The POS Software Blog

The POS Software Blog

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

CategoryPOS Software

What Is Vertical Market POS Software And Why It Matters.

October 23, 2018
2 Min read
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Tower systems is a vertical market POS software company. We always have been, since the company began. It is what we do, well.

A vertical market POS software company is one that focusses on a marketplace, deeply, vertically if you will.

When we say that we have software for a specific marketplace like jewellers, garden centres, toy shops, produce stores, bike shops, fishing and outdoors shops, firearms dealers, produce stores, newsagents and adult shops, it means that we have software that is highly tailored to serve the needs of each of these marketplaces.

Our software serves not only the retailers, it also serves the suppliers to the retailers as we see building a closer and more valuable relationship between the two parties as important to what we do.

The vertical market software emerged in the 1980s as personal computers were released and desktop software became available for small businesses including small business retailer.

This is when Tower systems began. We were at the beginning, with vertical market software fort several retail niches. We have stayed true to our mission of offering specialty retail focussed software for specialty retailers. This focus has served us well. We think it has served out customers well too as our software for each marketplace in which we serve has evolved in its specialisation.

We release three major software updates each year. Each update takes us further into each marketplace in which we serve with our POS software. Each update makes our POS software more vertically, deeply, integrated with the specialty retailers we serve.

This is what vertical market POS software is about, specialisation … specialisation that evolves as the needs of the marketplace evolve. It is about staying on a path, moving forward, serving the specialty needs of the retailers in each marketplace niche.

While there are generic POS software solutions out there, a specialty POS software package for your specific retail niche will be far more valuable, far more tuned to the needs of your business.

However, make sure the claim of specialisation is more than the claim, make sure it is real and deep. You can tell this by looking at the software, by ensuring for yourself that claimed specialisation is really there.

Good vertical market POS software will serve a specialty retail business well, for many years.

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Why Our POS Software May Not Be Right For Your Business

October 22, 2018
3 Min read
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We are proud to share this advice…

We don’t want to sell, rent or lease our POS software to a business for which it is not a good fit.

Don’t get us wrong, we do want business. However, we don’t see the point in making a sale for the sake of a sale. As a small privately owned company, our guiding principles are different to larger businesses with multiple shareholders. Where their focus is profit first, our focus is service.

Service to us is providing a product that is a good fit and that delivers appreciated value over the long term. This is achieved by providing fit for purpose software, backing it with personal training and support and enhancing it through an on-going software development process that is guided by user engagement and feedback.

One reason we want to personally demonstrate our POS software to retailers in the specialty marketplaces in which we serve is so that we can be sure for ourselves that our software is a good fit. We are on the record of advising sales prospects that we are not a good fit. Yes, we do this, respectfully and with an explanation of why we think so.

We have been in business for a long time and plan to be here for a long time. Doing right by sales prospects is part of this. We know a quick sale today just to get the sale whether it is a good fit for the client or not is not conducive to good long term business.

So, yes, we may say our software is not a good fit for your business.

It could be you have need we do not address today. Therefore, we are keen for you to be open and complete in outlining your needs.

It could be that you are a big business. While we do have big business clients, our absolute preference is to serve small retail businesses.

It could be that your business is outside out area of specialisation. While we have plenty of customers outside our marketplaces of specialisation, each has been certain our software is a good fit for them.; We love that they have made this choice, without pressure.

It could be that you want a deal we are unwilling to agree to. We don’t sell on price for we know that in business today you do get what you pay for. For us to deliver quality and evolving software and services we need fair compensation. The price we offer is our best price. We treat all sales prospects equally.

It could be that you want a specific change to the software. We plan our development many months out. We usually cannot drop commitments to customers to get a quick sale. While we welcome and seek out customer initiated enhancement requests, we do so in a structured way that works with our long-term development schedule.

It is important to us that our software and our company are good fits for any business taking on our software. To achieve this, our sales approach is personal, transparent and focussed on the long term.

We think a software choice decision is too important to a business to seek without doing appropriate homework.

