The POS Software Blog

The POS Software Blog

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

CategoryPOS Software

Awesome small business POS software update in beta release

August 10, 2019
1 Min read
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Earlier this week, Tower Systems commenced beta release of an awesome POS software update for its small business retailers. Plenty of the content in this update was suggested by small business retail customers who asked for enhancements based on in-store experiences. Each new facility and each enhancement of an existing facility adds value to what we offer our customers through our specialty retail POS software.

Once the beta release cycle is complete and feedback processed, we will commence commercial release.

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Humm buy now pay later helps small business retailers compete

August 9, 2019
2 Min read
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Tower Systems was the first POS software company to offer direct in integration between POS software and the Humm buy now pay later product.

Today, years on, many of the Tower POS software customers are Humm users, winning retail sales thanks to offering easy and safe access to an interest free finance model that customers love.

Accessible direct from within the POS software, Humm is another payment method accessible from the counter,. seamlessly, with few keystrokes, offering indie retailers easy payment surety that is better than LayBy can be. It is a terrific solution in this space, one small business retailers are enjoying and appreciating.

Tower Systems works with Humm to enhance  the solution and evolve wth marketplace needs.

Give your customers the power to pay later, interest free and watch your sales grow. Tower Systems and Humm have teamed up to provide a seamless, interest free payment solution for your customer, allowing your business to benefit from:

  1. Increased sales volume
  2. Increased average order values
  3. Increased customer repurchases
  4. Now, with a seamless integration with Tower Systems, you can accept Humm and Zip payments as soon as you are accredited. Simply enter your credentials.

Getting up and running with Humm is the easy.

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POS software that helps retailers sell by measure and sell by fractions

August 1, 2019
2 Min read
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The POS software from Tower Systems is powerful in ways specialty retailers like.

In addition to awesome and government approved scale integration, the software also allows sales of items by fractions. This is important when you sell a portion of something, like a length of fabric or a length of wire or a weight of something but don’t have scales integrated.

Not many POS software programs let you sell 1.25 of something or .75 of something. They usually want to deal only in whole numbers. Selling by fractions is important to many retailers. Tower Systems has the answer.

Thanks to our with in fishing businesses where they sell bait by fractions and in bike repair businesses where a component can be to several decimal places in measure, our software its proven and able to help in this area.

Selling by fractions is just one of a bunch of terrific facilities that we have built into our POS software for specialty retailers, facilities that help them run more efficient businesses, enjoy more accurate trading and better control the inventory investment in their business. This is what good software does, it is first for purpose in serving the needs of a business.

Tower Systems is a well established POS software company with thousands of small indie retailers in Australia and New Zealand. We have attracted customers through cool facilities such as being able to sell by measure, including selling by fractions.

This is what we do, it is what we are known for. That we sell what we make helps us deliver on the provided that we make to those we do business with.

While Tower Systems offers POS services for all retailers, our core business is the provision of specialist software packages for gift shops, newsagents, jewellers, pet shops, garden centres, firearms shops, adult shops, bike shops and toy shops.  We are the leading Australian company supporting these markets and our software is directly developed for their unique needs.

Tower Systems understands these needs because it owns and manages its own thriving retail businesses.  Our staff have retail experience and our software is informed by what happens in real world business – not from what happens behind a desk.

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POS software loyalty 2.0 for small business retailers

July 24, 2019
3 Min read
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Loyalty systems have been around in retail for decades. Too often, small business retailers copy big business, and fail.

A good loyalty system will get shoppers spending more, doling more than is usual, and doing this at little or no cost to a retail business.

A good loyalty system will be loved by shoppers.

A good loyalty system offers shoppers flexibility.

A good loyalty system has little or no management overhead.

A good loyalty system reveals insights about your business that are helpful, impactful and revealing.

A good loyalty system helps you grow your business, helps you make your business more valuable.

This is about Loyalty 2.0 – a fresh approach to shopper loyalty for small business retailers.

