The POS Software Blog

The POS Software Blog

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

CategoryProduce store software

POS software Xero integration helps small business retailers

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The integration between the Tower Systems small business POS software and Xero cloud based accounting software is helping more and more small business retailers to …

  1. Cut accounting costs.
  2. Cut bookkeeping time.
  3. Improve business data accuracy.
  4. Improve business retorting.
  5. Make the business more profitable.

Xero does not connect to all POS software. Qs the premier small business account ting software in the world it is selective.

Tower Systems is proud to be a Xero partner and proud to deliver a quality Xero integration between our POS software and Xero. It is an integration we use ourselves in our own retail businesses.’

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

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

Following Xerocon in Melbourne last week, we are set to bring our POS software to more small business retailers.

Xerocon wow!

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What a terrific conference Xerocon was. Awesome presentations about Xero. Wonderful people asking about our POS software. New friends. New clients. 100% professional. Glad to be among the best of the best with it comes to Xero.

Plenty of fun.

Tower POS software Xero integration

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We are looking the Xerocon conference, which starts today in Melbourne. It will be terrific to see not only Xero users and accountants but the other select few software companies approved by Xero. Here is part of what we offer in our direct POS software Xero link:

Tower Systems POS software at Xerocon this week

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Tower Systems will be featured at Xerocon, the international Xero users conference, this week in Melbourne.

We are grateful to Xero for the opportunity to participate.

The POS software Xero link is important to our small business retail customers. Using this link, our customers are able to save time, cut mistakes and streamline business operations.

This is a direct link, not through a third party. This saves money and time. It also ensures that ti is easier for questions to be resolved about data flow and similar topics.

We back the Xero link with Xero skilled folks on our help desk. We can help small business retailers, bookkeepers as well as accounts with questions on the POS software / Xero integration. This is important as it shows the help desk service as going beyond what is usual for POS software help desks.

Xero is selective as to the software companies it approves. It is good to ask a POS software company if their link is direct or through anther party.

The Xero integration designed by Tower Systems, working with the folks at Xero, makes it easy for small business retailers to cut accounting paperwork and thereby tap into time and money saving benefits.

We use our Xero integrated POS software ourselves. This enables us to provide practical advice on how to benefit the most from Xero and our POS software working together.

Our customers have access to our in-house CPA, to provide a professional accounting perspective on the link and how to get the most from it.

Tower Systems is a unique POS software company. In addition to serving 3,500+ small business retailers, we own and operate several retail businesses as live test sites. Our in-house CPA manages the accounts for these retail businesses.

Connecting to Xero can help a small business eliminate the need for a bookkeeper and shift out of business accounting functions to the end of the year. W have seen businesses cut $5,000 form their operating costs by implementing the Xero link. This saving and more can be significant for a retail business.

If you are a Xero user and plan to be at Xerocon this week, check us out. We are thrilled to be part of this event.

What makes Tower Systems an ideal POS software company for small business retailers?

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Tower Systems is an Australia based POS software company with thousands of customers in a range of retail niches:  gift shopsjewellersbike shopspet shops,  toy shopsfishing/outdoorsgarden centres/nurseriesnewsagentsproduce stores and firearms retailers.

  1. We are a software company, not a consulting business using software as a mechanism for driving consulting fees.
  2. We are in your business. Not a contractor we hire, not over the phone, when we install the system we do it in your business, working with you and your people.
  3. We offer more facilities than any other system. These offer you flexibility for driving purchases in the current visit and for bringing shoppers back more often.
  4. You have access to extraordinary customisation, enabling you to represent your business son receipts, invoices and other documents how you want.
  5. Embedded in our software are facilities for tracking how the software us used. This enables us to help you monitor and reduce employee theft.
  6. Retail focussed. The big challenge of retail is to uncover opportunities, which you can still leverage them. We have smart reports, which unlock for you information about your business, which can help you plan and grow.
  7. Our customers have access to the owner of our company as well as other senior management people.
  8. We have a loved escalation process.
  9. Our documentation is online and 100% searchable.
  10. We develop our own software. This means when we promise something, we rely on our software development and testing team to deliver, not a contractor, not another company.
  11. We have a transparent process through which our customers can suggest software enhancements. All of our customers can vote on these enhancement suggestions. Many of our software changes have come from customer suggestions.
  12. We designed the software ourselves. What we sell today has evolved over many years working in close consultation with our customers – many of whom have been with us for more than twenty years.
  13. The software we sell to retailers has been developed for retailers, by us.
  14. Each specialist retail channel has its own version of the software. Interestingly, our software for each sector has benefited from experiences with other sectors.
  15. We only sell to independently owned retail businesses in selected specialist retail channels.

