I got back Friday last week from a leading a group of Aussie indie retailers on a retail study tour to New York and Los Angeles. We primarily focussed on local indie retail, retail relevant to our local indie retail businesses here in Australia.
We spent a day in Cold Spring, in upstate New York. Today, I shot a short video in which I share some takeaways from this visit to one of the best local retail towns in the US. Scroll down to see the video, or use this link: https://youtu.be/Gu1_W64rzCU
My name is Mark Fletcher. I own Tower Systems. We make POS software for local specialty retail. We also run and operate 4 shops in Melbourne in the gift / homewares / collectibles spaces as well as 7 online shops. We understand the challenges of being small and local, and we have built into our software tools to help you thrive.
We are grateful to discover many innovative marketing ideas running in local retail businesses. Here is a list of 10 marketing ideas we love. they are free to implement, easy toitmplemnent. And, they are likely to work in just about any type of retail business.
These ideas are a gift from our small business focussed POS software company to you:
Promote you. At every possible touch point, automatically show off your point of difference by promoting your knowledge, especially your local knowledge as it relates to the use of the products you sell. Good POS software makes this easy – allowing you to share knowledge in a way that is helpful for your customers, so they rem ember you, and recommend you.
Stop copying. There is so much copying in business. Loyalty points programs are a good example. They have been copied so much that people don’t understand what points are worth. In our POS software you can use discount vouchers are a fresh and loved differentiator. Customers accrue actual currency in dollars and cents that they can spend. there is no confusion. Everywhere this is used, we see retailers and customers love it.
Bring customers back. Recall them with a reminder for a free service, a free check, an anniversary reminder or similar. Just as optometrists recall customers for their annual eye check-up, you can recall customers for a reason relevant to your business and relevant to what your shoppers purchase from you. This can be tailored based on shopper purchases.
Connect with community groups and their members. Seize opportunities to connect with local community groups offering support for their projects. In turn, they will talk positively about your business through their own network. See 20 Ideas For Building a Better, Stronger and More Valuable Community Connection. There are smart win-win-win ways you can do this with the Tower Systems POS software.
Host an event. Host a local VIP shoppers night, a 24 hour Celebration Sale or a special event night. Create some theatre around any seasonal opportunity. Maybe do with other shops in your area. Offering free photos is a good way to draw in families. Promote that this night is for local VIPs – because you care about your local customers.
Have volume purchase offers. Offer discounts for the more customers buy. For example, you could have a single item priced at $24.95, two prices at $44.95 and three priced at $59.95. If you bought the stock well, the $59.95 price for three should provide at least 50% margin yet customers see themselves as getting a great deal. Great software can easily manage this for you.
Prompt for an up-sell. POS software can flash up on the screen prompts which relate to what a customer has purchased. The promotional script appears on the screen without blocking the sale.
Leverage your data. Track what sells with what. Once you know this you can make much better product placement decisions.
Sell online. It’s a no-brainer, but it is often ignored because it’s considered too hard. Choose POS software that makes it easy.
There are many more ways in which retailers can market their businesses using Point of Sale software for little or no cost.
This is advice we first shared many years ago. We have updated it, made it more 2022 and beyond relevant.
Not wanting to be too proud, we think this is the best advice we could give any local small business retailer as it focuses you on what matters most – nurturing daily value from your business for today, and for when you decide to sell the business.
Everyday in local retail it can feel challenging, busy, attention distracting and demanding. Local small business retail is tough, competitive and consuming.
Our advice for local small business retailers in this article is practice, everyday, straightforward. It is advice any local small business retailer could follow without needing a business degree, bags of spare capital or a huge team to manage execution in-store.
This is fundamental advice, code advice. It’s like getting out of bed in the morning, showering, brushing your teeth, getting dressed. this advice is as basic and fundamental as eating and treating. And, while that sounds dramatic, it is what it is, good advice that every local small business retailer could benefit from.
So, here it is:
Retail business advice: make every day your pay day.
There was a time when small business retailers could rely on selling their business for a handsome increase on the price they paid thereby providing a good pay day, when businesses sold for a good multiple of net earnings. This was a time when retailers would focus on the sale of their business being their payday.
No more. Today, the best way to extract value from local retail businesses is to make every day your pay day, to not rely on your pay day being the day you sell the business.
By this we mean make the most you can today, so that tomorrow is valuable. It’s a small target approach. A narrow approach. That’s at the heart of this … that today is what matters most to you today. In every decision, every action. It’s why this is about making every day you payday. because it is an every day thing. Like we said at the start, like eating and breathing.
The challenge is how do you do this?
It starts with the mindset of every day being your pay day. Every decision needs to be considered in this context.
Here are some suggestions for making every day your pay day:
Find new customers. New customers are the future lifeblood of any retail business. if you are not attracting new shoppers, you are treading water. Every day there should be an action designed to reach people who do not currently shop with you. It could be a social media post, a stunning front window display or engagement with a local event. Do something, have it planned as part of a regular action. Always, every day, chase new customers.
Charge more every time you can. Look at what you see and your approach to mark-up. Consider why people buy from you, and not somewhere else. If there is a factor, such as convenience, that enables you to charge a little more. Considering what you charge is not a blanket approach, not something you rush at. Take your time. Look at part of the business in fine detail and consider whether a small increase could help you achieve more. Also, loyalty programs such as discount vouchers, bundling into hampers, multi buys such as 2 for 3 and other opportunities enable you to do this by blocking price comparison. You can stop price being a consideration.
