The POS Software Blog

The POS Software Blog

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

CategoryRetail management advice

Sunday retail management advice: use your window

February 7, 2016
1 Min read
S

The front window of any retail business is one of the most important marketing statement you can make. It can attract people in who might otherwise not have shopped the shop. It can get your business talked about. It can show off the pride you have in your business.

Here is one window we saw last month in New York. It is of a tea shop – yet that retail nice is not evident on first glance at the window. The window display is a wonderful Alice in Wonderland homage. It stops people and once they stop they soon realise what is being pitched.

This window is a perfect example of small business marketing through the window.

IMG_4711

Read onRead later

Sunday retail management advice: use a museum piece to drive traffic

January 24, 2016
1 Min read
S

IMG_4574A trend in specialty retail overseas is to have a locked and secure cabinet housing a product people may not purchase but will come in to look at and photograph and salivate over.

The photo shows a runner designed by some famous guy. The pair sells for US$9,000. The manager of the store told us they have at least 50 people a day come in a look at the boot and take photos and that enough purchase other items to make the investment in the stock worth it.

Read onRead later

TOWER SYSTEMS AT ATLANTA GIFT FAIR IN THE US

January 20, 2016
1 Min read
T

A team from Tower Systems further benefited from participating in the Atlanta Gift Fair last week, networking with small business gift and homewares retailers as well as their suppliers – including suppliers from Australia. Thanks to contact since the show, the benefits are being realised quickly.

This large gift fair – representing 7,300 brands – is attended by thousands of retailers. It is the gift and homewares retailers the industry’s largest event featuring the most comprehensive collection of home décor, furniture and gifts. The venue spans multiple buildings and multiple floors in each building – it is many times larger than the largest gift fairs in Australia. This is what makes it an exciting event for us – a real eye-opener.

The range of products on show is more diverse and the types of businesses attending is equally diverse. This is why attending has been beneficial for the Tower Systems team as they have been able to expand their horizons as to how our POS software can better serves the needs of growing gift and homewares businesses.

We are not detailing takeaways here for obvious reasons.

Read onRead later

SUNDAY RETAIL MANAGEMENT ADVICE: DEAL WITH SUPPLIERS WHO SAVE YOU TIME

January 17, 2016
1 Min read
S

Too many wholesalers serving small business retailers do not provide invoices in an electronic form. This costs retailers time. It also costs money through mistakes that are easily made in manually processing these old-school invoices.

By preferencing suppliers that provides electronic invoices you reward those businesses supporting you with more efficient business practices.

Tower Systems helps small business wholesalers to produce electronic invoices for their small business retailers.

Read onRead later

POS software co. Tower Systems at CES in Las Vegas

January 15, 2016
1 Min read
P

Members of the Tower Systems leadership team were at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week, checking out trends, talking to start-up and innovators, renewing business connections and getting a feel for 2016 and beyond.

While our plans for this year were locked in months ago, it has been wonderful to consider these in the context of the latest trends.

There is no substitute for being there, in the amazing halls of CES with close to 200,000 others to see what appeals.

For commercial reasons, the insights of CES will be kept internally within the company for now.

IMG_3558 (2)

Read onRead later

SMALL BUSINESS RETAILERS NEED GOOD GIFT CARD SOFTWARE IN WAKE OF DICK SMITH COLLAPSE

January 11, 2016
1 Min read
S

IMG_3465The woes of retailer Dick Smith and the swift announcement of the status of gift vouchers by the Administrator last week has made shoppers suspicious of gift vouchers. This is what happened following the collapse of the Red retail group – Angus and Robertson – some years ago. It took months for trust to rebuild.

Unfortunately, we can see a similar situation follow what is happening at Dick Smith at the moment.

Thanks to the comprehensive gift voucher / gift card management facilities in our software, our small business retail partners have a good story to tell about managing the cards / vouchers and the cash collected.

Our software is well established and tested in this area, across multiple retail channels. we manage the vouchers in a way a CPA would expect and the way a shopper can trust.