Discount vouchers have been in our POS software for more than six years. They are one of several valuable shopper loyalty tools designed to drive revenue and return shopper visits.

Yet, discount vouchers are the most misunderstood.

Setup is easy. It takes a few minutes. Change is easy, with changes taking effect immediately. Management its easy thanks tp three awesome reports. Pitch is easysince you can call them whatever you like, what is appropriate to your business.

The mistake most retailers make is overthinking. Stop that! Set Discount Vouchers up and see how your customers respond. Adjust accordingly.

In our experience, on average, only 20% of vouchers handed out are redeemed. Those offered with the least rules achieve the best commercial outcome for the retailer.

Remember, the $$$ opportunity on the discount voucher is a good reason to review pricing, to factor in the cost of voucher redemption.

So…

  1. Choose what you want to call them: Discount Voucher; Bonus Bucks; Thank You Gift; Come Back Again Gift; Appreciation Voucher; Pass It On $$$.
  2. Set your settings. Know they can change as you learn more.
  3. We suggest a 28 day expiry.
  4. Have the voucher value show as $$.
  5. Let vouchers be redeemed for as many different products as possible.
  6. Go!

ADVICE ON PROMOTING DISCOUNT VOUCHERS.

Every time a voucher prints, present it to the customer by placing it on the counter facing them with your finger next to the amount and say, while maintaining eye contact, hey you have a voucher here for $x.xx that you can use in store in the next 28 days. Well done.

Make sure that everyone working at the counter knows that the success of vouchers depends on their pitch.

Now, if they complain about the low voucher value have a response like hey it’s appreciation that almost no other business around here will show you.

Guys are more likely to spend the voucher right away.

Girls are more like to collect vouchers and put them together, which we recommend you allow.

What you want to see when you have out a voucher is for them to lift their hear and turn to look back into the shop, thinking of what they could buy.

GOOD LUCK!

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To find out more about our awesome POS software and support fir indie specialty retailers, please call our sales team on 1300 662 957 or email them at sales@towersystems.com.au.

Tower Systems is an Australian POS software company serving 3,500+ specialty retailers in Australia and New Zealand.

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Better than LayBy, POS software helps small business retailers better serve customers

July 12, 2019
2 Min read
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Thanks to the well-established and deep integration of the Tower Systems POS software with Zip Pay, Zip Money and Humm (through Flexi group), we are able to offer small business retailers valuable and wonderful alternatives to LayBy.

The beauty of our buy now pay later offers is that our customers, the retailers, can demonstrate better flexibility.

We were the first POS software company to integrate with Humm, delivering excellent results for our partner retailers. Humm is fast, easy and backed by the massive Flexi group. This is good news for retailers.

Our pitch for retailers on our buy now pay later integrations is simple:

Give your customers the power to pay later, interest free and watch your sales grow. Tower Systems and Humm /Zip and others have teamed up to provide a seamless, interest free payment solution for your customer, allowing your business to benefit from:

  1. Increased sales volume
  2. Increased average order values
  3. Increased customer repurchases
  4. Now, with a seamless integration with Tower Systems, you can accept Humm and Zip payments as soon as you are accredited. Simply enter your credentials.

Getting up and running with Humm and Zip is the easiest.

We do remind our retailers, however, to be informed. ASIC has released a report into buy now pay later businesses and their model. Retailers could benefit from reading this and understanding that the spotlight is increasing on this type of funding. While we see that buy now pay later helps retailers get business today, we suggest you don’t become dependent on it as tighter regulations are coming for this area of finance that is essentially unregulated.

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Produce business software / farm supply POS software helps local businesses serve local communities

July 5, 2019
3 Min read
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Our POS software for produce stores, farm supply businesses, rural supply businesses and related is having an awesome year thanks to software enhancements supplier connections that help these businesses thrive.

From managing the sale of bulky goods to respecting risks of hazardous materials to providing meaningful delivery dockets to managing special orders, the rural supplies / produce business software from Tower Systems is tailored to serve.

