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.
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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
Promote to retirement villages in the local area.
Advise local government authorities that you offer a benefit to retirees.
Contact local clubs and organisations likely to connect with retirees.
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.
Visit local retirement residences and offer assistance.
Advertise in trailer parks.
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.
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!
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:
To test new product categories.
To supplement your income.
To help quit slow moving stock.
To enhance your retail experience.
To experiment with a plan b where you might land if you close your main shop.
To engage in targeted, temporary, competition.
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.
I got back Friday last week from a leading a group of Aussie indie retailers on a retail study tour to New York and Los Angeles. We primarily focussed on local indie retail, retail relevant to our local indie retail businesses here in Australia.
We spent a day in Cold Spring, in upstate New York. Today, I shot a short video in which I share some takeaways from this visit to one of the best local retail towns in the US. Scroll down to see the video, or use this link: https://youtu.be/Gu1_W64rzCU
My name is Mark Fletcher. I own Tower Systems. We make POS software for local specialty retail. We also run and operate 4 shops in Melbourne in the gift / homewares / collectibles spaces as well as 7 online shops. We understand the challenges of being small and local, and we have built into our software tools to help you thrive.
We are grateful to discover many innovative marketing ideas running in local retail businesses. Here is a list of 10 marketing ideas we love. they are free to implement, easy toitmplemnent. And, they are likely to work in just about any type of retail business.
These ideas are a gift from our small business focussed POS software company to you:
Promote you. At every possible touch point, automatically show off your point of difference by promoting your knowledge, especially your local knowledge as it relates to the use of the products you sell. Good POS software makes this easy – allowing you to share knowledge in a way that is helpful for your customers, so they rem ember you, and recommend you.
Stop copying. There is so much copying in business. Loyalty points programs are a good example. They have been copied so much that people don’t understand what points are worth. In our POS software you can use discount vouchers are a fresh and loved differentiator. Customers accrue actual currency in dollars and cents that they can spend. there is no confusion. Everywhere this is used, we see retailers and customers love it.
Bring customers back. Recall them with a reminder for a free service, a free check, an anniversary reminder or similar. Just as optometrists recall customers for their annual eye check-up, you can recall customers for a reason relevant to your business and relevant to what your shoppers purchase from you. This can be tailored based on shopper purchases.
Connect with community groups and their members. Seize opportunities to connect with local community groups offering support for their projects. In turn, they will talk positively about your business through their own network. See 20 Ideas For Building a Better, Stronger and More Valuable Community Connection. There are smart win-win-win ways you can do this with the Tower Systems POS software.
Host an event. Host a local VIP shoppers night, a 24 hour Celebration Sale or a special event night. Create some theatre around any seasonal opportunity. Maybe do with other shops in your area. Offering free photos is a good way to draw in families. Promote that this night is for local VIPs – because you care about your local customers.
Have volume purchase offers. Offer discounts for the more customers buy. For example, you could have a single item priced at $24.95, two prices at $44.95 and three priced at $59.95. If you bought the stock well, the $59.95 price for three should provide at least 50% margin yet customers see themselves as getting a great deal. Great software can easily manage this for you.
Prompt for an up-sell. POS software can flash up on the screen prompts which relate to what a customer has purchased. The promotional script appears on the screen without blocking the sale.
Leverage your data. Track what sells with what. Once you know this you can make much better product placement decisions.
Sell online. It’s a no-brainer, but it is often ignored because it’s considered too hard. Choose POS software that makes it easy.
There are many more ways in which retailers can market their businesses using Point of Sale software for little or no cost.
This is advice we first shared many years ago. We have updated it, made it more 2022 and beyond relevant.
Not wanting to be too proud, we think this is the best advice we could give any local small business retailer as it focuses you on what matters most – nurturing daily value from your business for today, and for when you decide to sell the business.
Everyday in local retail it can feel challenging, busy, attention distracting and demanding. Local small business retail is tough, competitive and consuming.
Our advice for local small business retailers in this article is practice, everyday, straightforward. It is advice any local small business retailer could follow without needing a business degree, bags of spare capital or a huge team to manage execution in-store.
This is fundamental advice, code advice. It’s like getting out of bed in the morning, showering, brushing your teeth, getting dressed. this advice is as basic and fundamental as eating and treating. And, while that sounds dramatic, it is what it is, good advice that every local small business retailer could benefit from.
So, here it is:
Retail business advice: make every day your pay day.
There was a time when small business retailers could rely on selling their business for a handsome increase on the price they paid thereby providing a good pay day, when businesses sold for a good multiple of net earnings. This was a time when retailers would focus on the sale of their business being their payday.
No more. Today, the best way to extract value from local retail businesses is to make every day your pay day, to not rely on your pay day being the day you sell the business.
By this we mean make the most you can today, so that tomorrow is valuable. It’s a small target approach. A narrow approach. That’s at the heart of this … that today is what matters most to you today. In every decision, every action. It’s why this is about making every day you payday. because it is an every day thing. Like we said at the start, like eating and breathing.