We could add many more reasons. This list is a start. As our motto says: we’re here to help.

Helping small business retailers sell online with POS connected websites

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Tower Systems has rolled out the next release of its POS software connected website solutions, offering small business retailers a stronger armoury of tools with which to compete with global and national online businesses.

Offering POS software direct links to Shopify, Magento and WooCommerce websites, the Tower Systems integrations bring new business opportunities to small business retailers, opening doors to finding new customers.

Embedded in the new software are facilities that are fresh for the small business online space, fresh for POS software integrated websites.

Tower Systems has gone beyond the usual approach of announce and then deliver some time in the future. the company has developed, delivered and then announced. This is the company proving what it has done before making any noise about it.

We think actions speak louder than words.

Small business retailers who want to compete with online have Tower Systems in their corner. Our beautiful web connected POS software works for retailers in different channels. It helps retailers attract new shoppers. We deal with the challenges of freight. We make shopping easy. We help win business from the tricky abandoned cart situation and more.

Being a local POS software company, we leverage our local marketplace knowledge not only for ur POS software but also for the websites we create for our customers.

We make selling online easy for small business retailers.

We develoop websites for Tower Systems customers. We have web developers working in ur Melbourne office with skills in Magento, Shopify and WooCommerce.

Having websites developed by us ensures a best-practice connection between your POS software and the websites.

We have plenty of store connected websites we can show you, where shoppers can shop online with interest free online lay-by, shop using click and collect, pay by PayPal and more. We can sync the data between your shop and online as frequently ads you want. We have sites doing it every five minutes and others doing it daily.

We have seen retailers choose to have their website developed by a low-cost offshore web developer only to have to spend considerably to have it fixed. We have had to do this for several of our customers, where offshore developers have delivered a broken website.

To find out more about our web development services as well as our SEO (website marketing) services, please email sales@towersystems.com.au.

Advice for small business retailers on finding confidence

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Change of any sort can be challenging. Part of our role as a POS software company is to offer encouragement for continuous change. While we cannot force you to be confident in embracing change, we can provide a safety-net of sorts and a cheer-squad of encouragement.

In our own situation we are confronted with change and challenges every day. What we do today is very different to what we were doing five and ten years ago. Here are things we have found encourage confidence.

  1. Know your business. This starts with knowing your business data, respecting it and basing decisions on the data. This provides a foundation for changes that are right in and for your business.
  2. Take small steps. Sometimes, confidence fades or can be a challenge when the task ahead or the changes to be made appear too big. Break them down. Focus on the next step. Take that one step. Cheer the result. Next, take the next step.
  3. Most of what we suggest is based on either direct experience or considerable research. Trusting this could see you embrace change sooner and, hopefully, thereby enjoy more success sooner. This, in turn, will boost your confidence.
  4. Know you are not alone. No matter what change or challenge you face, we are part of your community, part of your cheer-squad. Talk with us before, during and after change. We will help in any way we are able.
  5. Focus on the destination. Where do you want to be as a result of a change in your business, new products or a new marketing initiative. Focus on the destination and ignore the barriers you create in your head. Often, the barriers are only there because you allowed yourself to see them.
  6. Facts encourage confidence. Facts such as evidence of success of others and evidence of success in your own business underpin confidence. The key is to look at the facts, to focus on them and not the possible barriers you can create.
  7. Hire confident people.
  8. Let go of people who are not confident, who talk change down, who are negative at their core.
  9. Play confident music in your office and in the shop.
  10. Dress with confidence.
  11. Know that a failure is always a success. Every change you make in your business is a success because you either make more money, enjoy your business more or learn what not to do next time because it did not go as planned. There is only upside from change.