An asset of your business is that you are a local expert on local crops, common local farm animals and more. You canpromote your expert local knowledge through local notes on receipts.

Automatically, receipts, invoices and delivery dockets can include locally relevant information. This free information pitches your business as different to an online shop or a big business that is less focussed on personal service.

Another way we can help maximise sales is with smart shopper engagement. This is where you easily leverage customer data to reach out with reminders.

We create software for very specific retail business niches, like produce / farm supply / rural supply businesses. We do the regular POS stuff, and we serve produce business POS software requirements, such as the following list (which is not complete)…

  1. Invoicing and account management – you can manage accounts in a way tailored to your business. You can produce picking slips, manage accounts, feed data to Xero and MYOB, accounting for freight.
  2. Pre-orders – We make it easy for you to pre-sell a delivery so that when the stock arrives you can manage distribution and billing efficiently.
  3. Bagging up feed – Easily manage bagging up a bulk feed delivery into smaller, saleable lots, while keeping accurate stock on hand data.
  4. Selling from the truck. easily. Accurately. On the spot with professional remote access tools that work even if the Internet is not available.
  5. Selling by weight. Including government tested and approved scale integration.
  6. Selling by measure. To decimal places.
  7. Pre-orders. Make it easier for your customers.
  8. Special orders. Including easy notification when orders come in.
  9. Making your own feed mix. We help you track managing bulk quantity ingredients and mixing these into saleable packs of your own brand of seed mix. What an awesome point of difference for your business!
  10. Special orders. Bring product in for a specific customer and have them notified automatically by email or text when the goods are in and ready.
  11. Pricing profiles. You can set pricing rules based on types of customers.
  12. Seasonal reordering. Easily reorder inventory based on seasonal sales.
  13. Buy now pay later. Give people terms yet be paid right away yourself.
  14. Website Integration – Our software connects with Shopify, Magento & WooCommerce.  Sell online, easily.
  15. Accounting Integration – Have your sales and purchase information automatically flow into Xero, MYOB & Reckon.

Talk to one of our experts about an obligation free personal demonstration: please call our sales team on 1300 662 957 or email them at sales@towersystems.com.au.

Our training is one-on-one, in your business. Our help desk support is personal, based out of Melbourne, and personal too – because we know personal service matters in small business retail.

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Portable POS software for on the road businesses

July 3, 2019
2 Min read
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Tower Systems offers small business retailers easy access to a genuinely portable POS software solution that is cloud based and enables a business to transact anywhere, any time, taking and and card, easily, safely and quickly.

This new solution, called Retailer Roam, is innovative, fresh and 100% focussed on helping small business retailers go where you want to go, as the song says. It is all about helping retailers get to their customers, where their customers want.

Being cloud based, this portable POS software solution enables retailers to easily sell at markets, fairs, collectives, from the truck or car, at events, on the road side at pop-up retail and even from their own shop if they need another register lane opened quickly without costly and time-consuming infrastructure.

Retailer Roam is next generation POS software. Fast. Flexible. Cloud based. Easy to use. Elegant. Portable. deigned by and for retailers.

It is next gen POS software for next gen retailers.

We are grateful to bring this to small business retailers in Australia and New Zealand, grateful to land it as a beautiful piece of software tech and an elegant business solution.

This is Aussie POS software innovation, benefiting all retailers in the small business world, especially in the specialty retail channels in which Tower Systems serves.

As you would expect from well designed portable POS software, Retailer Roam works beautifully while not accessible to the internet. yes, you can keep going business. It syncs in the background and easily.

Remember, this software also allows you to sell 24/7 online too, through Shopify, magenta or Woo Commerce websites that link back to the business Retailer POS software.

All bases are covered, all needs are met with the technically strong and flexible cloud based POS software solutions from Tower Systems.

It is easy for a small local business to decide today to participate in a pop-up market and know that they have the tech that can handle this, make it easy, safe, fast and accurate for trading and capturing what they sell, when and to whom. And, to be able to top this from just about any device based the capital cost manageable, usually from within existing resources.