Get people buying more each visit. What you place with what can encourage people to buy more than what they intended. Unpacking and pricing new goods on the shop floor can get people noticing and buying things they did not visit today to buy. Look in your data at what sells with what. Often that can reveal opportunities. Too often, retailers think placing things at the counter drives a deeper basket and while it does, there are other things you can do in-store to drive this.
Run with the leanest roster possible. Just about every retail business we review has capacity to lower labour costs. Trimming the roster can come at a cost for the owners – putting in more hours. There are other ways to enable trimming the roster. Be smarter. If there are things you can cost-effectively automate, do that. If you can adjust opening hours to better fit when sales occur, and same some labour costs, do that. If you can save an hour a day with owner time on the shop floor, do that.
Stock what sells. This may sound obvious, because it is. But, in many retail businesses we look at, they do not stock what sells. Analyse your business data. Know not only the products that sells, but the types of products. If you think something is a success, go to the evidence to see if it is. Too often we can’t find evidence supporting a feeling that something is successful. Your data can guide your buying so that you stock more of what sells.
Bring people back sooner with a thoughtfully calibrated loyalty offer that funds itself, and drives value. Every retail business needs a core action designed to bring people back. A timed loyalty offer, which expires, is a good way to do this.
Have your best people working the floor, helping customers spend more. Today, retail is not about may I help you. Rather, it is about engaging with the products and subtly showing them off, like theatre.
Have stunning displays that attract people from outside the shop. Stunning displays are the unexpected, the must-see, the magnets that people notice and stop. Anyone can create these. It starts with thinking about what could be unexpected and then being bold with that seed of an idea.
Have compelling displays in-store that encourage people to browse beyond their destination purchase. In-store displays need to be about showing people what they can engage with. these displays are for people to see themselves or those they are buying for.
Always have impulse offers at high traffic locations.
Buy as best you can. Take settlement discounts where possible. Pick up supplier offers. never pass on your better buying to customers, unless it suits for some event you are running. Oh, and with this advice about buying – only do it for items you know you will sell for buying product at a discount and having it on the shelves too long is too much of a cost for the business.
De-clutter. Sometimes the best way to be able to see your business and what it can do is for you to have less to look at. This means getting rid of dead stock, dead fixtures, dead corners of the shop. Always be trimming, cleaning and looking.
Change. Every day in your shop change something. Get known as the shop that is never the same. This can be a reason to visit for some shoppers. If you run a set-and-forget business that rarely changes, you give people a reason to walk on by. So, everyday, make a change or two. Encourage your team members to suggest changes. By moving a small stand from one part of the business to another could get it noticed and boost sales.
Stop all busy work. It is easy in a local small business retail setting to get caught up in back office work and while some office work is vital, too often it can be work for the same of work. For example, one retailer used ton take their daily numbers and enter them in a spreadsheet for analysis when, in fact, their POS software provided even better reporting than the spreadsheet offered – they have never thought to use that. In another case, the business owner banked everyday as they liked the walk. but, it took an hour by they time they chatted to people and while sometimes it was good for them to do it, doing it every day, 5 hours a week, came at a cost to the business.
Be cleverly frugal. When you are considering spending money, think on it, think about the value for the business from the spend. The money you spend has a cost. today and in the future. Think about the return you could get and the speed of the return. Have some checks and balances in spending decisions to slow them down.
Be responsible for the profitability of your business. Don’t blame your suppliers, your landlord, your employees or some other external factor … it all comes down to you – the decisions you make and the actions you take.
By making every day your payday you bring focus on what matters today and whatwnll matter when you’d decide to sell your business.
If you relentlessly pursue profit with a clear focus you are likely to see profit grow. That’s better than waiting to make money when you sell because that’s less likely to happen in this market.
Doing all this relies on your measuring the performance of your business. The Tower Systems POS software helps with this. It is easy.
My name is Mark Fletcher. I am the owner of Tower Systems. I also own 4 retail shops and several online businesses. Every day here at Tower Systems we live what we say, in our software company and in our shops. We make mistakes, and learn from them. It’s some of those mistakes that got us thinking about this, about the approach of making every day your payday.
While our core mission is to grow the customer base for Tower Systems, we know that key to achieving this helping retailers. Plenty of the help we provide is not software related. While, for sure, our software can play a role, the real focus is on how, when and where local retail; business decisions are made, and that is a reason we share this and other advice at this POS Software News Blog.
In sharing this advice we demonstrate a care for local small business retail and a transparency as to the advice and help we provide.
Today is August 1. It’s a new month. A good day to start on this mission of making every day your payday.
In his 1960 book, Reality in Advertising, Rosser Reeves, a respected US advertising executive, introduced the world to the concept of the Unique Selling Proposition, USP for short.
Reeves defined USP in an advertising context:
Each advertisement must make a proposition to the consumer: buy this product and you will get this benefit.
The proposition must be one that the competition either cannot or does not
The proposition must be so strong that it changes consumer behaviour.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the concept of a unique selling proposition evolved from being essential to advertising to being essential in business. Finding your business USP was considered mission critical to businesses, retailers especially. Businesses drifted however and forgot about the importance of a USP.
