The POS Software Blog

The POS Software Blog

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

CategoryRetail management advice

Small business retail advice: how to stop dead stock sinking your bottom line

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We were helping a retailer turn their business around last year and one of the first things we looked at was dead stock. In their type of business, anything that has not sold for 6 months or more is dead. They had $32,000 worth of dead stock.

Their initial reaction was common, disbelief. We worked out a plan and soon enough quit that stock and used the freed cash to purchase more of what was selling.

The first way to resolve a dead stock issue is to understand the cost. Good POS software reports on it easily. Our Tower Systems POS software does. Our software also offers tools for m opting the stock, and tracking that to see the value of this.

We’re not your usual POS software company. Sure, we show how to use the software. But, we also offer advice from a business management perspective – how to use the software to drive value for the business and its owners. We do this from the position of being retailers ourselves. We can speak to our experiences in our shops.

That’s what we do in this dead stock situation. Plus, we draw on decades of practical help to other retailers.

Our advice is to look at dead stock / the age of stock every 3 months. You soon learn the value of buying based on data evidence in the business and being cautious when exploring new product lines.

Your software can guide you to make decisions more likely to work, and less likely to result in dead stock.

We have been working with retailers for many years and continue to be surprised at the disinterest of many retailers in the extent and cost of dead stock in their businesses.

When we bought a retail business a few years back we had written into the contract a cascading discounts for existing stock based on its age beyond 6 months. In that business, more than half the stock had been there for 6 months.

Dead stock costs the business today, and when you come to sell.

In our POS software and thanks to our personal training we help retailers reduce the cost of dead stock in their businesses.

Find out more:

www.towersystems.com.au

1300 662 957

sales@towersystems.com.au

The mental health challenge of theft in local small business retail

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Beyond the money, theft in local small business retail is a mental health challenge.

There is the situation of the person stealing, the customer, the supplier, the co-owner or the employee. Often there can be mental health challenges associated with or leading up to their actions.

Then, there is the mental health challenge for the business owner(s) following the theft.

In our work with local small business retailers dealing with theft from their business, we have seen mental health affected.

we have seen retailers so affected that they quickly sell their business, opting for a lifestyle change as a result.

Theft is personal. We get that there are plenty of ‘experts’ who say theft is not personal. But in our experience, it is. Your business is like your home. Theft is a violation of your home. This why it hits hard, why it hurst so much.

When we discover theft in a retail business we are helping we suggest the owners reach out to professional services for mental health support. Advice we have found useful includes:

Be sure of the facts. How much was stolen and how it was stolen. These specific details can help you draw a line under the situation.

Do something. Take an action, or actions, to protect against a recurrence. Acting on the situation can provide confidence and strength.

Be open with others. Sharing what happened and what it has meant to you can, of itself, nurture support.

Cleanse. The theft situation may have left you with an employee or two you no longer want in the business, a supplier to drop, a customer ti disallow. Take action to shut the door.

Exercise. Plenty off mental health professionals advocate active walking outdoors as a good step for calming and clearing your mind. Find the exercise that works best for you, walking, running, swimming, and engage in that exercise. From what we read and have been told, doing this away from you’re business regularly is key.

Try to not obsess. We have seen retailers become obsessed about theft following an incident. That can be debilitating and take joy from the running of the business. Find a balance that works for you where you can be vigilant, but not obsessed.

While dealing with the practicalities of theft is important in any local small business retail setting, dealing with your own mental health is important too. Work on it. be aware. Take care of yourself. And, be in control, rather than the crime controlling you.

Small business retail advice: what if you hate the retail business you own or work in?

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We are grateful here at Tower Systems to work with many different retailers in many different settings. Over the years, our experience has evolved. Add two this our own experience running our own shops for more than 26 years and we are resourced and able to offer insights and advice on local retail business management.

I hate going into work. As a friend of ours said these words we knew they had far more weight than if they had been said by an employee. Our friend owned the retail store to which they were referring. He hated going into his own retail business. They had fallen out of love with what they had created and the bitterness they felt towards their business had soured to hatred.

Why do some retailers hate going to work? It is an interesting question which needs exploration before we look at strategies for countering this.

There is usually a trigger – tough economic conditions, personal challenges away from the business, a partner dispute, tiredness… there could be any combination of reasons.  Sometimes, I have seen a reason quite a distance from the business itself.

If you own a retail store and you have reached the point where you hate going into work each day it is important to take time away from the business for an honest assessment as to why you hate the business. Until you can answer the question – why do you hate going into work? – you cannot begin to work on resolution.

Once you know the reasons you hate going to work, think about a series of small and achievable steps you could take to turn the situation around.

No matter how challenging the situation, there are always steps you could take. Focus on these, start work on them and in some instances that alone will be enough to move you through the fog of anger and ill-feeling toward the business.

Breaking a big problem down into small steps makes it feel manageable.

If finding small steps to take does not work, get together with a trusted friend and tell them how you feel toward the business. Ask them to talk with you about the business. Reminisce about why you started or purchased the business. Remember your dreams and hopes. Use the conversation to explore your emotion at the moment you decided to open or purchase the retail business.

If you have the funds, substitute your friend with a psychologist or professionally qualified counsellor to explore your feelings for the business.

We are not suggesting a business coach or mentor here because the ill-feeling toward the business is more often personal and is better dealt with by those with skills on working with feelings.

Understanding your hatred for your retail business is the first step. This will usually, of itself, reveal the first steps you can take to turn the hatred around. Be open to that. Take small steps and see where they lead. The change in feeling toward the business may not be immediate so do not expect too much too soon.

Some retailers we have worked with have felt ashamed of their hatred for their business. The best and toughest analogy we heard was that it was like hating your own child.

A retail store, especially one you created on your own, is like a child. There is no shame to be had in this feeling. So many factors can come into play to get one to this point.

By getting help to understand your feelings and using the understanding which flows from this to develop a strategy you can expect to start to feel better – even if the strategy involves you exiting that business.

If you do nothing, the hatred will be more and more reflected in the business and in your own person. Neither benefits from this.

Small business retail advice: 7 tips for keeping your bank or lender on your side

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Banks, and small business lenders, are vitally important for any retail business from day to day trading through to long term funding. A healthy relationship with your bank or lender will be vitally important to keeping the retail business healthy.

Maintaining a good banking relationship can be a challenge for retailers. It takes attention to detail and hard work. Retailers can be often sidetracked in their business days and not remember to take of the banking relationship.

Here are 7 tips which can lead to a better banking / lender relationship and thereby provide the business with protection against damage to the relationship.

  1. Be on time, every time. With trading figures, annual accounts and any other regular reports that you bank requires you to provide. Being on time will win a tick from them and ensure that you are not on their businesses to watch and be concerned about radar.
  2. Send them your newsletter. If you have a customer newsletter, put your bank manager on the list. Treat them like a customer and through this help drive a better connection between their business and yours. Newsletters go on your file and give local branch employees something to show off if they are talking to more senior people in the bank about businesses they like.
  3. Ask for regular meetings. You set the agenda for briefing sessions where you let the bank know how business is going and how you are leveraging your relationship with them. Even informal meetings are reflected in internal banking reports and these can strengthen your position with the bank.
  4. Recommend the bank. If the bank is serving you well and you are happy, recommend them to others. Be honest in your recommendation, let your friends know why you like this bank and what they have done for you. Let the bank know when you do this as it helps them see you and your business in a broader light.
  5. Invite bank employees in. If you are holding a sales or some other event, invite bank employees to participate. They could be good customers. They will also appreciate seeing the business first hand.
  6. Be regular. Banks appreciate regularity – with deposits and with payments.  Try and maintain a regular pattern in your business transactions.
  7. Write, update and follow a business plan. This should be point #1.  A well thought out and up to date business plan demonstrates how serious you are about your business.  Having this for bank review meetings will encourage them to treat you more seriously than retail businesses without a plan.