Retailer Roam is another part of the total Tower Systems POS software solution.

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A key difference between Tower Systems and VEND POS software

June 3, 2019
2 Min read
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Some Tower Systems customers have been targeted by the VEND POS software company recently with a pitch to switch software.

What the VEND pitch has, in our opinion, failed to declare is what VEND does not offer.

We are a vertical market POS software comp0any. That is, we serve deeply the needs of specialty retailers in selected marketplaces. We specialise in software for specialist retailers in a through fully selected group of retail channels. Plus, we deliver all of this from within our software, without the need for our customers to rent or buy other software.

Being a comprehensive one stop shop for specialty retailers matters as it sees us delivering a more complete business solution to:

  1. Bike Shops.
  2. Jewellers.
  3. Garden Centres.
  4. Toy Shops.
  5. Book shops.
  6. Gift shops.
  7. Pet stores.
  8. Produce businesses.
  9. Newsagencies.
  10. Fishing and outdoors businesses.

These and more specialty retail channels are served from within our POS software, which has been developed, tailored and tuned for each and which is regularly updated.

Further, we work with the suppliers in these channels, closely, to help them serve the needs of the retailers they themselves serve.

If you look at VEND, from what we can see, it is a basic POS platform that uses other software to enable it to be pitched as specialty. That is, if this is the case, VFEND relies on these other companies to help VEND make their pitch.

At Tower Systems, we stand responsible for what we pitch and sell. We stand behind it through our training. We stand by it through our customer service from our help desk. This, to us, is a significant difference, a significant departure from what VEND offers to the businesses in ur channels to which it pitches.

Tower Systems is an Australian POS software company, based in Hawthorn Victoria. We are close to our customers with a range of touchpoint. This matters because it facilitates evolution of our software, ensuring it can and does meet the needs of retailers in the niche channels in which we serve. We are proud to do this and proud to be narrow in our specialty retail POS software focus.

To compare our software, reach out to us and one of our POS software experts will show you our software personally, after, first, asking about your business needs.

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Aussie POS software for independent small business retailers

May 26, 2019
2 Min read
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Small business retailers benefit from locally develop0ed and supported POS software. The Tower Systems POS software has been developed for local business needs in a range of specialty markets. Ours is POS software for niche retail channels.

Being Australian developed and supported is good for Australia.

Being Australian developed and supported is good for our retailer business customers.

Retailers looking for help in using our POS software can speak with us direct. not by email. Not by chat. They can speak with us on the phone, in person, m locally, with someone who understand retail, who understands their retail situation. This is why what being local matters.

The Tower Systems POS software helps small business retailers to compete, using local skills and tools, leveraging local opportunities, making the most of local facilities and connections.

There are many POS software solutions out there. For Aussie retailers, there are few that are truly local.

Tower Systems serves 3,500+ local retailers with awesome POS software designed for local retail channels.

While Tower Systems offers POS Software services for all retailers, our core business is the provision of specialist software packages for gift shops, newsagents, jewellers, pet shops, garden centres, firearms shops, adult shops, bike shops and toy shops.  We are the leading Australian company supporting these markets and our software is directly developed for their unique needs.

Tower Systems understands these specialty retail business needs because it owns and manages its own thriving retail businesses.  Our staff have retail experience and our POS software is informed by what happens in real world business – not from what happens behind a desk.

The company’s strong and consistent management infrastructure champions the small business, independent culture of Tower Systems.

Tower Systems helps independent business owners compete against the big end of town.  In order to do this we engage in long-term, mutually beneficial relationships with our clients.

These relationships are our real assets: they are the unique lifeblood of Tower.

Tower Systems develops and supports specialised Point of Sale and retail management software for a number of retail marketplaces. Our robust, always-expanding product suite can help you unleash the potential of your business today.

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A small business retailer POS software connected website can be a hungry beast

May 20, 2019
2 Min read
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A constant piece of advice we provide to our small business retail POS software customers who whom we have developed POS software connected websites is that websites are a hungry beast.