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IT’S A FACT: THEFT IS GREATER IN RETAIL BUSINESSES WHERE STOCK CONTROL IS POOR

October 18, 2018
2 Min read
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In years working with small and independent retail businesses, the team at Tower Systems has learnt plenty including the indicators of in which retail businesses theft is more likely to occur.

We have leveraged our experience with small business retailers who use our smart POS software to help these and other b businesses reduce the impact of theft – shopper theft and employee theft.

Our experience is that theft is more likely to occur in businesses where stock is not managed properly.

By not managed properly we mean where:

  1. All items sold are not tracked at the point of sale.
  2. Where new stock arriving in the business is not properly arrived through the software.
  3. Where spot stock-takes are not undertaken regularly to maintain an accurate stock on hand account.
  4. Where stock given away or thrown away is not written off.
  5. Where stock returned to a supplier is not scanned out.

Our advice on reducing the cost of employee theft and customer theft is simple – follow our advice, manage your stock and without a doubt the cost of theft in your retail business will be lower than it would have been.

If you think the cost of managing stock is too great, think about the cost of $25,000, $50,000 or even $250,000 in theft. Yes, we see this all too often in retail businesses – where stock is not managed.

Managing your stock = less theft and less theft = increases product and increased profit = you get more when you sell your business.

Tower Systems offers comprehensive theft mitigation services to small business retailers. We use our knowledge and experience to help retailers, to make it easier for them to understand any given situation and take steps to protect against theft. This is a free project from us, pro-bono help for small business retailers as part of the Tower Systems community care service.

Inventory is the best indicator of a problem. We leverage this data. We help retailers see and understand the challenges and we provide knowledge and tools that benefit retailers no matter what type of business they operate. This is another Tower Advantage, something we are proud to offer.

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Cloud backup service protect POS software users from cyber attack

October 13, 2018
3 Min read
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Crypto locker attacks, malware attacks, cyber attacks, call them what you want, they are hurting small business retailers. Their impact is serious, expensive and stressful. They are becoming more sophisticated and this increases the harm to small business retailers.

Tower Systems offers its POS software a safe, secure and proven cloud backup service for its small business customers. It offers through this multiple layers of protection, making recovery easier and faster than is often the case with a single layer approach to data backup.

The best way to any business, especially any small business, to be prepared for an attack, beyond firewall and other force-field protection is to have easy and fast access to up to date backup data, of whole of systems backup data.

The Tower Systems cloud backup service is safe, secure, offsite and on site and updated regularly as each day transacts.

Were developed the service in response to the call from ur small business retailer customers who were keen for protection beyond the old approach to backups. They wanted something that was seamless, fast and always on. This is where our service and our installation and monitoring support ensure that the appropriate coverage is in place, protecting small business retailers.

Our cloud backup service for small business retailers has professional redundancy built in. We will not provide details here as to do so could compromise the security. 

There have been instances recently where after a crypto lock attack on a client we have had them up and running, fully restored, within the hour.

This is what professional backup looks like. It is insurance for getting over the attack quickly and professionally. Without a hefty price tag.

The Safe Backup service is a cloud-based incremental backup service to help you store your valuable data more efficiently and with greater security. Using the specialist backup software created by Storagecraft, our service allows you to perform live backups of your entire MAIN computer to your in-store NAS. These backups are then uploaded to the internet so you have a second copy stored securely in the cloud for hassle-free, total backup security with no further need for USB sticks.

We monitor the backups. This is bonus coverage beyond the notifications on your local computer about backup status.

The peace of mind is valuable and appreciated by small business retailers. It frees them to focus on other requirements, other parts of their business.

Cloud back is, in our view, the only safe backup for small business retailers. It is what we recommend. It is what we use ourselves in our own retail businesses.

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POS software helps small business retailers cut government compliance costs

October 9, 2018
2 Min read
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The Tower Systems POS software actively helps small business retailers to reduce the time it takes to comply with government requirements.