The challenge is how do you do this?
It starts with the mindset of every day being your pay day. Every decision needs to be considered in this context.
Here are some suggestions for making every day your pay day:
Find new customers. New customers are the future lifeblood of any retail business. if you are not attracting new shoppers, you are treading water. Every day there should be an action designed to reach people who do not currently shop with you. It could be a social media post, a stunning front window display or engagement with a local event. Do something, have it planned as part of a regular action. Always, every day, chase new customers.
Charge more every time you can. Look at what you see and your approach to mark-up. Consider why people buy from you, and not somewhere else. If there is a factor, such as convenience, that enables you to charge a little more. Considering what you charge is not a blanket approach, not something you rush at. Take your time. Look at part of the business in fine detail and consider whether a small increase could help you achieve more. Also, loyalty programs such as discount vouchers, bundling into hampers, multi buys such as 2 for 3 and other opportunities enable you to do this by blocking price comparison. You can stop price being a consideration.
Get people buying more each visit. What you place with what can encourage people to buy more than what they intended. Unpacking and pricing new goods on the shop floor can get people noticing and buying things they did not visit today to buy. Look in your data at what sells with what. Often that can reveal opportunities. Too often, retailers think placing things at the counter drives a deeper basket and while it does, there are other things you can do in-store to drive this.
Run with the leanest roster possible. Just about every retail business we review has capacity to lower labour costs. Trimming the roster can come at a cost for the owners – putting in more hours. There are other ways to enable trimming the roster. Be smarter. If there are things you can cost-effectively automate, do that. If you can adjust opening hours to better fit when sales occur, and same some labour costs, do that. If you can save an hour a day with owner time on the shop floor, do that.
Stock what sells. This may sound obvious, because it is. But, in many retail businesses we look at, they do not stock what sells. Analyse your business data. Know not only the products that sells, but the types of products. If you think something is a success, go to the evidence to see if it is. Too often we can’t find evidence supporting a feeling that something is successful. Your data can guide your buying so that you stock more of what sells.
Bring people back sooner with a thoughtfully calibrated loyalty offer that funds itself, and drives value. Every retail business needs a core action designed to bring people back. A timed loyalty offer, which expires, is a good way to do this.
Have your best people working the floor, helping customers spend more. Today, retail is not about may I help you. Rather, it is about engaging with the products and subtly showing them off, like theatre.
Have stunning displays that attract people from outside the shop. Stunning displays are the unexpected, the must-see, the magnets that people notice and stop. Anyone can create these. It starts with thinking about what could be unexpected and then being bold with that seed of an idea.
Have compelling displays in-store that encourage people to browse beyond their destination purchase. In-store displays need to be about showing people what they can engage with. these displays are for people to see themselves or those they are buying for.
Always have impulse offers at high traffic locations.
Buy as best you can. Take settlement discounts where possible. Pick up supplier offers. never pass on your better buying to customers, unless it suits for some event you are running. Oh, and with this advice about buying – only do it for items you know you will sell for buying product at a discount and having it on the shelves too long is too much of a cost for the business.
De-clutter. Sometimes the best way to be able to see your business and what it can do is for you to have less to look at. This means getting rid of dead stock, dead fixtures, dead corners of the shop. Always be trimming, cleaning and looking.
Change. Every day in your shop change something. Get known as the shop that is never the same. This can be a reason to visit for some shoppers. If you run a set-and-forget business that rarely changes, you give people a reason to walk on by. So, everyday, make a change or two. Encourage your team members to suggest changes. By moving a small stand from one part of the business to another could get it noticed and boost sales.
Stop all busy work. It is easy in a local small business retail setting to get caught up in back office work and while some office work is vital, too often it can be work for the same of work. For example, one retailer used ton take their daily numbers and enter them in a spreadsheet for analysis when, in fact, their POS software provided even better reporting than the spreadsheet offered – they have never thought to use that. In another case, the business owner banked everyday as they liked the walk. but, it took an hour by they time they chatted to people and while sometimes it was good for them to do it, doing it every day, 5 hours a week, came at a cost to the business.
Be cleverly frugal. When you are considering spending money, think on it, think about the value for the business from the spend. The money you spend has a cost. today and in the future. Think about the return you could get and the speed of the return. Have some checks and balances in spending decisions to slow them down.
Be responsible for the profitability of your business. Don’t blame your suppliers, your landlord, your employees or some other external factor … it all comes down to you – the decisions you make and the actions you take.
By making every day your payday you bring focus on what matters today and whatwnll matter when you’d decide to sell your business.
If you relentlessly pursue profit with a clear focus you are likely to see profit grow. That’s better than waiting to make money when you sell because that’s less likely to happen in this market.
Doing all this relies on your measuring the performance of your business. The Tower Systems POS software helps with this. It is easy.
My name is Mark Fletcher. I am the owner of Tower Systems. I also own 4 retail shops and several online businesses. Every day here at Tower Systems we live what we say, in our software company and in our shops. We make mistakes, and learn from them. It’s some of those mistakes that got us thinking about this, about the approach of making every day your payday.