Treat the banking relationship as personal and one which needs to be nurtured each week. The better your communication the better the relationship. Be sure to set time aside for this in your work schedule and to include the bank wherever possible and practical.

The business outcome is flexibility when you need it and access for free advice at times of important business decisions.

Good banks appreciate good relationships with their retailer customers. You will find that they invest more time in businesses which invest time in them.

Here at Tower Systems while we are a POS software company, our advice and help for local small business retailers often reaches beyond what is traditional.

Small business retail advice: how and where to promote your shop to retirees

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The retiree (or seniors) marketplace can be lucrative for many different types of retail stores. They tend to be loyal and engaged in word of mouth marketing about good retail experiences. They can also be flexible about when they shop and this is where a retail business can really leverage the opportunity. They also network, leading to valuable word of mouth

Before you can market any retiree service or benefit you need to develop a plan for handling the opportunity. What products will be offered and at what special prices? The most common approach is to offer a flat discount to retirees, or seniors as they are called in some marketplaces. This discount is usually between 5% and 10%.

Price is important to the seniors marketplace since they either have a fixed income or are living off finite savings.  They like businesses which help them save money.

You will also need to decide when the discount or other offer is available. Some businesses make the offer available only on certain days, usually the quietest days of the week. Others offer access to the benefits all the time. Think carefully about the needs of the business before deciding when you will provide access to the benefits – focus on the business outcome you want to achieve.

In terms of accessing the benefit, it is common and fair to ask for some form of proof of eligibility. This could be in the form of a drivers license or a seniors card as is available in some locations.  This is a card usually issues by local government.  Sometimes, it is issued by residences.

An alternative is to create your own retiree / seniors card for use in promoting the business. These should be professionally designed and produced. Ensure that such a card is respectful and something these customers would proudly carry. Design the card so that it promotes the benefits you offer – so that it is an extension of your marketing program.

Whatever method you use to identify your retiree customers, it has to be simple to use at the counter for processing the appropriate discount.

To market a business to retirees consider these options:

  1. Train employees to offer the discount or other benefits to someone who looks eligible. While this could cause embarrassment, it could also extend the word of mouth around the offer.
  2. Promote to retirement villages in the local area.
  3. Advise local government authorities that you offer a benefit to retirees.
  4. Contact local clubs and organisations likely to connect with retirees.
  5. Promote the benefits in-store and in your business newsletter. You want to spread your offer as far and wide as possible, so that retirees beat a path to your door.
  6. Visit local retirement residences and offer assistance.
  7. Advertise in trailer parks.
  8. Look up clubs the Internet – there are plenty of groups, clubs and forums for older folks travelling around. They share tips about places they like.

The value of the retiree market to your retail store will depend on the value of the offer available to them and how widely you promote this. While some retailers see retirees as a chore others see a business opportunity.

Small business retail management advice: winers are grinners – using competitions to attract shoppers and drive sales

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Winners are grinners as they say. Shoppers who win from a retail store are happy and they tell their friends. Whether it is a large or small prize, the value to the business of making winners of customers can be considerable.

The best competitions are those where a customer of the retail store is guaranteed to win. That is, there the competition is store specific. While participating in larger national and state wide competitions around products brands and even franchise brands can be good for business, it is the local competitions which provide the best opportunity for local promotion.

Here are some tips on how to use competitions effectively to promote your retail store:

Every competition needs a focus. Promote a specific product or product category or a certain level of spending. Competitions open to anyone without a tactical focus are likely to be less successful.

Make entering easy for everyone. Ensure that the mechanics of the competition – how to enter – are easy and understood. You don’t want to slow down the sales counter or have customers reject entering the competition because of complexity.

Promote well. Promote the competition well in the business from the front window throughout the store.

Encourage participation. Get all employees actively promoting the competition. Offer a reward for the employee who achieves the most entries per hour worked.

Drive impulse purchases. A good competition is one used to drive impulse purchases at the counter. They key here is that the item being sold, the trigger for a competition entry, must be easily understood.

Show off the prize. If possible, show the prize of offer for the competition. This can drive people to engage in the behaviour you are promoting as they more easily understand the opportunity.

Show off entries. If entry in the competition requires shopper activity like drawing or coloring, show off the entries as this will drive more traffic to the store.

Promote winners. Take photos of competition winners, with their permission, and use these in newsletters and on a winners board in-store. This is how you can promote the store as a place where winners shop.

Host and event around the prize draw. Make the drawing of the winner a special event with its own retail hooks to drive sales.

Create a competition calendar. This can provide focus to the competition program throughout the year and ensure that they are a consistent part of the marketing mix.

Engage with suppliers. Call of key suppliers to support the business with prizes for your competitions. This is more easily achieved if the competition connects with specific brands.

Promote externally. Use the competition to promote the business externals in advertising and promotional flyers.

Competitions, regardless of size, can drive excellent results for a retail store. Professional execution is the key from the planning stand right through to the drawing of the winner. Ensure that everyone involved including customers have fun with each competition you run.

Small business retail advice: 7 tips for having fun while chasing growth for your retail shop

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Shopping ought to be enjoyable and, preferably, fun. Often, it is the experience itself which separates one retail store from another. This is why every retail business needs to devote management and front line attention to delivering a memorable and enjoyable experience.

One way to provide a memorable shopping experience is to have authentic and in the moment fun – among the sales team and with customers. Here are seven tips for having fun in any retail store:

  1. Theme days. Embrace an era which with interest your customers. For example, the 1970s. Dress the store and employees in keeping with the 1970s. Have a couple of items on sale at 1970s prices – to connect the theme with a commercial outcome. Get some stories from the 1970s related to products you sell and place these on display boards in the window. Consider a competition for the customer in the best 1970s costume.
  2. Other theme days include: school days, foreign country days where you wear traditional dress from a foreign country, crazy hair day and, of course, more theme days around key decades.
  3. Local sports competition. Fully embrace any major local sporting event, choose a team, dress in their colours and dress the store in their colours. Be unashamedly parochial and show your customers your local support.
  4. In-store buskers. Find some local musicians you enjoy and who have a repertoire which would connect with your customers and invite them in to play live for your customers. This would bring a vibrancy to the store and provide welcome entertainment for your customers as they shop. The local performers get to reach a new audience and you get to change up the feel of your business.
  5. Repurposing day. Host an event where customers compete for a prize for the most innovative repurposing of a product you sell. The idea would be that they take something you sell and demonstrate a use for it in a way which is completely different to what the manufacturer expected. There would need to be a rule that the new use is genuinely useful.
  6. The cutest baby. Invite your customers to bring in a photo of whey they were a baby, the older the better. Stick the photos on a wall and take votes on the best. You could change this up with two photos: as a baby and today and get customers to connect the two. Family members will come in to look at the photos and vote. A local store could get a real buzz with a promotion like this. While there is no obvious direct sales imperative, the traffic and word of mouth should drive good business.
  7. Stand up comedy in store. Invite local comedians to try out their stand up routines with your customers. While you would need to be careful about content, such an event would show the store supporting local artists and it could bring some fun to quiet retail times.
  8. Crazy tie day. While this has been done before plenty of times, you could kick it up with an amazing tie display – collect these from local Goodwill stores, invite customers to donate. As with the theme days idea, interact with customers and offer a prize for the best / worst.