Read onRead later

Sunday retail business management advice: get your web strategy right

January 3, 2016
1 Min read
S

A tech company recently sent out a survey on 2015 activity to their customers with an out of date logo, a design from the 1990s and a follow up thank you note referencing 2014. These three missteps made the business look unprofessional in its approach. They made it an easy target for anyone wanting to show weaknesses in the business. Their communication also provided some fun for competitors.

Since online is so vital to business today it is important that your online and electronic communications are on point: professional, using your current logo and art, referencing current activity and followed up with relevant material.

Software companies and all businesses need to be professional in every contact as the last contact could be the one on which we are judged.

Read onRead later

Helping small business retailers manage labour cost

December 22, 2015
1 Min read
H

Labour is the second highest cost in small business retail yet it is often among the least managed. Tower Systems helps small business retailers manage labour costs. By manage, we mean keep efficient to ensure they are appropriate to the needs of the business. We have helped small business retailers cut labour costs by 25% without any downward impact on sales revenue. We do this through our smart POS software in a range of ways including:

  • Tracking sales by time.
  • Tracking sales by employee.
  • Employee rostering.
  • Tracking labour cost by hour.
  • Mapping costs against seasons and other important activities within the business.
Read onRead later

Sunday small business retail management advice: give people waiting something to buy

December 20, 2015
1 Min read
S

candylaneSupermarkets, fuel outlets and convenience retailers nail the candy lane, the floor space in front of the counter where people line and wait to be served. It’s called the candy lane because it’s where candy is often sold. It is a space strategy appropriate to any retailer.

What is it you present to shoppers who approach the counter, any counter in your business? Are impulse purchases by your shoppers growing?

Products need to be easily understood and relevant to your business. They need to be products on which customers can make a split-second decision.

Manage your candy lane for success.

Success is shoppers purchasing items on impulse from display units placed in your candy lane.

Read onRead later

Small business retailers offer better loyalty value than Woolworths and Coles

December 19, 2015
1 Min read
S

We checked in recently with several retailers running our loyalty software facilities and in each case we found these small businesses offering loyalty programs that were between ten and one hundred times more valuable to shoppers than those run by Coles and Woolworths.

We are proud to play a role in these small business retailers offering valuable loyalty programs that focus on real value for customers.

From points to dollars off to multi-buy to rewards for future purchases, the loyalty programs available through the Tower software are considerable. Their flexibility is excellent as if the commercial benefits to our small business retail partners.

We are confident Tower Systems can help you:

  • Get customers spending more in a visit.
  • Bring existing customers back sooner.
  • Attract new shoppers to your business.
  • Drive impulse purchases at the sales counter.
Read onRead later

Helping small business retailers transact without a POS software computer system

December 16, 2015
1 Min read
H

Tower Systems has published updated advice to help retailers transact in the unlikely event of their computer system not being available. This advice proved to be popular with our customers – we can tell from the considerable download count.

Small business retailers learn to rely on their POS software. If it becomes unavailable for some time and for reasons outside anyone’s immediate control it can challenge the business operations. This is why having a plan for survival is vital to the business.

Planning for contingencies such as a blackout, massive hardware failure or some other contingency is important in retail and we take our role in guiding retailers on best practice business management seriously here at Tower Systems.

This latest business management advice is part of a long-term commitment to publish advice that is useful, accessible and freely available for our small business retail customers.

Read onRead later

Sunday retail management advice: basket analysis helps you sell more

December 13, 2015
2 Min read
S

Basket analysis is the analysis of products purchased by transaction – shopping basket. Such analysis typically compares two trading periods overall and by day of week. It also includes this analysis by supplier comparing trading periods and day of week.

Basket analysis shows you the efficiency of product categories (departments). For example, see how many baskets include one category of item and nothing else. You can also see the numbers of times sales are single item sales.

Basket analysis underscores the value to the business of newer categories such as gifts and toys.

Basket analysis at a supplier level is equally insightful, allowing you to compare the basket efficiency and value of suppliers between two tradition periods as well as across each day of the week between two trading periods.

It is at the basket analysis level that you can determine product efficiency. A product is more efficient for you if it is purchased with other items in our view. You can drive this by careful placement on the shop floor, promotion at the sales counter and working with customers on the shop floor to guide their purchases.