A lack of confidence is not easily overcome. We understand that and do not seek here to be glib about it. Lack of confidence in anything is a serious challenge, yet one to overcome for the future of the business, personal achievement and the benefit of all who rely on the business.

Rather than investing time in the fog of a lack of confidence, our advice is to look out beyond the fog, to take steps out of the fog and to do so knowing we are with you.

Workshop on special customer orders in POS software loved by retailers

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Yesterday, Tower Systems hosted a major workshop on how to leverage special customer orders in our POS software to help any retail business grow revenue and increase customer stickiness.

Our pitch explained the value of using smart software that manages the special customer orders process through the entire business:

If you have an order book at the counter or in the office, for orders that are too messy or cumbersome to put through your software, Special Customer Orders in the Tower Systems POS software could be ideal.

If you or staff are forgetting to track special orders when they come in or are challenged advising customers when special orders are read to be collected, this software can make the whole process hassle-free for you.

We can help you win more business.

We make it easy for every employee to handle special customer orders with consistency, even casual employees.

Developed in close consultation with retailers in the jeweller, bike retail, produce, toy and garden centre retail channels, the Special Customer Orders facility in the Tower Systems POS software is powerful, flexible and enjoyable.

See it live in this free online workshop. We will demonstrate the software to you, take questions and share user insights.

The demonstration will take only half an hour. We are sure you will be surprised how fare this function in the Tower software goes.

We are grateful to all our customers who participated. It was a full session with more than twenty participating, learning, for free.

This session is another in our regular series of free learning opportunities for our POS software companies.

Social customer orders functionality is unique to Tower Systems. What we have developed is deep and comprehensive, created based on the needs shown to us by our customers in various retail channels. We build the facilities from scratch, based on the customer outlined requirements.

We are grateful to our customers for supporting this training session, and, indeed, all of our free online training workshops.

We develop software and websites for: gift shopsjewellers,  bike shopstoy shopsfishing/outdoors businessesgarden centres/nurseriespet shopsproduce storesfirearms businesses and newsagents.

Tower Systems’ POS software features in Xu magazine for Xero users

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Tower Systems features in the latest issue of Xu magazine, the international magazine for Xero users and consultants and the wider Xero community.

The article resulted from kudos for our work in the POS software / Xero integrated space for many small business retailers. Our work helps retailers cut the time spent on entry of data as it eliminates steps in the process. This improves accuracy and costs of the business.

We are grateful to our many POS software / Xero customers for their support and encouragement on the continued evolution of our direct to Xero interface.

We are also grateful to the folks at Xero for their advice and counsel.

The article, which has just been published, is timely as it leads into the Xero Xerocon conference in Melbourne next month, where Tower Systems will feature its latest POS software.

Designer receipts make our POS software elegant

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Small business retailers are loving our designer receipts. They love the ease of change. They love the beautiful outcome. They love the flexibility.

We think receipts should help a retail business win more sales. Ours do … thanks to you being able to create what ou want, how you want.

Tower Systems offers designer receipts as part of its comprehensive POS software and through these we offer a beautiful point of difference.

They are another Tower AdvantageTM.

For too long receipts have been seen as a necessary accounting function in retail businesses. designer receipts are different. They are an extension of marketing in any business. They are smart, appealing, elegant – a wonderful way to help grow the business.

While other POS software companies may say they allow you to customise receipts, none has the Tower Systems designer receipts facilities.

Free ecommerce workshops for small business retailers in Sydney

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We are bringing our free workshop: Connecting online and in-store, how to make ecommerce work for your small business to Sydney later this month. Click the links below to book. each session will run for 2 hours. Refreshments provided:

  • August 24, 8am. Figtree Conference Centre: Mission Room, 5 Figtree Drive, Sydney Olympic Park NSW.
  • August 24, 11am. Figtree Conference Centre: Mission Room, 5 Figtree Drive, Sydney Olympic Park NSW.

We will demonstrate live websites that are connected to our Retailer POS software in local businesses. We will also show how to transfer stock to a website and how to manage images. We will answer all your website related questions. Bookings are essential.

