The POS Software Blog

The POS Software Blog

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

CategoryPOS Software

Free POS software training for small business retailers

March 26, 2018
1 Min read
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Tower Systems has announced details of free POS software training for April 2018 for retailers using its smart POS software:

Meeting Name: 10 ways to save time and money using retailer
Date: Wednesday 4th April
Time: 2pm
Description: 10 different ways you can free up time and money in your business using retailer.

Meeting Name: Understanding the End of Shift Reports.
Date: Wednesday 11th April
Time: 2pm
Description: Why is the End of Shift important? How do I check my settings are correct? What do the reports mean? And what parts of the report do I need to use for my accounting.

Meeting Name: Top 10 mistakes in Retailer and how to fix them
Date: Wednesday 18th April
Time: 2pm
Description: Let us show how to fix some common mistakes in Retailer quickly and easily.

The last Wednesday in the month is Anzac day so have not scheduled a session.

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Awesome POS software connected websites for small business retail

March 14, 2018
3 Min read
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Australia POS software company Tower Systems is proud to offer POS software connected websites developed using Shopify, magento or Woo Commerce for specialty small business retailers in the retail channels in which we serve.

We have developed plenty of websites for different types of businesses in different situations.

we ovvero a one stop shop for POS software and web development.

Not offshore. Our websites are 100% developed in Australia. This is important. There is no middle person. You deal with us before, during and after.

The websites we develop are to your needs, covering the tech, aesthetic and other attributes that are important in your business. We sit with you to learn abut your needs, to ensure we get it right.

We also promise honesty through the process – this is better than promising something that may not be able to be delivered.

We welcome the opportunity to quote on stand-alone web development, where our sole service of your business is the development of a website.

Our POS software integrated websites serve a single inventory database between physical store and online store.

The Tower Systems web development team is skilled in WooCommerce, Magento and Shopify. The company has plenty of sites it can show in a live portfolio of successful e-commerce sites, serving shoppers in Australia and internationally.

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.

But best of all, Tower Systems provides professional advice and guidance to small business retailers keen to build their online presence. Our commitment is honest transparent advice on which any small business retailer can rely.

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.

Tower Systems is committed to local development for local businesses. Our developers understand retail in Australia and New Zealand. We leverage that to deliver practical and valuable business outcomes.

From simple websites to complex multi business solutions, the Tower Systems web development team for retailers is skilled and capable of delivering valuable solutions.

To find our more about our web development services, speak with a local Tower Systems sales person. They can point you to successful sites from us that are live and transacting today.

Here are some of the store linked websites we have developed:

  1. www.beanieboosaustralia.com
  2. www.popvinylsinaustralia.com
  3. www.willowbears.com.au
  4. www.willowbearsworldwide.com
  5. www.ittybittysinaustralia.com
  6. www.charliebearsinaustralia.com
  7. www.ezitask.com
  8. www.sendmytask.com

This is a selection of sites created by Tower Systems. Our web development skills are diverse. Our SEO and SEM skills are fine-tuned, to help you get the notice for your website.

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If you are not happy with your POS software you can switch

March 13, 2018
2 Min read
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Switching POS software is easy. If it is not easy then the POS software company you are with is probably offering poor software or poor service – backed by a strategy that makes switching hard as a mechanism of protecting their business.

If switching from your POS software is hard then you have even more reason to switch.

Good POS software companies with good service and good software make it easy to switch, as part of their commitment to being the best at what they do.

Here at Tower Systems we want you to stay with us because you like our software and enjoy the customer service experience. We do not want you to stay because we have a technical lock on you. That is false economy in your view.

Customer service in small business matters, especially in business to business situations, such as we are in offering and supporting specialty retail POS software as we do here at Tower Systems.

For us, the best pressure we can apply to ourselves to provide a good customer service experience is to make it easy for you to switch software. This puts you at the hear of what we do. It keeps us 100% customer focussed as we don’t want you to switch. This is why we continually improve our software and professionally manage the customer service resources – to provide you the best outcome possible, to deliver on the promises we make in ur sales process to you.

We have seen POS software companies that lock people in, make it hard to extract data. The customers hate it and it costs them plenty. In the end it hurts the POS software company because small business retailers talk to each other about their experiences and how they feel blackmailed into sticking with software they do not like.

Tower Systems is an Australian POS software company serving specialty retailers in a range of market channels. We only sell to independent retailers, delivering beautiful software backed by awesome customer service. We serve more than 3,500 small business retailers with software that is regularly and professionally updated.

We are grateful to our user community for their support and guidance.