It’s an example of how you can use comprehensive business data to drive your in-store actions. For example, knowing what we know about pop vinyls, Saturday is the day we really focus on them with secondary locations to do even better from the Saturday opportunity.

Basket analysis can also help you with rostering. With some category sales requiring more staff time that others, you can consider the product mix sold by day and adjust your roster accordingly. Trimming wages is an important cost saving focus in business.

The goal has to be deeper baskets (more items per transaction) and a greater spread across product categories – but with a focus on higher margin items so that also lift the overall GP performance of the business.

In the Tower Systems software the report to use for this analysis is the Basket Analysis Report. It provides an extraordinary insight into baskets.

Read onRead later

POS software helps retailers sell more hampers at Christmas time

December 9, 2015
1 Min read
P

Christmas is hamper season for many retailers and Tower Systems helps retailers easily and confidently make, manage, sell and deconstruct hampers.

We track all the components of a hamper, special package pricing, sales history, customer engagement and, if necessary, the breaking down of hampers to single items should a hamper not sell.

Making it easy to manage hampers helps the Tower software be selected by gift shops, bike shops, pet shops, garden centres and other retailers where hampers are an important part of the Christmas trade.

Our work in the hamper space started years ago when we sold our software to a hamper specialist. They guided us to develop smarter tools and these sit in the core POS software we offer to retailers today.

Hampers are a terrific way for local small retailers to pitch a point of difference. Our software makes hampers easy to manage and sell. More important, our software makes it easy to leverage for next season.

This is another POS software Tower AdvantageTM.

Read onRead later

Sunday small business retail business management advice: how to compete with a big business competitor

December 6, 2015
3 Min read
S

Here are some tips from us on how to more effectively compete with a big business competitor located near your small business:

  1. Know what you can and can’t do. Some big retailers spend tens of millions of dollars saying they are the cheapest. A small business cannot match that spend. So, price should not be your focus as it is a harder road. If you do choose to pitch on price, you need to do it comparatively and consistently. List their price and your price. However, the risk is they will chase you down that hole and their pockets are deeper than yours. I recommend against competing on price.
  2. Understand the new competition locating near you. Research them, visit their store, look carefully at what they do. Understand, from a rational perspective, why they are a successful national company. Visit several times. Try and talk to customers. Knowledge gained from such field trips will empower your planning and decision making.
  3. Focus on your point of difference. If you do not have on, get one, develop one. Own it. Ensure your business owns it. If it is service, make it better, if it is range, make it better., If it is that you are local, shout this from your rooftop. Your point of difference needs to be seen, heard and understood by your customers and those who would be your customers. If you do not think you have an obvious point of difference, work hard to build one and embed this deep within your business.
  4. Promote your business. Professionally. Be smart. Big businesses are usually big advertisers. You need to advertise too. To the level you are able within your business. This could be in the local newspaper, on local radio, in flyers to homes or even with a terrific display in your front window. Promote your business and in particular your point of difference. Small businesses can win in social media with locally-focussed pitches which demonstrate your local connections.
  5. Network locally. Connect with community groups, charities, sports groups, schools, clubs and friends. A small local business can do this better than a big business. Find a way to connect and help. This will be appreciated and, hopefully, rewarded with business. Strong networking can help you get more people on your side and supporting your business through strong word of mouth.
  6. Have a consistent loyalty offer. This needs to be different to what major retailers do. It needs to be whole of business. It has to offer genuine rewards which get people shopping your shop rather than staying within a category. This is where discount vouchers work.
Read onRead later

Five management tips small business retailers most often ignore – Sunday retail management advice

November 22, 2015
1 Min read
F

Based ion our many years experience and our personal work with more than 3,000 retailers, here are the five most common bits of advice small business retailers ignore. Do these five things and your business will improve.

  1. Track everything you sell from the moment it arrives to when it sells.
  2. Reorder stock using your software and not your gut.
  3. Track all employee transactions.
  4. Do not purchase from suppliers who do not provide electronic invoices.
  5. Run a dollar based loyalty program that encourages shopper engagement more often.

These tips are offered as part of a series from Tower Systems, a POS software company serving more than 3,500 small business retailers with specialist POS software for a range of retail niches.

