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 made for produce / farm supply / stockfeed businesses

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Choosing software can be difficult. This is especially true in specialty retail businesses. For example, a produce / farm supply business, has specialist needs that are not covered in most POS software. Our produce business software is made for your type of business.

We are grateful here at Tower Systems to the many in the produce business community who guide us. Their advice helps us evolve software not only for them but for others in similar businesses.

Our produce / farm supply / stockfeed business POS software is robust and capable, suitable to the needs of many in these channels.

In-store and online, Tower Systems helps. Here are some websites we have created for produce businesses – they are connected to our POS software:

  • Yan Yean Stock Feed: www.yysf.com.au
  • Brindabella Stockfeed: www.brindabellastockfeed.com.au
  • Northside produce: www.northsideproduceagency.com.au
  • Sprengers Rural Traders: www.sprengersruraltraders.com.au

See this produce / farm supply / stockfeed business POS software for yourself. Here is a 1hr video of a demo of our $199.00 a month produce business software. This is us being transparent and open as to key features of this software.

Our produce / farm supply business software continues to evolve thanks to the generous advice and guidance from our customer community. Our software nurtures many benefits, including:

1. Quote and invoice management. Strong, flexible, fit for purpose.
2. Customer delivery management options.
3. Sell from anywhere, anytime option through Retailer RoamTM.
4. Trade pricing profiles supporting pricing flexibility for your customers.
5. Customer account management: Professional and accurate control.
6. Sell by weight, including fractions.
7. Bagging up feed. Bag feed into smaller packs, with accurate stock data.
8. Pre-orders – pre-sell stock and be ahead of the game.
9. Special orders – easily manage special customer orders.
10. Genuinely informative receipts. You control design and detail.
11. Colour / size / style. Track what you sell at a granular level.
12. Awesome loyalty through which you can easily differentiate.
13. Seasonal reordering. Easily reorder inventory based on seasonal sales.
14. Weatherproof labels.
15. Electronic supplier invoice support – cut mistakes and save time.
16. Easy Shopify website integration.

Tower Systems is a local POS software company serving the needs of thousands of local specialty retail businesses. We are thankful to every customer who supports and all in their businesses who rely on us.

Australian made POS software and websites for produce / farm supply / stockfeed businesses

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Tower Systems is grateful to offer fresh and innovative POS software for produce / farm supply / stockfeed businesses. This software is made for these businesses, offering facilities that serve needs in these businesses that go beyond traditional retail.

From handling freight requirements, to selling in fractions, to managing customer special orders to ensuring correct notification of hazardous materials, our Australian made farm supply and produce POS software is a solution of which we are most proud. Already in use on many of these businesses, this POS software has proven itself to be of value and benefit to this specialty business channel.

Plenty of local small business retailers have had a good Covid. This has been a result of good planning and astute management.

Take selling online. It’s here to stay, and it is growing, rapidly. Doing this through a POS software connected website is smart. We help with both.

We develop and sell specialty produce / farm supply business POS software.

We also develop POS software connected Shopify websites. Check out:

  • Yan Yean Stock Feed: www.yysf.com.au
  • Brindabella Stockfeed: www.com.au
  • Northside produce: www.northsideproduceagency.com.au
  • Sprengers Rural Traders: www.sprengersruraltraders.com.au

We developed these websites for businesses using our POS software.

We’d love to find out about your software needs. That’s where it begins. We start with your needs as it’s possible our software is not a good fit for you – we will never push or pitch our software if we feel we’re not the right fit.

To talk to one of our produce / farm supply business software experts, please call 1300 662 957 or email sales@towersystems.com.au.

Here are answers to some of the questions we have been asked about our Produce / Farm Supply / Stockfeed Business Software over the years

When you are ready, we’d love to show you our Produce / Farm Supply / Stockfeed Business Software and through that show you answers to other questions you have.

Can you sell by fractional quantities? Yes, by weight or by measure.

Can you pass on hazardous good information? Yes, you can load files, images, documents or PDFs for products (information sheets, advice, notices) and have them automatically included in emailed receipts.

We sell on the road, is there a mobile version? Yes, our Retailer RoamTM option is perfect for selling from anywhere.

Does the software work with and easily load supplier provided electronic invoices? Yes, including: Airr, Eastern Distributors, Premier Pet, Master Pet, Kongs and Pet Pacific.

Can you manage breaking up bulk products and selling at smaller quantities? Yes, you can receive product in bulk and break it into smaller selling packs.

Can you manage creating your own custom feed bags using multiple products whilst keeping track of qty on hand figures? Yes, you can take a number of items, mix them and then bag up your own product made from them.

Can you set specific pricing for special groups of customers ie trade customers? Yes.

Can you manage quotes? Yes, you can create quotes and then turn them into sales if they proceed.

Can you manage deliveries? Yes, the software has a couple of ways of doing this.

Will the system print picking slips for local deliveries? Yes.

Are the stock labels the system produces weatherproof? Yes, as long as you purchase our weatherproof label stock.

Can you handle repairs and servicing of machinery like mowers etc? Yes, repairs facilities included with the software track repairs, parts used, labour used and advising the customer the item is ready to collect.