While the technical process of connecting your Retailer software to a Shopify, magento or Woo Commerce website, developed by us or someone else, is straightforward and the data flow of inventory details and images easy to establish, maintaining the site requires work.

Here are some tips from us designed to help you manage your website(s) for success. These tips are based on our own experience of developing sites for our businesses:

  1. Ensure your website stands for something. It could be that your online presence is through a different name or brand to your retail shop, to help you reach more people. The best websites stand for something clear, easily understood.
  2. Ensure your product photos are good.
  3. Don’t load all your shop stock on the website. Too much stock makes a website challenging to navigate.
  4. Get your shipping right. Like it or not, people want low or no cost shipping from online.
  5. Know your pricing model. You need to decide if you want online to be break even or loss making.
  6. Keep your content up to date, fresh.
  7. Offer multiple forms of payment.
  8. Fulfill orders quickly.
  9. Answer questions quickly, and completely.
  10. Work ion your website regularly … i.e. several times a week.
  11. Promote the website.

If you’d like a quote from us about having a website developed for you, consider completing ourweb questionnaire form.

Tower Systems undertakes web development in Australia, out of our head office based in Hawthorn, Victoria.  This local and easy access serves our customers well in that we can answer questions and bring to the table our own local retail business management and operation experience.

Or POS software connected website solutions cover many different retail channels and offer myriad facilities and experiences on which prospective customers can draw in considering their plans.

We also provide practical advice and help to retailers who are keen to resolve questions on management of their website once they are up and running. This blog post provides some insight into the knowledge and services we provide in this area.

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POS software co. Tower Systems at Magento developers conference in Las vegas

May 15, 2019
2 Min read
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We have four people at the magento developers conference in Las Vegas this week, networking and learning more about opportunities for further enhancement of the awesome POS software integration to Magento offered by Tower Systems.

Leveraging years of experience with Magento, Tower Systems benefits from experiences like the Imagine conference in Las Vegas through networking with peers, learning about enhancements from experts and from seeing the accomplishments of others in presentations.

We have been attending the Magento developers conference for years and benefiting from each event.

Our POS software integration with magento delivers a wonderful e-commerce solution for small business retailers, providing to them website facilities linked directly to their POS software system, sharing a common pool of inventory – with the retailer having complete control over what is shared to the website and what is not shared.

By bringing management and tech leads to the Magento Imagine conference in Las Vegas we have the right people in the room to soak up tech, marketing and management insights that are being shared here. This multi-disciplinary approach provides best broad based outcomes for our customers. Were think it is good for our business too.

We have development many websites in magento, delivered to retail businesses awesome Magento based POS software connected webstore solutions, helping small business retailers to easily and successfully sell online and thereby reach a broader range of shoppers for their business.

Online is critical today and Tower Systems through its POS software webstore connected POS software leveraging magento helps small business retailers to easily, effectively and successfully compete.

Small business retailers can benefit from the retail management experience at Tower Systems experience that helps deliver a more retail focussed solution.

The Tower web team is also skilled at SEO and SEM services that help raise the website rankings in key search engines, ensuring the site is found ahead of others.

The Tower Systems web development team is Australian based, working out of the company’s head office in Hawthorn. This is important as many web development businesses are overseas. While you might have a locally based contact person development too often is done overseas, leading to challenges with delivery and usefulness.

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POS software Xero integration makes online LayBy and much more easy for small business retailers

May 2, 2019
4 Min read
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newsXpress Southland is a card, gift and collectibles shop in the sprawling Westfield Southland shopping centre in south east Melbourne.

With rent increasing faster than foot traffic to the 300+ store shopping centre, the manager of the business needed to connect with shoppers outside.

Online was the obvious choice but time was limited. The goal was to find a solution that enabled the business to get online without any additional management or accounting time involved.

Xero partner Tower Systems provided an integrated Point of Sale software solution for in-store and well as online. This seamless link, coupled with complete xero integration, provided the time-saving solution the business was looking for.