Every day through our software, advice, support and training we provide help beyond the software, help to make a genuine difference to the small retail businesses we serve.

Read onRead later

Five ways small business retailers can compete with big retail businesses using smart POS software

November 21, 2015
1 Min read
F

This is easy. Small business retailers can beat big businesses by consistently delivering a better service:

  1. Offer a real loyalty program and not some over-promoted program that promises a lot but does not deliver.
  2. Include helpful product use and care instructions on your customer receipts.
  3. Offer LayBy with a professional management approach. Many bigger retailers find LayBy too hard now.
  4. Show savings. On receipts. If your prices are lower than suggested retail, tell people.
  5. Keep in contact. Send a text message or email when a special order comes in – this reminds shoppers their sought-after items are now available for collection.

These tips are offered as part of a series from Tower Systems, a POS software company serving more than 3,500 small business retailers with specialist POS software for a range of retail niches.

Every day through our software, advice, support and training we provide help beyond the software, help to make a genuine difference to the small retail businesses we serve.

Read onRead later

Five ways small business retailers can gain more pleasure from their businesses through smart POS software

November 20, 2015
2 Min read
F

Running a small business need not be as stressful as it often is. Reducing stress starts with the business operating to a carefully developed and consistently executed structure. Good POS software is keep to a business operating structure. Get this right and stress will fall. Leverage the data in your software and pleasure will grow – you will benefit beyond money, we see customers enjoying their businesses more as a result of using the software to help in key management areas of the business.

Here are five ways the Tower software can help you gain more pleasure from your software:

  1. Manage your roster through the software.
  2. Balance at the end of each shift using fast EOS balancing tools in the software.
  3. Order, price, sell and reorder through the software – allowing anyone to do it, following your business rules.
  4. Easily identify the hero suppliers, employees and locations of your business and rejo7ce in them.
  5. Spend time above your business, following you data and plan. Planning is pleasurable as you get to work on your business.

These tips are offered as part of a series from Tower Systems, a POS software company serving more than 3,500 small business retailers with specialist POS software for a range of retail niches.

Every day through our software, advice, support and training we provide help beyond the software, help to make a genuine difference to the small retail businesses we serve.

Read onRead later

Five unexpected ways smart POS software backed by good support can help small business retailers

November 18, 2015
2 Min read
F

Retailers think about POS software systems as all being the same. Usually, they look upon them as a cash register replacement. While that is true,, good POS software does considerably more than this. Good POS software delivers benefits deep within a retail business.

Specialist POS software for specialty retailers such as garden centres, bike shops, jewellers, pet shops, newsagents and others benefit from software tailored to their needs beyond the cash register function. Usually, such specialisation includes linking to suppliers and serving mutual needs.

Here are five of many unexpected ways the Tower Systems specialist retail channel software helps small business retailers:

  1. Cut theft. This usually happens by the software revealing situations retailers otherwise would miss.
  2. Easier to sell. A retail business using specialist POS software well is easier to sell because it is easier to operate.
  3. Freed up cash. Cash is too often wasted in small business retail. Following the recommended processes in our software will see you buy better and this will result in less stock purchasing failure.
  4. Power. Retailers using our software tell us they feel more powerful when negotiating with suppliers thanks to the data they have at their fingertips.
  5. Comfort. While many worry about stress that could come with installing a computer system, they often, unexpectedly find comfort from the structure, ease of use and value from the Tower software
  6. Expect more. Yes, this is a sixth way. From your software company, expect more. Seek their help and insights and these are sure to help you get more from your business.

These tips are offered as part of a series from Tower Systems, a POS software company serving more than 3,500 small business retailers with specialist POS software for a range of retail niches.

Every day through our software, advice, support and training we provide help beyond the software, help to make a genuine difference to the small retail businesses we serve.