Can you reach back out to customers you remind them of previous seasons they purchased in?Yes, you can select customers for marketing past on a range of criteria, including past purchases.

Does the system handle account customers? Yes, you can setup and manage customer accounts.

Does the system produce invoicing and statements? Yes, these can be printed or emailed.

Can I offer a special price to members of a club? Yes.

Can I share local information such as seasonal crop care?  Yes, on receipts.

Can I remind customers about equipment servicing? Yes.

Can I do this by text or email? Either, we support both.

Aussie made POS software for produce / farm supply businesses helps them serve their local communities

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You can’t get more local than a local produce / farm supply / stockfeed business.

Tower Systems is grateful to serve this unique retail channel with produce business POS software. First released some years ago, the software is updated several times a year, often including enhancements suggested by customers keen for new facilities. This keeps it fresh, useful and valuable. It helps these businesses serve their local communities.

Our produce business POS software nurtures many benefits, including:

  1. Quote and invoice management. Strong, flexible, fit for purpose.
  2. Customer delivery management options.
  3. Sell from anywhere, anytime option through Retailer RoamTM.
  4. Trade pricing profiles supporting pricing flexibility for your customers.
  5. Customer account management: Professional and accurate control.
  6. Sell by weight, including fractions.
  7. Bagging up feed. Bag feed into smaller packs, with accurate stock data.
  8. Pre-orders – pre-sell stock and be ahead of the game.
  9. Special orders – easily manage special customer orders.
  10. Genuinely informative receipts. You control design and detail.
  11. Colour / size / style. Track what you sell at a granular level.
  12. Awesome loyalty through which you can easily differentiate.
  13. Seasonal reordering. Easily reorder inventory based on seasonal sales.
  14. Weatherproof labels.
  15. Electronic supplier invoice support – cut mistakes and save time.
  16. Easy Shopify website integration.

 

Rent our produce business POS software for $199.00 a month, giving you:

  1. Australian developed and supported produce business POS software.
  2. Unlimited computer licences for your location.
  3. Software updates as we release them.
  4. Shopify / Magento / Woo link. Easily sell online from your POS software.
  5. Xero link. Easing bookkeeping costs and streamlining accounting.
  6. Our OzBiz link. This helps you link to MYOB and Quicken through OzBiz.
  7. Tyro link – safe, fast and easy EFTPOS link for streamlined sales.
  8. Eftpos link … easy EFTPOS processing for the major banks.
  9. Easy buy now pay later
  10. Support – help desk access to our team of specialists.
  11. Top-up training – unlimited one-on-one training over the phone.
  12. User documentation. Access to our searchable knowledge base.

Beyond the software, here are features of a relationship with Tower Systems…

  • We are local. Local matters in local communities. Tower Systems is Australian owned, developed and supported. Call us and a human answers the phone.
  • Our training is personal, in your business. We think people learn better from face to face training.
  • Unlimited free training. Long after you install the software, ask for free top-up training and all we will organise it.
  • New customer care. All new customers have a separate specialist team with which they connect, to ease settling-in.
  • Customers guide our software enhancement. We offer a transparent, democratic, process for guiding software update content.
  • Produce business specific. This software is developed for your type of business.
  • In the cloud or in-store. You choose where the software runs.
  • Rent or buy. You choose how to acquire and fund the software.
  • We help with business performance analysis and theft checks, services where we take a deep dive into your data and provide confidential insights.
  • Every customer has the direct contact details for our leadership team for easy and safe escalation of any query.
  • No pressure. You buy when you are ready.
  • Retail group engagement. Groups and members of groups have opportunities for group level customisation website sales and more.
  • It’s personal. Retail is personal. This is why we prefer to train you in your shop. Yes, we said this above. We say it again as it is a differentiator.

Is our POS software right for your retail team members?

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In any local retail businesses, it is the people in the business who really make the business stand out, it is in the people working in the business that valuable differentiation can be found.

The right staff members can make or break a shop.

This is why we ask Is our POS software right for your retail team members? when we are talking with a retail business owner about our POS software. It’s a serious question, an important question, a question that helps local small business retailers in their assessment not only of Tower Systems but of any other POS software company they are considering.

In considering this, Is our POS software right for your retail team members? it is important to understand what your retail; business team members want out of POS software. It could be they have needs beyond what the business owner knows. It could be that they see opportunity beyond what the business does today. Including them in the POS software evaluation and consideration process brings them along, gives them some stake in the ultimate decision that is made.

Here at Tower Systems, when we demonstrate our Pos software, we record it, with your permission. We then share the link too the video so you can share it with your team members, so they can learn about our POS software and consider for themselves whether our Tower Systems POS software is right for them, and through that, right for your business.

We welcome the opportunity to demonstrate our POS software to your team members, so they can see the software in action, touch it and feel it. We often learn from these situations, which we love.

Front line retail team members know a lot about the business in which they work and its customers. Tapping into that knowledge is valuable for us and in our consideration of what we can develop in our POS software as we expand its reach.

