This advice seems simple, obvious – yet it is advice that must good POS software companies repeat daily. Here at Tower Systems we take this seriously we offer advice on how to use the software well, how to run a better business with the support of the software
Going beyond what is traditional in POS software support, Tower Systems helps its customers get more. Here are some of the ways retailers can use their POS software well:
To track everything sold by item detail.
To track all products returned.
To manage gift vouchers.
To run your Lay-By program.
To create order for replenishment stock.
To manage the employee roster.
To track inventory theft.
To track all sales.
To stop employee theft.
This list is just a start on how to use your POS software well. Too many retailers use their software as a glorified cash register and we don’t like that. There are plenty more ways retailers can use their POS software to run more efficient and valuable businesses.
It has been a busy time at Tower Systems as we design, code, test and re-test a suite of new facilities for our POS software, pushing our software into areas beyond what has been traditional for software in the specialist retail channels in which we serve.
We are excited for the developments and the business growth opportunities they will bring to our customers.
We are a couple of weeks away from our first customer previews – such as the rigorous process new development goes through prior to first glances we offer outside our development lab.
Several of the new facilities we have been developing are from insights we have gained inner work forecasting where some retail channels are headed. We are bringing new lift and opportunities to small business retailers to enable them to be even more excited about this futures.
The cloud backup service launched last year by Tower Systems is popular with retailers using our POS software. Backups are seamless, not taking any noticeable time thanks to the smart technology. The result is welcome double protection.
While Tower Systems has supported external and automated backup services for years, this new cloud-based service that offers excellent protection to users of our POS software.
Run on a subscription basis and backing up to the cloud real-time through the day, this is a comprehensive replacement of the old end of shift backup approach for small and independent retailers.
Cloud accounting software company Xero features Tower Systems and its retail management software on the Xero website. This privilege is for software companies which have met compliance requirements set by Xero. Tower Systems achieved this status last year. Since then, we have worked with Xero on communication with small business retailers about the benefits of our Xero integrated POS software solution.
We have plenty of retailers using our software and our automated link to Xero … saving them time and money in the management of their financial records.
We use the Xero live and automated link for our own retail businesses and can speak to the benefits ourselves.
POS software company Tower Systems has launched free training for small business retailers on The New Loyalty, a fresh approach to encouraging retailers to use loyalty facilities to compete with big business.
The New Loyalty offers small business retailers a framework through which to compete with big business in the shopper loyalty stakes.
The free workshops offer insights deep into shopper engagement with the loyalty facilities in several businesses. We take participants on a deep data behind the scenes view of business benefits through to shopper behaviour. This is a first ever insight at this level. It is something any retailer in a competitive situation will want to see.
While plenty in retail talk about our tough things are, here at Tower Systems we are hearing many stories of success from retailers doing well, retailers growing gross profit in the face of a traffic decline and other retailers growing traffic by using the facilities in the POS software.
One retailer told us last week that while traffic was flat with less than 1% growth, their profitability was up 8% thanks to using inventory management tools in our software to guide buying as well as shop floor product placement.
Our software is rich in facilities that help small and independent retailers make better quality business decisions, decisions that pursue profitability for the business and enjoyment for the business owner.
Each success story we hear adds to our arsenal of stories we can share with others, to encourage them and spread the news of optimism in small business retail.
Thank you for helping us switch to your software. I had no idea we could do what we are already doing with your software. For years I thought I had a good software program. The time saving alone pays for itself. Thank you.
We love feedback from retailers who switch to us as it encourages us to work even harder at leveraging our point of difference. This latest retailer to switch provided us with comprehensive insights into the weaknesses of the software they have switched from, insights we can leverage in our communication with other retailers in the channel.
Making good POS software is one thing. Guiding retailers to get the maximum commercial value from the software is something else. This is where Tower Systems excels.
Independent retail businesses often seek local shopper support. This Lismore easily achieved if these businesses themselves act locally and love locally. Here are some of the many act local suggestions we have developed over years of supporting local small and independent retail businesses:
Support local community groups through raising awareness and funds.
Use your retail space to attract locals on local issues.
Leverage your communication channels to support local issues and groups.
Offer practical help to local school.
Be engaged in local representation on councils and committees.
Preference hiring local people.
Seek out local suppliers.