While our core mission is to grow the customer base for Tower Systems, we know that key to achieving this helping retailers. Plenty of the help we provide is not software related. While, for sure, our software can play a role, the real focus is on how, when and where local retail; business decisions are made, and that is a reason we share this and other advice at this POS Software News Blog.
In sharing this advice we demonstrate a care for local small business retail and a transparency as to the advice and help we provide.
Today is August 1. It’s a new month. A good day to start on this mission of making every day your payday.
As a retail business owner, it is important to find ways to be happy and fulfilled in your work. As the leader of the business, how you feel sets the tone for the business. Working on your happiness is important.
While it can be challenging at times, there are many things you can do to create a happy and successful retail business. It starts with planning.
Here are some tips for how to be a happy retail business owner:
1. Find your niche
One of the best ways to be happy as a retail business owner is to find your niche. When you know what kind of products or services you want to sell, it will be much easier to build a successful business. Not only will you be more passionate about your work, but you will also attract customers who are interested in what you have to offer. It’s important your shop is a place you like.
2. Focus on customer service
Another key to happiness as a retail business owner is to focus on providing excellent customer service. When your customers are happy, you will be happy. Make sure you are always friendly and helpful, and go above and beyond to meet your customers’ needs. Good customer service comes from structure, like what we offer in our POS software.
3. Create a positive work environment
Another way to be happy as a retail business owner is to create a positive work environment. This means having a clean and organised store, providing fair wages and benefits to employees, and treating everyone with respect. When you have a positive work environment, it will be easier to attract and retain great employees, which will only improve your business.
4. Have realistic expectations
It is important to have realistic expectations when you are a retail business owner. This means understanding that there will be ups and downs and that you won’t always make a profit. If you can accept that, it will be much easier to handle the challenges that come your way. Setting achievable small goals and tracking progress is a start.
5. Take time for yourself
Don’t forget to take time for yourself. As a retail business owner, it is easy to get caught up in work and forget to take care of yourself. Make sure you schedule some time each week to do things you enjoy, such as reading, going for walks, or spending time with friends and family. When you take care of yourself, you will be better able to take care of your business.
By following these tips, you can find happiness as a retail business owner. When you are happy and fulfilled in your work, it will be much easier to build a successful business. Focus on finding your niche, providing excellent customer service, creating a positive work environment, and taking time for yourself. With these things in mind, you can be well on your way to a happy and successful retail business.
In his 1960 book, Reality in Advertising, Rosser Reeves, a respected US advertising executive, introduced the world to the concept of the Unique Selling Proposition, USP for short.
Reeves defined USP in an advertising context:
Each advertisement must make a proposition to the consumer: buy this product and you will get this benefit.
The proposition must be one that the competition either cannot or does not
The proposition must be so strong that it changes consumer behaviour.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the concept of a unique selling proposition evolved from being essential to advertising to being essential in business. Finding your business USP was considered mission critical to businesses, retailers especially. Businesses drifted however and forgot about the importance of a USP.
Jack Trout told us just a few years ago that it was as relevant today. In 2000, he said that a Unique Selling Proposition was mission critical in business in his aptly titled book Differentiate or Die.
Differentiate of Die. There is no doubt about the call to action in the title, no doubt about the consequences of inaction.
Yet many retailers, for the most part, have remained still in the face of an onslaught of competition.
Retail is tough, especially small business retail, local retail, indie retail. The differences between competitors are fewer – there is a lot of follow the leader / innovator. Retailers are surrounded by competition and it grows by the day. Yet many have copied others, and not done anything to stand out.
Smart retailers are re-acquainting themselves with the writings of Reeves and Trout and leaning about the mission critical imperative of having a Unique Selling Proposition.
Differentiation could be service, products or location or a combination of these. Differentiation will most likely not be price as anyone can match this easily. Price is, after all, the last line of defense in any business battle. That said, there are some major price-focused success stories – Walmart for example. It is rare in an independent retail situation.
To develop your USP, engage with your employees and other stakeholders. Take your time. Determine what you and your business stand for. Following open and honest discussion and debate, the USP around which everyone in the business can willingly congregate will emerge.
A good USP will not require an advertising campaign to communicate. It will become obvious through actions and decisions. By living the USP in every facet of the business you soon become seen as unique by shoppers and this can drive excellent word of mouth and success for the business.
While differentiation in retail is more important today than ever thanks to today’s economic conditions, the approach to the challenge is the same as in the 1960s.
Our Tower Systems POS software offers opportunities to be unique, easy and quick ways through which any retail business can present as being unique. We help retailers stand out, be noticed, be remembered, and be more successful.
Finding employees is challenging for local small business retail. It’s a problem here in Australia and around the world.
Using our POS software, retailers can offer retail employees skills development, which helps people develop their careers. Through our structures self-paced as well as personal one-on-one training, retail employees not only learn the software, they learn business, and this can help them find a future pathway they enjoy.
