The POS Software Blog

The POS Software Blog

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

CategorySmall retail business management advice

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.

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/

Small business retail advice: make every day your pay day

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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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
  10. Always have impulse offers at high traffic locations.
  11. 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.
  12. 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.
  13. 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.
  14. 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.
  15. 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.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-fletcher-tower/

Good POS software can help local small business retailers deal with the challenge of finding and retaining employees

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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 responded to their staffing challenges with an announcement a couple of days ago. Apple is increasing the pay of retail employees by 10%.

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.

I don’t see these things as temporary.

The best loyalty solution for local small business retailers

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If your local retail business competes with big businesses and online businesses, you are likely copying them and their approach to loyalty. Points are the common approach. The world is obsessed with points, chasing them, collecting and trying to spend them.

But who knows that they are worth?

Each point is not the same whereas each dollar is a dollar everywhere.

The Tower Systems POS software offers a points based loyalty solution embedded in the POS software – for businesses that like to copy big business. The businesses that like to innovate, be different and stand out, however, use the discount vouchers facilities in our POS software. In these facilities there are no points accrued. rather, loyal shoppers accrue dollars. See how:

With hundreds of local small business retailers using the Tower Systems discount vouchers we have good data to speak to when encouraging local retailers to embrace the opportunity.

For years, retailers, especially independent and small business retailers, have been told to follow retail giants and reward loyal shoppers with points that can be redeemed for gifts and discounts.

Dutifully, many small business retailers acted on this – but without a thought-through strategy to achieve the best outcome for the business.

Without a financially rewarding outcome for a business, a loyalty program is worthless.

This is why retailers, in any retail channel and in any retail situation – high street, shopping mall, rural and or regional – need options in terms of shopper loyalty rewards.

While a points based program is useful, it could be that the business will benefit from a different approach.

Good POS software will offer flexibility. This flexibility can add thousands of dollars to the bottom line performance of a retail business each year.

Change the game: front-end loyalty

By using an approach we at Tower call front-ending loyalty, retailers can achieve more from first-time and infrequent shoppers. Front-ending loyalty brings a reward to the front in an effort to engage shoppers in additional purchases sooner.

Too often loyalty has been all about total spend over a year whereas above average spend in just one visit can be more valuable to a business.

It’s an approach that can encourage those who do not shop with you to purchase something else right away, to get the value of the cash discount offered.

Regular shoppers can spend the cash discount right away or come back within any time limit you set.

We started trialling this front-ending loyalty strategy in February 2013 in several retail businesses. We did it using the Discount Vouchers facilities in the Tower Systems software.

Building the basket

From the first day we saw shoppers changing behaviour.

One chap came in to purchase a specific item. When he was handed the receipt the voucher was pointed out to him – offering $2.00 off his next purchase. He was not a regular and so spent the $2.00, and more, right away on another item. He received another voucher and purchased a third item. In all, he spent three times as much as the original purchase – all because of the Discount Vouchers he received.

Around 33% of all vouchers redeemed are used the day they are received. This shows customers building the basket – adding to their purchase that day as a result of the voucher. This makes each visit more valuable to us.

Bringing shoppers back

Around 33% of redeemed vouchers are used within seven days of issue and the remaining 33% are redeemed up to four weeks after issue.

Here’s another real story: A month after we started trialling this new approach to loyalty, a customer came in and used a voucher she had picked up a couple of weeks earlier. She was happy to get $5.00 off a $45.00 item she wanted. This resulted in another voucher so she bought another item for $29.95.

This customer said she would be back. Two weeks later she was.

You control the business rules covering how vouchers are issued and redeemed. You control your financial exposure at all times.

Like any good loyalty program, you need good levers with which to drive shopper engagement and to deliver the benefits it needs to justify the investment.

The Discount Vouchers facilities in the Tower software have this.

5 things every retailer should know about their business but are usually not told by POS software

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Good POS software offer these 5 benefits. Tower Systems does.