We do this in a range of ways. We also enhance our engagement with this as government regulations change. By evolving our software offering, we ensure we help businesses leverage time-saving opportunities.

Preparing the BAS, Business Activity Statement, is easier and faster thanks to easy access to accurate data collected and managed by our POS software This is a key time saving. It also helps reduce stress by ensuring the provision of data that is accessible and useful to business owners.

Managing accurate business performance tracking through the profit and loss statement and the balance sheet is facilitated through automatic data flow between the POS software and Xero, MYOB or Quicken. Indeed, the accounting software links we provide in our POS software make it easier for small business retailers to undertake more accounting work in-store, reduce accounting fees and facilitate more accurate accounting records.

So, time saved, mistakes cut, errors voided, accurate data curated and managed – all through there work we do for small business retailers in 0ur POS software – these are real benefits for small business retail.

We see businesses put in our POS software, connect it to xero and cut bookkeeping costs. This can save a business thousands of dollars a year without any additional spend within the business beyond the low cost of POS software and attendant support services.

This is good business that we are proud to deliver for the small business retailers we serve through our smart POS software.

Saving time takes careful thought and planning on the software design end. As retailers ourselves, doing this time saving work in our own retail businesses, we know what is needed first hand. Having a CPA in our office, working with us enables us to be knowledgable for an accounting perspective too. These two things – being a retailer and having in-house accounting capabilities – ensure that we prove a proven and practical solution to our small business retail customers.

This is another bankable Tower Systems advantage for small business retailers.

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Customer service matters when choosing small business POS software

September 26, 2018
2 Min read
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Customer service is a critical factor when choosing POS software for amy independent or small retail business.

That sounds like a motherhood statement so we can understand if you say Duh!

We agree 100%.  Our focus is on delivering the level of customer service we would expect ourselves. To us, it needs to be personal, professional, human, knowledgable, engaged and relevant.

These are the principles of the POS software customer service here at Tower Systems. This is what we train our help desk and other teams in when we meet to work on what we do and how we do it. We see these pri cripples as being differentiating for us.

In a practical sense, our customers see how we operate through:

  1. A human based phone system. there is no automated phone system requiring you to press a bunch of buttons.
  2. An unmoderated and transparent Facebook page where customers can open discussions with us or other customers on any topic.
  3. Regular face to face regional use meetings where we meet with our customers to listen, learn and train.
  4. Unlimited free training long after the POS software is installed.
  5. Easy 24/7 access to an awesome knowledge base where our customers can learn and provide feedback ion the knowledge shared.
  6. An escalation process. We make mistakes inn our help desk processes. We’re human. We offer a structured process for responding to these, to address them and provide rectification. We seek to learn from mistakes, and not repeat them.
  7. Leadership team access. Contacting anyone from the leadership group within Tower Systems is easy. Our customers have our contact numbers and email addresses. We make sure we are accessible.
  8. Knowing us. When you are in contact with someone at Tower Systems you know their name, their real name. You know the person and can be sure they are the person who will follow up.

When you are looking at POS software companies, see if they are similar. We think these eight, and other, personal touch points that we offer here at Tower Systems are differentiating and empowering for our small business retail customers. We think what we do in providing personal and reliable service to our customers matters as much as the awesome POS software itself.

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How small business retailers guide POS software development

September 25, 2018
2 Min read
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Here at Tower Systems for years now we have offered small business retailers a transparent process through which they can suggest POS software enhancements and vote on these and other suggestions.

Our Software Ideas website page was launched to ur customers years ago to provide them power when it comes to change requests. They get to outline what they want, in their own words.

We review each suggestion to determine if it is technically possible.

Then, any of our customers gets to vote on each change suggestion.

From this list we select enhancements to include in software u0dates. Every update delivers enhancements customers want from the simple to the complex. These enhancements are provided to our customers for no additional charge beyond the optional annual software support fee.

