyalty matters when it comes to POS software.
Because,
… you want your POS software company to invest in their software, the software you are using.
… you want them to serve you, and not spending their time chasing more and more people who want to pay the least possible.
… you want more from the software for your business, more than a quick dopamine hit on price.
It’s not about price because that’s the least of the cost of POS software.
The best POS software saves you time.
The best POS software helps you made better decisions.
The best POS software helps you stand out.
The best POS software helps you attract shoppers who are loyal to your business.
The best POS software helps you nurture better employees.
The best POS software helps reduce your stress levels.
The best POS software is about money because of all these things.
The best POS software will help you run a more enjoyable and valuable retail business.
Take your time.
Make the right decision.
Too often, we see POS software companies pressure small business retailers into making a quick decision. They chase sales, putting on pressure.
Don’t succumb to pressure. make the decision you feel the best about, when you are ready.
Get this right and you can tap into some awesome benefits from the right POS software for your retail business. Here are benefits we think we offer retailers we partner with:
These are tangible deliverables. And, the list is incomplete. Using our POS software you can expect more benefits than these.
Smart POS software makes doing a stock take easier, more accurate and more valuable.
Based on the years of experience from Tower Systems helping local retailers to undertake stock takes, here are the top 5 things retailers discover about their business after doing a stock take:
A stock take is when a retailer counts the stock (using g their POS software) that they have in their shop and any other location holding stock,. This exercise enables them to check stock levels, identify shortages and calculate their stock turnover ratios .
A stock take also helps retailers to plan for future stock levels by updating their stock estimation methods if necessary. It can be conducted at any point between monthly or quarterly.
A stock check is a good time for a retailer to reflect on their stock levels and stock management processes. Here are five things that retailers often learn from stock takes:
1. To count stock accurately, you need to know where your stock is
A stock take will usually show how much stock has been counted as being in the store, but it may also show stock that was not counted or stock that has disappeared. This is nothing to worry about though, as stock may have been misplaced or damaged during the stock check anyway.
2. Sometimes stock takes are not conducted regularly enough for them to be used in stock estimation methods
If stock checks are conducted infrequently there may be too much stock variation between stock checks for stock estimation methods to be reliable. This means that stock estimations will not reflect the retailer’s current stock levels or future stock requirements. In this case, stock estimations need to be updated using a more up-to-date method .
3. Stock takes can provide valuable information about how inventory is being used
Stock takes can show what stock is being sold and how the stock turnover ratios of each store is performing. It may also show stock that sat unwrapped on shelves and stock that was out-of-date or damaged.
4. A stock take will reveal stock that has not been entered into stock records
It’s likely that some stock has not been recorded in stock records. This stock may be stock that was sold but not entered into stock records, stock that was stolen or stock that went out of date without being used (and has now expired).
5. Stock takes can help retailers identify theft and loss
A stock check can reveal stock shortages caused by theft or loss which will enable retailers to take action such as tightening stock control processes or increasing security. It may also show stock that was not counted and stock that has disappeared.
Any local Australian retail business that wants to see local shoppers engage with local retailers should consider these benefits of local Australian made POS software:
Of course, we’ll pitch this as we are a local Australian POS software company serving local Australian retailer needs.
While this is a nice emotive case, the real decision has to be what’s best for your business. Now, best can be about the tech. of the software or the broader assist from the company to your business and the local community we share.
Here at Tower Systems we are grateful to have been chosen by more than 3,000 local retail businesses in Australia.
Thank you.
We are grateful to kick off this New Year with a major POS software update that delivers several new facilities we know local small business retailers will love.
In the field testing is set to ramp-up. We’ll have this update in the hands of our customers in no time.
We’re so excited to share with you what we have made.
In the meantime, we have scheduled a live preview / demonstration for all of our customers next week – the first of our regular POS software customer Q&A opportunities for 2022.
We are looking for more ReactJS (Typescript) developers to join our team. Being in Melbourne would be a plus, but we will absolutely consider interstate candidates.
Working within our agile team you will be encouraged to offer suggestions, provide input from past experiences, and truly own what you code. We are not big on hierarchy or position titles. Our only goal is to create a truly unique product and experience for our customers. If you see yourself as the type of person who can work closely with our small team, enjoy being challenged and want to be the pedals rather than just a link in the chain we encourage you to apply today.
About you
Tower Systems is a Melbourne based POS software company developing software solutions for local small business retailers.
We are grateful for the plenty of views of this video we published last month in which we discuss some of the enhancements to our small business POS software in recent years. The feedback from the video has been terrific. We are grateful to have welcomed new customers for our POS software as a result.
With retail back around the counter, Boxing Day 2021 is set to be the big. here at Tower systems, we are helping retailers who use our POS software to prep fort an awesome Boxing Day Sale.
Using our PSO software, retailers can manage offers and deals designed to maximise the value of a Boxing Day Sale. We help local small business retailers compete in a busy and noisy retail space.
We made a video recently in which we looked at what we think stands out in our POS software. here it is …
In the Tower Systems POS software, small business retailers can tap into terrific holiday season help. This can be in the form of inventory buying guidance, marketing help, co-location assistance and shopper nudging support … plus more.
Helping small business retailers with holiday season facilities is an important role for any POS software. It is something Tower Systems has offered it’s thousands of small business retailer POS software customers for decades. Over time, the holiday season advice and tips have evolved, as have economic and consumer needs.