  1. What’s not selling = cut dead stock waste.
  2. What you’re missing out on = stop selling out.
  3. What’s sells with what = selling more.
  4. Theft under your nose = save thousands.
  5. 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.

Tower Systems helps local small business retailers deal with rising interest rates

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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.

Tower Systems helps local small business retailers deal with rising freight costs

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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.

Trucks cost money. Truck drivers cost money. Warehouses cost money. Fork lift drivers cost money.

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.

Tower Systems helps Australian local small business retailers reduce EFTPOS fees

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EFTPOS fees are a pain point for local small business retailers. They are a cost of business, eating into already tight margin. Talk to any local small business retailer and it is likely they ill complain about high EFTPOS fees.

In some cases, it is EFTPOS fees that are tied to other services that can negatively impact them the most.

In the POS software marketplace, for example, there are POS software companies that offer their software at a reduced price if you sign up for their integrated EFTPOS solution. In two instances we have seen this week, the EFTPOS fees in these situations are higher than the usual market price – making more money for the POSt software company and costing the local retail business more.

How can I cut EFTPOS fees is a common question from retailers. It is a question that comes with urgency, need and emotion. It is a question we understand we own shops as weak, 4 shops in fact where more than half our revenue is settled by way of EFTPOS. We understand the challenge of high EFTPOS fees and have found ways to satisfactorily address this in our shops.

We have found a way to cut the cost of EFTPOS fees for our local retail businesses.

If you want to cut EFTPOS fees for your shop, it starts with understanding more about how the fees accrue. This is where Tower Systems can help.

Oh, and by the way, we do not require you to sign up for a specific EFTPOS provider. Our advice is neutral, balanced and focussed 100% on your needs. Sure, we have relationships that could save you money too, but there is no requirement. All Tower Systems customers have free access to our advice and assistance to cut EFTPOS fees in retail. We know the more we help our retailer business customers do this the more we are able to deliver practical benefits that will encourage our customers to stay with us.

If you think EFTPOS fees in your shop are too high, consider how Tower Systems might be able to help you. Our POS software is awesome. Our retail business management advice and support is valuable. Everyday we leverage our retail business experience beyond the POS software itself. This helps our customers save money and make their businesses more valuable.

Can I cut EFTPOS fees in my shop? Yes, we think you can. Let us help. sales@towersystems.com.au

Oh, and if you signed up for EFTPOS services in return for a lower subscription or rental cost of your software, check to see what your EFTPOS fees are, compare them against the marketplace. If you are like the two businesses we were contacted by this week it could be you signed up for a higher transactional cost in return for a small discount off the software cost … resulting in higher costs for you. yes, that is what happened.

Retail advice: tips on setting up and running a pop-up shop

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A consequence of Covid is short-term retail space opportunities. Ion our work with retailers and through our iPad / tabled based Retailer Roam product we have experience helping retailers with pop-up shops. Here is advice we have to share:

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.

Finding happiness in your local small business retail shop

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2021 has been some year for sure, packed with challenges, things that can make your retail business less enjoyable than you hoped.

Tower Systems serves thousands of local small business retailers with POS software. We see retail in many situations and, over time, have learnt from these businesses and the people in them.

There is no doubt for us about the value of being happy in retail. But, it’s not something you can decide to feel. It’s not a switch you can flick.

Finding happiness in retail takes planning and engagement throughout the business. While it does sound like work, it is also about respecting the business and that there will always be challenges, and knowing that being happy can help you get through them.

Here are our tips for finding, nurturing and managing happiness in a local retail shop:

Have good data. Yeah, we know this is a boring topic for many. But as a POS software company with decades of experience we know the value of good data. Good data is your rock. Build on a rock and life is, for sure, good. Good data will make you happier because your decisions will be better, and by better we mean you’ll make more money, and that will make you happier.

Be in control. Stop getting pushed around. If a supplier pushes something on your, use your data to deal in the facts. This, too, will make you happier. Facts matter. Any time someone says fro this or that ask for evidenced preferably in your business data. yes, we are still banking on about the value of good business data.

Price for margin. Maximise when you can.