So, we care about the question Is our POS software right for your retail team members?, a lot. We ask it ourselves and encourage small business retailers considering partnering with us to ask this too. In doing this we are able to nurture more valuable and appreciated partnerships. And, the businesses we say we are not the right fit to benefit as well.

Tower Systems makes and supports POS software for local specialty retailers.

Is our POS software right for your local retail business?

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It’s the big question for any retail business owner considering POS software for their business. Is the POS software they are considering right for their business?

How can they know?

How can they be sure?

Plenty of POS software sales people will say it is. Here at Tower Systems we will not. We think the question as to which POS software is best for your business is a question you need to answer for yourself.

We do ask it ourselves, though, throughout the sales process.

We ask ourselves: Is our POS software right for your local retail business?

It’s important that we form a view. The last thing we want is to sell our POS software into a situation it is not a good fit for. If we think our POS software is not a good fit for your retail business, we will say so. Life is too short to chase every sale regardless of the value it offers a retail business.

We determine if our POS software is a good fit for your business by asking questions, lots of questions. We want to know what’s important to your business, what keeps it running, where you want improvement, why you are looking for POS software and what POS software must have for it to be considered.

Yeah, we ask lots of questions, and in doing that we help you firm up your own views as to what matters to you and your business. We have had many sales prospects tell us they love this process and how we help them better understand their needs.

But back to the question on our minds: s our POS software right for your local retail business? We look at your needs, what your business does, what our software does and discuss it through, to form a view. Once we know what we think, we discuss it with you.

Sometimes, when we tell a local retail business owner that we do not think our POS software is a good fit for them, they are frustrated. Usually, once we explain why, they either suggest changes to their business or thank us and move on.

Transparency is key all through this. We benefit from it and so do those considering our POS software.

Tower Systems develops specialty retail POS software for a range of specialty retail channels.

7 ways the small business POS software from Tower Systems is valuably unique

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Not all POS software is the same. There are companies, like Tower Systems, that invest in creating unique POS software to serve niche needs of specialty retailers. In doing this, for example, for jewellers, we have created facilities that serve the needs of other specialty retail channels.

Good POS software is living, evolving … to meet evolving retail needs. This is what we do, constantly evolve the software based on needs expressed and voted on by customers.

No, not all POS software is the same. There is generic off the shelf and, then, there is specialty POS software for specialty retailers.

Here are 7 unique ways the POS software from Tower Systems helps small business retailers to run more successful and enjoyable businesses:

  1. Loyalty customers love. Too often, loyalty software is all about the retailer. While we get that it has to work for the retailer, it, first of all, has to be loved by shoppers. That is what we deliver, and shoppers respond well as a result.
  2. Seasonally adjust. Seasons matter in retail. A challenge for some is that seasons move. Using our POS software you can adjust for this and be sure of how the business is performing, so you can easily compare and plan.
  3. A leverage-me platform that allows you to leverage intellectual property unique to you as well as to your business, through which you can pitch your knowledge. You do matter. This is a genuinely differentiating opportunity as it is about you.
  4. A no overhead, easily understood and sales driving loyalty solution that you can turn on in seconds and have delivering sales results today. This is smart loyalty, innovative and designed for today’s shopper. It does not leverage legacy loyalty that shoppers are sick of and that supermarkets continue to use.
  5. Seamless online with easy flowing inventory detail and image data between the POS software and Shopify thanks to smart and engaging integration for in-store, online and click and collect sales supported by many payment options including several buy now pay later options.
  6. Sell anywhere thanks to Retailer RoamTM, the on the road POS solution from the shop floor, at local markets, from a truck or from the roadside. This innovative, cloud based, solution is smart, engaging and ready for the new normal of 2020 and beyond.
  7. An access from anywhere insights platform that is your own personal business insights tool, shining a light on a pathway of data that reveals insights into your business andkopens you to considering opportunities ahead.

In the POS software from Tower Systems retailers have access to many opportunities, many more than the 7 listed here, opportunities through which the businesses can more efficiently operate and can reach more new traffic shopper opportunities.

POS software connected Shopify websites for local small business retailers

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Tower Systems develops POS software and it develops POS software connected Shopify websites. We develop magento and Woo, too, but it’s in the Shopify space where the needs of most of our local small business retailers are met.

Our portfolio of POS software connected Shopify websites is comprehensive, covering a range of specialty retail situations including jewellers, garden centres, toy shops, firearms dealers, produce businesses, farm supply businesses, gift, homewares, fashion, and more.

We are grateful to our community of local small business retailers for their support, and encouragement.

We are often asked for website advice, how to be successful online. While we have comprehensive advice for our customers, in this public space, Tower Systems is happy to share this list of top things to consider if you want your local retail business to be successful online.

This best of the best advice about taking your retail business online is based on many years of experience.