Offer local training opportunities to local school students.
If appropriate to your business, seek out local artists.
Participate in local markets.
Welcome local groups to raise funds from out the front of your shop.
Get your business name on local sports team clothing.
Learn and tell local stories.
We have many other suggestions to help independent local retailers to better connect with their local community … helping our customers way beyond our software.
Tower Systems serves close to 3,000 retailers using our smart POS software.
Getting a shopper to return to your independent retail business can be difficult, you need to embrace every opportunity possible. This is where POS software company Tower Systems can help – using our smart POS software you can include on the receipt a coupon or voucher for a variety of purposes including marketing, information, direct discounts or other promotional activity.
The voucher based marketing facilities in our software are being actively used in all specialist channels in which we serve.
It could be a simple discount on return, a promotion of a new service, a discount based what is in this purchase or an offer based on a future bulk buy.
The beauty of the voucher serving technology embedded in the Tower software is that it is flexible and available for use in the business without cost. This ensures that the independent retailers using it are not having to share costs with others. The benefits are as considerable as the flexibility of the service.
We were thrilled to receive recognition recently from Honeywell for the work we have done integrating our POS software with their quality hardware and the traction we have received in specialist retail businesses.
While we are a software company, our work with Honeywell is important in delivering rewarding benefits to our customers.
Tower Systems is helping more independent retailers using its POS software to extend the reach of their brand with professional branding on the receipts produced by the software.
Achieving this branding is easy and free for retailers using the Tower software. Plus branding can be changed any time the business needs.
Tower Systems can help create branding for the receipts for those who need extra assistance.
Using receipts in this way is vitally important to business branding as it acts as a reminder where items were purchased and a reminder of experiences that we hope are wonderful. It is especially important to independent retail businesses.
And how can I use that information in the business?
This is a question that can stump someone working on the help desk as a POS software company as it goes beyond the what andhow and delves into the why. The answer to this question is a chink of gold that can be mined using smart POS software.
This is a questions the Tower Systems help desk team members can answer because the understand the why: why the software matters, why the data harvested is valuable, why a business owner wanting to grow the business will want to use the data.
This information is vital in small business as it is information that unlocks the real value of POS software for these small independent business users.
We can help small business owners understand data on reports as they relate to their specific businesses. Context is everything as they say and we know POS software cannot be one size fits all. A datapoint could be used by three different businesses in different ways depending on other metrics and KPIs. This is where our help desk team is smart and engaged.
Beyond the shat and how, our POS software help desk team loves to delve into the why.
Here is another fresh and free training video for employees of retail businesses using our POS software. This video explains how to se.. We have plenty more on this topic at our website including videos, advice sheets and more.
We are thrilled with the feedback from our customers about the ever expanding Knowledge Base accessible framer POS software support website.
Packed with proprietary information, this Knowledge Base is a wonderful resource as we can share with customers in response to queries where documentation supporting an over the phone answer helps.
What is especially good is the feedback from customers that helps us enhance the Knowledge Base experience further.
This is another benefit of the proprietary and exclusive Tower AdvantageTM program.
EFTPOS processing mistakes at the retail sales counter can cost small business retailers dearly. POS software company Tower Systems helps retailers cut mistakes thanks to its integrated EFTPOS solutions.
Connecting directly with broadband EFTPOS bank Tyro as well as other banks, retailers using the Tower software are able to easily and quickly process credit card / EFTPOS payments without additional keystrokes.
Eliminating keystrokes is key to cutting mistakes. Eliminating the use of a separate EFTPOS device is key to eliminating mistakes. This saves time and money but most important it cuts mistakes.
In addition to cutting expensive mistakes, the integration delivered by Tower Systems streamlines customer flow at the counter and this improves the overall customer experience. It’s a win for the customer and a win for the retail business.
Small business retailers could have thousands of dollars of stock sitting on their shelves taking up space. If stock is not selling, it’s costing you. Once you have identified stock that is not selling you can begin to quit this stock, by putting the stock on clearance and continually reducing pricing until it’s sold out. Even if this means selling it below cost, it will save you money in the long run.
Tip: You can work out how much your shop space is worth by dividing the rent by how many square meters of space you have.
If a product hasn’t sold for six months then it’s costing you money to warehouse it. Quitting the stock will stop the cost from building up further and allow you to replace it with stock that will sell. Here is advice on quitting dead stock using our smart POS software.