“In the first six month, online revenue passed A$75,000”, commented Jayden Norton, Manager of the store.“This is a direct bottom line benefit for the business as there is no additional labour cost and no capital expenditure.”

“We could not have done this without the xero link as that enabled us to effectively open a second outlet without what in the past was additional accounting or bookkeeping cost.”

As the business has become more familiar with the Tower Systems and xero solutions it has evolved the online offering to be more comp0etitive against big retailers in the online space.  This has seen click and collect and online LayBy launched.

It is with online LayBy where the business has benefited from the xero integration in that the shopper is able to pay over time, interest free, and the retailer is paid immediately. There is no additional accounting or bookkeeping work involved as the data flows from the website to the POS to xero without being touched by human hands.

A shopper adds items to their shopping cart, they select online LayBy, provide basic instant credit check data and fine the application approved or otherwise in seconds. The retailer is paid less a small handling fee with the finance company taking full responsibility for collecting payment.

With click and collect, the payment is handled online. This works best as to commits the shopper and turns the in-store visit to an easy collection. Experience has shown this is what shoppers prefer rather than having to worry about payment in-store. It also means one person can purchased while another can collect, with appropriate secure authority.

Doing this, flowing data from shopper through to xero in this way eliminates mistakes that can be made when data is re-keyed. It also saves considerable time and this is a tangible business benefit.

“Control and transparency of data at each step in the line is key for our business because like any small business every cent of margin is important” commented Jayden Norton. “The solution needed to be easy and neat for us and for our customers. Xero was a key part of achieving this.”

In addition to the xero integration, Tower Systems POS software integrates with Shopify, magento and WooCommerce – the three leading e-commerce platforms in the world. The web development team at Tower has enhanced these to offer a multi-store solution whereby independent retailers can trade under a single branded website rather than needing their own website.

“The xero integration is the back-office piece where real labour costs are reduced”, commented Gavin Williams, Tower Systems COO. “We only sell to independent small business retailers in selected retail niches such as bike shops, jewellers and garden centres. Having the xero integration is vital as they are all competing with big business and every saving, no matter how small, is loved.”

Tower Systems is an Australian based POS software company currently serving in excess of 3,500 small and independent business retailers. The company can be explo9red at www.towersystems.com.au.

Tower Systems owns newsXpress Southland.

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More POS software connected websites launched

April 8, 2019
2 Min read
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We are grateful to be able to share the launch of more Tower Systems POS software connected websites. These are websites developed by our Melbourne Australia based web development team.

Facilitating the flow of product data to consumer-facing websites, the Tower website / POS software integration provides indie small business retailers tools they need and can use to find new shoppers for products and services they sell.

Our latest sites include one for a butcher, another for a niche gift shop and another for a collectibles business.

With development options including Shopify and Magento, our web team is able to serve broad needs from the simple to the complex, the easy to the comprehensive that serve not only selling but other services online as well, representing the business across their range.

In our suite of website connected POS software solutions we have jewellers, newsagents, gift shops, homewares shops, fishing / outdoors businesses, produce businesses, pet stores and more. The diversity in our specialty portfolio is terrific and beneficial to all of our customers.

Being the one-step shop for POS software and for retail business website development means we can streamline development, data flow and commercial outcome access. This is where we can deliver terrifically for our customers were think.

Developing locally matters in that we help the local economy and we leverage local business knowledge. We think this is even more important as when you look at it, all retail is local. People want local knowledge and local service. Local businesses can deliver – if their web front door is sensitive to local needs and practices.

Thanks to our partnerships with Shopify and Magento, we are able to leverage worldwide tech best practice with a local business practices overlay. We actively participate in training from Shopify and Magento at their international developer conferences and enhance what we have learned with our deep local business knowledge. This helps us bring home solutions that are commercially astute and valuable for our customers.

The Tower Systems POS software ecommerce solution portfolio is well established. It is delivering terrific benefits to our customers as they seek new customers in a competitive commercial environment.

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