  1. It’s urgent. Every retail business needs to be online. You have no idea what you are missing. Online should be at least 10% of your revenue now.
  2. Your POS software should manage your inventory, including what you sell online. This saves time and manages consistency.
  3. Start small, focussed. Don’t obsess about getting the whole business on. The sooner you start the sooner you will get experience and this will feed your evolution.
  4. It’s hard work. If you seek and embrace short cuts, they will come at a. cost. Lean into the hard work. get it done.
  5. Shopify is better than WooCommerce. A WooCommerce website usually costs more to maintain. hey, we’ve been doing this for many years and have used both, and Magento. Shopify gives you more control and requires less tech skills.
  6. Don’t overthink shipping. A complex approach to shipping will negatively impact your online sales.
  7. Accept all payment types. Credit card, PayPal, Buy Now Pay later – they all serve a purpose. Make sure you are flexible.
  8. You are your best asset. Your knowledge about your products is your best asset. It is differentiating. Leverage it on your website in the text write and the blog posts you publish. This is what will attract shoppers.
  9. Describe for the search. In a shop, people browse based on what they see. Online, people start browsing by typing in text. Think about this when they describe what they sell.
  10. Own your complexity. If you choose to have a complex offer or a complex approach to selling online, it’s your complexity. Don’t rely on a web developer or a tech person to make it easier for you. Making it easier starts with you making decisions about your business.

If you are interested in our POS software or having us develop a POS software connected Shopify site for you, please email sales@towersystems.com.au or call Tim on 0401 883 917 or Justin on 0434 365 789.

Click here to find out more about our specialty retail POS software. Click here to see our YouTube Channel where you can see up to date demonstrations of our various specialty retail POS software products.

Click here to access our fixed-price standard POS software connected Shopify website quote.

Click here to see the checklist we provide our Shopify customers. It outlines what’s critical about preparing for a Shopify site.

Click here to access our website customer questionnaire. This is designed to help you clarify your needs. A copy of your responses is sent to you.

Interest free finance offer for Shopify website development for small business retailers

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Tower Systems only serves local small business retailers, with specialty retail POS software and with fixed-price Shopify website development, through which we deliver POS software connected Shopify websites.

To make the cost of development of a Shopify website less challenging on cashflow, we are pleased to have been able to release an interest free payment plan for our local small business retail customers who get us to develop a Shopify website for their business.

By spreading the Shopify website development cost over a year, local small business retailers are more able to afford having a beautiful POS software connected website created for them.

there is no extra cost, to additional charge. All we have done is take our one-off cost and spread it over a year, with monthly payments.

Shopify web development proceeds unhindered. The site is taken live the moment it is ready and approved by our customer. And, yes, this can be prior to the website development cost having been fully paid. By ensuring this we are demonstrating that the interest-free payment plan offer is really about making getting live online more cash-flow respectful for small business retailers.

Having developed many websites for local small business retailers already, we have considerable experience on which to draw. It was clear to us that the challenge on business finances was a factor in business owners making a decision to proceed. hence, our offer of interest-free financing for the cost of Shopify website development.

Since launch a few weeks ago, the take-up of the offer has been considerable. We are grateful to be in a position to underwrite the cost of this offer for our POS software customers. Our hope is that many businesses get online that may not have been in a position to do so at this point in their business cycle.

This interest-free Shopify website development program is another way Tower Systems offers practical help and support to local small business retailers and thereby empowering them to better serve their local communities.

Retail has fundamentally changed, not only because of the coronavirus pandemic but because of the role technology is playing in operation as well as customer engagement and connectivity. Online plays a key role, making being online critical for any business that wants to be in a position to compete.

Retailers are reaching shoppers they would otherwise not have reached. They are selling more, too. We continually say to retailers considering going online that they done;t know what they don’t know. The first few weeks online can be illuminating, revealing and encouraging.

Local small business retailers can shine online because they can be more flexible and move faster than big businesses. This is critical in the online world today.

Tower Systems is grateful to serve local small business retailers with awesome specialty retail POS software and with beautiful Shopify websites connected to that POS software.

Tower Systems helps local small business retailers through Covid

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Tower Systems is grateful to be able to continue to help Australian and New Zealand small business retailers through COVID-19.

Our business is open and our office is open, since we meet the criteria for being essential.

What we introduced in February 2020 when we saw how Covid is playing out around the world and the impact it is having on businesses is still available. This Tower Systems support package is helping local small business retailers to pivot and embrace opportunity found within the Covid situation. Here is what we continue to offer:

  1. Free POS software licences for home access.
  2. Free unlimited personal, one-on-one, POS software training.
  3. No surcharge credit card use.
  4. Free access anywhere POS software reporting tools.
  5. Pivot advice, based on your business data – advice on opportunities for new traffic, new revenue.
  6. Capped price low cost Shopify sites, with fast track to going live.
  7. Business performance analysis help based on a professional assessment of what your data reveal.
  8. Discounted training / installation / setup package – making choosing Tower Systems lower cost right now.

Here at Tower Systems, it is business as usual and, through this, we are helping our POS software customers achieve a business as usual experience. We know this is comforting to our customers, helpful for their business planning and operations.

We continue to offer a full service POS software help desk service, releasing POS software updates and delivering our much-loves free one-on-one training to our retail business owners and their staff.

In offering business as usual, our customers have continuity of service. This helps them have what they need to work on their businesses … as that is what plenty of small business retailers have been doing through COVID-19, working on their businesses, re-calibrating, adjusting and, for some, pivoting. Indeed, we have helped some exciting pivots and we are grateful to have seen this and been part of it.