These seven ideas are the tip of the iceberg for in-store promotions. They are designed to kick start your own thinking, to pursue what its right for your specific type of retail business.

The key here is to give everyone who works in the shop permission to have fun, and nurture fun.

Retail is very much about the shopping experience. While good customer service and a friendly shopping experience are vital, sometimes it is the wonderful unexpected experience which can get people talking about a business.

Be bold and have fun.

Small business retail advice: 5 sales tips for retrial sales people

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Selling is the lifeblood of retail, especially local small business retail.

It takes skill, stamina and creativity yet it is often treated as one of the lowest roles in an organization. Smart retailers help their sales staff improve their skills to better serve the business and its customers.

Some salespeople are naturals while others work hard to learn the skills. Everyone, no matter how experienced can improve. Take a moment to consider these five steps to better selling.

  1. Be in the moment. Focus on the customer in front of you, listen and respond to their needs. Genuinely care, don’t just act like you care. The personal connection they feel from and with you is more likely to bring them back into the store than almost anything else including product and price. If you are not comfortable with developing such a personal connection then maybe retail is not for you.
  2. Understand what you sell. Knowledge is king, even more so in retail. By knowing everything there is to know about the products you sell you make yourself more valuable to the business and to its customers. Good employees spend personal time learning about the products and how they are of value to their customers.
  3. Enjoy yourself. Smiles and laughter are infectious. If you are happy your customers are more likely to be happy. Happy customers are more relaxed about spending money. But don’t fake it as fakes can be spotted. Know what makes you happy about your job and embrace this. Never be afraid to bring i bit of your personal self to the shop floor or the sales counter.
  4. Know when to be quiet. Some shoppers like to be told what to buy but most prefer to make their own choices. It is important to spot the difference and know when to leave a shopper to make their own decision. Provide the information important to the decision but leave them space to make the decision for themselves.
  5. Selling is a service. Too often, especially in busy retail environments, selling is seen as production line work. If this is how it is treated then the experience will be less personal and memorable for the shopper. If you treat it as a service and understand that service does matter, you focus on the service as the point of difference. This change in mindset alone can lead to considerable change in a retail business.

So how to these steps increase retail sales? It all comes down to the service delivered being better than elsewhere: more personal, friendlier, more knowledgeable and genuine. Combined, these attributes make for a unique shopping experience in today’s cookie-cutter obsessed retail world.

Retail employees who see retail as a career will do well for their businesses and for their careers by embracing these steps.

Small business retail advice: the shop window is often the most underused retail business asset

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Here at Tower Systems we are grateful to our thousands of local specialty retail business owners for their insights, advice and support. This community will our well of knowledge, they enable us to share this with others, like we do here in this place.

Today, let’s talk about the shop window. It’s a vital business asset as it works 24/7. It pitches your business to people often who have never shopped your shop.

Get it right, and your shop window can provide an excellent financial return for a modest investment.

The window of any retail business can tell how serious the business is about business. If it does not regularly (at least weekly) change, has old stock, is dusty or dirty, is covered in signs or presents mixed messages then the business most likely is not doing do hot.

Look at the most successful retail businesses, they have a window strategy. From national groups to independents, successful retailers understand the importance of the window in the overall marketing plan.

As prime retail real estate, the window is a place to be respected, obsessed about and wholeheartedly embraced. Consider these ideas for developing a window strategy:

See your window how others see it. Step outside your business and cross the mall or the street and look at the front of your shop. Spend a while doing this. Go back again if you are not sure what you see.

Look at other windows. If you have competitors nearby, check out their windows. If you have retail businesses you admire, look at their windows too.

Develop a window calendar. Decide on themes for window displays, set dates when new displays are to be installed. Engage all team members in deciding on the display calendar. Be sure to cover off the major seasons for the business. Be sure to balance window time to all product categories in the business. Be sure to build opportunities into the calendar for community engagement – the window is a terrific place for community groups to show off and bring their contacts to your business.

Be single minded. Each window display should have a single message. This ensures greater impact and provides a better opportunity for success.

Strip it back. Retail business windows often have unnecessary items which have been added over time. Strip as many of these back as possible. Leave the maximum space for your themed displays.

Learn how to create stunning displays. Consider sending employees to a visual merchandising course to learn how to create displays. Alternatively, bring in a visual merchandiser to create the displays for you.

Be prepared to do it over. If a window display does not present the business well or reflect your point of difference – from across the street or across the mall – do it over.

Remember what window displays are for. Then window display is for your customers and would-be customers, to get them to visit and buy from you. If a display does not do this then it has failed.

A good window display will drive traffic and sales. The impact will be felt almost immediately. Be brutal in your assessment of success. It is business after all. The business needs a return on investment from this most valuable retail real estate.

A great window display can reinvigorate a retail business and help everyone involved love the business a little bit more.

Now, if you are motivated to change your window – do it yourself, from scratch. Anyone can. No experience necessary!

Small business retail advice: increase sales by recalibrating your sales counter

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Across a range of specialty retail channels, Tower Systems is grateful to serve thousands of retailers. Years of doing this, collaborating with them, has helped us developed a deep well of experience and knowledge, which we happily share.

The retail sales counter is premium space in a retail business. Too often, however, the counter is cluttered with products placed there in pursuit of impulse purchases or because there is nowhere else in the store for them.

In some retail settings, the counter itself is redundant. Think about that, because if a counter in your business is redundant, having one makes no sense.

but, back to the topic at hand – making the counter more successful for you.

A cluttered counter mentality often starts with one item which works so retailers add more and more until the counter is a mess of colour and small displays.

Representatives of suppliers pressure retailers to take offers, structuring deals to make counter placement compelling.

The result is a mess of color which rarely changes and is poorly managed in terms of return on space.

A good retail counter is a profitable retail counter in terms of the value of impulse purchases achieved.

At a good retail counter, less is more. By creating better displays without products competing for attention, the featured products have a better opportunity of performing.

Here are some tips to un-cluttering a retail sales counter which have worked in many different businesses.

  1. After the business is closed on a day, take all products off and clean the counter – completely off so that the counter is bare. Yes, this is hard work.  But you get to rebuild the counter you want.
  2. Rebuild the counter story one product at a time. Consider the product from the customer’s perspective – is it something they are likely to purchase on impulse? Is the product understood? Is the price point attractive? Can they easily access the product?
  3. Create zones for promotional purposes. Having zones and clear space around them sets rules which are easier for all team members to follow. Depending on the store, you may have items which children will like more at their level and products aimed at adults at a higher level.
  4. In choosing counter products, consider what will be on the minds of customers as they transact their sale. Are there products which add-on nicely to popular products you sell? Are their guilty-pleasure products which they can enjoy while shopping – like premium candy? Do you have small gift items which work in a variety of situations? Do you have gift items which people would be happy to pick up as a gift for a friend?
  5. Once the counter is rebuilt, step back and look at this from the perspective of a customer. Are the offers compelling, understood and valuable? Look at the counter from multiple points in the shop from the perspective of the counter being a marketing opportunity and not just a work desk. Are there items which could be removed?  Sometimes, less is more.
  6. Change key counter offers at least weekly – more often if your customers visit multiple times in a week. This helps fight against customer and employee store blindness.

