The POS Software Blog
News from Tower Systems about locally made POS software for specialty local retailers.
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:
In these and other ways the Tower Systems software helps small business retailers leverage inspiration to greater success.
Tower Systems develops software for small and independent businesses in specialist retail channels.
Our jeweller software is just for jewellers, our bike shop software is for bike retailers, our pet shop software is for pet shop retailers, our newsagency software is for newsagents, our garden centre software is for garden centres and our gift shop software is for gift and homewares shops.
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.
We’re here to help.
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 walk if 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 .
With more retailers trading in the secondhand goods area. POS software company Tower Systems is poised to help with its robust Australian designed and developed secondhand goods facilities in its POS software.
Using the secondhand goods facilities retailers can undertake appropriate record keeping where required, tack the goods and manage them through the business.
The sale is documented as thoroughly as the purchase, handling both sides of the secondhand goods life in a dealer’s business.
Whether the core business function or part of a larger business, the secondhand goods facilities in the Tower software are mature yet evolving as more and more businesses play in this lucrative space which is more popular than ever thanks to the sharing economy movement.
The sharing economy interest is seeing more people purchase, use and return to retail for resale. This is where the secondhand goods facilities or a treat as they manage for retailers new to this space processes and requirements that are unique to secondhand goods.
We have been asked to help several retailers in recent weeks who discovered their POS software had been changed by their supplier without reference to them. The changes occurred overnight without forewarning. They introduced changes unexpected by the businesses, changes they need to adjust so they worked how the business would want.
One of the retailers commented to us they felt helpless with this change by their POS software company to a core management tool in their business without discussion or permission.
Tower Systems does not do this – we do not unilaterally make software changes in client locations without permission nor without full disclosure in advance so our customers can decide whether the changes would be useful to the businesses.
We think small business retailers should control the software they run. By this we mean – they should control when they update the software, always. This is a fundamental of good customer service in our view.
Tower Systems is proud of the 136 training videos in its online POS software training library. This extraordinary resource helps retail business owners and retail employees learn and re-learn many aspects of the Tower software at their own pace and wherever they choose.
The online training library for our software is one of several exclusive resources retailers love when they switch to our POS software.
The notion of training POS software users when they first install only is old school. At Tower Systems we offer excellent one on one training at the time of purchase and many options for additional, refresh or extended training for months and years after the initial installation.
We add new content to our training resources regularly, keeping o=content fresh and relevant. We deliver training on platforms appropriate to the needs of our customers.
A loyalty program is only as good as the over the counter pitch through which you seek to engage shoppers. Check out this brief video we created to train retail employees on what has to be the easiest to use over the counter shopper loyalty offer.
Tower Systems leads with professional employee training videos which help retail employees leverage more value for the business from our software.
Today, as is usual, the office based POS software help desk of Tower Systems is up and running and providing live assistance to retailers using our POS software.
This office based service is in addition to our after hours service and our senior management escalation service.
Saturday POS software support is loved by retailers. It demonstrates an understanding of the different work cycle of retail versus office based businesses. being office based means it can achieve more than a mobile service and this enhances the customer experience.
This is another Tower AdvantageTM .
The majority of the 150 POS software enhancements (new facilities as well as expanded facilities) in the latest POS software from Tower Systems have come from suggestions from users and as voted on by users – through our transparent and loved Software Ideas online portal.
Feedback from customers with early access to this update has been thrilling.
We are proud to have delivered more business enhancing facilities to our 2,800+ small business customers.
Policing of age-restricted products has increased this year with considerable undercover detection action in several states.
Retailers using our smart POS software benefit from being able to tag products as having an age restriction. This results in a pop-up requiring an age check prior to proceeding to process the sale.
Our age-check is a procedural intervention on which retailers can rely to reduce under-age selling mistakes by employees. It is also evidence they can provide to authorities to indicate that the business has processes to stop under-age selling.
Easily setup, the age-check facility in our software is another way business owners can establish processes and facilities through which their business can be professionally managed in their absence.
Retailers using the Tower Systems POS software have access to a training library of more than 130 training videos. These videos are professional in production and valuable in the content offered.
The videos can be accessed from any computer, anywhere and at any time.
The video training resources are comprehensive. They are also loved by our customers.
Regularly enhanced, the Tower Systems POS software video training library is a real asset to our business – allowing us to show a point of difference which wins us business.
In addition to POS software training, our library also includes training on business use of the software – covering how to engage on the shop floor. This is an area many POS software companies neglect in their training.
Tower Systems hosted a free online training workshop last week on key reports in our software that can change how a retailer views and engages with their business.
This session sounded boring in that it was about report, what for some appears to be a dry aspect of POS software. The reality is good reports can be sexy in design and sexy in the numbers they present.
On top of training how to access the reports, our training took people into the value of the data in the reports, talking about the business decisions that can be made based on data points in the reports.
We selected a small number of reports so as to not overwhelm.
The reports are the icing on the cake of our software – they help retailers to learn things about their businesses they did not know, to be able to plot a path ahead for their businesses.
We do these training sessions every week and they are always free. Our customers love the diversity of training available and that we are consistent in our scheduling.
I hate going into work. These words from a friend reflected a long-held feeling, a feeling held with some shame.
Here was a retail business owner who hated going into his own business. He had fallen out of love with what he had created. The bitterness he felt towards his business had soured to hatred.
Why do some retailers hate going to work? It is an interesting question which needs exploration before we look at strategies for countering this.
There is usually a trigger – supplier fatigue, tough economic conditions, personal challenges away from the business, a partner dispute, tiredness… there could be any combination of reasons.
If you have reached the point where you hate going into work each day it is important to take time away from the business for an honest assessment as to why you hate the business. Until you can answer the question – why do you hate going into work? – you cannot begin to work on resolution.