We are grateful to our team of software developers, help desk experts, POS software trainers, our back office infrastructure support and our sales team in that it is this group of people that has delivered for our customers through COVID-19 every day.

But back to the pivot opportunity. We see plenty of this in a range of local specialty retail channels in which we serve. By see we mean in real and accurate business data. Data show pivot opportunities and we can help our retail partners to explore these and consider whether they are useful. 2020 is a terrific year for a pivot and having the right software with flexibility can be helpful.

Tower Systems lobbies Afterpay on behalf of local small business retailers

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Afterpay has denied access to is popular buy now pay later finance platform to several groups of retailers based on a small selection of products they sell. While we understand the position of Afterpay and that is is following its own published guidelines, we think the company has an opportunity to revisit these guidelines.

Using our POS software, we can help local small business retailers comply with many regulations. This includes blocking access to some payment methods based on products and categories of concern to parties that support the business. Using this technology and appropriate business support and advice, we think we can help Afterpay connect with more retail businesses and live within its own regulations art the same time.

We are grateful that folks at Afterpay have at least listened to representations we have made on behalf of the engaged local small business retailers that we serve in our 3,000+ strong POS software user community.

This work we have done, lobbying Afterpay on behalf of local small business retailers, is an example of what we do beyond what is traditional for a POS software company. It is us offering help, service and engagement with a supplier so that the supplier might consider doing business with our customers.

Our work on a range of projects sets us up to help achieve the safety Afterpay is looking for, to ensure that their financing platform is not used for products or services outside what is acceptable to them. They would not be the first supplier we have facilitated this for and they would not be the last for sure.

From age checking to shopping basket oversight, we have tech within our software that enables us to serve a variety of regulatory needs and it is through these that we can help Afterpay achieve with it needs, if it is keen to connect with small business retailers in channels it currently does not bring on to its buy now pay later funding platform.

Tower Systems is a vertical market POS software company serving niche specialty retailer needs in only selected retail channels. We dive deep in to the specific needs of each channel to help them run engaged and locally focussed specialty retail businesses.

Advice for small business retailers on POS software connected Shopify websites for boosting retail sales

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Two weeks ago our team at Tower Systems hosted four free workshops covering a range of topics related to creating POS software connected Shopify sites and how to drive traffic to them. The goal was to share insights and offer free advice and training for retailers looking to grow online sales.

All up, the four sessions covered close to six hours.

Here are videos of the workshops for anyone interested. If you are considering a website for your business, buyer beware. There are plenty of shonky business people in the web development space. Our hope is that the four workshops share information that you find useful in navigating a path to growing your online sales.

This last session is all about writing good blog posts and how they play a key role in driving traffic.

We are grateful to the retailer who participated.

Practical online sales management advice for small business retailers

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Like any Saturday, today has been busy helping local small business retailers. In between, we took an opportunity to write an in the moment email with our top advice for selling online. The email we sent explains itself …

The 4 free how to sell online using Shopify for small business retailers workshops we hosted almost 2 weeks ago were appreciated by plenty.

Based on the questions and feedback, here is our top advice, our most important advice for local small business retailers about selling online:

  1. It’s urgent. Every retail business needs to be online. You have no idea what you are missing. Online should be at least 10% of your revenue now.
  2. Your POS software should manage your inventory, including what you sell online. This saves time and manages consistency.
  3. Start small, focussed. Don’t obsess about getting the whole business on. The sooner you start the sooner you will get experience and this will feed your evolution.
  4. It’s hard work. If you seek and embrace short cuts, they will come at a. cost. Lean into the hard work. get it done.
  5. Shopify is better than WooCommerce. A WooCommerce website usually costs more to maintain. hey, we’ve been doing this for many years and have used both, and Magento. Shopify gives you more control and requires less tech skills.
  6. Don’t overthink shipping. A complex approach to shipping will negatively impact your online sales.
  7. Accept all payment types. Credit card, PayPal, Buy Now Pay later – they all serve a purpose. Make sure you are flexible.
  8. You are your best asset. Your knowledge about your products is your best asset. It is differentiating. Leverage it on your website in the text write and the blog posts you publish. This is what will attract shoppers.
  9. Describe for the search. In a shop, people browse based on what they see. Online, people start browsing by typing in text. Think about this when they describe what they sell.
  10. Own your complexity. If you choose to have a complex offer or a complex approach to selling online, it’s your complexity. Don’t rely on a web developer or a tech person to make it easier for you. Making it easier starts with you making decisions about your business.

If you are interested in our POS software or having us develop a POS software connected Shopify site for you, please email sales@towersystems.com.au or call 1300 662 957.

Click here to find out more about our specialty retail POS software. Click here to see our YouTube Channel where you can see up to date demonstrations of our various specialty retail POS software products.

Click here to access our fixed-price standard POS software connected Shopify website quote.

Click here to see the checklist we provide our Shopify customers. It outlines what’s critical about preparing for a Shopify site.