Price for turn. You can’t bank a gross profit percentage until you sell something. So, price to turn, and bank dollars.

Lean on others. Spread the load, share the responsibility. Hire well. Train well. rely on the team to help you and this will make them happier, you happier and the business a happier place overall.

Set your narrative. In social media posts, stories you share in the business and in your marketing set the tone, set the narrative to be positive, happy and optimistic. This will encourage others to do this too. Own your narrative and own your happiness.

Of course, there is way more everyday practical stuff too: happy music paying, happy window displays, happy product displays, featuring happy products, samples, taste tests, games, fun events, giveaways, competitions … all these things and more can make the shop transactionally happy, which is good, too.

Happiness is good for business and all who interact with it.

Good luck. Now, get out there and smile. 😃

Small business retail advice: an easy and accurate way to analyse gross profit by floorspace allocation

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Analysing gross profit by floor space allocation should be done at least annually in every retail business in our view. This is based on decades of service by Tower Systems in our work with our POS software in thousands of local retail businesses.

With retail space usually costing between 11% and 15% of revenue in many retail settings, it is usually the next highest cost outside of the cost of stock itself.

Spend half an hour on what we suggest here and the result could provide clarity on immediate steps you can take in your business to improve what you make.

This is not advice you will get from your accountant or from reviewing your P&L or computer reports. It is designed to be practically helpful in managing your business.

Please follow these simple steps.

  1. Take a blank sheet of paper, ideally A3, and roughly sketch out the layout of your shop, marking in display units, wall shelving, the counter – everywhere you have product.
  2. The floor plan layout should also include your back room if you have stock there.
  3. Colour-shade the layout by department. For example, shade all areas with magazines in yellow, all floor space for gifts in blue etc.
  4. List the departments on the side of the floor plan.
  5. Calculate the percentage of total space taken by each department. This does not need to be accurate to two decimal places. List this next to each department you have listed.
  6. Use your POS software to report on gross profit dollars earned by each department over the last year.
  7. Calculate the percentage of total gross profit contribution earned by each department as shown by the POS software and list this next to the floor space allocated to each department – on the floor plan map you have done.
  8. Circle in green those performing the best and in red those performing the worst. A best performing department will typically be responsible for a significantly higher percentage of gross profit than percentage of space allocated whereas a worst performing department will be contributing a percentage of overall gross profit considerably lower than the percentage of floor space allocated.

Once you have the marked-up floor plan with the space percentage and percentage of total gross profit, think about your floor space allocation.

The above steps do not take into account product size and the average gross profit percentage from each dollar of revenue for a department. For example, ink is a lower margin product than stationery, gifts are a higher margin magazines. Typically, the analysis will highlight challenges with lower margin product.

Here are actions the work you do could lead to:

  1. Changing the location of a department within the business.
  2. Increasing floor space for a department.
  3. Decreasing floor space for a department.
  4. Working on improving the GP achieved for a department through better buying.
  5. Working in increasing sales for a department to lift the overall GP dollar contribution achieved.

You can take the analysis a step further by looking only at one department and analysing performance by category, using the method outlined above.

For example, in one business we saw a category taking 7% of department space while they contributed more than 40% of gross profit earned from all in the department. It’s this data where good POS software can provide insights.

The type of analysis we are suggesting here is intended to give you a fresh view of your business as you engage in the process of constant change.

Tower Systems is grateful to serve local retailers with POS software, which is backed by everyday retail management advice.,

Small business retail advice: managing labour costs in your shop

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Labour cost in many retail situations is usually the highest or second highest cost of business after the cost of inventory is considered.

Here at Tower Systems we are grateful to serve a diverse community of retail businesses. It is our experience that labour cost sits somewhere between 9% and 11% of retail sales revenue in these business.

What this means is: if your revenue, where revenue is product revenue plus commission from agency lines, is $1 million, your total labour cost should be $110,000 based on the benchmark.

Labour cost needs to include fair market value for owner labour invested in the business.