Once you know the reasons, think about a series of small and achievable steps you could take to turn the situation around. No matter how challenging the situation, there are always steps you could take. Focus on these, start work on them and in some instances that alone will be enough to move you through the fog of anger and ill-feeling toward the business.
If finding small steps to take does not work, get together with a trusted friend and tell them how you feel toward the business. Ask them to talk with you about the business. Reminisce about why you started or purchased the newsagency. Remember your dreams and hopes. Use the conversation to explore your emotion at the moment you decided to open or purchase the retail business.
The best advice to to get professional help from a psychologist or professionally qualified counsellor to explore your feelings for the business. Your doctor could help you access a government funded mental health plan.
Understanding your hatred for your retail business is the first step. This will usually, of itself, reveal the first steps you can take to turn the hatred around. Be open to that. Take small steps and see where they lead. The change in feeling toward the business may not be immediate so do not expect too much too soon.
If you do nothing, the hatred will be more and more reflected in the business and in your own person. Neither benefits from this.
POS software can do more for small business retailers than they may think. Good POS software, like that from Tower Systems, goes deep into the business, away from the sales counter, helping in many ways.
Help with leveraging shopper loyalty.
I write this as the owner of an Australian POS software company serving several specialist retail channels, as a newsagent and as the owner os a couple of other businesses serving small businesses in Australia.
I am disappointed at some of the commentary about the instant asset write offannounced in the federal budget this week. I have heard media commentators call it a tax break, a gift, a hand out, a return to the age of entitlement and a more. I have also heard commentators question whether small business owners will do the right thing and spend the money honestly.
These comments are ignorant, they do not reflect the thinking of small business owners. Small business owners are a passionate breed, usually putting the needs of our businesses ahead of much else in our lives. We don’t engage in tax schemes to avoid paying Australian taxes, we don’t domicile in tax havens to avoid tax, we don’t use visa programs to import workers ahead of Australians.
Most small business owners are too busy in their businesses to even dream of the schemes we read others use.
Small business owners work long hours, usually for below award rate wages – because they love the independence of working for themselves and, yes, the feeling of making a genuine contribution. I happily work a minimum of 80 hour s a week and have done for decades.
Let’s look at what the instant asset write off actually is. Check out this from the federal government’s budget website:
ACCELERATED DEPRECIATION
All small businesses will get an immediate tax deduction for any individual assets they buy costing less than $20,000. (Currently, the threshold sits at $1,000).This $20,000 limit applies to each individual item. Small businesses can apply this $20,000 rule to as many individual items as they wish. These arrangements start from Budget night and continue until the end of June 2017.
There is no extra money, no grant or gift. All that is being done is speeding up the writing off of the expense. The budget measure improves cash flow.
A small business owner wanting to buy a new TV, to take one comment I heard several times, will still have to fund the TV – meaning they will want a business purpose for the TV.
I own a few businesses and while none is eligible for the instant asset write off, they serve small businesses which will be eligible for the instant asset write off.
Based on comments from small business owners to me since the budget, I am confident the instant asset write off is a valuable step needed to get many small business owners thinking about their businesses, considering what investments they could make knowing they get a deduction in the year of purchase and not spread over time.
Yes, I am conflicted as I stand to benefit. I mention this in case it has not been clear up to now. The economy benefits too. Take my POS software company:
To the commentators making noise about a possible surge in TV and car sales, take a moment to think that there are ethical Aussie companies with productivity tools servicing small Aussie businesses – and that together we can deliver measurable economic benefits.
Commentators: stop talking us down.
Now, to my politics. I voted Greens at the last election as I thought their small business policy was better than the major parties. I have not voted Liberal for many elections. While this is none of your business, I felt it important to say to show I am not writing this as an ideologue.
POS software can do more for small business retailers than they may think. Good POS software, like that from Tower Systems, goes deep into the business, away from the sales counter, helping in many ways.
Help with competing with online competitors.
POS software can do more for small business retailers than they may think. Good POS software, like that from Tower Systems, goes deep into the business, away from the sales counter, helping in many ways.
Help with managing specific locations in-store.
Location specific management is helping retailers we are directly working with to improve revenue.
Tower Systems has begun an education campaign for small business retailers in Australia in selected specialist retail channels outlining how they can benefit from the immediate asset write-off opportunity announced in the federal budget last night.
Retail businesses turning over $2 million a year or less can immediately write off the purchase of our Point of Sale solution.
Our software delivers the productivity benefits the federal government is keen to see small businesses access.
POS software can do more for small business retailers than they may think. Good POS software, like that from Tower Systems, goes deep into the business, away from the sales counter, helping in many ways.
Help with avoiding and clearing dead stock.
POS software can do more for small business retailers than they may think. Good POS software, like that from Tower Systems, goes deep into the business, away from the sales counter, helping in many ways.
Help with managing employees.
Sometimes, POS software help desk advice is not right. It could be they did not understand the question, that you did not completely explain the question or that they got it plain wrong.
A good POS software help desk will offer a structured escalation process where you can take any concern and have it considered away from the help desk. Such an escalation process will involve senior management and have at its heart good communication.
Tower Systems has a structured escalation process with three points of escalation outside of the help desk function. Customers can use this or they can bypass a step as all contact points in the escalation process are published regularly.
Tower customers can speak directly with the owner of the business, Mark Fletcher, on 0418 321 338.
We encourage customers to challenge help desk advice to ensure that the advice is right for the actual question or problem. This can be done in a respectful way with the outcome always on ensuring the best possible customer service experience.
Retailers who actively engage with the POS software help desk process usually achieve a more meaningful and valuable outcome for themselves and their business.
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