Jack Trout told us just a few years ago that it was as relevant today. In 2000, he said that a Unique Selling Proposition was mission critical in business in his aptly titled book Differentiate or Die.
Differentiate of Die. There is no doubt about the call to action in the title, no doubt about the consequences of inaction.
Yet many retailers, for the most part, have remained still in the face of an onslaught of competition.
Retail is tough, especially small business retail, local retail, indie retail. The differences between competitors are fewer – there is a lot of follow the leader / innovator. Retailers are surrounded by competition and it grows by the day. Yet many have copied others, and not done anything to stand out.
Smart retailers are re-acquainting themselves with the writings of Reeves and Trout and leaning about the mission critical imperative of having a Unique Selling Proposition.
Differentiation could be service, products or location or a combination of these. Differentiation will most likely not be price as anyone can match this easily. Price is, after all, the last line of defense in any business battle. That said, there are some major price-focused success stories – Walmart for example. It is rare in an independent retail situation.
To develop your USP, engage with your employees and other stakeholders. Take your time. Determine what you and your business stand for. Following open and honest discussion and debate, the USP around which everyone in the business can willingly congregate will emerge.
A good USP will not require an advertising campaign to communicate. It will become obvious through actions and decisions. By living the USP in every facet of the business you soon become seen as unique by shoppers and this can drive excellent word of mouth and success for the business.
While differentiation in retail is more important today than ever thanks to today’s economic conditions, the approach to the challenge is the same as in the 1960s.
Our Tower Systems POS software offers opportunities to be unique, easy and quick ways through which any retail business can present as being unique. We help retailers stand out, be noticed, be remembered, and be more successful.
Finding employees is challenging for local small business retail. It’s a problem here in Australia and around the world.
Using our POS software, retailers can offer retail employees skills development, which helps people develop their careers. Through our structures self-paced as well as personal one-on-one training, retail employees not only learn the software, they learn business, and this can help them find a future pathway they enjoy.
Good POS software plays a vital role in hiring and retaining employees.
Our trainers and our POS software help desk trim members provide resources and services that can help retail employees contribute more, enjoy their work more and develop more valuable skills.
We love work with retail employees who want to learn more and who have the backing of their employer to do so – we are careful yo respect the wishes of our clients in terms of the extent of employee training and insights we provide and there are some settings where this needs to be limited.
Our CEO was recently in the US looking at retail and noticed the challenges confronting retailers on finding employees. We share this today to reflect the broader view we have of retail, beyond the POS software itself …
The retail job shortage has retailers changing-up their approach to recruiting.
The challenge of hiring and retailing retail workers is worldwide. It is causing retailers to go to extraordinary lengths.
In a small US town I was in a few days ago, of the 25 shops on the Main Street, 21 were advertising vacancies in their front window.
In a Taco Bell that I visited (don’t judge me) 3 days ago, every place where this chain restaurant location would usually promote meal options and deals, they were advertising for people.
The moment you step into Taco Bell, you see this table.
Four of the windows had these signs facing inside and out.
The front window had sign writing, too:
Above the registers and at the self-service tech screens they had signs too.
But back to the table inside the front door. They had collateral pitching employee benefits:
On top of all this visual noise is the pitch at the counter. Yes, they were asking some (but not all) customers if they knew of anyone looking for a job.
In this Taco Bell outlet, looking for new staff was more important than promoting what they sell.
Apple Inc. is raising salaries for retail workers in the US by 10% or more and upping its global companywide compensation budget as it faces a tight labor market and unionization efforts.
The company is hiking hourly pay for retail staff to at least $22 per hour, up from a previous $20 minimum, the company told employees on Wednesday. The move follows a pay bump in February after inflation grew more severe and some staffers complained about working conditions during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Apple and Taco Bell are not alone.
During the trip to the US I got to speak with a broad range of business owners and managers. Staffing is their top of mind challenge. Some are taking the Apple approach and increasing pay rates. Others are offering signing bonuses and new employee referral bonuses. Others are ensuring they run companies people enjoy working for.
The staffing problem exists across all sectors in all settings. Bigger businesses are more likely to use money to address the challenge. In small businesses we have more flexibility in terms of our response. But respond we must, otherwise, we will struggle to retail people let along hire new people when we need.
I am not suggesting we follow the Taco Bell approach. I think that approach is more rooted in decades of minimum wages and challenges in terms of the grind of the work in the business. I shared the Taco Bell story because I saw it first-hand.
Local small business retailers in Australia will need to address the staffing challenge in the way that is most appropriate to their situation and settings. If I was to offer any advice on this it would be be sure to have a plan, because you don’t want to react when facing a staffing shortage that is negatively impacting the business.
Let’s talk for a moment about why there is a job shortage.
More people are able to work from anywhere than ever before;. They can find good jobs, well-paying jobs, working from home. For plenty, this has enabled them to break free from minimum wage and jobs with a high commute cost.
There’s more gig economy work, too. This offers flexibility for people with other demands on their time.
2022 is proving to be a challenging year for retailers. Covid continues to disrupt product supply and labour access. It is also impacting shopper behaviour.
The retailers doing best are those managing their business data, leveraging data for insights that guide business decisions. There is where the Tower Systems POS software helps local retailers.