Too often, we see business owners putting in anywhere between 60 and 80 hours a week with the majority of this time unproductive

A small business cannot afford unproductive management time. Your big business competitors do not have this overhead, nor should you.

This is why we suggest where possible and practical that you have no back office or, if absolutely necessary, a small back office that is not comfortable.

While many go into business to be the boss and not at the front line serving customers, the front line is where the business makes money. It is where you ought have your best people.

Allocate your boss time to fit with the size of the business. In a typical small retail business turning over $2M a year or less, we suggest boss time should be no more than five hours a week. This, of course, depends on what you do with the time. If you do bookkeeping, saving the cost of an external resource, it could be more.

Use your POS software to track and measure sales by time and sales by employee as these can factor into decision opportunities before you.

A more practical way to look at this is issue of labour cost: cutting three hours paid adult time a day, Monday to Friday, will add more than $20,000 a year directly to the bottom line profitability of the business.

If you think this is not possible, look at where you do your boss work. Some of this could be done at the counter or on the shop floor. You could multi-task and thereby cut paid hours. It all depends on whether you want the business to be more profitable.

One mid-size retail business following our advice based on data in our PO)S software cut their labour cost in the business by $50,000. In the same period, revenue was up 6%.

Getting your labour cost under control and within the benchmark starts with your roster.

Tower Systems is grateful to offer advice and suggestions to local small business retailers that goes beyond what is usual for a POS software company.

10 ways the Tower Systems POS software is helping gift shops deal with pandemic challenges

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Gift shop retailers using the Tower Systems POS software have at their disposal a proven suite of tools and facilities with which to combat the blues which seem to surround so many retailers at the moment.

By engaging with the marketing and management tools in the Point of sale software, retailers can expect to cut costs, increase sales and drive bottom-lime profit.

These claims are more than a sales pitch.   For no additional cost, local small business retailers can drive more profitable and more valuable business outcomes … and turnaround what may be a tough retail situation.

Using the Point of Sale software from Tower Systems, retailers can expect to:

  1. Cut costs.  Thanks to electronic invoicing, the cost of processing new stock is lower than with manual processes.  This can help cut your labour bill.
  2. Increase sales #1: reward customers.  A good loyalty program works.  Not like FlyBys which is of dubious financial value to customers.  No, a serious loyalty program which guides your customers to spend more money with you.  I have see stores grow sales by 10% on the back of a well constructed loyalty program,  a good POS software package will run this for you, points and all.
  3. Increase sales #2: easy lay-by.  Lay-by run properly and using technology can be highly profitable.  The software can manage the rules and ensure that your shop operates as professionally as a national retailer.  You set your own rules and the software manages the paperwork.
  4. Increase sales: market to your customers.  A coupon on your receipts, an email newsletter, a printed newsletter or up-sell script at the sales counter for staff – these are all ways you can use your point of sale system to help guide your existing customers to spend more money with you.
  5. Increase sales #5.  Connect with a local charity.  Use your gift shop software to make it easy for a local charity to promote your retail business shop and raise money for themselves at the same time.  Each sale earned for you by the charity can be tracked so that you are able to reward them with an accurate donation at the end of the campaign.
  6. Make better business decisions.  Bu buying only stock which works for you or seeing exactly what customers buy with what you are able to make business decisions which are more likely to drive better business results.
  7. Sell your own gift cards.  If a customer cannot find what they want in your shop you could sell them a professional looking gift card with a unique barcode allocated to that card.  This way they money they put on the card is used in your business.
  8. Cut mistakes.  Mistakes in retail can be expensive.  By using smart retail management software, you can and should expect to cut mistakes.  This is because it takes fewer keystrokes per sale.  This reduces the opportunity for mistakes.  The saving could add as much as a full percentage point to your bottom line.
  9. Cut theft.  Theft in retail in Australia was running at between 3% and 5% of turnover.  Thanks to tight controls around employees and better tracking of stock theft, you can expect to cut the cost of theft.  Every $1 cut in theft is a $1 on your bottom line.
  10. Handle special orders.  Using software you can place orders for specific customers.  The software can even sent a text message to the customer’s mobile phone when their special order comes if.  Talk about customer service!