By having fewer products at the counter and being more strategic in product placement and display, the products have a better opportunity of being noticed and purchased.

Where many retailers rely on an over the counter sales pitch to achieve the impulse purchase, smart retailers configure their counters to do the up-selling for them. This gives customers ownership of the purchase.

By tracking the success of counter offers you are able to build a good database of what works and what does not work. This can guide future counter placement decisions.

The sales counter is too valuable in any retail business to allow it to grow organically. Take time to manage it and expect good results.

Small business retail advice: sometimes it’s the bonus, the add-on, the unexpected that really sets your shop apart

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We are grateful to serve thousands off local small business retailers across a diverse group of specialty retail settings. Our work over many years has helped us develop insights that we willing share with local small business retailers. beyond our POS software, we actively support local retailers in myriad ways.

Today, let’s reflect on the bonus, the unexpected.

It is a good rule in business to always give your customers more than they expect.  It shows you value them, go the extra mile and delight in surprising them with good news and good opportunities.

The best way to demonstrate delivering unexpected value is to provide it here in the form of three special reports beyond the scope of what was planned and offered or RETAIL RESCUE.

Before we get to the bonus reports, consider these ideas for adding expected value to customer transactions your retail business:

  • Give the customer a small gift, something completely unexpected. Even something as simple as a chocolate can be the perfect thank you.
  • Package the purchase in a premium reusable shopping bag. This promotes the business and shows that you do value them.
  • Provide a voucher offering a discount if the customer returns in a specified period of time.
  • Depending on the nature of your store, give free gift which relates to items you sell. For example, if they buy a men’s suit, offer a free tie or if they buy six cup cakes, give them the seventh for free.
  • Connect with another business and offer a gift which is a free item or a discount from their store – they could do the same for your store.

The key to giving bonus rewards like these is to not promote it.  As Nike says, JUST DO IT!

By offering added value at the counter at the end of a sale it comes across as if you are doing something special for this customer.  This will make the gift more valuable than if it is widely promoted.

Giving your customers better value or a better experience than expected will be remembered and talked about.  It will build your business.

Small business retail advice: how to deal with challenging trading circumstances

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Here at Tower Systems we get to work with and learn from many local small business retailers across many different retail channels who use our POS software. Here’s a list of some of the advice we have provided to retailers facing tough times. It’s offered as a resource for any in need. we also offer personal assistance based on specific circumstances.

  1. Know your truth. If you run a computer system, analyse the data it collects. If you don’t know how to do this, find out. Look for surprise information in your data, things you did not know about your business. For example, look at the top selling items. If there are surprises there they could inform other decisions you make to urgently address your situation. Talk to your computer software company, ask for their assessment. Knowing your truth is key to owning your situation.
  2. Quit dead stock. If you have stock on the shop floor which is old – ‘old’ can vary between product categories – and for which you have already paid, quit it. However, stock that is greater than six months old is a reasonable guide – then take action to sell this at a substantial discount. Move the stock off display units. Line it up to look like clearance stock – stacked up on tables. Setup plain and simple signs indicating the discount prices. Create signage to show it as clearance stock. If you have enough clearance stock in your business, consider signs across your front windows. Give your sale a name that is unrelated to your situation. Here are some suggestions: MEGA SALE, FIRST EVER MARCH SALE, AUTUMN SALE, SMALL BUSINESS MIGHTY BIG SALE. Give it a name you can theme around.
  3. Run a loyalty offer. Immediately setup and run a loyalty program rewarding shoppers with dollars off their next purchase. The most successful loyalty offer in recent times is discount vouchers whereby vouchers are included on receipts offering an amount which is cleverly calculated by your software based on the items in the purchase. The goal has to be encouraging shoppers to purchase again soon based on the offer on the receipt for items they just purchased.
  4. Move things around. If your business is in trouble it is possible that it has not changed much in recent years. Change it. Move departments around, shake things up so your customers trip over things they did not think you sold.
  5. Review prices. Look at the common items you sell, consider a small increase in your prices. It could be a small increase will not hurt sales volume yet will add profit to your bottom line.
  6. Upsell well. At the counter, work to extend the basket for every sale possible. Do this with clever counter product placement and witty and engaging banter with customers offering upsell products. You goal has to be to make more from each customer.
  7. Stand for something. What is different about your business? What is special about it? What makes people want to come back? If you don’t know the answer to these questions you’re in trouble. If your answer is we’re the only shop of your type nearby you’re in trouble. If the answer is people have always shopped here you’re in trouble. You need to have a difference that people want and will talk about to others. It could be a product or a service. However, it cannot be a product line that is traditional to your type of business as that will not add value to your shingle in the way you want or need. What do you stand for?
  8. Different retail options.
    1. Consider becoming an outlet shop selling items from a supplier keen to quit bulk items.
    2. Rent space in your shop to another retailer.
    3. If you have higher priced items consider offering employees commission on sales.
    4. Maybe become an outlet for local artists taking on items on a consignment basis.
  9. Stop unprofitable behaviour. If you are doing things in your business which lose money or do not contribute to a good future for the business, stop doing them. Regardless of history or what your business might stand for, continuing with unprofitable activity only makes your situation worse. If you know something to be unprofitable and yet you say you can’t stop it, think carefully about that, about why you can’t stop losing money.
  10. Get suppliers to help. Suppliers often have old stock themselves which they want to quit at a substantial discount. Buy items you have not stocked before, negotiate good prices and put the stock out with a healthy margin but still at a discount to what others would be charging. Negotiate to pay once you are paid by customers.
  11. Trim employee costs. Cut employee hours and work more in the business yourself if you are not doing so already.While this can have a significant personal cost, the less you pay others the more be business benefits in financial terms.
  12. Trim overheads. Cut everything you can: cleaning, power usage, insurance, freight, banking. Look at every supplier relationship you have and see if you can negotiate a better deal to cut your operating costs. However, do not turn off lights as darkness is death in most retail businesses.
  13. What assets can you sell? Do you have computers, retail fixtures, vehicles or other assets you no longer use in the running of the business? If they are not being used, turn them to cash as quickly as possible.
  14. Get a job. If you have a partner in the business with you and the business can run with one partner, one of you should get a job outside the business. This is especially helpful in a husband and wife situation where the family income can benefit.
  15. Talk to your landlord. A good landlord will prefer a good business to stay rather than have then close down and a new tenant having to be found. Talk to the landlord, be honest with them about your situation. Given the landlord all of the information they need to make the decision you need them to make. This information will include sales figures, expenses and margin information.  Usually, the more transparent you are with the landlord the more they will support your business.
  16. Talk to your bank. While banks tend to not get involved in lending to businesses that are struggling, it may be that they have contacts that can help you navigate to a solution. Maybe talk to another bank.
  17. Talk to colleagues. If you have nearby business colleagues in the same line of business, they might have stock they are happy to provide you for free or at a discount to give you stock to move for a good price.
  18. Refresh the business. Make the business look, smell and sound fresh. Beyond the products you sell and where tings are located, change the environment itself using scents and sounds. Too often when a business is struggling, those involved let standards slip and the business does not look attractive to shoppers. Avoid this laziness at all costs.
  19. Deliver amazing customer service. When serving customers be the perfect shop assistance and not the owner of the business facing closure. Keep your mind on the job at hand and not the cliff you’re worried might be a few steps ahead.
  20. Whoever is pressuring you the most to close or contemplate closing, talk to them. If it’s a supplier, the tax office or some other organisation or individual pressuring you about debts, be upfront with them, lay out for them your plan detailing the action you will take to turn your situation around, be clear about what you are doing and outline a timeline step by step for them. Seek their support.
  21. Set a timeframe. Decide where you want to be in a week, four weeks, eight weeks, twelve weeks. Set realistic goals. Measure yourself against those goals. Know what you will do if you fall short.