Good POS software plays a vital role in hiring and retaining employees.
Our trainers and our POS software help desk trim members provide resources and services that can help retail employees contribute more, enjoy their work more and develop more valuable skills.
We love work with retail employees who want to learn more and who have the backing of their employer to do so – we are careful yo respect the wishes of our clients in terms of the extent of employee training and insights we provide and there are some settings where this needs to be limited.
Our CEO was recently in the US looking at retail and noticed the challenges confronting retailers on finding employees. We share this today to reflect the broader view we have of retail, beyond the POS software itself …
The retail job shortage has retailers changing-up their approach to recruiting.
The challenge of hiring and retailing retail workers is worldwide. It is causing retailers to go to extraordinary lengths.
In a small US town I was in a few days ago, of the 25 shops on the Main Street, 21 were advertising vacancies in their front window.
In a Taco Bell that I visited (don’t judge me) 3 days ago, every place where this chain restaurant location would usually promote meal options and deals, they were advertising for people.
The moment you step into Taco Bell, you see this table.
Four of the windows had these signs facing inside and out.
The front window had sign writing, too:
Above the registers and at the self-service tech screens they had signs too.
But back to the table inside the front door. They had collateral pitching employee benefits:
On top of all this visual noise is the pitch at the counter. Yes, they were asking some (but not all) customers if they knew of anyone looking for a job.
In this Taco Bell outlet, looking for new staff was more important than promoting what they sell.
Apple Inc. is raising salaries for retail workers in the US by 10% or more and upping its global companywide compensation budget as it faces a tight labor market and unionization efforts.
The company is hiking hourly pay for retail staff to at least $22 per hour, up from a previous $20 minimum, the company told employees on Wednesday. The move follows a pay bump in February after inflation grew more severe and some staffers complained about working conditions during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Apple and Taco Bell are not alone.
During the trip to the US I got to speak with a broad range of business owners and managers. Staffing is their top of mind challenge. Some are taking the Apple approach and increasing pay rates. Others are offering signing bonuses and new employee referral bonuses. Others are ensuring they run companies people enjoy working for.
The staffing problem exists across all sectors in all settings. Bigger businesses are more likely to use money to address the challenge. In small businesses we have more flexibility in terms of our response. But respond we must, otherwise, we will struggle to retail people let along hire new people when we need.
I am not suggesting we follow the Taco Bell approach. I think that approach is more rooted in decades of minimum wages and challenges in terms of the grind of the work in the business. I shared the Taco Bell story because I saw it first-hand.
Local small business retailers in Australia will need to address the staffing challenge in the way that is most appropriate to their situation and settings. If I was to offer any advice on this it would be be sure to have a plan, because you don’t want to react when facing a staffing shortage that is negatively impacting the business.
Let’s talk for a moment about why there is a job shortage.
More people are able to work from anywhere than ever before;. They can find good jobs, well-paying jobs, working from home. For plenty, this has enabled them to break free from minimum wage and jobs with a high commute cost.
There’s more gig economy work, too. This offers flexibility for people with other demands on their time.
Tower Systems started offering its 2022 free stocktake training for retailers using its POS software several weeks ago.
The training available is in video as well as written form. It covers a full stocktake as well as partial stocktake and theft mitigation stocktakes.
By providing baseline video based training, the company offers a consistent starting pout to all retailers, covering everything everyone needs to know.
Every Tower Systems POS software customer has access to the stocktake training, without cost, without any financial commitment requirement. By making access free and easy, the company is ensuring that all customers have the same opportunity to get accurate stock on hand data for their business.
We shot the baseline stocktake training video a few weeks. This shows best practice stocktake advice relevant to 2022. It leverages pas advice and presents it fresh, with content relevant to this year.
Here is some of the advice we published to ur POS software customers previously re stocktake. It reflects more practical advice advice, operational advice.
Take the technology to the stock and not your stock to your technology.
For the process to be as easy as possible you will need a wireless network – vital for OH&S reasons.
The best way to do a stocktake in your business is by using a laptop (or laptops) or tablet computer with a scanner attached. This enables you to do the stocktake live with no impact on sales and absolute integrity of your stock on hand data.
While using a laptop (or laptops) or tablet computer may seem cumbersome, it is our best practice advice for speed, data integrity and the ability to address data issues you may encounter on the shop floor. It enables you to do management work to ensure completely accurate data.
The alternative is to use a PDE. The challenges with this are the many different PDEs and it is challenging to be expert in all plus the PDE counts at that time and you load the data at a later time – meaning a gap in time in which sales could have been done. While PDE software is available for live to data updates, we have seen this be problematic and so we do not use it.
Given the advances in technology, our best practice recommendation is either a laptop of tablet computer as either offers a better solution than a PDE.
We suggest you setup a Laptop or tablet and use Team Viewer or the like to connect in and count this way. This approach means you do not need to purchase an additional software licence for the laptop. Team Viewer is easy to setup. If you do need our help on this there would be a support cost.