Read onRead later

Five ways small business retailers can reduce labour costs

November 17, 2015
2 Min read
F

Next to rent, labour is the next largest cost faced by small business retailers. Too often, retailers do hot manage labour as effectively as they can. In our work with small business retailers across a number of channels we have developed ideas on reducing labour costs. Here are five ideas we see work well:

  1. Roster by revenue. Plot revenue by hour and roster shop floor sales staff according to the sales volume.
  2. Roster to an hourly cost. Use smart roster software, like our free eziroster.com.au, and roster to a budget.
  3. Track sales by employee. Report on sales by employee by hour worked and assess the contribution they make to the business.
  4. Time shift tasks. Most away from rostered hours work that can be done without a labour cost. For example, backing up data or linking to your accounting software – both can be done without any labour cost.
  5. Eliminate manual processes. Get suppliers to provide electronic invoices, stop pricing everything you sell – use shelf labels, don’t count stock manually … to name a few tasks you can eliminate entirely.

These tips are offered as part of a series from Tower Systems, a POS software company serving more than 3,500 small business retailers with specialist POS software for a range of retail niches.

Every day through our software, advice, support and training we provide help beyond the software, help to make a genuine difference to the small retail businesses we serve.

Read onRead later

Five free forgotten marketing ideas for small business retailers

November 16, 2015
2 Min read
F

Retailers often forget these marketing opportunities they have everyday in their businesses, opportunities to make a pitch at no cost that can have shoppers more engaged with a business.

  1. Pitch on your receipt. Sure, it is a record of a purchase. It is also a valuable advertising platform.
  2. Pitch by time of day. Some days are slower than others. Some times of the day are slower than others. Promote based on the low times to drive engagement.
  3. Add value. On the receipt with a purchase automatically include care instructions or other advice to add value to the purchase. Show your customers why purchasing from you is different, better, than if they were to purchase from elsewhere.
  4. Be smart with placement. Use your business data to see what sells with what. Place commonly purchased together items next to each other and drive sales.
  5. Thank your customers. Email customers a thank you note based on a recent purchase and they will be back. Your software can make this type of marketing easier.

These tips are offered as part of a series from Tower Systems, a POS software company serving more than 3,500 small business retailers with specialist POS software for a range of retail niches.

Every day through our software, advice, support and training we provide help beyond the software, help to make a genuine difference to the small retail businesses we serve.

Read onRead later

Helping small business retailers beat Woolworths in the loyalty sakes – Sunday small business retail management advice

November 8, 2015
1 Min read
H

The new Woolworths shopper loyalty program recently released has received plenty of coverage. Now that it is live we have had a chance to test drive it and, frankly, our opinion of it is not good.

The new Woolworths loyalty program is not good value for the consumer.

We know from our own small business customers using the discount voucher facilities in our POS software that the value they deliver is, on average, twenty times better value than the Woolworths offer.

Our tip today to small business retailers is – you can beat Woolworths in the loyalty stakes and we can help you do this.

Read onRead later

Five ways small business retailers can pitch local: Sunday small business retail management advice

October 25, 2015
1 Min read
F

Being local matters to shoppers today. There is a big difference, however, in saying you are local and being authentically local.

From our work in the trenches with more than 3,000 small business retailers here is our top five advice on successfully pitching local in your business.

  1. Be seen. Engage in local activities, alongside locals.
  2. Buy locally. Have a sign in your shop welcoming pitches from local suppliers of goods you can sell in your business.
  3. Talk local. On your business social media pages talk about local matters. Sow you care too.
  4. Support local. When deciding on your charity engagement, preference local organisations and be clear about this.
  5. Educate local. Make sure customers purchasing locally made product understand it is local.

Local, of course, can be different things to different people. It may mead a geographic proximity to your business. It could also mean products made by a family in another state. Nuanced appropriately and personally, this is a local pitch you could make.

We urge all small business retailers to engage with local and to do so with care and authenticity.

Read onRead later

Retailers love the shop local campaign from our POS software company

October 9, 2015
1 Min read
R

We are thrilled at the number of small business retailers engaging with the free marketing advice and collateral at our POS software company website. Any retailer can download the free posters and other materials and use them how they want to promote these marketing pitches for and through their businesses. Here are some of the free poster artwork Tower Systems has made available.

Screen Shot 2015-09-22 at 12.09.01 pm

Read onRead later
The POS Software Blog

Categories

Categories

Categories

Recent Comments

Monthly Archives