The most important way you can grow your business in a tough marketplace is doing what you probably do best – providing cheerful and knowledgeable customer service.  You can do this and your employees can do this if you hand over some of your administrative tasks to your software.

It is easy to get drawn to the doom and gloom of the times and through this to lose focus on your business.  This trap must be avoided at all costs … for the sake of the business and all who rely on the business from customers to employees to owners.

By using tools freely available in your Point of Sale software you can find sales, find time and find margin which may have eluded you to this point.

Small business retail advice: create your own Covid support package

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How people shop, when people shop and where people shop has changed fundamentally. Online has grown and continues to grow. People shop more with purpose now. There is less browsing. More people work from home permanently. What interests people has changed. People think more about the future now. People are less physically connected now, and more connected as a result. Australian made is more interesting to shoppers now. Shopping local counts for more than it used to. Tech barriers from before have been overcome: think QR codes, click and collect and the number of people shopping online for the first time.

These are some of the changes Covid has brought our way and in each of these is opportunity. While some business owners ask governments for cash to deal with today, it’s tomorrow that will really challenge as what Covid has kicked off and pushed forward will not u-turn.

We need to make our own Covid support package as it is this package that will be more useful to us in the future.

  • Expand sources of revenue. Carry products and services that attract people who have not shopped with you before. Expanding your shopper reach insulates your business.
  • Smooth the peaks. Look at your key business data points: sales by product category, sales by supplier, sales by staff member. Look at the peaks in these and if they are considerably higher than average, lift others so you are less reliant on the peaks.
  • Expand your sales points. Having only the in-store sales counter as a sale point is a risk. Make sure you are online through your own website, on eBay and on social media so people can purchase where they want. Selling to people you will never see is key.
  • Nurture loyalty. Run an easily understood loyalty program that differentiates your business.
  • Chase efficiency. Efficient shopper visits have more items in the basket. Develop a strategy for driving this. It starts with understanding your current position.
  • Entrench in the community. Supporting the community groups that support you is good for business. Doing this in a consistent and mutually understood way delivers benefits that can insulate the business when rocky roads present.
  • Be frugal. Covid has taught us the value of having money in the bank. The trimmed roster, reduced inventory in the back room, lower overheads, early settlement discount taken … they all free cash that can be banked for when you will need it.
  • Reduce debt. Every additional dollar you pay off business debt is a saving greater than the dollar itself.
  • Look for the pivot. Keep asking yourself what if this or what if that. Think about pivot opportunities in those situations. Always have a pivot move or two and, if it makes sense, pivot early, ahead of the need.
  • And, have your shop reflect how people shop now: make it easier, safer, serving quick shopping, packaging bundles, offer browsing without touching.

By being actively engaged in these and allied areas in your business you can create your own insulation against the challenges of Covid or similar. These suggestions and others they trigger make up  your own made Covid support package.

Advice on dealing with anti-maskers in small business retail

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The latest lockdowns in New South Wales and Queensland have seen small business retailers confronted by anti-maskers out to make a point for their nutty views. Vocal anti-maskers in-store make for a possibly unsafe workplace.

While we are not legal experts, we offer the following advice to retail business owners:

  1. Provide your staff with appropriate personal and business equipment for their protection: screens at the counter, masks, hand sanitiser … all backed by appropriate Covid protection protocols. Keep this updated. For example, have an endless supply of masks available.
  2. Ensure customers know, from front of store signage and social media posts, that masks are required in-store. Use clear signage.
  3. Have masks available at the entrance to the shop for customers, for free.
  4. Demonstrate active understanding of situations where someone may not be able to wear a mask, for health reasons for example.
  5. Have a protocol for dealing with a vocal and / or threatening anti-masker and ensure that all staff know the protocol. This protocol should include a means by which a situation can be easily reported – a specific bell ring, for example.
  6. As the business owner, be engaged in dealing with anti-maskers.
  7. Meet with employees regularly to talk about the situation, to decompress. Make sure they understand and see that you support them.
  8. If the business is being targeted at all, position yourself at the front of the shop to run defence.
  9. The goal has to be to not directly engage with an anti-masker, to avoid making the situation worse, but to get them out of the shop as quickly and efficiently as possible.
  10. Ensure your CCTV is working, so you have evidence or any portable offence.
  11. Engage the police for any unsafe or threatening behaviour.
  12. Appreciate good customers in-store and on social media – celebrate their actions for making the shop safe.
  13. Put the health and safety of employees ahead of what a customer may think is their right to free speech. 