No situation is impossible. No business is dead until the doors are closed for the last time.

Never give up. Fight hard and fight smart to turn your business around.

Facing tough circumstances in retail can be like the deer in the middle of the road facing an oncoming vehicle. Don’t freeze. Take action to mitigate your situation. A series of small steps could be the difference between closure and trading out of the problem.

Advice for local small business retailers: 8 ways to feel better about your shop

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Tower Systems helps local small business retailers run more enjoyable and successful retail businesses. Through this work, and our own retail shops, we have developed a kit of advice that local small business find helpful. In that kit are these 8 ways local retailers can feel better about their retail shop:

  1. Celebrate your achievements: Take time to celebrate your successes and the progress you have made as a small retail shop. This can help to boost your confidence and motivate you to continue working hard.
  2. Focus on your strengths: Identify and focus on the strengths of your small retail shop, such as your unique products, personalised service, or community connections. This can help you to differentiate yourself from larger, chain stores and capitalize on your competitive advantages.
  3. Seek support and advice: Reach out to other small business owners, industry experts, or local organisations for support and advice. This can help you to learn from others, gain new perspectives, and find solutions to challenges you may be facing.
  4. Invest in your employees: Invest in your employees by providing training, development opportunities, and a positive work environment. This can help to foster a sense of engagement and commitment among your staff, which can benefit your shop in the long term.
  5. Prioritise customer satisfaction: Make customer satisfaction a top priority and focus on providing exceptional service to your customers. This can help to build customer loyalty and positive word-of-mouth, which can be valuable for your small retail shop.
  6. Connect with your community: Build connections with members of your local community, such as other small business owners, community organisations, and local events. This can help to foster a sense of belonging and support for your small retail shop.
  7. Take care of yourself: Remember to take care of yourself and prioritise your own well-being. This can help you to maintain a positive outlook and stay motivated and energized in running your small retail shop.
  8. Stay positive and persistent: Keep a positive attitude and stay persistent in the face of challenges. This can help you to remain focused and determined, even when things are not going as planned.

This list is just the beginning. there are so many ways, so many opportunities to love your retail business. We are grateful for the opportunity to help through our POS software and through our advice.

The best advice for local small business retailers today

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There is a ton of advice out there for retailers, especially local small business retailers. A lot of it, like this post, is unsolicited, not sought out. Some of it is paid for.

This advice we share today is practical, everyday, suitable for any time of retail business but especially focussed on and curated for local indie small business retail – the businesses that are usually family owned and run, the businesses competing with big businesses in the trenches daily.

Let’s get to it. Here is our practical advice that we know works in any situation.

  • Make every day your pay day. The value of your business today is what you make today, not what you dream of selling it for in the future. Make every decision on that basis.
  • Chase new traffic, new customers, new business, fresh eyes every day. The more reasons for which you attract shoppers, the more sustainable your business.
  • Convenience is not a future for indie retailers. Convenience retail in Australia is owned by big businesses with deep pockets, which which you cannot compete.
  • Location does not matter as much as it used to – if you have a good online strategy.
  • Don’t be your barrier to success. Too often I see local small business retailers decide against something for their business that will work.
  • Size doesn’t matter. Some of the most successful newsagency businesses in Australia today are small. Size is irrelevant.
  • Location dosen’t matter. Some of the most successful newsagencies in Australia are regional and rural.
  • The shingle doesn’t matter. The newsagency shingle is irrelevant to what you can achieve.
  • Only you can save you. No supplier, no association can save your business, only you can.
  • Choose to be a retailer, not an agent. the two are quite different. One makes you the driver of your success while the other tethers you to the success of others. Agents take a clip or a percentage from a transaction while retailers make their own success. Agents could be parcel pick-up places, lottery shops, businesses providing a service on behalf of other businesses.

These are headline tips designed to get you thinking about your business. They are designed to be challenging and disruptive. They come from our retail experience and the retail experience of plenty of our POS software customers.

Best practice security advice for small business retailers from Tower Systems

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What happened to Optus, Medibank and Harcourt in recent weeks could happen to any business. Cyber attacks are on the rise, because data has a value. Understanding the value of data is the key to investment in its security.

Our Tower Systems POS software company prepared and published advice to its 3,000+ customer community. I share this advice here as it could be useful to any retailer or business owner.

There are things you can do in your business to better protect it from attack. We put together this advice for our POS software customers and share it here with you. Here is our advice:

Security is important for any business and it is important that you protect your business as best you can while still allowing the business to operate efficiently. This is not just for the security of you business and customer data but to provide protection against malicious attacks such as ransomware. 

Below we will list the things you can do to ensure your computers are as secure as possible.  However, some of these restrictions may not be for suitable for all businesses. You will need to decide what is your best approach while being aware of the risks associated.

Windows Usernames and Passwords

The easiest form of security you can enable is having each computer require a username and password to access it.  The passwords should be changed every couple of months.  A drawback of having usernames and passwords is that you need to ensure that all staff are aware of the passwords so that access is not hampered.

Windows Active Directory via AzureAD or Similar

An option for an additional layer of security (over and above standard windows usernames and passwords) is to implement a domain network where staff logging in are authenticated by a Windows Active Directory service.  This option has a not-insignificant cost associated with it. It also means that you will need to allocate staff individual accounts and they would need to use these to access your system.  Implementation of this may also have setup ramifications for your POS software. 

Remote Desktop

If you are not using Windows Remote Desktop (RDP) this it is highly recommended that you disable this service in Windows.  If you are using this service then ensure you have a very strong password that is updated regularly. The preferred option for RDP is to use this via a VPN however if this is not possible access should be limited to specific IP addresses.   Additionally, when this is used in conjunction with an active directory service, like the one mentioned above, this adds an additional layer of security.

Backups

Our recommendation is to use a cloud backup service that incrementally backs up your entire PC.  Consider adding a cloud backup service to any computer that stores any valuable data, not just your server.  It is imperative that the service you use has both a local and a cloud copy for easy disaster recovery.

Browser Passwords

While saved browser passwords are very helpful, it does open a risk should your PC be compromised.  Our suggestion is to not save passwords, especially for accessing any service that stores sensitive data, like bank login etc.  Consider using a password manager such as LastPass or 1password to help you remember passwords.

Emails

Once of the biggest security risks in your business is email.  Only open attachments and click on links in emails that you are sure are from known senders.  Check email addresses as well as the sender’s name. If it sounds suspicious, it probably is.

People Remote Connecting to your Computer/Network

Be careful about who you let take remote control of your computer, ensure they are from who they say they are.  If you are suspicious, terminate the call and call the representative back on a publicly available number.

Don’t use out-of-date Software, Hardware or Operating Systems.

Keep your systems up to date by ensuring you are running versions of software, operating systems and hardware that are still supported by their manufacturers. Make sure that any updates to software, especially Windows security updates, are loaded as soon as possible.  This will ensure that you are not susceptible to any vulnerabilities have been patched by the supplier. 