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Free small business POS software e-commerce workshops start today

February 28, 2018
2 Min read
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How to win new customers and increase revenue with a POS software connected website for your type of business

At this practical, jargon-free, workshop we will show through, several live case-studies, the value of a POS software connected website. We will:·

  1. Show how a good website / POS solution can land more shoppers in your physical shop, more than you think, and help you sell 24/7.·
  2. Explain how to get to the top Google results, and stay there.·
  3. Share how a website we launched a year ago did more than $500,000 in sales. We will unpack for you everything we did to drive success.
  4. Compare Shopify / WooCommerce and Magento and explain why each is good in their own right.
  5. Share practical experience on order fulfilment using Australia Post and others and how to handle freight costs.
  6. Explain payment options and how to leverage them for more sales.
  7. Demonstrate the commercial value of the right POS software / website connection.·
  8. Explain photos, descriptions and other things, day to day things, which web developers often miss.·
  9. Answer all your questions.

The knowledge we will share will enable you to compete better online and in-store. Click on your preferred city location to book now.

  1. MELBOURNE: Feb. 28, 10am @ Pullman Hotel East Melbourne
  2. HOBART: Mar. 1, 10am @ Rydges Hobart.
  3. BRISBANE: Mar. 2, 9am @ RiverView Hotel, Kingsford Smith Drive.
  4. ADELAIDE: Mar. 7, 10am @ Rydges South Park
  5. PERTH: Mar. 8, 10am @ Crown Towers.
  6. SYDNEY: Mar. 9. 10am Sydney Hilton, George Street. Level 1.

We are inviting any retailer in the channels in which we serve with POS software for that channel: gifts, jewellers, bikes, toys, fishing/outdoors, garden centres, pet shops, produce, firearms, adult shops and newsagents.

If you are actively in the market for new POS software and / or a website for your business, we would consider flying you in for one of these workshops at no cost to you.

To qualify for a free flight, drop us a line at sales@towersystems.com.au and one of our expert account managers will have a chat with you.

In addition to owning Tower Systems, we also own and operate retail businesses and through these seven different public-facing websites.

This practical session leverages our personal web connected retailer experience to help you navigate in-store and online opportunities. I promise, it will not be death by PowerPoint. Rather, the focus will be on real examples, live examples, as they will be more valuable to providing understanding.

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Small business retail advice: steps to successful stock management

January 20, 2018
2 Min read
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Retailers using our POS software have access to a deep and wonderful suite of advice on how to use the software to the best advantage of the business and those who rely one it. Here is an example of business management advice we provide. This one is on SIMPLE STEPS FOR SUCCESSFUL STOCK MANAGEMENT IN RETAIL

Small and independent retail businesses too often lose stock through inadequate processes.  This simple, practical and free to implement advice seeks to reduce the opportunity for stock to be lost and mistakes to be made.

  1. Always receive stock into a consistent location in the business set aside for the purpose.
  2. Check boxes as they arrive. Only sign for receipt if the box count is accurate and the boxes are not damaged.
  3. Only move stock from the receipt / arrival location once the contents have been checked and counted, entered into your computer system and are trackable with a barcode you add or that is already on the product.
  4. Scan everything you sell
  5. Scan everything you return to a supplier as damaged or returned for some other reason.
  6. Scan out everything you write off or throw away.
  7. Do spot stock checks (a mini stock take) regularly to determine if there has been shop floor theft. Use the right gear to make this efficient and accurate.
  8. Order using your computer system as this will soon highlight employee or other theft.
  9. Stock should only ever be in the business in one of four locations:
    1. Goods inwards.
    2. Goods outwards: returning to a supplier, going to charity or going to trash.
    3. On the shelves in-store.
    4. On the shelves in the storeroom or warehouse.

The most important advice in this list is having locations set aside for goods inwards and goods outwards and strict processes in place for handling goods into and out from these locations. Get this right and you will find inventory more under control.

Tower Systems is committed to helping small business retailers to get more from their POS software experience than is usual. We leverage our own retail experiences to help our customers way beyond what is usual.

All Tower customers have access to this advice and more.

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More POS software connected websites for small business retailers

January 6, 2018
1 Min read
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We are amazed at the new customers the website is attracting to our business.

This is a comment from a retailer using a website we created and connected to our POS software.

We love that while we are closed we can sell. It really is 24/7.

This is  comment from another customer with our POS software connected to a website created by us.

I love that I have one place for managing inventory tory data and images. It is the same in my shop and on my website. It saves so much time and makes us more consistent.

This is from another shopper who switched their website to one from us, connecting to our POS software.

We are grateful for these and other opportunities to help small business retailers bring their businesses online through beautiful and functional websites, which are connected to store-based POS software. We are helping small business retailers to compete.