The software enhances et suggestion process we have created was unique many years ago when we launched it and it remains unique today in the small business POS software community. While other POS software companies take on customer suggestions, they usually do not show customers all the suggestions in detail and allow them to vote on any suggestions.

Our software is stronger for having this process, we are a better company for it.

Customers are thrilled to see enhancements they have suggested delivered in the software. We are thrilled for our customers, to be able to deliver for them in this way, to provide them something close to a bespoke POS software experience.

It is very powerful delivering services like this, impactful and empowering as we give our customers the opportunity to set the agenda and the tools through which they can do this, It is awesome and we are proud to have maintained the service for so long.

We are especially excited when a customer makes a suggestion for a change, requesting something be added to the software … which is already there. Its a special moment to say there it is, already, today. What you want to to do for you is there. It demonstrates to us a training and coaching opportunity, which we dive into without cost to our customers.

Our Software Ideas facility remains groundbreaking in POS software circles. It is a differentiating platform for our customers.

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POS software scale integration helps small business retailers sell with accuracy

September 19, 2018
2 Min read
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The authorised and government approved integration of scales with the Tower Systems POS software enables us to deliver a beautiful solution to small business and independent retailers in many situations.

Through the integration, our POS software talks with the scales, reducing the opportunity for data entry mistakes, making the sales process faster and delivering business outcomes that enable small business retailers to benefit.

Delivered years ago and maintained since, our POS software scale integration is a fine solution for retailers that sell products by weight: candy stores, pet stores, produce businesses, garden centres, butchers, supermarkets and more. We can connect scales to the POS and enable sales by weight. It is easy and fast.

We have structured advice and support for connecting scales to the POS software.

Any retail business selling products by weight can rely on our scales integration for fast and accurate selling at the counter or anywhere in this business.

Although there are alternatives to selling by weight such as splitting and pre-packing stock and double-typing prices at the counter, these methods waste keystrokes and time while increasing the risk of avoidable data entry mistakes that can impact a business  bottom line.

The scanner / scales tool that we recommend is connected to our POS software provides a range of solutions / benefits:

  1. All-Weighs Scale Platter with integrated Produce Lift Bar or Produce Rail™
  2. FirstStrike advanced decoding software delivers the best performance in reading poor quality labels
  3. Aggressive and ergonomic 360° 5-sided scanning
  4. Host Download – Lowers Service Cost and Improves Operations
  5. Diagnostic Reporting – For improved preventative maintenance
  6. Productivity Index Reporting™ – Helps identify poorly printed labels
  7. Cashier Training™/ Ergonomic Index – Identifies Poor Scanning/Weighing Habits

We work with each of our customers to deliver a solution tailored through settings and other opportunities to serve the needs of the business. Our experience o=ver the years from POS software scales integration has enabled us to provide a flexible and valued solution to our customers in this area.

Scales integration is another way our small business focussed POS software company serves businesses well, providing solutions that enable local family-owned small business retailers to compete against big businesses.

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Australian POS software helps specialty small business retailers compete

September 13, 2018
2 Min read
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The most effective ways small business retailers can compete with big businesses and online is through efficient operation, accurate data and customer service touch-points that add appreciated value.

Tower Systems only sells its POS software to small business retailers. We help our customers achieve efficient operation, accurate data and customer service touch-points that add appreciated value. we do this every day in many different ways, tailored to the business niches we serve.

We believe in small businesses, their importance to local communities and their broader economic value.

Through our software, our personal in-store training, 24/7 human and locally based help desk service, regional user meetings, weekly online workshops and other touch-points we help small business retailers beyond what is usual for POS software companies.

Our company motto is we’re here to help. We take this seriously. Everyday, out motto challenges us to help our customers in ways they do not expect, ways beyond the software itself.

Founded in 1981, Tower Systems has evolved as technology has evolved. The software we sell today is generations away from where we started. We are proud to have served some of our customers for decades.

More than 3,500 specialty small business retailers in Australia and New Zealand use our specialty POS software.

