CategorySocial Responsibility

We have offered our Tower Systems small business retail POS software customers a range of collateral and tools they can use to promote click and collect in their businesses. Here are a few of the items we shared a couple of weeks ago.

2021 is proving to be challenging for all retailers, but especially small business retailers, when it comes to supply chain confidence. Covid has wreaked havoc on predicting, in-country logistics, shipping and arrival port congestion.

Christmas 2021 is looking challenged for some retail businesses as a result. This is leaving some retail channels scrambling to resolve Christmas options to keep their shops and websites full and able to satisfy shopper demand.

We have been leveraging our cross channel experience and contacts to help retailers looking for assistance in putting in place contingency plant to buttress their business against the impact of supply chain challenges.

Through contacts, business data and some other elements we have been able to highlight opportunities for retailers to consider that may play well for them, offering alternative for otherwise hard to stock product for Christmas 2021. Right now, in August 2021, it is getting close to too late to put in place reasonable contingency plans. That’s why we have been encouraging retailers to work on this for several months now.

The Covid impacted factory, logistics and related challenges are not new, we all went through 2020. But, they are more intense now, even more so than in 2020. We did engage then. This year, the engagement has been broader and with more retailers.

As a POS software company with a wide and deep relationship with its customers, Tower Systems is grateful for the opportunity to serve retailers in this way, to help with practical advice and connections beyond what could be usual for a POS software company. There is a POS software connection though, since it is the data curated by our POS software that can reveal opportunities outside of what has been traditional for a business when they are looking to fill an unexpected product gap.

Thanks to other business interests we have, we are fortunate to have access to good data as to factory and other challenges for products in a. range of categories. This is helpful for us as we can share this with our customers. Sometimes local suppliers are not as forthcoming with data as to delays. Retailers want information so they ca n implement a plan b. Some suppliers are scared they will lose business, which is odd as they would lose it anyway with such late deliveries.

Hey, it’s the weekend. We hope it’s relaxing and recharging. If you’re in part of Australia that is in lockdown, take care. We are. we’re focussed on that light up ahead, and we know it’s not a train. It’s summer filled with laughs, BBQs and some beers. In the meantime, at home this weekend our BBQs and beers will be just us, but that’s okay. Take care folks …

Our POS software for op. shops, charity shops and community group shops helps these vital community enterprises to be of greater service in their local communities.

We have served in this area of POS software charity shops, community group shops and op. shops for many years. Our portfolio of shops in this space includes church bookshops, community enterprise garden centres, traditional Aussie op. shops, charity run produce businesses and more. It is this diverse charity business engagement that helps us provide software that is commercially useful and community supporting.

Embedded in our op. shop POS software are facilities these community group businesses can use to connect with their members, and through them, connect with the wider local community.

We handle GST requirements for these types of enterprises as well as unusual approaches to pricing. We also make it easy for people to learn the software, to help them deal with the variety of volunteers who often play a key role on the operations of these businesses.

Understanding the varied needs of the charity run businesses and pitching what we offer to those in the business as well as those on a committee in control of the business, Tower Systems is grateful to be of service of these organisations and the mission they pursue here locally and well as overseas, where several charities we serve raise funds for.

We are grateful to serve these community enterprises with POS software made for charity / op. shops that helps in many ways, including:

1. Easy shopper loyalty. We have found the cash-off approach in our loyalty tools works better in community enterprise retail. People understand money. A receipt showing an amount they can save on their next purchase gets, usually, at least 20% of people spending more that visit.
2. Manage inventory your way. You can sell by barcode, products code, department, category within department, price point. You can sell, measure and report at the level point appropriate to your needs.
3. Easy to learn. We have found that in community enterprises easy to learn / easy to use really does matter. Volunteer turnover makes this essential. We can record training specific to your needs and make these videos available for future volunteers.
4. Secure. You can lock down parts of the software to secure them for management access only.
5. Checks and balances. This software guides processes. It also provides hidden tracking so you can investigate should the need arise.
6. Club / group marketing and support. Leverage clubs and community groups with offers and pricing just for them.

While not ideal for every op. shop / charity shop / community group shop situation, our POS software is worth considering. We won’t pressure you. rather, we will show you what the software can do and leave you to make your decision in your own time.