Click here to access our website customer questionnaire. This is designed to help you clarify your needs. A copy of your responses is sent to you.

Advice for small business retailers on writing blog posts to drive website traffic

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Today, Thursday August 25, we are hosting a free workshop for small business retailers on writing blog posts for websites to attract online shopper traffic.

This is the fourth free Zoom workshop we have hosted this week for local small business retailers seeking advice and help in creating beautiful websites for their businesses.

From the workshops, a common question from people was about writing blog posts: how to, when to, why to and how to. So, we decided to share our experience from successfully using blog posts to drive online shopper traffic.

Writing blog posts can feel daunting. Let’s talk and see if we can help show a pathway to make this achievable free marketing for you. Plus, we will answer any Shopify / online sales questions you have.

Today, Thursday August 26 @ 10:30am Melbourne time:
https://zoom.us/j/94814612952?pwd=L25FRVkyVmFybzI1TjVmYzUrYXhvUT09
Meeting ID: 948 1461 2952 Passcode: 941762

Click here to access our fixed-price standard POS software connected Shopify website quote.

Click here to access our website customer questionnaire. This is designed to help you clarify your needs. A copy of your responses is sent to you.

Selling online is hard and relentless work. There are no shortcuts. But, there are decisions you can make to narrow your focus, so you can have some early learning opportunities.

Based on what we are seeing and based on the data from major retailers here, online is contributing more and =more to business bottom line. What Covid has done is speed up that transition.

Oh, and if you think online is not impacting you or not being used by your shoppers, based on my experience I am sure it is. Hopefully, we can offer advice that helps you see what is next for you online.

There is no easy road. But, that should not put you off for if you get it right, the reward can be wonderful. Click here to see some of the many websites we have created.

I have a small high street retail shop in suburban Melbourne that will do more than $160,000 in online sales this year. What we have done for that shop is what we advise our POS software and web development customers to do. It runs a POS software commented Shopify site, which we created here at Tower Systems.

A website is a hungry beast. if you leave things to someone else, I guarantee the results will not be as good as they could be. There is no easy road. We have a pathway that focusses on early wins, good commercial outcomes you will like.

We develop POS software connected websites for our customers for $6,600.00. But, we expect you to get your data ready, in the POS software, so it flows across. We guide you through this.

Making click and collect easy for local small business retailers

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Using our specialty retail POS software we help local small business retailers to engage with click and collect retail.

Better still, with our beautiful Shopify websites connected directly with our POS software we are helping local small business retailers sell to anyone, anywhere, at any time online for click and collect and for delivery.

In our POS software we have the ability to manage click and collect orders, bringing structure and consistency to the workflow involved with picking items, packaging them and advising shoppers of collect opportunities.

We have been providing click and collect opportunities for local small business retailers for many years. Their use has grown through the Covid pandemic. It is terrific seeing the different types of businesses engaging with click and collect through our POS software: jewellers, garden centres, pet shop, toy shops, gift shops, newsagents and more.

Making click and collect easy and manageable for small business retailers is something we are proud to have brought to life. In addition to the facilities in our POS software, we provide these retailers with business execution advice, to help them achieve valuable outcomes using the tools we provide access to.

We first started pitching click and collect to our small business POS software customers more than six years ago. Our engagement has grown plenty since through enhanced software, more nuanced advice and better tools on the web side of the tech opportunities available to retailers.

Thanks to a dashboard, retailers are able to easily, in one place, manage orders and manage the work associated with these online orders. This central management of online orders, in the local retail shop, provides a consistent approach that small business retailers are loving.

While there is a surge of interest in click and collect because of Covid, click and collect will be vital in the future for local small business retail. It is here to stay as part of the retail mix, because shoppers love it. They love the time it saves, the ease of shopping. retailers, with good systems in place, love it too as it can help them reach shoppers they may otherwise not reach.

The Tower Systems POS software helps local small business retailers engage with click and collect.

Small business retailers benefit from Afterpay POS software access

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Afterpay is a terrific payment option that helps local small business retailers increase shopper reach and achieve a deeper shopping basket. In many small businesses, Afterpay has helped them leave LayBy and all of its associated challenges and costs and move to a new model, which appeals to a new suite of shoppers.

Providing access to Afterpay through our POS software is part of our commitment to helping retailers benefit from Buy Now  Pay Later (BNPL) opportunities like Zip Pay, Zip Money and Humm. these are all payment options, along with Afterpay, through our POS software.

The recently announced proposed take over of Afterpay by Square is set to turbocharge this BNPL space and we are grateful to play a small role in this space for years now. If you have a moment, seek out the interview on ABC Radio that Peter Ryan conducted with Square’s CFO, Amrita Ahuja, as it offers valuable insights local small business retailers will find interesting.

The Afterpay buy now pay later payment option is available through the Tower Systems POS software. This is another of the buy now pay later options that our software supports, like Zip Pay and Humm.

Taking payment via Afterpay through our POS software is easy, secure and business beneficial. We have made sure of this through the work we have done, to ensure that our small business customers are well serves through a frictionless solution. Like so much we have done with our software, our approach to Afterpay is fast, secure and something customers will love. It helps a local small retail business attract more shoppers.