Using our POS software, local retailers are able to be more frugal. Being frugal is a local retail business is beneficial, if it is done based on data, with a focus of driving overall business value. Being frugal is a good thing if done thoughtfully and well.
Let’s be clear though, there is a difference between being frugal and being cheap.
Being frugal is about being careful. Spending based on evidence when nit comes to labour costs and inventory costs.
Too often we see retailers over-index with labour, eating unnecessarily into business profits. Likewise, too often, we see businesses buying poorly, not based on evidence, and negatively impacting on the profits of the business.
Our POS software helps local retailers in these two areas and more, we help them be frugal in their approach to rostering and frugal in their approach to buying … with the goal of adding measurable value to the business. This matters.
The stronger the financial base for a business, the lower its operational overheads, the lower poor performing inventory volume, the better for the business. This is where being frugal matters. Done properly, it provides the business with capacity to weather economic challenges, to actually make the business stronger in its financial foundations. Our POS software helps local retailers do this.
There is a gloss and excitement to owning your own shop. The real gloss, and value, comes from running the business well. This is one of our goals here at Tower Systems – to make POS software and back it with support that helps small business retailers run their businesses well.
Being frugal is good for business and good for all in the business who rely on it. Our POS software provides insights as well as mechanisms for being frugal, for driving the value of and for the business.
We shot this video in which we look at a wonderful local suburban pet shop in the US over a month ago. The video is all about retail and what we discovered visiting the awesome Rosie Bunny Bean shop in Los Angeles.
We’re more than a POS software company. We love good retail.
Tower Systems started offering its 2022 free stocktake training for retailers using its POS software several weeks ago.
The training available is in video as well as written form. It covers a full stocktake as well as partial stocktake and theft mitigation stocktakes.
By providing baseline video based training, the company offers a consistent starting pout to all retailers, covering everything everyone needs to know.
Every Tower Systems POS software customer has access to the stocktake training, without cost, without any financial commitment requirement. By making access free and easy, the company is ensuring that all customers have the same opportunity to get accurate stock on hand data for their business.
We shot the baseline stocktake training video a few weeks. This shows best practice stocktake advice relevant to 2022. It leverages pas advice and presents it fresh, with content relevant to this year.
Here is some of the advice we published to ur POS software customers previously re stocktake. It reflects more practical advice advice, operational advice.
Take the technology to the stock and not your stock to your technology.
For the process to be as easy as possible you will need a wireless network – vital for OH&S reasons.
The best way to do a stocktake in your business is by using a laptop (or laptops) or tablet computer with a scanner attached. This enables you to do the stocktake live with no impact on sales and absolute integrity of your stock on hand data.
While using a laptop (or laptops) or tablet computer may seem cumbersome, it is our best practice advice for speed, data integrity and the ability to address data issues you may encounter on the shop floor. It enables you to do management work to ensure completely accurate data.
The alternative is to use a PDE. The challenges with this are the many different PDEs and it is challenging to be expert in all plus the PDE counts at that time and you load the data at a later time – meaning a gap in time in which sales could have been done. While PDE software is available for live to data updates, we have seen this be problematic and so we do not use it.
Given the advances in technology, our best practice recommendation is either a laptop of tablet computer as either offers a better solution than a PDE.
We suggest you setup a Laptop or tablet and use Team Viewer or the like to connect in and count this way. This approach means you do not need to purchase an additional software licence for the laptop. Team Viewer is easy to setup. If you do need our help on this there would be a support cost.
For the physical stocktake, we suggest you approach the business aisle by aisle, counting and rearranging stock as you go.
We were recently asked to write an article for a magazine for Aussie newsagents about selling online. The advice we included in that article for local retail newsagents applies equally to any local retailer. We share the article we wrote here to offer advice for local small business retailers contemplating selling online:
Sell online, but not as your shop today.
When people shop online they shop for an outcome. They search for the product or purpose. They do not search for a masthead.
This is a valuable insight for any newsagent considering a website for their business for putting your newsagency online with what you sell today could be an expensive mistake.
Tower Systems has built many websites for newsagents and most are not sites that represent the newsagency shop online. Rather, they present as a different business, focussed on a niche category and leveraging the shop infrastructure to help the business expand.
This is the smart move for any retailer selling online – using it as a start-up opportunity that makes use of space and labour in the shop but not relying on products in the shop.
In one case, a newsagency business has grown online to where it is more financially valuable than the shop within which it was incubated.
In another case a newsagent tested a category online, hit gold and expanded the shop to offer this, hitting more gold.
Engaging with Tower Systems to create a POS software connected website provides newsagents with access to comprehensive online sales data through deep Google results research. This can help newsagents discover opportunities not previously on their radar.
By tapping into current keyword search data using respected commercial tools, Tower Systems is able to show newsagents pathway opportunities into new product areas online. These can be opportunities tapped into with a minimal capital investment, an opportunity for expansion with a modest budget.
While I understand the push to take the shop online, in my years of experience owning newsagencies and running successful and failed websites connected to the shops, my advice is to leverage the website opportunity as if it is a start-up, playing in a space you have not played in before, with the goal of it leading you on a path of discovery.
Tower Systems is better placed to support this greenfield approach than a local web developer … we have found local web developers more likely to replicate online what you have in. the shop and that, my friends, is unlikely to attract for you the volume of new shoppers you might hope for.