Using our Aussie made POS software, local retailers are able to connect with local community groups including schools to engage in fundraising campaigns. Built into our POS software are facilities that can drive shopping by members of community groups, shopping that can result in donations back to the groups with which they are connected.

These are smart tools that we have seen fundraising for local schools as well as a diverse mix of community groups.

By engaging with the members of groups a local retailer can broaden their shopper appeal. The community group benefits, the members benefit, the business benefits and the community benefits. That is where this community group engagement works well – the breadth of benefits delivered through a retailer leveraging the POS software community group marketing tools.By bringing structure and consistency to this, retailers can let the members of the group drive the benefits for their business.

We are grateful to the retailers and community groups that have helped us over the years to tune these tools, to enable us to make something flexible for a range of situations.

Requests from schools, charities and other community for donations can be a challenge for any size business. If you do not take a structured approach to this you will find yourself giving away plenty for little or no return.

Requests are often loaded with guilt.  People can be passive aggressive in their approach. Often, people requesting help leverage pester power. It can be hard to say no. There are too many stories of retailers giving a gift as a prize, receiving the Thank You poster and achieving no benefit for the business.

The approach we have available through our POS software helps the business be consistent, connecting fundraising back to support for the business from members of the group asking for your support.

EDUCATE GROUPS ABOUT GOOD ENGAGEMENT

Here are things groups you support can do to help your business. You should ask them to do these things:

1. Tell members to buy from you.
2. Write about your business on their Facebook page.
3. Distribute flyers of your offers.
4. Have you speak at a meeting.

Here at Tower Systems, through our POS software for local retailers, you have access to facilities that help you connect locally, by supporting fundraising for local community groups. We are grateful to be of service in this way.

As a business that meets the criteria for being essential, our office is open. This is being run with around 20% of the usual office based staff, which the majority of our people are working from home, as they have done from the start of 2020.

Having the office open helps us provide better service to customers as we have access to a broader suite of tools than can be provided from a pure home office model.

We are grateful to our customers for their support and we appreciate the new customers we are welcoming every week.

We support the call for businesses to provide employees with time off to get their covid vaccine shots. That’s what we have been doing since the first of our team members became eligible. We are grateful to be able to offer this worry-free coverage for our team members.

Given the essential status of our business as determined by the state government we are open as usual, providing customer installation training and related services assistance.

We have some people working from home as well as a team located at our Hawthorn head office.

Tower Systems is grateful to work with a diverse and engaged mix of charities and community groups through providing charity shop  / op. shop software.

We were surprised when first approached years ago by a community group and, then, thrilled to discover that our specialty retail PO software has facilities embedded in the software that serve the needs of charity shops, community retail businesses and the quintessential Aussie Op. Shop.

Our op. shop software , opportunity shop software, charity shop software helps these businesses, these community run and community serving businesses, to run more efficiently, accurately and successfully.

Thanks to unique tools, this charity shop software / opportunity shop software can track engagement with multiple community groups in several ways, making the software useful in a broader variety of community group settings.

Using this Aussie made and supported POS software, a local charity can manage secondhand goods if they are selling items above a trigger value that requires such tracking.

From tracking inventory, rewarding shoppers, understanding sales performance and helping volunteers run the business, this POS software for charity shops and opportunity shops helps local charities in their mission of service.

Tower Systems is grateful to serve charity / community businesses in regional, rural and suburban Australia from garden and produce related enterprises through to the more traditional op. shop situation. We have years of experience with church related groups as well as community groups.

This op. shop software / charity shop software / social enterprise retail management software serves in a diverse mix of situations and offers facilities backed with flexibility.

To see the software, speak with one of our sales people today. they can demonstrate the software to the charity shop manager,  volunteers and / or board members. We are happy to to this, to see if our POS software made for op. shops is useful for your needs.

Sell online. Using this software, you can easily connect with Shopify to sell online thanks to our partnership with Shopify for a seamless integration.

Made in Australia and supported locally, this POS software is used by thousands of independent retail businesses, including charity shops and op. shops. being local and small business focussed keeps us grounded and targeted in a way that benefits the local focus of charity shops.