The Afterpay POS software solution we have delivered is the Afterpay Card.

Add this to what we have done for years with Humm and Zip and you can see opportunities that serve plenty of local small business retail solutions across Australia, helping these retailers sell to shoppers who might otherwise not have purchased from the business at this time.

This move away from credit cards in the millennial and get Z groups is on and BNPL is playing a key role in this as they leverage these platforms for their purchases from the small to the large.

Through its POS software, Tower Systems provides local small business retailers with opportunities that are leading-edge in customer engagement and service.

Afterpay Card payment option for small business retail POS software

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The Afterpay buy now pay later payment option is available through the Tower Systems POS software. This is another of the buy now pay later options that our software supports, like Zip Pay and Humm.

Taking payment via Afterpay through our POS software is easy, secure and business beneficial. We have made sure of this through the work we have done, to ensure that our small business customers are well serves through a frictionless solution. Like so much we have done with our software, our approach to Afterpay is fast, secure and something customers will love. It helps a local small retail business attract more shoppers.

The Afterpay POS software solution we have delivered is the Afterpay Card. Here’s what Afterpay has to say about this new facility for their buy now pay later option:

We’ve made paying a better and easier experience for you when you shop in-store.

Afterpay Card has replaced the barcode system of shopping in-store. It’s a contactless Mastercard stored in your Google Pay or Apple Wallet, and is super easy to set up and use.

With Afterpay Card, you just App it, Add it, and Tap it to pay in 4 interest-free instalments.

We are grateful to be part of the release, to be able to bring this option to thousands of local small business retailers.

For a retail business to be ready for taking payment through the Afterpay Card is easy with our fast-track setup opportunities. Our software guides our customers. In almost no time at all, this new payment method is up and running in the business, offering the business a fresh approach to selling.

Using the Afterpay Card in a Tower Systems POS software connected business is as easy as using any credit card. Tap and go. It’s fast, easy, secure and backed by good business engagement reporting. Offering an additional payment method is something small business retailers embrace as they seek to reduce barriers to business growth. The Afterpay Card does that, it’s a timely solution for small business retailers looking for new revenue streams.

Tower Systems supports the Afterpay Card and welcomes its wider release within retail in Australia.

How we have been helping small business retailers through on-going Covid challenges

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Tower Systems is grateful to be able to continue to help Australian and New Zealand small business retailers through COVID-19.

Our business is open and our office is open, since we meet the criteria for being essential.

What we introduced in February 2020 when we saw how Covid is playing out around the world and the impact it is having on businesses is still available. This Tower Systems support package is helping local small business retailers to pivot and embrace opportunity found within the Covid situation.

Our customers have access to a range of opportunities and benefits to help them best run their businesses in this situation.

  1. Free POS software licences for home software access.
  2. Free unlimited personal, one-on-one, POS software training.
  3. No surcharge credit card use.
  4. Free access anywhere POS software reporting tools.
  5. Pivot advice, based on your business data – advice on opportunities for new traffic, new revenue.
  6. Capped price low cost Shopify sites, with fast track to going live.
  7. Business performance analysis help based on a professional assessment of what your data reveal.

Here at Tower Systems, it is business as usual and, through this, we are helping our POS software customers achieve a business as usual experience. We know this is comforting to our customers, helpful for their business planning and operations.

We continue to offer a full service POS software help desk service, releasing POS software updates and delivering our much-loves free one-on-one training to our retail business owners and their staff.

In offering business as usual, our customers have continuity of service. This helps them have what they need to work on their businesses … as that is what plenty of small business retailers have been doing through COVID-19, working on their businesses, re-calibrating, adjusting and, for some, pivoting. Indeed, we have helped some exciting pivots and we are grateful to have seen this and been part of it.

We are grateful to our team of software developers, help desk experts, POS software trainers, our back office infrastructure support and our sales team in that it is this group of people that has delivered for our customers through COVID-19 every day.

But back to the pivot opportunity. We see plenty of this in a range of local specialty retail channels in which we serve. By see we mean in real and accurate business data. Data show pivot opportunities and we can help our retail partners to explore these and consider whether they are useful. 2020 is a terrific year for a pivot and having the right software with flexibility can be helpful.

Advice for NSW small business retailers in their 2nd lockdown … from the Victorian experience

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It was the second Covid lockdown in Victoria that was a defining moment for many small business retailers. Whereas first lockdown was a national experience, the second lockdown was unique to Victoria back then.