All retailers are welcome to this educational and informative session.

Small business retail advice: save time and money with Xero POS software integration

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Save time, eliminate bookkeeping costs, cut mistakes and make better business decisions sooner with the Tower Systems POS software Xero integration.

Our Xero partnership sees us linking direct to Xero. No middleware. No third p[arty. This is a direct, fast and time saving link. It is best-practice.

We use this link ourselves in the retail businesses we own and run. We know it works a treat. Our accountant loves it.

The Xero integration designed by Tower Systems, working with the folks at Xero, makes it easy for small business retailers to cut accounting paperwork and thereby tap into time and money saving benefits.

We use our Xero integrated POS software ourselves. This enables us to provide practical advice on how to benefit the most from Xero and our POS software working together.

Our customers have access to our in-house CPA, to provide a professional accounting perspective on the link and how to get the most from it.

Tower Systems is a unique POS software company. In addition to serving 3,500+ small business retailers, we own and operate several retail businesses as live test sites. Our in-house CPA manages the accounts for these retail businesses.

Practical website advice for small business retailers – how online rules have changed

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How people use websites for retail businesses has changed, not overnight, but gradually over time.

If you have a website created more than three years ago, which has not been structurally changed or updated since it is probably not helping your business.

Online, the world moves fast, often faster than many small business retailers understand and plan for. Our advice here is designed to help you catch up.

Even if a website is there merely as an online business care, it needs to been certain criteria today to be found and of use to shoppers.

Here are some useful ‘rules’ I offer as  guidance for any retailer with (or planning) a business website:

  1. Ensure the site is mobile phone friendly. If it is not, Google will downgrade its ranking of the site.  Google announced red this more than a year ago. If you are not sure if your site is mobile friendly, access it from a phone and see if it is easily used without having to move the screen around. The site should automatically resize for the phone.
  2. Be clear about your online operation. Do not think you have to bring to online everything you do in your high street business. It could be your voice and persona online is completely different to in-store.
  3. Do not overload the site with stock. Include on the site products people will want to buy, products people will want to search for.
  4. Nail delivery. By this I mean make it certain for customers and easy for staff to run, for any staff member to run, to ensure deliveries are actioned asap.
  5. Make contact easy. the more human your site the more people you will attract.
  6. Pitch your brands. Your shoppers will be searching by brand more than they will search by the trading name of your business.
  7. Connect product pages to social media, make it easy for browsers to leverage your online content socially.
  8. Offer click and collect.
  9. Offer online LayBy.
  10. Ensure you take payment in a range of forms including PayPal.
  11. Promote the site in-store and on your social media pages.
  12. Get your pricing right. Online and in-store should match.
  13. Be prepared to completely replace the site in 18 months. That is the lifespan of a website as suggested by web experts and retailers who are successful in this space. While replace may be drastic, a complete visual and structural refresh may suffice.

These new ‘rules’ are a start. The represent the most significant changes from websites that small business retailers, including newsagents, were doing just a few years ago.

I think a website for a retail business is best approached as an opportunity for the business to sell to people the business would otherwise not reach. This thinking helps you focus on the site and its purpose as being different, broader than the website. It also helps you learn more about borderless retail.

How people shop, when and where they shop and why they shop has fundamentally changed in recent years. A good website can help any retail business, including there Aussie newsagency, to reach new customers and through this drive greater commercial efficiency from the physical retail business.

Tower Systems offers POS software integrated website development services. We are an excellent portfolio of sites to share.

Tower Systems small business POS software on show at Melbourne Gift Fair in August

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We are excited to be showing our latest POS software packages for gift shopsjewellersbike shopspet shops,  toy shopsfishing/outdoorsgarden centres/nurseriesnewsagentsproduce stores and firearms retailers at the gift fair in Melbourne in a few weeks.

Having done this fair for many years, we understand the value retailers in a range of specialty niches place on the large event.

Many regard it as the best gift fair in Australia.

Tower Systems has been the most consistent POS software supporter of the fair and those who attend.  It has certainly been valuable for us, helping us reach many prospects who have become customers.