NOTE: To effectively use this advice you need accurate stock on hand levels. Poor stock management will mean the results here can’t be used. You need to be able to trust your QOH figure is correct for this advice to be useful.
Finding The Stock
Use the ranked sales report with the following settings to work out what isn’t selling and put that stock on clearance.
Go to Reports > Sales Reports > Ranked Sales Report.
Set your Start date back six months from today and the end date to today’s date. Set the rest of the report settings as below.
When the report runs you will see the following:
Here you can see when the last time an item was sold (if at all) and the last time it was arrived.
Note: Items can show up that have only recently been arrived.
Ignore these items unless they haven’t sold in 4 to 5 months, then you may want to look into them.
The bottom of the report will give you a total cost of stock Inc and Ex GST. Consider this figure the value of dead stock in your store. You need to reduce this as much as possible.
Once you have the report print it out and start working through the list.
Set up a clearance table or bin somewhere in store and put product there with a clearance price. Simply advertise the area as Clearance Stock, Prices as Marked.
Keep discounting the product until it sells. Set a goal to get rid of the stock within say two weeks, if stock is still there after one week, discount further.
Now you can start filling that empty space with stock that is selling well. Use the Ranked Sales Report to show you top selling items and begin to build up those lines.
We keen addicting additional free live training sessions for our POS software customers and they keep filling up. So, guess what, we are adding more.
These sessions are more about leveraging the software in the business than how to do this or that. They contain considerable retail business management and operational advice.
We are thrilled with the support from ur customers and grateful to be in a position to offer this training by our skilled training team.
This is POS software customer service at its best. This is the Tower AdvantageTM
Disaster planning is vital for any retail business. Too often, the need for good disaster planning is realised after a disaster has hit the business. This advice from our POS software company offers business and computer related advice which is designed to mitigate the impact of a disaster on your business.
Insurance Protection
Insurance coverage is vital to helping a retail business overcome any type of disaster. In addition to ensuring that your insurance policy covers all disaster situations of concern to you, including flood, theft, water inundation, fire, earthquake, riot—be sure to carefully read the policy, ensure that your insurance policy / policies cover payouts for the following:
Business interruption. The amount should equal your anticipated gross profit for whatever period you choose to be covered.
Data recovery. Including the hiring of experts to recover data from backup sources or the manual entry of data which cannot be automatically recovered. It needs to ensure that you are covered to the point of recovered data being useable in transacting business.
Lost stock. This is stock stolen, lost from the business.
Damaged and unsaleable stock. This is stock which is water damaged, scuffed or dented and which will not attract full price.
Dated stock. This is stock which you cannot sell by the due date.
Glass. Many policies require explicit statement of glass coverage.
Temporary trading premises. Business interruption may cover this. Ensure that it is explicitly stated.
Key person injury and/or death. This will usually be a separate policy. Depending on the disaster, coverage may also be available through the overall business policy.
Ensure that the value of stock, fixtures and fittings covered by your policy is an accurate reflection of the real value of these items. Talk with your insurance company about the best approach to track this on an ongoing basis.
Insurance brokers can provide access to assessors who can advise on the appropriate level of insurance for your situation.
Use your Point of Sale system to track all stock movements in and out. The stock on hand in your software should be your coverage.
Ensure that your insurance policy protects for the seasonal nature of your business
Data Protection
Business data is one of the most valuable assets of the business. Like insurance, the value is often not understood until you need what you do not have. Retailers who are serious about protecting their business data in the event of any disaster follow these steps:
Backup your business data every day, at the end of the day, without fail. Our cloud based backup service is ideal.
Maintain a separate backup for each day of the week. Consider a separate backup for the last day of each month.
Remove the backup medium, usually a USB stick, from the business premises each day.
Store the backup in a safe, dry place.
Check the usefulness of the backup by restoring and checking the data.
Store original business software in a safe off-site location
Disaster Planning
Here are some general suggestions on planning for a disaster.
Keep off site copies of: Business contracts and agreements; employee contact details, business account and other passwords, insurance details, recent photographs of fixtures, fittings and stock.
Maintain a register of all employees in the business at any time.
Prepare and place in a prominent place an evacuation plan.