Being online is critical for every business. Doing it right, in an approach appropriate for 2022 and beyond is key.
Take your time. Do your research. Make sure that what you choose can be maintained by you. And, only sign for a fixed price website build.
3 weeks ago we published this video: 5 things every retailer should know about their retail business but are usually not told by POS software. Across several platforms it’s had 1,000 views, for which we are grateful.
When our CEO made the video, it was spur of the moment, based on a comment made in a conversation at the Sydney gift fair in April. While the video was spur of the moment and not scripted, it drew on years of experience, years of service of local small business retailers.
We appreciate the feedback we have received, the appreciation.
To us, the video represents something different about Tower Systems. It presents that we want you to cultivate and harvest value from your business through the use of our POS software.
This is the difference of value.
Long after you start using our software, appreciating genuine value from its use.
Thank you for watching. Wr hope you found the video useful.
Talk to any retailer and they will tell you cash flow is tight.
In this short video we leverage our experience helping many different local retailers on ways to improve cash flow.
It’s free advice from our POS software company, Tower Systems, part of a broader kit of free advice all Tower Systems customers can access to broaden the appeal of their businesses.
Cash flow is on the minds of many local small business retailers right now.
But before we get into providing advice, let’s agree a definition. Cash flow is the flow of money in and out of your business, real cash, in your account, or in your safe. Cash in comes from sales or products and assets and other payments from customers and suppliers. Cash flowing out is for bills, inventory purchases, labour and rent, typically.
Any business wants to be in a positive cash flow situation, because negative cash flow needs more capital inflow to support, and that can come at a cost.
Now, to our advice.
8 ways any local small retail business can improve cash flow and thrive.
Are you ready?! This advice is based on our years of service of thousands of local small business retailers across a range of specialty retail channels. It also comes from many years of us owning and running our own local retail shops.
Free dead stock. In our experiences this releases the most cash flow value, but it is the option most often rejected for often silly reasons. dead stock is stock that is not selling, not moving. It is often stock you have long since paid for. This means that any money you get for it is positive cash flow right now. The loss from paying for the stock has already been realised – many retailers forget that. So, idea tidy what’s not selling, and quit it creatively, with urgency. Cheer every dollar this brings.
Trim where you can without impacting sales. The most beneficial move here is typically a cut in the roster, a cut in labour cost. Save a few dollars with no sales revenue impact and you are ahead cash flow wise.
Get shoppers to spend more in a visit. Smart loyalty software will do this. Points loyalty systems are unlikely to do this. There are better loyalty options designed to help encourage shoppers to spend more in a visit. Our POS software helps nurture this.
Charge more. Yes, we understand this can be scary. The thing is, if you do this carefully, thoughtfully, and offer a good loyalty incentive and bundle items together, a modest price rise is less likely to be noticed and more likely to have a positive impact on cash flow. Think about it. Plan for it. Take small steps. A 1% rise across your top 200 inventory items could be the small step that delivers the cash flow boost you need.
Find more customers. The more new customers you have shopping with you the more you will sell, obviously. It can feel easier said than done to attract new customers. In our experience, most local retail businesses do not have a new customer attraction plan. Do you? It does not need to be complex. Even a simple social media pitch honouring a new product, reflecting your gratefulness to have it could be enough. One the post is up, pay for a boost in your area. An $8 spend over 4 days is all you may need to get in front of a few hundred prospective new customers … and that gets you on the path, that could be your new customer attraction plan.
Trim overheads. Look through your business overheads and look for an opportunity to trim.
Look at your sales counter. With most purchases being completed at the sales counter, look at it from the perspective of your shoppers and see what you could do to encourage them to add items at the last minute. The counter is a valuable place of influence. Use it. Make sure it is driving deeper purchase baskets, and adding to cash flow.
Spend less on inventory. Look for suppliers with good inventory holdings that allow you to use them, rather than your shop floor or store room, to hold stock you may not sell right away.
This list is a start, a small start, a modest start, it offers practical advice you can follow, practical steps you can take in any local small business retail setting to improve cash flow.
Using the Tower Systems POS software you can engage with any of these and other ideas for improving cash flow in your retail business.
Beyond POS software, Tower Systems will help, because we want local retailers to thrive. You are our customers, our focus.
Footnote. Many retail business owners get in their head about cash flow, they look for big moves and end up spinning their wheels, going nowhere. In reality, the most beneficial cash flow improvement moves you can make are those that are simple, easy ti implement, immediate to implement and, most important, that work with other moves … for it is the compounding benefit of a series of small steps that can deliver excellent cash flow improvement benefits to local small business retail.
Good POS software offer these 5 benefits. Tower Systems does.
What’s not selling = cut dead stock waste.
What you’re missing out on = stop selling out.
What’s sells with what = selling more.
Theft under your nose = save thousands.
Know when you’re busy and quiet = reduce labour costs.
Of course, thanks to the Tower Systems POS software, there are many more benefits than these. Now, here’s a new video from us about these 5 benefits from the Tower Systems POS software.
Rising interest rates are on the mind of everyone in Australia right now it seems. News stories appear daily about the impact of rising interest rates … for homeowners, for businesses. Everywhere we turn there is a ‘take’ on rising interests rates.