This gift fair is valuable because it serves a range of specialty software niches in which we serve. This makes it more interesting than single marketplace shows. It makes it far more interesting than trade shows run by a wholesaler serving one retail niche.

This year our Melbourne Gift Fair  stand is located at the showgrounds, where attendees will see a terrific mix of gist, homewares, toy, fashion and personal grooming products.

We’d be thrilled to say g’day if you stopped by.

POS software Xero link helps small business retailers drive sales

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newsXpress Southland is a card, gift and collectibles shop in the sprawling Westfield Southland shopping centre in south east Melbourne.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

POS software Shopify link helps small business high street retailers sell online

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Tower Systems offers direct integration between its small business POS software and Magento, Shopify and WooCommerce, as well as a generic link that retailers with web stores in other platforms can use.

The Tower Systems platform specific links have been developed to the standards of Magento, Shopify and WooCommerce. We have taken great care to ensure that we link as they intend, sharing the right data for a seamless connection between the physical store POS software and the o line store experience.

This drives shopper confidence and saves retailers time. It helps drive revenue too.

As operators of retail businesses as well as online businesses, Tower Systems is well placed to provide a whole of business physical store and online =store solution that is integrated, safe, easy and shopper outcome focussed.

Each link is different.  Here is information abut the Tower Systems POS software Shopify link:

What is Shopify?

Shopify is one of the easiest ways to setup and run an ecommerce store. We think it provides you with the ideal place to create you first website and gain experience in the world of ecommerce. You have complete control over the look and feel of your online store and can instant access fantastic look themes to reflect the personality of your business. For more information visit www.shopify.com.au.

What is the Retailer to Shopify Link?

The Tower Systems Retailer POS software to Shopify Link uses the Tower Advantage Link platform to allow Retailer to connect directly to your Shopify store. The Tower Advantage Link platform is a subscription-based service that acts as an intermediary between Retailer and the Shopify API.

How does the link work?

The link works by using the TALink platform platform to connect to the shopify API and synchronise your data.

Stock. Retailer is your master stock database. You flag what stock items you want to appear on your shopify store. Descriptions and extended descriptions are added as your titles and descriptions in Shopify. Newly flagged products are automatically added and if you edit items in Retailer you have field level control over how these are handled in Shopify.

Department and Categories. Your Retailer Departments and Categories become collections in Shopify. You can have a chose of either Department level collections or category level, but not both. If you choose to synchronise either a department or category, your existing structure will be mirrored and managed in Shopify automatically. If, however, you decide not link your Department and Categories in Shopify, you can allocate collections manually to products once they are added.

Classifications. Shopify does not have a mechanism to manage classifications.

Prices and Quantity On Hand. You have control over your webstore pricing from within the Retailer Stock Screen. Bulk updates of the webstore prices can be performed in Stock Manager. Once new prices are set, your web store is updated automatically.

Quantity on hand is also managed automatically, when your sell or arrive an item into stock these adjustments are sent directly to Shopify. If the quantity on hand of an items drops to 0, the item is marked as out of stock in Shopify.

Images. The images you set against stock items in Retailer are automatically uploaded to your website. If images change, then old one is removed and the new one is added. You can upload as many images as you like per stock item.

 

Customers. Customers that purchase off your webstore are added as customers in your Retailer database, allowing you to track what they buy and market to them if you desire. Existing customers with an email address will also be added to your web store to facilitate easy sales if you choose.

Sales. Sales are downloaded on a periodic basis and imported into Retailer. They are imported into our Customer Invoice Maintenance facility allowing you to place orders and print invoices if needed. Once sales are imported it reduces your quantity on hand so you maintain accurate stock control. Sales can be allocated to a specific location or merged to you main sales data, giving you excellent control over how you report on your webstore sales.

I don’t have a website but want one. Can Tower help?

Yes! We are expert in POS software and web store development and deployment.

How a small discount voucher from our POS software led to a $1,500 purchase

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I want to share with you a true story of what happened recently in one of my own shops – yes, I own this POS software co as well as retail shops. It is a story of how a small everyday purchase led to something bigger and how this happened as a result of fundamental changes in how the business is run.