Dealing with anti-maskers in a retail business is all about leadership. The solution has to be set and led by business owners. leaving it to front line retail staff to deal with would be, in my view, an abrogation of responsibility. Show your employees how much you care about them by actively engaging on this issue.

Every retail business needs a theft policy

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Every retail business does need a theft policy. A good theft policy outlines what is acceptable and unacceptable. It is clear about your position on theft.

through Nour work with small business retailers across a range of channels we have developed a theft policy that we offer as a starting point for local store development of a theft policy appropriate to their needs.

We don’t hold this out as a perfect or expert document. rather, we suggest it as inspiration or as a starting point. Here it is, for your consideration:

THEFT POLICY

1. Theft, any theft, is a crime against this business, its owners, employees and others who rely on us for their income.

2. If you discover any evidence or have any suspicion of theft, please report it to the business owner or most senior manager possible immediately. Doing so could save a considerable cost to the business.

3. We have a zero tolerance policy on theft. All claims will be reported to law enforcement authorities for their investigation.

4. From time to time we have the business under surveillance in an effort to reduce theft. This may mean that you are photographed or recorded in some other way. By working here you accept this as a condition of employment.

5. New employees may be asked to provide permission for a police check prior to commencement of employment. Undertaking the police check will be at our discretion.

6. Cash is never to be left unattended outside the cash drawer or a safe within the business.

7. Credit and banking card payments are not to be accepted unless the physical card is presented and all required processes are followed for processing these.

8. Employees caught stealing with irrefutable evidence face immediate dismissal to the extent permitted by local labour laws.

9. Employees are not permitted to remove inventory, including unsold, topped, magazines, unsold cards or damaged stock from the store without permission.

10. Employees are not permitted to provide a refund to a customer without appropriate management permission.

11. Employees are not permitted to complete sales to themselves, family members or friends.

12. Every dollar stolen from the business by customers and or employees can cost us up to four dollars to recover. This is why vigilance on theft is mission critical for our retail store.

PLEASE SIGN AND DATE YOUR ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

Valuable advice from small business retailers: make every day your pay day

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This advice is something we have shared before. But, it’s been updated for today. We have found, over many years, this to be the most useful, beneficial and appreciated advice for small business retailers.

Make every day tour 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.

Today, the best way to extract financial value from our businesses is to make every day your pay day, to not rely on your pay day being the day you sell the business.

If you do this, if you focus on making money every day, you get ahead, in small steps and increments for sure, but you do get ahead, and long before you actually sell your business.

Our advice is that you look at your business differently. This starts with the mindset of every day being your pay day. Each decision needs to be considered in this context.

Focusing on profit today will give you a better result today and make your business more valuable tomorrow.

Here are some suggestions for making every day your pay day:

  1. Make sure the shop feels happy. People will spend more in a happy business.
  2. Buy as best you can. If you better than usual, keep the additional margin for yourself.
  3. Take every discount opportunity. Paying COD or taking settlement discounts. If you have the capacity to do this, the extra margin adds to your pay day.
  4. Run with the leanest roster possible. Note, however, there is a fine balance between too few and too many.
  5. Always have successful impulse offers at high traffic locations. If something is not working, try something else.
  6. Have your best people working the floor, helping customers spend more.
  7. Make sure the shop looks appealing from outside.
  8. Charge more every time you can. 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.
  9. Promote outside your store using online and social media opportunities.
  10. Leverage adjacency. Chase a deeper basket – people purchasing more each visit.

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.

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.

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