For the physical stocktake, we suggest you approach the business aisle by aisle, counting and rearranging stock as you go.
We were recently asked to write an article for a magazine for Aussie newsagents about selling online. The advice we included in that article for local retail newsagents applies equally to any local retailer. We share the article we wrote here to offer advice for local small business retailers contemplating selling online:
Sell online, but not as your shop today.
When people shop online they shop for an outcome. They search for the product or purpose. They do not search for a masthead.
This is a valuable insight for any newsagent considering a website for their business for putting your newsagency online with what you sell today could be an expensive mistake.
Tower Systems has built many websites for newsagents and most are not sites that represent the newsagency shop online. Rather, they present as a different business, focussed on a niche category and leveraging the shop infrastructure to help the business expand.
This is the smart move for any retailer selling online – using it as a start-up opportunity that makes use of space and labour in the shop but not relying on products in the shop.
In one case, a newsagency business has grown online to where it is more financially valuable than the shop within which it was incubated.
In another case a newsagent tested a category online, hit gold and expanded the shop to offer this, hitting more gold.
Engaging with Tower Systems to create a POS software connected website provides newsagents with access to comprehensive online sales data through deep Google results research. This can help newsagents discover opportunities not previously on their radar.
By tapping into current keyword search data using respected commercial tools, Tower Systems is able to show newsagents pathway opportunities into new product areas online. These can be opportunities tapped into with a minimal capital investment, an opportunity for expansion with a modest budget.
While I understand the push to take the shop online, in my years of experience owning newsagencies and running successful and failed websites connected to the shops, my advice is to leverage the website opportunity as if it is a start-up, playing in a space you have not played in before, with the goal of it leading you on a path of discovery.
Tower Systems is better placed to support this greenfield approach than a local web developer … we have found local web developers more likely to replicate online what you have in. the shop and that, my friends, is unlikely to attract for you the volume of new shoppers you might hope for.
Being online is critical for every business. Doing it right, in an approach appropriate for 2022 and beyond is key.
Take your time. Do your research. Make sure that what you choose can be maintained by you. And, only sign for a fixed price website build.
Theft is a scourge in retail businesses. beyond the financial cost is a considerable motional cost to those in the business from employees to owners.
We shot a brief video a few months ago in which we discussed theft in retail, leveraging our years of experience helping local retailers to reduce theft.
There are things retailers can do to protect against theft as well as to deal with it when it is discovered. This video is a peek inside what Tower Systems offers its local specialty retail POS software customers.
As retailers ourselves we draw on lived experience in providing this advice. The more we all share on this challenging topic the better for all retailers.
Here is an example of some pf the advice we have provided to retailers.
Too many retailers read advice about theft and ignore it. Indeed, the most common trigger for small business retailers to work on reducing employee theft is the discovery of such theft. Here are simple steps you can take to detect and manage employee theft:
Track your stock. Receive all stock into your business through your computer system so you know exactly what sock you have.
Scan everything you sell. Do not use department keys as this makes it easier for employees to steal since they know there is no trackback to stock on hand. Using department keys is an invitation to steal.
Track every sale by employees. Give your employees a card with a unique barcode or have them enter a code – to track every sale they make back to them. Change the code every six months or so.
Do your end of shift through your software and have a zero-tolerance policy on being over or under. Reconcile banking to your computer software end of shift. One business where this was not done was being skimmed regularly for $200 a day.
Do spot cash balancing. Unexpected checks can uncover surprises. One retailer needing to do a banking during the day uncovered a $350 discrepancy that lead to discovery of systematic theft.
Change your roster. Sometimes people work together to steal. One retailer found a family friend senior and their teenage daughter stealing consistently.
Check your Audit Log. Look at cancelled sales, deleted sales and items deleted from a sale. Leaving a cash drawer open from the previous sale, scanning items, taking the cash and cancelling the sale is the most common process used by employees to accrue cash they then take from you. Good software tracks cancelled sales and what was in them. This can be matched with video footage.
Check Gross Profit by department. If GP is falling outside what you expect, research it further.
Setup a theft policy. Put this on a noticeboard in the back room. Get staff to read it and sign up to it. See the last page of this advice.
Keep the counter clean. An organised counter reduces the opportunity for theft. It makes detection easier.
Have a no employee bags at the counter policy. This makes it harder for them to hide your cash.
Beware employees who carry folded paper or small notepads. These can be used for them to keep track of how much cash is in the register that is theirs – i.e. not rung up in the software.
Beware of calculators with memories at the counter. One retail business employee used the memory function to track how much cash had to be stolen prior to balancing for the day – cash from sales not rung up.
Do not let employees sell to themselves. If they want to purchase something make them purchase it from the other side of the counter.
Be professional in your management of the business. The more professional your approach they less likely your employees will steal as they will see the risk of being caught as high.
Advise all job applicants that you will require their permission for a police check. From the outset this indicates that you take your business seriously. In many situations applicants who have been asked for permission to do a police check advise they have found a job elsewhere.