To us, a specialty retailer is one that offers services unique to the channel, services that define the business.  We embed in our software for each retail channel facilities that serve needs unique to that channel. We take pride in doing this and enhancing these channel-specific facilities as the needs evolve.

PERSONAL SERVICE MATTERS.

The Tower training is personal, one-on-one. It is delivered in-store, by someone with extensive retail experience.

The help desk help desk is based in Hawthorn victoria. When people call, the call is answered by a human and not a computerised phone system. We believe in personal service.

The company also offers free online training workshops where retailers  can learn more and talk to each other about how they use the software.

Every customer has access to free one-on-one training year after year.

There are also user meetings around the country where people can meet the management and technical team in an open group setting for more free training and free assistance.

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POS software small business retailers love

August 29, 2018
2 Min read
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The POS software from Tower Systems is valuable for indie small business retailers as it provides tools through which these businesses can compete, grow and become more valuable.

This is POS software with a proven track record, heritage and value embedded for small business retailers in a range of specialty retail channels. Software already used by thousands of small business retailers. Software technically rich and functionally smooth – ready for enjoyment at all levels of any independent retail business.

Retailers love our POS software and the support that backs the use of the POS software because of our accessibility, focus on small business, commitment to channel specialisation and the regular updating of our POS software. Each year our skill set improves and with this our ability to serve niche retail businesses.

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.

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

Here are practical ways we help small business retailers in and beyond our POS software:

Software enhanced by user suggestion and direction.

  1. Easy access to training.
  2. Easy access to support.
  3. Regular free training.
  4. Regular user meetings.
  5. Easy access to business management advice, beyond the software.

Tower Systems is accessible to every one of our customers. We stand by our promises and deliver not only in terms of software but also in terms of training and advice. For us, it is personal. It is why every customer has easy access to the leadership team of the company, why every customer can self escalate any issue they want right through to the ownership of the company if there need arises.

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POS software user meetings keep us in touch with small business retail

August 27, 2018
2 Min read
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In then last week the leadership team of our company have met face to face with owners of retail businesses using our specialty POS software in Perth, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Canberra.

This is the first week of a tour around the country, meeting  with customers, sharing insights, listening to business challenges and exploring who we can better help each other.

Being face to face, with the right people in front of each other, decision makers, listeners who can make a difference, is what customer service from POS software is all about in our view. This is us being true to our word, honouring our commitment, delivering on our promises.

Anyone can say they will host user meetings. It is hard work, expensive and time consuming. Here at Tower Systems we want to live truth to our words every day,. It is why we are in the middle of this national face to face user meeting and listening tour.

While these sessions are a wonderful opportunity to share training and business management experience, they also provide us with valuable feedback and business insights that we can leverage to deliver better outcomes for our customers. There is doubt the sessions make us a better POS software company, especially in service of small business retailers.

We are grateful to the independent retailers using our POS software who have joined us in this latest series and to those who will join us on the online version of the events where we will connect with businesses that might otherwise not be able to reach the major city locations in the current tour.

Small business POS software is about personal service, like small business retail. Lose contact with your customers and you lose the soul of your business. This is why we make ourselves as available as we do, it is why we are so accessible in the marketplace, at these sessions in capital cities and major regional centres.

Tower Systems is proud to serve only small business retailers in niche retail channels, growing stronger and more valuable retail businesses. We are grateful for customer support every day.

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Helping indie retailers pitch shop local

August 26, 2018
1 Min read
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IMG_9093The shop local movement has a good profile. Locals do tend to prefer to shop local. Retailers need to actively and consistently leverage this through a regular reminder but such a reminder is hollow unless you offer local benefits such as community engagement, hiring locally and sourcing locally made products. Actively engaging in the business through locally focussed decisions helps any retailer bring power and strength to their calls for people to shop local.

This is our advice today – if you pitch shop local, live in in your shop every day and show you yourselves believe in it. Our POS software can help.

Tower Systems helps retailers actively pitch and live the shop local mantra through its POS software and through the business support the company provides in its training and on its website.