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No minimum card transaction promotion

December 30, 2017
1 Min read
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Small business retailers need to be aware of a growing push by credit card companies around a no minimum for card use. When it comes to card use, thanks to smart integration our retailers have plenty of control over how cards are used and any charged applied to their use. Here is one of several promotional videos circulating on this no minimum campaign.

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The best response to Amazon arriving in Australia: stay calm, be engaged

December 7, 2017
1 Min read
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We are frustrated with the world is ending type reporting relating to the arrival in Australia of Amazon. More stories have been published recently. Most stories are not reporting. Rather, they are ignorant fear-mongering. Unfortunately, the wrong people are often quoted, like the ever-shrill Gerry Harvey.

We shot this video to provide some thoughts on the arrival of Amazon and to offer suggestions for small business retailers.

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Helping small business retailers reduce the opportunity of employee theft

November 22, 2017
4 Min read
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At our POS software company we actively help small business retailers who use our software to reduce the opportunity of employee theft. We do this in a range of overt and covert ways, through our software and outside off our software.

As we have decades of experience running different types of retail businesses and through our work with, 3,500+ other retailers with our software we have a deep pool of knowledge and experience on which to draw.

Employee theft is something to be managed. By managed, we mean measured, understood and mitigated.

based on our own experiences and those of others we trust, we offer refined, thoughtful, advice on managing employee theft. Here we share it with all as a free community service for small business retailers. Together, we can cut the cost of employee theft in your retail business:

  1. Track your stock. Receive all stock into your business through your computer system so you know exactly what sock you have.
  2. Scan everything you sell. Do not use department keys as this makes it easier for employees to steal since they know there is no trackback to stock on hand. Using department keys is an invitation to steal.
  3. Track every sale by employees. Give your employees a card with a unique barcode or have them enter a code – to track every sale they make back to them. Change the code every six months or so.
  4. Do your end of shift through your software and have a zero-tolerance policy on being over or under. Reconcile banking to your computer software end of shift. One business where this was not done was being skimmed regularly for $200 a day.
  5. Do spot cash balancing. Unexpected checks can uncover surprises. One retailer needing to do a banking during the day uncovered a $350 discrepancy that lead to discovery of systematic theft.
  6. Change your roster. Sometimes people work together to steal. One retailer found a family friend senior and their teenage daughter stealing consistently.
  7. Check your Audit Log. Look at cancelled sales, deleted sales and items deleted from a sale. Leaving a cash drawer open from the previous sale, scanning items, taking the cash and cancelling the sale is the most common process used by employees to accrue cash they then take from you. Good software tracks cancelled sales and what was in them. This can be matched with video footage.
  8. Check Gross Profit by department. If GP is falling outside what you expect, research it further.
  9. Setup a theft policy. Put this on a noticeboard in the back room. Get staff to read it and sign up to it. See the last page of this advice.
  10. Keep the counter clean. An organised counter reduces the opportunity for theft. It makes detection easier.
  11. Have a no employee bags at the counter policy. This makes it harder for them to hide your cash.
  12. Beware employees who carry folded paper or small notepads. These can be used for them to keep track of how much cash is in the register that is theirs – i.e. not rung up in the software.
  13. Beware of calculators with memories at the counter. One retail business employee used the memory function to track how much cash had to be stolen prior to balancing for the day – cash from sales not rung up.
  14. Do not let employees sell to themselves. If they want to purchase something make them purchase it from the other side of the counter.
  15. Be professional in your management of the business. The more professional your approach they less likely your employees will steal as they will see the risk of being caught as high.
  16. Advise all job applicants that you will require their permission for a police check. From the outset this indicates that you take your business seriously. In many situations applicants who have been asked for permission to do a police check advise they have found a job elsewhere.
  17. Do not take cash out for your own use in front of employees. If they see you take cash for a coffee or lunch some will see this as an invitation.

These steps work – based on decades of helping small business retailers to reduce and manage employee theft.

Theft, employee and customer, costs a typical small / independent retail between 3% and 5% of product sales revenue.  Management attention can cut this dramatically.  It does not take much time. No, it is more about having professional processes in place that everyone in the business follows.

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How to compare Tower Systems POS software with Retail Express

November 7, 2017
2 Min read
H

It is easy for small business retailers looking for POS software to compare the Tower Systems POS software with the Retail Express POS software.

Here at Tower Systems we are happy to come to your business, to learn abut your needs in person and to demonstrate our software in person.

There is no substitute for being in a business that is contemplating POS software. Try and do this over the phone and you will miss things. Do it in person and you will be able to provide more useful advice to the business owner.

A Tower Systems software small business specialist will visit your business at a time that suits. The is to learn about the business needs, to see if our software is a good fit.

We are also happy to visit the business when a retail Express representative is there, so you can easily compare the software, to see which serves your needs better.