Do not take cash out for your own use in front of employees. If they see you take cash for a coffee or lunch some will see this as an invitation.
These steps work – based on decades of helping small business retailers to reduce and manage employee theft.
3 weeks ago we published this video: 5 things every retailer should know about their retail business but are usually not told by POS software. Across several platforms it’s had 1,000 views, for which we are grateful.
When our CEO made the video, it was spur of the moment, based on a comment made in a conversation at the Sydney gift fair in April. While the video was spur of the moment and not scripted, it drew on years of experience, years of service of local small business retailers.
We appreciate the feedback we have received, the appreciation.
To us, the video represents something different about Tower Systems. It presents that we want you to cultivate and harvest value from your business through the use of our POS software.
This is the difference of value.
Long after you start using our software, appreciating genuine value from its use.
Thank you for watching. Wr hope you found the video useful.
Talk to any retailer and they will tell you cash flow is tight.
In this short video we leverage our experience helping many different local retailers on ways to improve cash flow.
It’s free advice from our POS software company, Tower Systems, part of a broader kit of free advice all Tower Systems customers can access to broaden the appeal of their businesses.
Cash flow is on the minds of many local small business retailers right now.
But before we get into providing advice, let’s agree a definition. Cash flow is the flow of money in and out of your business, real cash, in your account, or in your safe. Cash in comes from sales or products and assets and other payments from customers and suppliers. Cash flowing out is for bills, inventory purchases, labour and rent, typically.
Any business wants to be in a positive cash flow situation, because negative cash flow needs more capital inflow to support, and that can come at a cost.
Now, to our advice.
8 ways any local small retail business can improve cash flow and thrive.
Are you ready?! This advice is based on our years of service of thousands of local small business retailers across a range of specialty retail channels. It also comes from many years of us owning and running our own local retail shops.
Free dead stock. In our experiences this releases the most cash flow value, but it is the option most often rejected for often silly reasons. dead stock is stock that is not selling, not moving. It is often stock you have long since paid for. This means that any money you get for it is positive cash flow right now. The loss from paying for the stock has already been realised – many retailers forget that. So, idea tidy what’s not selling, and quit it creatively, with urgency. Cheer every dollar this brings.
Trim where you can without impacting sales. The most beneficial move here is typically a cut in the roster, a cut in labour cost. Save a few dollars with no sales revenue impact and you are ahead cash flow wise.
Get shoppers to spend more in a visit. Smart loyalty software will do this. Points loyalty systems are unlikely to do this. There are better loyalty options designed to help encourage shoppers to spend more in a visit. Our POS software helps nurture this.
Charge more. Yes, we understand this can be scary. The thing is, if you do this carefully, thoughtfully, and offer a good loyalty incentive and bundle items together, a modest price rise is less likely to be noticed and more likely to have a positive impact on cash flow. Think about it. Plan for it. Take small steps. A 1% rise across your top 200 inventory items could be the small step that delivers the cash flow boost you need.
Find more customers. The more new customers you have shopping with you the more you will sell, obviously. It can feel easier said than done to attract new customers. In our experience, most local retail businesses do not have a new customer attraction plan. Do you? It does not need to be complex. Even a simple social media pitch honouring a new product, reflecting your gratefulness to have it could be enough. One the post is up, pay for a boost in your area. An $8 spend over 4 days is all you may need to get in front of a few hundred prospective new customers … and that gets you on the path, that could be your new customer attraction plan.
Trim overheads. Look through your business overheads and look for an opportunity to trim.
Look at your sales counter. With most purchases being completed at the sales counter, look at it from the perspective of your shoppers and see what you could do to encourage them to add items at the last minute. The counter is a valuable place of influence. Use it. Make sure it is driving deeper purchase baskets, and adding to cash flow.
Spend less on inventory. Look for suppliers with good inventory holdings that allow you to use them, rather than your shop floor or store room, to hold stock you may not sell right away.
This list is a start, a small start, a modest start, it offers practical advice you can follow, practical steps you can take in any local small business retail setting to improve cash flow.
Using the Tower Systems POS software you can engage with any of these and other ideas for improving cash flow in your retail business.
Beyond POS software, Tower Systems will help, because we want local retailers to thrive. You are our customers, our focus.
Footnote. Many retail business owners get in their head about cash flow, they look for big moves and end up spinning their wheels, going nowhere. In reality, the most beneficial cash flow improvement moves you can make are those that are simple, easy ti implement, immediate to implement and, most important, that work with other moves … for it is the compounding benefit of a series of small steps that can deliver excellent cash flow improvement benefits to local small business retail.
Rising interest rates are on the mind of everyone in Australia right now it seems. News stories appear daily about the impact of rising interest rates … for homeowners, for businesses. Everywhere we turn there is a ‘take’ on rising interests rates.
In local small business retail we can see the impact of higher interest rates through several lenses: consumer confidence, actual sales and business costs – for businesses with loan funds in place to support the business.