Christmas marketing tips for local small business retailers

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Yeah, it’s odd for a POS software company to offer Christmas marketing tips to retailers because … we are tech people and not retailers. That may be true for some.

Tower Systems has owned and run retail businesses since 1996.

We are not your usual POS software company. We actively share marketing tips with our customers. Here are some Christmas marketing tips for retailers that we hope some find useful, or at least inspiring to you to develop your own.

Today, we offer low cost and no cost Christmas marketing tips for retailers ideas to help create a different Christmas experience in your business.

  1. Sell cards, wrapping paper and tape. These items work in every kind of shop.
  2. Make it easy. People often talk about how hard Christmas is. Be the local business that makes it easy. The ways to do this are with easy Lay-By, free wrapping, better shop floor help, guide buying advice or tips on perfect gifts no one else will think of. Consider making Christmas easy as being a key part of your messaging.
  3. Host a party. To preview Christmas, say thank you to shoppers and support a local cause. Do it when the shop is closed. Limit numbers. have some drinks and food. Have fun. Celebrate.
  4. Use video. To promote products on social media.
  5. Offer impulse purchase of often forgotten lines. At the counter, with newspapers, next to weekly magazines.
  6. Offer help. For kids and others who ,may find choosing a card or writing a card difficult.
  7. Visit nursing homes. With some gifts and cards for easy shopping.
  8. Be thrilled people are in your shop. Your personal smile or greeting is something they may not see in a big business where employees are less invested in each shopper and where the owner is usually thousands of kilometers away.
  9. Make the giving easy. If people purchase items from you to send somewhere else. Offer a one-stop shop. Save them the trip to the post office.
  10. Make the shop less about Christmas. Consider pulling back on the Christmas visual noise. Go for something simple, muted, respecting the season but making a calm statement. Consider declaring the shop a Christmas carol free zone – not because you hate carols but because you want to help customers take a break.
  11. Help people rest and recharge. Create a Christmas shopping rest and recovery zone. Offer free tea, coffee, water and something to eat. Encourage people to take a break in your shop – without any obligation for them to spend money with you.
  12. Let your customers help each other. Setup a whiteboard or sheets of butcher’s paper, yes keep it simple. Get customers to write gift suggestions under different age/gender groups. For example: Girls 18 – 25, Boys 55+. Encourage your customers to help each other through their suggestions.
  13. Make price comparison difficult. If you sell items people are likely to price compare with other businesses, package them so price comparison is not easy. Put items into a hamper as a perfect Boy 8 to 12 bundle for example. Or offer the item with pre packages services if appropriate for an item.
  14. Less is more.  The stack em high watch em fly mantra can be wrong. Indeed, it is often wrong in retail. Shoppers can be store blind because a shop is too full or a display is too busy. Consider creating simpler less cluttered displays and window promotions. Draw attention to what you want people to see by promoting that one thing. Every time someone asks if you have something that you think through should be able to find easily – take it as a challenge for you to address rather than a commentary on a facility of the customer.
  15. Change. Christmas season in your shop should evolve. Major change weekly is vital for people to see what you have that they could buy.
  16. Be socially engaged. On Facebook, Instagram, twitter and elsewhere, be the calm voice, the person people enjoy reading or seeing photos from. Provide entertainment this Christmas rather than the usual retailer shrill of come and shop here!
  17. Be community minded. Choose a local charity or community group to support through Christmas. Consider: a change collection tin at the counter; a themed Christmas window display; promotion on your social media pages; a donation to their work; a collection point for donations from customers.
  18. Facilitate sharing stories. Find space in your shop for customers to share their Christmas stories. It could be a story wall inside or in front of the shop. This initiative encourages storytelling by locals and better connects the business with the community.
  19. Award a prize at a local school. Fund a year-end prize at a local school. Attend a school assembly to award the prize. Work with the school leadership on a prize appropriate to your business.
  20. VIP preview. Host a VIP shopper preview night when you show off your Christmas ranges ahead of being available to the general shoppers. Respect and reward your local shoppers with deals and the opportunity to preview ahead of others.
  21. Leverage Christmas traffic. Encourage the Christmas shopper traffic surge in after Christmas. Give them a reason to come back. A coupon promotion or a discount voucher on receipts could be the enticement to get shoppers back in-store. Note: the Tower POS software produces discount vouchers to rules you establish.
  22. Become a gallery. Work with a school, kindergarten, community group or retirement village to bring in local art for people to come and see through Christmas. A small space commitment can drive traffic from family and friends of those with art on show.
  23. Dress the shop. Fully embrace Christmas. Create a Christmas experience such that shoppers know they have stepped into somewhere special this Christmas. Go for more than some tinsel and a tree. Fully embrace the opportunity.
  24. Make your shop smell like Christmas.
  25. Send cards. Send Christmas cards early in the season to suppliers, key customers and local community groups. This connects you with Christmas. Invite all team members to sign each card.
  26. Host a Christmas party. For shops nearby. You are all in the season together – let your hear down before things get crazy.
  27. Ensure you have gifts targeted at occasions. For example: Kris Kringle, by price point and by recipient. Make it easy for people to know what they could give.
  28. Stocking stuffers. At your counter always have one or two stocking stuffers for impulse purchase.
  29. Offer gift vouchers – for someone to give when they are not sure what to give.
  30. Be local. Ensure you have a selection of locally sourced products available for purchase. Make it clear in-store that these products are sourced locally.
  31. Tell stories. On your Facebook page, talk about what is important to you at Christmas. Personalise the season and deepen the connection with those who could shop with you.
  32. Offer a free gift. Bulk purchase an item to offer those who spend above a set amount. For example, spend $65 and receive XX where XX may have cost $5.00 but could have a perceived value of $20.00.
  33. Keep it fresh. Every week make significant change to your Christmas displays and promotions to keep your offer fresh.
  34. Share Christmas recipes. Each week for, say, four weeks, give customers a family Christmas recipe. This personalises Christmas in your business, creates a talking point and makes shopping with you different to your bigger competitors.
  35. Free wrapping. Sure, many retailers offer this. Make your offer better, more creative and more appreciated.
  36. This is essential in any business. Manage it through your computer system with strict rules.
  37. Work the floor. Increase time on the shop floor. Be present to manage shopper flow and to facilitate purchases.
  38. Christmas is crazy busy I most retail situations. Give yourself and your team members sufficient time to recharge so the smile greeting shoppers is heartfelt.
  39. Keep a secret. If yours is a business selling gifts a partner may purchase for their loved-one, create some mystery with a closed off display for the shopper to see the products.
  40. Free assembly. If you sell items that require assembly. Offer to do this for free.
  41. Free delivery. Offer free Christmas Eve delivery for items purchased for kids for Christmas.
  42. Sell training. Leverage the specialist knowledge you have in your business by selling as gifts places at classes you run sharing your expertise.
  43. Hold back. Don’t go out with everything you have for Christmas all at once. Plan the season to show off what you have as the season unfolds. This allows you multiple launches.
  44. Share a taste. Regardless if your type of business, bake a family recipe of Christmas cake, Christmas pudding or Christmas biscuits and offer tastings to shoppers on select days. This personalises the experience in your shop.
  45. Offer hampers. Package several items together and offer them as a hamper. Time-poor shoppers could appreciate you doing this work for them. We have seen this work in many different retail situations.
  46. Buy X get Y. Encourage people to spend more with a volume based deal. Pitched right, this could get customers purchasing items for several family members in order to get the price offer you have. Use your technology to manage this.