Maintain a professional grade OH&S compliant first aid kit.
Regularly maintain all fire extinguishers.
Ensure that the business premises is safe and maintained to the local building codes and OH&S regulations.
Finding stock is easy for those using the Tower Systems POS software. While we have comprehensive training, sometimes it is brief top level training that front line employees need. Here is a new brief video created specifically for the front line. It’s fast and easy to learn and is back by far more training in video, text and line one on one form.
Retailers can save thousands of dollars by using the Tower Systems POS software to undertake a stocktake rather than using in an external stock taker as retailers have traditionally used for decades.
External stock takers often deliver s little outcome except a stock value for the end of the financial year. By using Retailer for the stock take retailers get accurate on-hand data which is vital for reporting on a range of retail performance metrics.
Smart Point of Sale software offers a range of stock taking options from the portable to the hard wired. Regardless of the hardware technology you use, the result is the same: an accurate stock on hand count and value plus updated stock details.
Every time a count is done using Point of Sale software there are anomalies discovered in the stock database. The stock take is a good opportunity to address this. A manual stock take loses this opportunity.
Our recommendation is that once a business has undertaken a full stock take once using their Point of Sale software and if they have good processes around receiving, selling and returning stock, a process of rolling stock takes would serve the business well in maintaining an accurate stock on hand figures.
Through the stock take facilities in our software, our retail partners have access to a suite of tools with tremendous flexibility, allowing a retail store to count in a way which suits their operational needs. many of our customers operate with a program of rolling spot stock takes. These are designed to ensure accurate stock on hand figures in the system as well as identify theft situations.
Expensive and single purpose stock takes can be eliminated from any retail business with the proper use of quality Point of Sale software. Through our advice sheets, training videos, online training workshops and other opportunities, Tower Systems helps its retail customers to access the benefits of accurate stock on hand data.
The POS software from Tower Systems can inspire small business retailers to do great things. A bold claim to be sure but a claim rooted in valuable practical help embedded in the smart POS software from Tower Systems.
Small business retailers can do great things thanks to smart tools in the Tower software such as:
Revealing valuable product adjacencies.
Spotlighting time hotspots in the day.
Tracking employees and revealing top performers.
Showing the best supplier in a competitive supplier situation.
Stopping the business making poor inventory buying decisions.
Guiding the business to mitigate a poor performing stock situation.
In these and other ways the Tower Systems software helps small business retailers leverage inspiration to greater success.
Each of our customers has common challenges: BIG business and online business.
We can help you compete with BIG business and online businesses.
Our POS software offers four approaches to loyalty. One, the NEW loyalty, is fresh, unique and loved by shoppers.
We are seeing small and independent retail businesses enjoy double digit growth on the back on our approach.
We back our terrific Aussie software with practical training. We even help you train your employees. Click here to see one two minute video we produced for our customers to share with their employees on our unique Discount Voucher facility (the NEW loyalty). We explain how your employees make make this work for you.
We are not your average software company. We care about independent small businesses. Our software is tailored to the needs of specialist retail channels.
Here’s another employee training video from our POS software company explaining the handling of a refund request from a shopper. This short video is part of a comprehensive package of FREE training for our customers in this and other areas of the software.
Tower Systems is thrilled with the use small business retailers are making of the free small business marketing resources we have made available in our website.
These free resources are another practical way Tower Systems helps small business retailers beyond our terrific POS software.
Our development and free access to these resources demonstrates are acre for and commitment to the small business retail channels in which we serve. It is easy for a business to say they support their customers in a variety of ways. This investment by us is us being true to our words – walking the walkif you will.
We have happy for these and other free downloads we place on the site to be used widely.
Note we have not included our branding as we don;t want to get in the way of the businesses using the materials.
Retailers are embracing the FREE POS software training from Tower Systems in End of Financial Year processes. Developed specifically to serve retailers this year in the run up to June 30, this session is an all you need to know approach to stock, business data and other factors that are vital to being prepared for EOFY.
This training is a continuation of the weekly POS software training tower Systems launched years ago, training the company happily and willingly offers to provide our customers with more free learning opportunities through which to love our software and love our company.
When we say this training is free, there is truly no cost. we even pay for the phone call to provide audio access – anywhere in the world. This is another Tower AdvantageTM .
Recent Comments