Leveraging holiday season inventory guidance, for example, retailers can make more informed purchase decisions that better serve the needs of the business based on prior holiday season experience and taking into account trends from this year.
Oh, and when we are talking here about the holiday season in retail, we are talking about holiday seasons like Christmas, Easter, Black Friday, Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, Christmas in July, back to School. You see, a holiday season in retail is any season that a retail business can respond to in any to leverage the business opportunity and serve niche customer need.
Holiday seasons in retail do not necessarily have to be the holiday season you think of in a traditional sense.
Using our POS software, beyond knowing what to stock for a holiday season, our retail business partners are able to make shop floor decisions that guide shopper engagement with the holiday season product opportunity ties. These could be loyalty, price, packaging, bundling or post purchase re-visit invitation. these and more can be leveraged thorough the Tower Systems specialty retail POS software.
Leveraging the surge in traffic that a retail business sees from the holiday season can be key to through the year growth, benefiting the business between holiday season shopper traffic peaks. This is key to any retail business achieving a smoother sales flow. While a spike in shopper traffic and revenue are good, less of a spike makes management of a retail business easier and more cost friendly.
Tower Systems, using its considerable retail experience, can help small business retailers cross the divide between tech and real world to offer a better and more beneficial holiday season experience. That is our goal in the software we develop and the advice we provide through our customer help desk.
We are grateful to have shared a very special Christmas POS software offer with a range of marketplaces through beautiful Aussie designed and made postcards.
We are grateful to the views from local small business retailers who have engaged with our new POS software YouTube channel.
here is the link to the Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrSQkP8ee91L-oh7LJgGwcw/videos
Stamping a loyalty card in a coffee shop, gift shop, pet shop, toy shop and other settings can be a thing of the past thanks to terrific tools in the smart POS software from Tower Systems.
Here is a new video we shot a few days ago explaining how to set this up in our software and how to drive sales through it…
What Tower Systems offers in terms of nurturing shopper loyalty is not new. It is something the POS software company has done for many years. And, it is something the company continues to evolve in service of better solutions for POS software retailers.
For years, retailers, especially independent and small business retailers, have been told to follow retail giants and reward loyal shoppers with points that can be redeemed for gifts and discounts.
Dutifully, many small business retailers acted on this – but without a thought-through strategy to achieve the best outcome for the business.
Without a financially rewarding outcome for a business, a loyalty program is worthless.
This is why retailers, in any retail channel and in any retail situation – high street, shopping mall, rural and or regional – need options in terms of shopper loyalty rewards.
While a points based program is useful, it could be that the business will benefit from a different approach.
Good POS software will offer flexibility. This flexibility can add thousands of dollars to the bottom line performance of a retail business each year.
The Tower Systems Point of Sale software supports multiple loyalty options that include: a traditional points based approach, interfacing to the respected Vii Accumulate loyalty platform, interfacing to the equally respected Transactor loyalty platform, interfacing to Flybys NZ and offering a unique and flexible front end loyalty solution.
Having so many options available provides Tower Systems retail partners with commercially valuable flexibility.
The loyalty platform selected by a business depends on the needs of that business. A business that chooses POS software without broad flexibility will be limited in what they can achieve for their business with their software.
Offering flexibility as well as certainty provides loyalty solutions that local small business retailers can embrace and love, and their customers can love.
Not all point of sale systems are the same. Indeed, the differences between point of sale systems are considerable, from software function, to ease of use, to support, to price, to inclusions.
Our advice to local small. business retailers considering point of sale systems for their business is do your research, take your time, choose the software that BEST serves your needs, the software backed with the type of service that you want. The company providing the type of training and support you know your need. Then company with the software upgrade and enhancement commitment that suits how you see the needs for your business evolving.
Take your time. There is no rush.
Be sure what is important to you. Your needs come ahead of the needs of the point of sale system software company.
Compare apples with apples. Some point of sale system software sales people are good at playing smoke and mirrors. Be in control of how you compare software. Your needs matter.
Know the true price. Some play games with the total cost of ownership. Get to a true understanding of this before you commit.
Shop local. If you want your customers to shop local, shopping locally yourself is a good position to take.
Here at Tower Systems we are a transparent business, offering you easy access to the software before you make any decision. Plus, we will record the demonstration with you and make this available for you to share with others in your team. This helps you bring others in your business on the journey of point of sale system software with you – which is important.
So, yes, take your time, be in control, be sure that the choice you make is the choice you want to make, the choice that is right for your retail business and those who work in the business.
You know your needs better than an accountant or a consultant. Back yourself.
Tower Systems is grateful to serve thousands of local small business retailers. We have been doing this for many years. We’d love to support you with our years of experience. But, we promise, we will not pressure you. We will be here when you are ready …
Thanks for stopping by.
We are grateful to the insights offered by our garden centre, landscape, produce supply and stockfeed businesses in the area of product dispatch and delivery. These insights have helped us craft new facilities in our specialty retail POS software that serve their needs and more.
The new dispatch facilities have been previewed several times through development and further tuned thanks to feedback.
The result is a sweet set of enhancements in our POS software in this area of managing the dispatch and delivery of products from our small business retail customers.
We are days away from releasing this commercially, further enhancing already robust tools in this area.
Our POS software continues to evolve thanks to the active engagement with our customers, for which we are sincerely grateful.
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