Christmas is the perfect time to plan for next year. It is the time to do everything possible to leverage bonus Christmas traffic to benefit your business through next year.

Feel free to share these Christmas marketing tips with others.

A mental health plan is important in local small business retail

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As employers, as retailers and as small business owners, mental health issues are often not far away from any small business retailer. The challenges confronting retail businesses today add to the challenges already there.

Sometimes, we don’t know we are experiencing a mental health challenge while other times it’s obvious and on show for all to see.

How we confront mental health challenges is important for us, our business and those presenting with issues.

While we are not trained professionals in the area, our years of working with small business owners confronted by challenges to their mental health have helped us develop some guiding principles.

  1. Mental health is not easily measured or understood. One’s health is not outwardly obvious.
  2. Judgement cannot be part of how mental health is viewed or dealt with.
  3. Action is essential to improve your situation for doing nothing will achieve nothing.
  4. While taking the first step to confront mental health challenges can be difficult, it is relieving and rewarding.

Your GP is an excellent person to speak with. Explain to them how you feel and how this impacts on your life. Ask them to prepare a Mental Health Treatment Plan. This is a government recognised plan. It can usually be prepared in a single double visit to the GP. This plan is the trigger to you gaining Medicare supported access to a psychologist for an initial number of visits, which can be extended depending on your situation.

Some people can feel a visit to a GP or psychologist is not warranted in their situation. While the medical professionals are the best to determine this, there are other resources you could explore:

Beyond Blue has published Heads Up a useful resource for small businesses on issues relating to mental health in the workplace. This is a good starting point for learning more. In the resource there are links to other resources that can help.

Finding mental health resources for small business owners dealing with mental health issues is not as easy as it is finding resources for managing the workplace for better mental health. It’s tough running any business and sometimes things can feel overwhelming. This is where networking can help as a first step, talking with others.

Small business owners feeling challenges within themselves need to treat themselves as employees and use the resources available such as:

We will help and support in any way possible. We would be glad to talk confidentially about individual situations.

Free retail management workshop: selling outside your retail shop

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Join us online for a free workshop this Monday, October 17, at 10:30am Melbourne time in which we will explore with you how, when and where to sell to people who will never shop in your shop.

We will share experiences:

  • Selling interstate.
  • Selling overseas.
  • Dealing with fraud.
  • Packing and shipping.
  • How to sell what you don’t have in your shop.
  • Pre-selling.
  • Payment methods.
  • Marketing, including Google image advertising.

We will also cover factors that may mean online is not for you.

In addition to the group websites my business has created for retailers in the newsXpress marketing group, we have single-store online shops connected to three of our retail businesses, each in a specialty niche, each attracting good business. We’ll take you under the hood to see what that looks like and explain how any retailer can do this.

This is not a sales or marketing event. It is pure business advice you can go use any time that suits.

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86896859959?pwd=aFdTdGNuSXZvOUxuL1pFUWpya0FzQT09
Meeting ID: 868 9685 9959 Passcode: 877510

Online is here to stay, and sales from online are growing. Our goal with this session is to provide information so you can make informed decisions about online.

While the session will be recorded, we will decide after the event whether we release it.

7 free marketing tips for local indie small business retail to drive traffic and sales

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Shopping ought to be enjoyable and, preferably, fun. Often it is the experience itself which separates one retail store from another. This is why every retail business needs to devote management and front line attention to delivering a memorable and enjoyable experience.

The pandemic fundamentally changed retailing 2020. These changes prevail today. It’s time we re-awakened the inso-tore experience.

While Tower Systems its a POS software company, we offer retail management advice to our community of local indie small business retailers, advice beyond our POS software itself, advice designed to help our retailers thrive, and have fun.

One way to provide a memorable shopping experience is to have fun – among the sales team and with customers. Here are seven tips for having fun in any retail store:

  1. Theme days. Embrace an era which with interest your customers. For example, the 1970s. Dress the store and employees in keeping with the 1970s. Have a couple of items on sale at 1970s prices – to connect the theme with a commercial outcome. Get some stories from the 1970s related to products you sell and place these on display boards in the window. Consider a competition for the customer in the best 1970s costume. Other theme days include: school days, foreign country days where you wear traditional dress from a foreign country, crazy hair day and, of course, more theme days around key decades.
  2. Local sports competition. Fully embrace any major local sporting event, choose a team, dress in their colours and dress the store in their colours. Be unashamedly parochial and show your customers your local support.
  3. In-store buskers. Find some local musicians you enjoy and who have a repertoire which would connect with your customers and invite them in to play live for your customers. This would bring a vibrancy to the store and provide welcome entertainment for your customers as they shop. The local performers get to reach a new audience and you get to change up the feel of your business.
  4. Repurposing day. Host an event where customers compete for a prize for the most innovative repurposing of a product you sell. The idea would be that they take something you sell and demonstrate a use for it in a way which is completely different to what the manufacturer expected. There would need to be a rule that the new use is genuinely useful.
  5. The cutest baby. Invite your customers to bring in a photo of whey they were a baby, the older the better. Stick the photos on a wall and take votes on the best. You could change this up with two photos: as a baby and today and get customers to connect the two. Family members will come in to look at the photos and vote. A local store could get a real buzz with a promotion like this. While there is no obvious direct sales imperative, the traffic and word of mouth should drive good business.
  6. Stand up comedy in store. Invite local comedians to try out their stand up routines with your customers. While you would need to be careful about content, such an event would show the store supporting local artists and it could bring some fun to quiet retail times.
  7. Crazy tie day. While this has been done before plenty of times, you could kick it up with an amazing tie display – collect these from local Goodwill stores, invite customers to donate. As with the theme days idea, interact with customers and offer a prize for the best / worst. This tie day ist especially fun given that ties are a thing of the past in business today.

These seven ideas are the tip of the iceberg for in-store promotions. They are designed to kick start your own thinking on engagement ideas that could work well in your situation.

Retail is very much about the shopping experience, especially local indie small business retail. While good customer service and a friendly shopping experience are vital, sometimes it is the wonderful unexpected experience which can get people talking about a business.

Be bold and have fun.

Tower Systems makes software for local specialty retailers, software designed to help you run more successful, valuable and enjoyable businesses. Along the way, we have collected plenty of management and marketing tips. We share them here and in our customer emails from time to time. We hope you find them useful.

Advice for local small business retailers: promoting to retirees

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The retiree (or seniors) marketplace can be lucrative for a local small business retail store. They tend to be loyal and engaged in word of mouth marketing about good retail experiences, experiences they value. They can also be flexible about when they shop and this is where a retail business can really leverage the opportunity.

Before you can market any retiree service or benefit you need offer what they want, offer what they value. Next, you need a plan. What products will be offered and at what special prices? The most common approach is to offer a flat discount to retirees, or seniors as they are called in some marketplaces. This discount is usually between 5% and 10%. Discounting is kind of lazy though.

Price is important to the seniors marketplace since they either have a fixed income or are living off finite savings.  They like businesses which help them save money. This is the value piece. It’s about value every day, every visit.

One option is to create your own retiree / seniors card, something like a club card, for use in promoting the business. These should be professionally designed and produced. Ensure that such a card is respectful and something these customers would proudly carry. Design the card so that it promotes the benefits you offer – so that it is an extension of your marketing program.