This story could happen in any retail business – city, country, large, small, shopping mall, high street. I make that point so you do not dismiss the story and think it could not happen in your business. The elements of the story work together in any size business. In writing about it here I’m not getting you to do anything other than to consider that you could achieve the same in your business.

At its core, this is a story about shopper loyalty, especially shopper loyalty in a retail situation where between 25% and 30% of shoppers visiting the business are not local and therefore not likely to engage with the old-school points-based loyalty program.

A customer passing the shop noticed our greeting card range and stepped into make a purchase because of a specific need. They purchased two cards. On their receipt was a voucher for almost $2.00. As they are not usually in the shopping centre they looked around for something in which to spend the $2.00.

This is the key: the customer came in to make a quick destination purchase. The type of purchase where we did not matter. They were on the way to the car park and happened to pass buy our shop. Point 1: location is in our favour. The stepped in because they saw our greeting cards. Point 2: the floor placement of cards was key in getting them in the shop.

Having made the purchase, the customer then noticed, for the first time, what else we sold – because of the $2.00 discount voucher on their receipt. Point 3: we got them to look around and see what else we sold.

The customer did a 180 degree turn and saw a locked glass cabinet of beautiful collectible bears. This was in the right place at the right time as they had been looking for a gift for a child. Money was not an issue. They wanted something to last a lifetime. They purchased a $500.00 bear.

This purchase would not have been made had they not been given the $2.00 voucher on their receipt. The voucher is what got them to notice what else we sold.

Fast forward several weeks and this customer who said they don’t usually come to the shopping centre was back for another $500.00 purchase. Now, several more weeks later, the customer has another $500.00 order placed.

I can directly trace more than $1,500.00 in sales back to the $2.00 voucher.

The software produced the voucher based on rules I established. The initial staff member serving the customer made a brief professional pitch highlighting the voucher. These are both important factors as they are at the core of a structured consistent approach to what has become the most lucrative loyalty program I have seen in my 30+ years involved in retail as a retailer myself and working with retailers in many different channels.

While most times vouchers are handed out they are not redeemed, they are redeemed enough to make them worthwhile. They are redeemed for good margin product as they get people looking at the shop for the first time and discovering items to purchase they were not in our four walls to consider.

The discount vouchers are disruptive. People respond in unpredictable ways.

Best of all, the discount vouchers are profitable.

For this story to work in a newsagency you need to have the right products, placed strategically in-store. Your staff need to make the right pitch. Plus, you need to be attracting people who don’t know and probably don’t care what shop they are in.

If you have read this post and thought it does not relate to you, that you could not do this in your business I say you are wrong. I am certain the approach I have shared with you could work in any newsagency in any situation. I urge you to not hold your business back.

Aussie produce software ideal for produce and stockfeed businesses

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The produce business software from Tower Systems is proving to be ideal for product businesses, stockfeed businesses and related businesses.

Developed in close consultation with produce retailers in regional and rural Australia, the software has facilities targeting niche needs in these specialty retail businesses.

Facilities include selling by weight, handling freight calculations, having special orders, tracking customer accounts and providing appropriate product warnings as required for the sale of certain chemicals.

The software does not stop still. It continues to be evolved, based on feedback and advice from product and stockfeed businesses owners who use it.

Consistent stock files, electronic invoices, easier business-to-business comparison and more targeted business development assistance are just some of the benefits you can expect from a more consistent solution.

At a store level, here are some of the benefits you can expect from using the Tower Systems software in your business:

  1. Easy handling of multiple price levels for items. This is very flexible and ideal for what we often see in produce businesses.
  2. Easy handling of multiple sale pack sizes (or volumes) per product.
  3. Managing loyalty based on pack purchases over time.
  4. Easy performance reporting comparing trading periods, supplier performance and other key business performance metrics.
  5. Fast, accurate selling including easy handling of large and book items.
  6. Easy connection to Xero, MYOB or quick books.
  7. Easy connection to a website if you have one.
  8. Easy management of customer accounts.
  9. Tracking of stock movement.
  10. Handling of customer loyalty – points and discounts.
  11. Easy reordering based on sales.
  12. Security over business data.
  13. Security over business settings blocking changes you do not want made.
  14. Peace of mind thanks to consistent processes established through the software for managing stock, customers and other aspects of the business.