Our Tower Systems POS software company helps local small business retailers deal with rising interest rates in a range of ways …
We help retailers track trends on their shops. This is vital because while there is news out there and plenty of speculation, a retailer can only rely on what they bank through their register and our POS software is that register. we can help them access facts as they pertain to their business as opposed to feelings based on news and other stories. Facts matter. One retailer told us last week that rising interests rates were impacting their business through less sales. While their transaction count was down, revenue was up in higher margin areas meaning the business was banking more profit. facts matter.
We help retailers cap costs. The rental / subscription cost of our POS software has not changes since mid 2019. We have no plans to change it. Our customers know this. We are iota adding to their costs. We also help them require the cost of labour in their businesses and this can save money and free cash for other, more productive, uses in the business.
We help retailers free up cash in their businesses. And, this can help reduce their reliance on loan funds, which means a lower impact of rising interest rates. now, how do we help retailers free up cash. We do this in a range of ways, through smart tools in our POS software. We helped one business release more than $20,000 of hitherto dead money. The released funds helped them reduce their overdraft and that reduced the amount of interest the business was paying. It all comes back to using business data.
Rising interest rates are a thing. Rather than getting caught in the quicksand over them, our focus is on helping local small business retailers develop and walk through a plan for dealing with rising interest rates so that their businesses are not as impacted as they might otherwise have been.
The news out there on rising interest rates can be scary, and distracting. Our advice is to focus on that over which you have control, to understand, seek out a pathway through and to step thoughtfully along that path.
The cost of freight is increasing. Freight into Australia costs more. Freight around Australia costs more. Freight locally costs more.
Small business retailers can feel challenged as to how to deal with this, now to manage the cost of freight, how to protect their business against the cost of freight.
Tower Systems helps local small business retailers deal with the cost of freight by providing in the software the ability to easily spread the freight cost of a package containing a range of goods across the sale provide of all the goods received. This allows the business to pass on the cost, spread the cost, reflect the cost fo freight across all items brought into the business.
Too many small business retailers stress about then high cost fo freight and what to do about it. the thing is, freight is. cost everyone has. There is no such thing as free freight.
Every item in every shop in town has a freight cost associated with getting it on the shelf. There is no point complaining. It is a real cost, a universal cost, one that is best managed efficiently, and spread across the sale price of every inventory item that you have in the shop.
Use your POS software to do this. Tower Systems helps local small business retailers deal with the cost of freight. We do this through software facilities in the POS software as well and through advice on how to use the POS software and business management advice. This is where we leverage our experience as retailers to provide practical advice ion the test way to deal with the rising cost of freight in small business retail.
Once you discover that it is easy when receiving new inventory into your business to spread the cost of freight, you can systemise the process, structure it, make it part of your operational processes. This takes the emotion out of the situation. It stops you having tom micro manage it. You benefit and the business benefits.
Freight is a cost all businesses confront. There are myriad ways to deal with it, manage it and leverage it sol that it is not as problematic for the business as it may seem.
Tower Systems is a full service POS software company focussed on local specialty retailers in selected retail channels.
Good POS software offer these 5 benefits. Tower Systems does.
What’s not selling = cut dead stock waste.
What you’re missing out on = stop selling out.
What’s sells with what = selling more.
Theft under your nose = save thousands.
Know when you’re busy and quiet = reduce labour costs.
Of course, thanks to the Tower Systems POS software, there are many more benefits than these. Now, here’s a new video from us about these 5 benefits from the Tower Systems POS software.
It’s an easy complaint to make – my merchant fees are going up, it’s not fair, time for me to consider another supplier.
Okay, yeah, that’s an easy take. It’s a cheap shot by us to call it out. But, let’s explain and explore it with you.
Our advice is to look at your data first.
We have thoroughly looked at hundreds of thousands of baskets from many retail businesses.
The most common reason merchant fees are increasing is because of more sales transacted using EFTPOS.
While sometimes the actual fee basis, flat fee per Tx or percentage, increases, this is rare.
Yes, the most common reason a retailer paid more in merchant fees last month than the month before is because more transactions were paid for on a card.
So, the EFTPOS provider is not the cause of the issue.
Retailers is some marketing groups have access to preferential rates that see them paying the lowest fees in the country.
But, that addresses only the base cost.
To address the growing cost to the business, of people using a card to pay, you need to be an engaged retailer. Here are some ideas:
Promote cash payment – if you want the costs associated with cash of course.
Be clear as to the cost of using a card. You could apply a surcharge, which I think is a ridiculous idea though.
Price knowing that cards will be used. Build the cost into your pricing model. Keep the bump under 2% and it is less likely to be noticed.
Lower a cost elsewhere to cover the cost. Look at your labour cost, for example. Shaving a hour of employee rostered time can save you around $30.00, that’s equal to purchases of $3750.00 on a card – depending on the type of card used.
Increase sales. While you should be single-mindedly focussed on this anyway, increasing sales helps you address the EFTPOS cost and more in the business.