In local small business retail we can see the impact of higher interest rates through several lenses: consumer confidence, actual sales and business costs – for businesses with loan funds in place to support the business.
Our Tower Systems POS software company helps local small business retailers deal with rising interest rates in a range of ways …
We help retailers track trends on their shops. This is vital because while there is news out there and plenty of speculation, a retailer can only rely on what they bank through their register and our POS software is that register. we can help them access facts as they pertain to their business as opposed to feelings based on news and other stories. Facts matter. One retailer told us last week that rising interests rates were impacting their business through less sales. While their transaction count was down, revenue was up in higher margin areas meaning the business was banking more profit. facts matter.
We help retailers cap costs. The rental / subscription cost of our POS software has not changes since mid 2019. We have no plans to change it. Our customers know this. We are iota adding to their costs. We also help them require the cost of labour in their businesses and this can save money and free cash for other, more productive, uses in the business.
We help retailers free up cash in their businesses. And, this can help reduce their reliance on loan funds, which means a lower impact of rising interest rates. now, how do we help retailers free up cash. We do this in a range of ways, through smart tools in our POS software. We helped one business release more than $20,000 of hitherto dead money. The released funds helped them reduce their overdraft and that reduced the amount of interest the business was paying. It all comes back to using business data.
Rising interest rates are a thing. Rather than getting caught in the quicksand over them, our focus is on helping local small business retailers develop and walk through a plan for dealing with rising interest rates so that their businesses are not as impacted as they might otherwise have been.
The news out there on rising interest rates can be scary, and distracting. Our advice is to focus on that over which you have control, to understand, seek out a pathway through and to step thoughtfully along that path.
The cost of freight is increasing. Freight into Australia costs more. Freight around Australia costs more. Freight locally costs more.
Small business retailers can feel challenged as to how to deal with this, now to manage the cost of freight, how to protect their business against the cost of freight.
Tower Systems helps local small business retailers deal with the cost of freight by providing in the software the ability to easily spread the freight cost of a package containing a range of goods across the sale provide of all the goods received. This allows the business to pass on the cost, spread the cost, reflect the cost fo freight across all items brought into the business.
Too many small business retailers stress about then high cost fo freight and what to do about it. the thing is, freight is. cost everyone has. There is no such thing as free freight.
Every item in every shop in town has a freight cost associated with getting it on the shelf. There is no point complaining. It is a real cost, a universal cost, one that is best managed efficiently, and spread across the sale price of every inventory item that you have in the shop.
Use your POS software to do this. Tower Systems helps local small business retailers deal with the cost of freight. We do this through software facilities in the POS software as well and through advice on how to use the POS software and business management advice. This is where we leverage our experience as retailers to provide practical advice ion the test way to deal with the rising cost of freight in small business retail.
Once you discover that it is easy when receiving new inventory into your business to spread the cost of freight, you can systemise the process, structure it, make it part of your operational processes. This takes the emotion out of the situation. It stops you having tom micro manage it. You benefit and the business benefits.
Freight is a cost all businesses confront. There are myriad ways to deal with it, manage it and leverage it sol that it is not as problematic for the business as it may seem.
Tower Systems is a full service POS software company focussed on local specialty retailers in selected retail channels.
EFTPOS fees are a pain point for local small business retailers. They are a cost of business, eating into already tight margin. Talk to any local small business retailer and it is likely they ill complain about high EFTPOS fees.
In some cases, it is EFTPOS fees that are tied to other services that can negatively impact them the most.
In the POS software marketplace, for example, there are POS software companies that offer their software at a reduced price if you sign up for their integrated EFTPOS solution. In two instances we have seen this week, the EFTPOS fees in these situations are higher than the usual market price – making more money for the POSt software company and costing the local retail business more.
How can I cut EFTPOS fees is a common question from retailers. It is a question that comes with urgency, need and emotion. It is a question we understand we own shops as weak, 4 shops in fact where more than half our revenue is settled by way of EFTPOS. We understand the challenge of high EFTPOS fees and have found ways to satisfactorily address this in our shops.
We have found a way to cut the cost of EFTPOS fees for our local retail businesses.
If you want to cut EFTPOS fees for your shop, it starts with understanding more about how the fees accrue. This is where Tower Systems can help.
Oh, and by the way, we do not require you to sign up for a specific EFTPOS provider. Our advice is neutral, balanced and focussed 100% on your needs. Sure, we have relationships that could save you money too, but there is no requirement. All Tower Systems customers have free access to our advice and assistance to cut EFTPOS fees in retail. We know the more we help our retailer business customers do this the more we are able to deliver practical benefits that will encourage our customers to stay with us.
If you think EFTPOS fees in your shop are too high, consider how Tower Systems might be able to help you. Our POS software is awesome. Our retail business management advice and support is valuable. Everyday we leverage our retail business experience beyond the POS software itself. This helps our customers save money and make their businesses more valuable.
Can I cut EFTPOS fees in my shop? Yes, we think you can. Let us help. sales@towersystems.com.au
Oh, and if you signed up for EFTPOS services in return for a lower subscription or rental cost of your software, check to see what your EFTPOS fees are, compare them against the marketplace. If you are like the two businesses we were contacted by this week it could be you signed up for a higher transactional cost in return for a small discount off the software cost … resulting in higher costs for you. yes, that is what happened.