Functionality is everything and comparing two POS software programs function buy function is useful to determine which better serves your needs. This is another reason for wanting the assessment to be done in your business, at a time of your choosing.

This is what good personal service is all about – putting the needs of your business first.

How does Tower Systems compare to Retail Express? Compare the two software programs in your business side by side and see for yourself.

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Why small business retailers should not be worried about software bugs

October 27, 2017
2 Min read
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All software has bugs. The challenges are finding them and fixing them.

Any POS software company that says their POS software is bug free is either lying, delusional or not in high demand.

Here at Tower Systems our approach to software bugs is structured and professional.

  1. When a bug its suspected tests are conducted, to prove the bug exists.
  2. Proof of a bug is further tested, to ensure it is repeatable.
  3. Once proven, the bug is logged, given a bug id and sent to the development team for consideration. Only on the provision of s bug id is the bug accepted as existing.
  4. The development team fixes the bug and loads it as part of a softwAre update.
  5. The update is alpha tested in the office.
  6. A successfully alpha tested release of the software is tested in or own shops.
  7. The tested in our own shops software is released to the beta community.
  8. The successfully beta tested software is released to the wider community.
  9. On release to any end-user we provide a complete list of bugs fixed in the update along with details of all other enhancements delivered through the update.

All the way through our structured process our customers are kept in the loop and up to date with our progress on resolving issues for them.

Software bugs are not the problem. How software companies deal with them is. We are confident here at Tower Systems in our processes and in the transparency we provide to our customers.

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How retailers can continue to trade if the internet is down

October 13, 2017
2 Min read
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Here is a question we are often asked by retailers:

In a cloud environment what happens when the Internet is unavailable? The offering is for an external cloud provider, can we leverage our own cloud provider? How are hosting charges calculated, i.e. data storage charges?

Here is our answer:

Our POS software system is very configurable.  Users have the ability, if they wish, to run without being hosted.  This solves any Internet stability questions, particularly for rural/regional Australian where this may be an issue.

The other challenge with cloud is the costs. Our experience is some small business owners are not happy with the monthly hosting cost for a cloud service. However, the customer can choose the approach that is best for their specific circumstances.

These are the reasons we have configured our software to suit whatever situation a customer prefers.

Alternatively, if users want, we can host the system in the cloud, 100% in the cloud.  This can be hosted on our secure dedicated infrastructure (additional costs will apply) or on infrastructure of their choosing.  We will provide guidance on the configuration so the ideal environment is created.

If hosted on our infrastructure customers are charged on a per user per month basis.

If the user runs in a hosted environment and the internet drops out the user can switch to a facility we call Outpost Mode.  OUTPOST mode allows for basic trading, scanning sales, until such time as Internet access is restored.

The level of software access in the event of internet access being down, blocked or otherwise hampered does depend on choices made by the customer. Our customers can be secure in the knowledge that we support multiple choices, we make it easy for them transact if that is the core goal of their business.

Can you continue to trade if the internet is down? Yes!

Crucially, we can train our customers on how to be ready for this in advance of any problem occurring. This is important since customers might otherwise scrambling too get up and running in the middle of a problem could be too disruptive for the business,

Planning ahead of any incident or disaster is important in our view.

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Personal service matters when it comes to small business POS software

September 27, 2017
2 Min read
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Every day in small business retail shops personal service matters. For many local independent retail businesses, personal service is the differentiator, the thing that shoppers remember and brings them back.

No matter how cool products in a shop are, if the service is not personal with a shopper they may not return.

Equally, no matter how mundane or everyday products are in a shop, personal service may show them off in a light that makes the experience so delightful that the shoppers think first and only of the shop when next wanting such products.

Just as personal service matters in retail, it matters with POS software in terms of customer service and it matters with POS software and the personal service facilities in the POS software.

The Tower Systems small business POS software has encoded in to facilities that help a small business retailer show off personal service, to deliver a level of personal service consistently through shopper facing touchpoints that are managed by the software.

These personal service facilities in the software help the retailer to be personal, efficiently.

On our receipts, we can include care instructions for individual products or local advice that relates to the products in a way that only a local retailer can know. These facilities encoded within the software enable local small business retailers to personalise the experience in a structured way. Retailers have 100% control over the serving of this information.

On the customer display we can show products and other information that further enhances the personal service experience.

Retailers using our software can easily remember important dates such as birthdays, anniversaries, required check in dates, servicing dates, vaccine dates and far more. Indeed, there is no limit to the services that can be provided to personalise a shopper experience based on anniversaries and other date-based information through which a retailer can better serve customers.

For many local small retail businesses, personal service is the big differentiator. Here at Tower Systems we are committed to evolving our support for delivering more and better personal service opportunities through our software. How far we go will be a function of suggestions from our customers.

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