An approach we really like is partnering with local seniors organisations or retiree communities – helping members save and the group itself benefit. Mutual benefits like this – for individuals, a group and your shop – yes,  they are programs that work the best in nor experience. Plus, our POS software can manage this for you.

Local indie retailers, small business retailers, are well placed to connect with the retiree marketplace through these approaches. Where big businesses will tend to go the straight Seniors card discount route or similar, a more engaged and nuanced approach with a community benefit connection is more likely to drive a valuable Lebel of word of mouth.

Tower Systems provides this advice to local indie small business retailers because you are our community. We only engage with indie retailers. No big businesses. We want, and need, local indie retail to thrive.

To market a business to retirees consider these options:

  1. Train employees to offer the discount or other benefits to someone who looks eligible. While this could cause embarrassment, it could also extend the word of mouth around the offer.
  2. Promote to retirement villages in the local area.
  3. Advise local government authorities that you offer a benefit to retirees.
  4. Contact local clubs and organisations likely to connect with retirees.
  5. Promote the benefits in-store and in your business newsletter. You want to spread your offer as far and wide as possible, so that retirees beat a path to your door.
  6. Visit local retirement residences and offer assistance.
  7. Advertise in trailer parks.
  8. Look up clubs the Internet – there are plenty of groups, clubs and forums for older folks travelling around. They share tips about places they like.

The value of the retiree market to your retail store will depend on the value of the offer available to them and how widely you promote this. While some retailers see retirees as a chore others see a business opportunity.

Stop Letting Competitors Rent Free in Your Head: Tips to Get Ahead

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Do you find yourself constantly wondering what your competitors are doing? Are you always worried about what they might be planning next? If so, you’re not alone. Many business owners let their competitors occupy too much space in their heads. This can lead to a lot of wasted time and energy. In this blog post, we will discuss some tips that can help you get ahead of the competition and stay focused on your own business goals.

First, the most important focus for any local small business retailer is their business for it is only this over which you have control. It’s like the serenity prayer, sort of – control what you can control and worry less about that over which you have no control.

You can’t control your competitors. Who cares if they copy you, or offer something cheaper than you, or claim some unique thing? Who cares?

Control what you can control.

Second, it’s important to remember that your competitors are not your only focus. You should also be thinking about your customers and what they need and want. If you’re always worrying about what your competitors are doing, you’ll lose sight of what’s important. Keep your customer’s needs at the forefront of your mind, and you’ll be more likely to succeed.

Third, try to stay ahead of the competition by being proactive. rather than reactive. This means that you should be constantly innovating and looking for new ways to improve your business. Don’t wait for your competitors to make a move before you do something yourself. By being proactive, you can stay one step ahead of them at all times.

Finally, don’t let your competitors rent free space in your head. If you’re always thinking about them, you’re not focusing on your own business. Instead, focus on what you need to do to be successful. Keep your eye on the prize, and don’t let anything or anyone distract you from your goals.

If you can follow these tips, you’ll be well on your way to getting ahead of the competition. Just remember to keep your customer’s needs in mind, be proactive, and stay focused on your own goals. With a little hard work and dedication, you’ll be sure to succeed!

Doing regular check-ins with yourself will help ensure that competitors are not taking up too much space in your headspace. Checking-in allows you to recenter yourself and your business goals. It can be as simple as taking a few deep breaths, drinking some water, or going for a walk. Checking in with yourself will help ensure that you are staying focused on what’s important.

We hope that these tips have helped you and that you feel more prepared to get ahead of the competition. Just remember to keep your customer’s needs in mind, be proactive, stay focused on your own goals, and do regular check-ins with yourself. With a little hard work and dedication, you’ll be sure to succeed! Thanks for reading!

Retail business advice: how to setup and run a pop-up shop

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Tower Systems helps local retailers run pop-up shops with its Retailer Roam, cloud based go anywhere POS software, connected to its POS system.

Definition: a pop-up shop is a temporary shop, one that is open for a limited period of time, usually around a month, rarely more than three months.

We have assembled our pop-up shop advice and tips into key topic areas.

WHY?!

Like any business decision, a decision to open a pop-up retail location needs to be based on good research and the business itself needs to have a purpose. So, before you begin, think about why.

Here are some reasons to do a pop-up shop:

  1. To test new product categories.
  2. To supplement your income.
  3. To help quit slow moving stock.
  4. To enhance your retail experience.
  5. To experiment with a plan b where you might land if you close your main shop.
  6. To engage in targeted, temporary, competition.
  7. To compete with yourself.

LOCATION.

With a pop-up shop you don’t have time to find your customers. The location needs to already have good traffic passing daily, traffic you can easily leverage. Even more so than in fixed-location retail, location is critical.

The best locations are shops that have good passing traffic that is of interest to you and that have been vacant for a while where a landlord might be happy with something rather than nothing.

OCCUPANCY COST.

Negotiate the lowest rent cost possible. Some landlords see pop-up offers as a reason to charge a premium. Only sign up for a price you are 100% happy with. If it is expensive and does not work financially, don’t sign hoping it works out, because in retail it rarely does work out better. In a pop-up business you have less time to see if it works out. Also, preferably, no contingency deposit.

LABOUR COST.

Staff the business with a lean roster. This shop is about selling. that means, products placed for a price proposition rather than beautiful displays that take time to maintain. Every staff member is there to sell and maximise revenue from every shopper visit. There is no room in the roster for fat.

FIXTURES AND FITTINGS.

Don’t spend a cent on fixtures and fittings. That needs to be your starting position. It’s a pop-up shop. People expect it to be  efficient, cost-effective. Using tables and boxes adds to the feel of the shop feeling low-cost and that can help drive sales. Suppliers can be a good source for loaned fixtures.

INVENTORY.

Ask suppliers to offer consignment stock or special clearance deals they’d like to move fast. Go for items that can be sold out of a box, to make display and ranging easier. In-box displays of particularly cheap items can work very well.

PRICING MODEL.

Price to sell. This means being below usual retail. Price to understandable price points. For example, you might have a $10 table, a $20 table and so on. Consider bundling items into packs, which make price comparison difficult.

PROMOTION.

Don’t spend money on sign writing or marketing. Use social media and bargain websites and anywhere similar where you can list the store and its products.

Host an opening party. List this as a local event on Facebook.

MANAGEMENT MINDSET.

Your mindset in managing the pop-up shop needs to be different to a fixed-location retail situation. Pop-up shops are about low cost, low overheads, low prices. Be ready to do deals. Whoever manages  the pop-up shop needs to be different to how they would be in the fixed-location retail business.

SPEED.

You need to move fast. From the moment you sign a lease or agreement, the clock is ticking. Ideally, you’d open within 24 hours and when you are done, closing and clearing out the shop is done in 24 hours or less. This is all about maximising the time for income-production.

TRACK PERFORMANCE.

Cultivate good data that can guide business decisions for your next moves.

 

Is a pop-up shop worth doing? Only you can determine that. We have seen plenty of pop-up shops work well for the retailers, contribute good GP, help move slow stock and help open to the owners category opportunities not previously considered.

Do the planning and you should expect to benefit.

Inspiring indie retail in Cold Spring, New York.

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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.

Cheers,
Mark Fletcher
M | 0418 321 338 E | mark@towersystems.com.au
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-fletcher-tower/

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