The POS software from Tower Systems does track serial numbers, and here’s how:
This new short video is another in our series for our POS software customers and our sales prospects. It’s another way we remind local small business retailers the value of our locally made and supported specialty retail POS software.
Ideal for jewellers, pool maintenance businesses, firearms dealers, bike shops, pet shops, appliance businesses.
By tracking serial numbers using the Tower Systems POS software, retailers can provide a level of service to customers they will appreciate. Serial numbers are listed on receipts. They are recorded, too, for later use should the item be stolen from the customer and they need to do a claim.
Tracking serial numbers in this Tower Systems POS software also sets your business up for longer term tracking of the service history of an item. This can be a valuable way to differentiate the services provided by your business.
The serial number tracking tools are part of the POS software for specialty retail settings such as jewellers, bike shops, pet shops and more. It is included in these products at no extra cost, no additional monthly fee.
Embedded in the Tower Systems POS software for a range of specialty retail marketplaces, the serial number tracking tools are a genuine value-add without any additional cost., They are a core part of the Tower software, able to be used at any time. This is key in that retailers will appreciate not having to pay extra to use serial number tracking tools.
In the pet shop channel, the serial number tracking tools are used to record pet microchip details as they, in an of themselves, are a form of serial number. Being able to track pet microchips in this way, using the serial number tracking tools, helps pet shops to provide a service pet owners and lovers certainly appreciate.
The serial number tracking tools in this software are another differentiator, another benefit for local business retailers through which they can provide an appreciated level of service to customers.
Tower Systems is grateful to its customers for their support in helping us reach more local retail businesses.
A couple of us were fortunate to spend time visiting a range of innovative local small business specialty retail in Los Angeles. In this new video, we share some of what we saw.
A couple of us got to see some cool retail in Los Angeles last week. here is one of the videos. This one is about a fun and happy pet shop serving locals in suburban Los Angeles.
Beyond our POS software, we support our 3,000+ local retailer community with business insights and advice, to help them run more enjoyable and valuable local retail businesses.
It’s an easy complaint to make – my merchant fees are going up, it’s not fair, time for me to consider another supplier.
Okay, yeah, that’s an easy take. It’s a cheap shot by us to call it out. But, let’s explain and explore it with you.
Our advice is to look at your data first.
We have thoroughly looked at hundreds of thousands of baskets from many retail businesses.
The most common reason merchant fees are increasing is because of more sales transacted using EFTPOS.
While sometimes the actual fee basis, flat fee per Tx or percentage, increases, this is rare.
Yes, the most common reason a retailer paid more in merchant fees last month than the month before is because more transactions were paid for on a card.
So, the EFTPOS provider is not the cause of the issue.
Retailers is some marketing groups have access to preferential rates that see them paying the lowest fees in the country.
But, that addresses only the base cost.
To address the growing cost to the business, of people using a card to pay, you need to be an engaged retailer. Here are some ideas:
Promote cash payment – if you want the costs associated with cash of course.
Be clear as to the cost of using a card. You could apply a surcharge, which I think is a ridiculous idea though.
Price knowing that cards will be used. Build the cost into your pricing model. Keep the bump under 2% and it is less likely to be noticed.
Lower a cost elsewhere to cover the cost. Look at your labour cost, for example. Shaving a hour of employee rostered time can save you around $30.00, that’s equal to purchases of $3750.00 on a card – depending on the type of card used.
Increase sales. While you should be single-mindedly focussed on this anyway, increasing sales helps you address the EFTPOS cost and more in the business.
It’s easy to kick a bank over EFTPOS fees. But … before you do that, look at your own behaviour. Here are common points in retail businesses that retailers overlook when they kick a supplier:
Dead stock. It’s easy to identity but often not. A problem not seen is not a problem to some. In my experience on conducting an audit of stock performance, usually, 20% of stock on the shop floor over which the retailer has full control underperforms and should not be there.
Bloated roster. Some prefer to spend money on people so they have time to themselves for relaxing, golf or to sit in the back office, where no customer purchases from.
Wrong trading hours. Some stay open too long while others are not open long enough. Either way has a cost to the business.
Being blind to theft. Theft in retail, like a local newsagency business, costs on average between 3% and 5% of turnover. Not watching for it, tracking it and mitigating against it has a cost to the business.
The wrong product mix. GP% is a key measure of retail business performance. Increasing yours beyond what is traditional for your channel provides you with a buffer. For example, transaction count / sales can decline and you can be okay. Measure GP%. Set a goal. Chase it. The air is cleaner in above average.
Ignorance. It’s not bliss. It’s not! There are insights in your software that can guide better decisions, faster decisions, more financially rewarding decisions. Yet, too many in retail don’t want to know. That failure costs them plenty.
The 6 items on the above list are all on the retailer to address.
We get that it’s easy to complain about high EFTPOS fees. If you are contemplating that, please take a moment to look back inside your business, look at the reason why and see if there are decisions you could make that are more valuable than complaining about EFTPOS fees or changing supplier. Our team here at Tower Systems would be happy to help.
Rising EFTPOS fees are likely not a problem since the y reflect rising sales, unless your provider is hiking your fees, which is rare.