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People loving Christmas ornaments website

August 17, 2018
1 Min read
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Our Christmas ornaments website is enjoying excellent sales success early in the Christmas season. Offering the wonderful and limited edition Hallmark Keepsakes range. The MyOrnaments website is a hit with Australian shoppers, pulling excellent sales and queries.

This is another of our POS software connected websites, bring online revenue to local high street retail businesses. Finding new traffic and leveraging commercially valuable results.

Tower Systems is proud to be offering web and in-store solutions to independent small business retailers in a beautiful win win.

Specialty Christmas ornaments are sought after, especially those dated to a year and available in limited quantities, as these are. We are grateful for the opportunity through this website to showcase ur web development and POS software integration tools and to do so in a visually appealing and easy to shop site.

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Our POS software lets you replace the coffee card loyalty approach

July 13, 2018
2 Min read
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The coffee card type of approach to loyalty where you clop or stamp the card wiht each coffee to track when a shopper is due a free coffee is old-school.

Ion seconds and thanks to a quick scan using our POS software small business retailers can easily track who is due what. This is time saving, more accurate, safer and beneficial to customer and shopper.

This is another part of the awesome loyalty facilities in our POS software. It is another way we help small business retailers compete in the tough loyalty stakes.

Another valuable loyalty / up-sell tool is BUY X GET Y.

The “buy x, get y” pitch is a common offer in retail businesses, especially those that sell everyday items such as pet food, magazines, garden mulch and other consumable items.

In the Tower Systems software loyalty facilities you have access to a powerful and configurable BUY X GET Y facility. You can use this to track shopper engagement and ensure proper rewarding of the free product at the right time. This is an excellent tool for driving shopper loyalty without the usual manual overhead of clipping cards or managing other processes. You can also report on the reward at the right time back to the supplier to ensure you are compensated for giving away the free product. Indeed, you have various detailed reporting options.

The BUY X GET Y facility has been developed with retailers in several channels as well as with suppliers to those retailers to ensure it meets the requirements of both business participants.

The total loyalty package in the Tower Systems software is comprehensive, flexible and tuned to offer retailers choice through which they can serve their own situation with confidence and success.

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Small business retailer loves our POS software loyalty options

July 12, 2018
2 Min read
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We love hearing how our POS software customers embrace the awesome retail loyalty facilities in our POS software. In calls and emails customers tell us terrific stories of success they have had and continue to have with the expansive and valuable loyalty tools in our software.

Here is one message we received last week:

Not sure how to tell the entire team what I think and you are still my go to man at Tower.

We started discount vouchers about 2 months ago and your support team has put up with my questions and been very calm and collected with me.

The Vouchers are fantastic and most people lose the bits of paper so % redeemed is poor ( good for me !! ) but people REALLY appreciate this and love the idea. When someone comes in with a bunch of vouchers and gets

$ 10 off they are so pleased !!

Great idea and something that you can definitely ask any stock feed store to phone me about if you want – I think it gives us an edge.

Here is another email:

I have to say I am shocked at how well the discount vouchers have gone. I know I said I was not interested but as soon as someone spent $50 more in the shop because of a $2.00 voucher I was sold. Now I push them every time and they easily pay for themselves. You have made this old man very happy.

The loyalty facilities in our POS software are awesome. This is because they were developed closely with retailers. These are not tech facilities developed in a lap. No, they were developed on the ship floor over time, tried and tested. This is what makes them truly useful.

In our own retail experience, which sees us competing against major retailers in a Westfield shopping centre, several shoppers have stated they prefer Discount Vouchers over the rewards programs of our competitors.

We are confident that Tower Systems’ Discount Voucher facilities can help you:

  1. Get customers spending more in a visit.
  2. Bring existing customers back sooner.
  3. Attract new shoppers to your business.
  4. Drive impulse purchases at the sales counter.

The b beauty is you can call the vouchers what you like. We use the term discount vouchers as it makes sense to most. However, our customers can change the name label in seconds.

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