While there were many media stories about businesses doing it tough, the reality is that many of us had a good Covid, through all four lockdowns in Victoria. Here’s what worked for us and many of the local small business retailers I have spoken with:

  • Be safe. Have the perspex screens at the counter.  Place your credit card terminal on the customer side.
  • Be frugal. Spend what you must but hang on to as much cash as you can. You don’t know how long this will go on for.
  • Make shopping easier, safer. Bring what people will want the most to the front of the shop, to reduce browsing. In a newsagency where papers have been put to the back of the shop, for example, bring them to the front of the shop.
  • If you’re not online, get online.
  • Be practical. Now is not the time for pretty displays.
  • Preference card payment. The less cash you have to handle, the safer the business.
  • Be flexible. Be available for shoppers where they want to shop: online, on the phone, via social media. Offer delivery or curbsibe pickup.
  • Offer what they want. What people will purchase through a lockdown will be different to other times.
  • Bundle. People who want to send gifts will appreciate you offering bundles ready to be delivered or posted.
  • Co-operate locally. If you are open and a nearby shop is closed, maybe you could sell some of their stock for them.
  • Clean, clean and clean. Showing this being done builds confidence.
  • Be grateful. You will see many good deeds and hear about many too. Share them on social media.
  • Look after your team. Have a good supply of masks and anti-bacterial gel. Given them breaks to refresh and wash their hands.
  • Think about beyond Covid. The experience will help you see your business differently. Lean into that for opportunities on the other side.

Regional, rural and high street newsagents are likely to have a better lockdown than those in shopping centres. many Victorian shopping centres are yet to recover from lockdown 2 and beyond. We mention this as one consequence of extended lockdown for shopping centre businesses is to find opportunities outside the centre.

We have three physical shops in Victoria as well as an office and several online only businesses. What we have suggested in this post we have done in our businesses, and we continue to do them today. For example, as part of the be frugal advice, we made some decisions that we expected to be temporary, decisions we still follow today, decisions that continue to save money.

While things seem grim in NSW right now, at the local small business level you have an opportunity to make your own success, your own good situation out of a bad situation.

If your shop is open and not busy because people are staying at home, use the opportunity to make changes. Be bold, but frugal. Use the time, too, to plan for what’s on the other side – promotions, marketing, re-casting.

Footnote: through our work with newsagents and with the Tower POS software community more broadly, only a very few businesses did not make it through. We think this is because small business retailers are resilient and flexible, doing what is necessary. Good luck everyone!

Stocktake Q&A for retailers

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Monday last week at the office we shot and released this stocktake video to our POS software customers as part of a kit of advice on stocktake 2021. This was sent to our customers by email as well as shared on our private social media platforms.

This is another example of fresh content we provide to our customers.

We also released a longer form full stocktake training video for those keen for more of a specific how to stocktake.

Fresh POS software marketing pitch

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We are loving the reaction from our new range of POS software marketing postcards, which are out now. Each features a happy image representing our software in a specialty niche retail channel. They are a good reflection of the specialty nature of our small business retail focussed POS software.

This is us, Tower Systems. We are proud of what we make and the businesses we get to help.

End of financial year offer: POS software integrated Shopify websites

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We are grateful to the many retailers who have already embraced our end of financial year offer for a $1,000 gift off our fixed price Shopify POS software integrated website development.

This is a genuine EOFY offer, not one of those inflated prices discounted to make it look like you’re getting a deal situation.

Our fixed price through to life POS software connected Shopify web development packages cost $6,600, which includes a commercial and beautiful template of your choice.

The EOFY offer is $1,000 off this.

There are a couple of conditions, which our sales people can help you with,.

Here is what is included in our fixed price Shopify POS software integrated website solution:

Tower Systems offers to create a Shopify website for $6,600.00 for which you receive:

  1. Pre development consultation. This is comprehensive phone call reviewing needs as outlined in the survey, seeking to more completely understand your needs.
  2. A checklist of work you complete with our guidance, to provide us assets such as text and images for the website. The current version of the checklist is part of this quote. This lists what any web developer will require from you.
  3. A live Shopify site as per everything outlined here. During development, there will be back and forth discussions by email and phone to ensure that the evolving meets expectations. Your timely attention to communication is key.
  4. Shopify theme choice. Included in the quoted price is the selection of a paid-for theme up to the cost of US$250.00.
  5. Shopify link. The Retailer POS software to link with Shopify. This link transfers to the Shopify site ta defined and useful set of data points for each inventory item.
  6. Personal hand-over training so you can make your own tweaks to the site as needed. This is usually around 2 hours.
  7. Three months of phone-based assistance (but not software changes) following delivery of the site.
  8. A comprehensive pre-prep / handover document that provides support, written training and guidance on your next steps. This is the same for all our Shopify site customers. i.e. it is not document written especially for you.

What this list does not show is the back and forth, the discussions, explorations and investigations with you that lead to the creation of a website that serves your needs. This is a comprehensive and iterative process between you and our webbed experts, all of whom work here in Melbourne Australia.

Fixed price POS software connected Shopify websites for small business retailers

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Tower Systems is grateful to help more small business retailers get live with beautiful Shopify websites connected to their POS software. Our work doin g this has evolved over the years, from sites we have developed for our businesses to websites for many of our customers across many different retail channels.

Our work in this area is considerable and diverse. It starts with understanding the needs of our customers. Our approach is comprehensive and transparent.

We also host online workshops for retailers interested in considering Shopify web development. Here is one such workshop from a few weeks ago. It is one of many we have hosted already this year.

We share the video of this meeting is it demonstrates our openness without pitching sales. We genuinely want to help small business retailers make informed decisions about web development, so that the money they invest in a website for their business us useful for the business and for its stakeholders.

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