It’s easy to kick a bank over EFTPOS fees. But … before you do that, look at your own behaviour. Here are common points in retail businesses that retailers overlook when they kick a supplier:
Dead stock. It’s easy to identity but often not. A problem not seen is not a problem to some. In my experience on conducting an audit of stock performance, usually, 20% of stock on the shop floor over which the retailer has full control underperforms and should not be there.
Bloated roster. Some prefer to spend money on people so they have time to themselves for relaxing, golf or to sit in the back office, where no customer purchases from.
Wrong trading hours. Some stay open too long while others are not open long enough. Either way has a cost to the business.
Being blind to theft. Theft in retail, like a local newsagency business, costs on average between 3% and 5% of turnover. Not watching for it, tracking it and mitigating against it has a cost to the business.
The wrong product mix. GP% is a key measure of retail business performance. Increasing yours beyond what is traditional for your channel provides you with a buffer. For example, transaction count / sales can decline and you can be okay. Measure GP%. Set a goal. Chase it. The air is cleaner in above average.
Ignorance. It’s not bliss. It’s not! There are insights in your software that can guide better decisions, faster decisions, more financially rewarding decisions. Yet, too many in retail don’t want to know. That failure costs them plenty.
The 6 items on the above list are all on the retailer to address.
We get that it’s easy to complain about high EFTPOS fees. If you are contemplating that, please take a moment to look back inside your business, look at the reason why and see if there are decisions you could make that are more valuable than complaining about EFTPOS fees or changing supplier. Our team here at Tower Systems would be happy to help.
Rising EFTPOS fees are likely not a problem since the y reflect rising sales, unless your provider is hiking your fees, which is rare.
This is one of the best pieces of advice you can give a retailer, for too often, retailers stock their shops with what they like more than what customers may like. They tend this that shoppers will like what they like. Evidence tells us that shoppers like what they like more so than what the retailer likes. This is especially true in local high street retail.
Talking with a retailer about our POS software recently, they mentioned their success with a product category they had rejected for several years. That category is now delivering to their shop close to $50,000 a year in good margin revenue to the business. Better still, it is attracting a category of shopper not common to their business.
They mentioned it because they heard us say to another retailer you are not your customer. They made the point that it took them a while to realise the trust of this.
None of us in retail are our customers yet too often local small business retailers stock their shops with what they like, missing opportunities to give more local shoppers what they like.
Ranging new products is speculative, a risk. But, trying to attract new customers requires this type of risk taking, done carefully. This is where POS software data can play a vital role in understanding the opportunity.
The key is the POS data analysis of the performance of what you have taken on, to measure whether it stays or goes. If it is working, the opportunity could be to expand into allied niche areas, to grow the opportunity further.
Accepting that you don’t know what you don’t know can free you to trial products you have rejected in the past and, through that, uncover valuable opportunities for your business.
Our advice is to always have a modest inventory and space investment on the shop floor of new products that you would not usually carry. Let them show you if they work or not. More important is advice to rely on your POS software data, for this will provide better guidance as to what works best in a shop, it is the evidence.
You are not your customer. Test, play, experiment to find out what your customers love and through this experience more love from in and for your shop.
Theft is local retail businesses is expensive for retailers. But, this theft by shoppers if often not considered or acted-on by retailers until they understand the real cost of this theft by shoppers.
From what we see, theft by shoppers can cost retailers between 3% and 7% of sales revenue in value. We have seen this across a range of retail business types and in a range of retail situations.
This year, in 2021, we have seen some evidence of co-ordinated theft, groups working together to shop for products they can flip online and air local markets.
The key to reducing theft by shoppers is through a managed process, adopted by the business leaders and implemented by everyone working in the business.
Here are seven steps we suggest to cut the cost of shopper theft in your retail business. While there are other steps you could take, these seven are most valuable from our years of working with retailers.
Use your POS software. Spot stock take. Understand the cost of theft. This is critical for once you understand the scope of theft by shoppers in your business you are more likely to act. In our experience the evidence is that items being stolen are not those you think are being stolen. Data is key here. hence our advice to use your POS software.
Look at people as they enter. Eye contact is key. Ideally, say hello to them. The more they think you have seen them the better.
Have a screen near the entrance / exit so people can see that you filming them with your security cameras. The more people think they will be caught they less likely they are to steal.
Work on the shop floor. That is unpack and price new stock on the shop floor, and not in the back room. This puts you or your employees among shoppers and heightens the chance of detection of theft.
Walk the floor. Every so often, do a circuit. Be present. Talk to people.
During peak shopping periods, station someone outside the business looking. Ensure they are trained on appropriate action should they see misbehavior.
Bring in a security guard on a casual basis during your most busy periods. A good starting point here is to hire someone to look at the business under-cover, to see what they see, that you are not seeing.
The more likely people are to be caught the less likely you are to experience shopper theft.
Tower Systems has many years of experience in helping independent small business retailers mitigate em ploy theft and shopper theft. We leverage this experience for our customers through excellent POS software, free training, group training workshops, data analysis and expert witness support for authorities in specific cases.
Recent Comments