What makes us different is how we engage. We go beyond what is traditional software company.

  1. We are local. We are a 100% Australian owned software company, based in Hawthorn Victoria. When you contact us, a human responds. We don’t use automate phone systems. Our help desk team members don’t follow a rigid script. Small business thrives on human interaction, we do too.
  2. We welcome working with your suppliers to create data links that save you and them time, data links that improve data accuracy, data links that feed more accurate business reports.
  3. We provide business insights based on data cultivated through the software – to business owners who ask. This is a free service.
  4. Our help desk provides context for advice. Rather than the turn it off and turn it on advice, our help desk team members explain the why, why from a business perspective the advice they are providing matters.
  5. Our software updates contain enhancements suggested and voted on by customers. You can have a direct say in the evolution of the software.
  6. Our communication is in plain English. While we are a company of IT geeks, when talking with customers we keep it simple. We won’t scare you.

Using POS software to cut employee theft in small business retail

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Theft is retail can be expensive, particularly employee theft. Tower systems has a structured and proven approach for dealing with employee theft in retail businesses where the Tower Systems POS software is used.

The Tower POS software has tools for reducing the opportunity for theft. Better still, the software has hidden tools for tracking theft, tools that provide evidence police and prosecutors have used to successfully deal with theft situations.

It is the secret and secure facilities where our software provides retail business owners the evidence necessary to achieve successful resolution, as we have found in many employee theft situations where our help has been called upon.

Discovering theft by an employee can be debilitating and destabilising. To help you through this, Tower Systems provides advice and support on what to do once you discover employee theft. The goal is to offer straightforward steps to help you get through as it is on the other side of this where you can find the opportunity to move on from the feeling of violation that often accompanies employee theft in small business.

In addition to being a support, we provide practical advice an help for use our our POS software to reduce  the opportunity for employee theft and shopper theft.

Follow this advice on how to use our specialist retail software to hamper opportunities for theft and bolster the certainty of detecting it before it’s too late:

  1. Employ stock control for high volume items. Enter new stock as it comes in, scan all sales and only reorder based on what the software says. Perform a stock take regularly each month. High volume item stock discrepancies are an indicator of theft.
  2. Scan everything you sell. Do not use department tracking only – your data needs to be granular to prevent employees taking advantage of loose stock on hand quantities. Not scanning individual stock items is unfortunately an invitation to dishonest employees.
  3. Use the software-based end of shift procedure and have a zero-tolerance policy on cash balance discrepancies. Reconcile banking to your computer software at end of shift. We have seen businesses failing to do this: one was being skimmed regularly of $200 a day.
  4. Do spot cash balancing. Unexpected checks can uncover surprises. One business owner needing to perform banking during the day uncovered a $350 discrepancy that lead to the discovery of systematic theft.
  5. Mix up your roster. Sometimes people work together to steal. One retailer found a family friend senior and their teenage daughter stealing consistently.
  6. 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. Our software tracks cancelled sales and what was in them. This can be matched with video footage.
  7. Check GP by department. If GP is falling outside what you expect, always research further.
  8. Publish a theft policy. Put this on a noticeboard in the back room. Get staff to read it and sign up to it. At the bottom of this page is a sample theft policy.
  9. Keep the store counter area clean. A better organised counter reduces the opportunity for theft. Reducing nooks and crannies makes detection of any cash hoarding easier.
  10. Have a “no employee bags” at the counter policy. This makes it harder for dishonest employees to hide stolen cash.
  11. 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.
  12. Beware of calculators and mobile phones at the counter. Employees can use these devices to track how much cash could be stolen prior to balancing for the day – cash from sales not processed.
  13. Do not let employees sell to themselves. If an employee wants to purchase something ensure they purchase it from the customer’s side of the counter.
  14. 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. Do not take cash handling lightly; if you respect your business procedures your staff are more likely to too. Never take cash from the till for your own personal use, i.e. to buy lunch.
  15. 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.

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

The POS Software Blog

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