While creating and supporting locally made POS software is what we do, we have owned and run shops in several; retail channels since February 1996. The experiences over the years have helped us make better software. There is no substitute for the personal understanding of everyday retail needs.
While we are not experts in all retail channels in which we serve, our knowledge from our own experience sets us apart among software companies.
Recently, is a new shop we purchased, we learnt more than we anticipates when we came to change the carpet …
Retail advice: shopfit changes worth doing are worth doing well – replacing the shop floor covering
We decided to replace the worn-out carpet in the retail newsagency business that we purchased on Glenferrie Road, Malvern, Victoria, in December 2021.
The decision is part our small-steps approach to refreshing this business. Rather than undertaking a whole shopfit at once, we are making a series of changes over time, as we learn more abut the business and its customers, and, to suit our goal of creating a less traditional newsagency.
So, we decided to replace the carpet.
We got several quotes, and chose a company with a good reputation. we appreciated their honesty regarding the need to close for 2 days to do the whole shop, around 250 sq metres.
The challenges started part way through day 1, when the old carpet was being removed. It turned out that under the old carpet was underlay, more carpet, tiles, and, lino tiles. The business had not changed hands in 38 years and it appeared that the original flooring was still in place for plenty of the shop.
In some places there were not as many layers on top of the original concrete floor.
The carpet installers had not anticipated dealing with so many layers when accepting the removal job from the carpet company. We had to get to the shop to take a look for ourselves as they were asking for more money.
The quote we had agreed to was not, in hindsight, as clear as it could have been. They could have removed the carpet and underlay and laid our new carpet on top. But, that would have resulted in an uneven floor. For the best result, all previous flooring had to be removed, and that would cost, we were told, $2,500.00 more.
A complication was the look of one layer. To be sure, it needed to be treated like asbestos. It was either that or halt the works and have it tested, which was not an option given where the project was at.
So, we agreed to the $2,500 and the removal back to the original concrete was done.
From the Saturday through to the Monday, March 14, the project was completed and new, lush, underlay installed and new carpet on top of that. The result is wonderful, clean, soft, and, quiet, it is very quiet.
From when we re-opened Tuesday morning we have been receiving comments from customers. They agree with us, it’s soft to walk on, and, it’s quiet.
While the project cost more than expected, the end result is well worth it. Along the way we have been reminded some things about shopfit works:
Be sure of the outcome you want.
Be thorough in your research, so you know the complete scope of the project.
Be clear what you want done in the project when seeking quotes.
Have a contingency in your budget so you can cope with surprises.
Health, safety and comfort of those working in the business and those shopping in the business has to be your top priority.
When it comes to flooring, if the shop is old, expect past changes to have been placed on top of old flooring, as it is cheaper.
The best flooring outcome starts with new flooring being placed on the base concrete or timber flooring in the building, and not on top of existing floor coverings.
Point 1 is always our position going into anything. it’s why we quickly agreed to the additional payment – we wanted then best outcome.
In terms of health, safety and comfort, we chose a more expensive underlay and this has been key to the customer comments over the last week since installation. The feel underfoot is wonderful.
While we want our shoppers to talk in good terms about what they buy in our shops, them talking in good terms about the experience is equally valuable, especially in a suburban high street situation like our Malvern shop. This is why we invest in shopfit upgrades and changes.
Every week we are making changes in this shop, introducing new product lines, moving fixtures, editing existing ranges and more. But, we are doing this in a small-steps approach – in part so as to not disrupt long-term customers who appreciate certainty (a thriving shop 2 doors away has had the same family owners since the 1930s) and to allow us to adjust as we learn.
On our current trajectory, we think it will be early 2023 before we have the shop feeling how we want it. Completing it before then could see us make changes too soon, and there is no win in that.
Also, our small-steps approach has us in control whereas a more traditional new shopfit approach would see the shoplifter in control and that’s not what we want as retailers.
This is one of the best pieces of advice you can give a retailer, for too often, retailers stock their shops with what they like more than what customers may like. They tend this that shoppers will like what they like. Evidence tells us that shoppers like what they like more so than what the retailer likes. This is especially true in local high street retail.
Talking with a retailer about our POS software recently, they mentioned their success with a product category they had rejected for several years. That category is now delivering to their shop close to $50,000 a year in good margin revenue to the business. Better still, it is attracting a category of shopper not common to their business.
They mentioned it because they heard us say to another retailer you are not your customer. They made the point that it took them a while to realise the trust of this.
None of us in retail are our customers yet too often local small business retailers stock their shops with what they like, missing opportunities to give more local shoppers what they like.
Ranging new products is speculative, a risk. But, trying to attract new customers requires this type of risk taking, done carefully. This is where POS software data can play a vital role in understanding the opportunity.
The key is the POS data analysis of the performance of what you have taken on, to measure whether it stays or goes. If it is working, the opportunity could be to expand into allied niche areas, to grow the opportunity further.
Accepting that you don’t know what you don’t know can free you to trial products you have rejected in the past and, through that, uncover valuable opportunities for your business.
Our advice is to always have a modest inventory and space investment on the shop floor of new products that you would not usually carry. Let them show you if they work or not. More important is advice to rely on your POS software data, for this will provide better guidance as to what works best in a shop, it is the evidence.
You are not your customer. Test, play, experiment to find out what your customers love and through this experience more love from in and for your shop.
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