Thank you to all our customers…
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Respecting World Mental Health Day
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Politicians need to follow the principles of low hanging fruit in stimulating the economy our of the Covid recession
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Reaching for low hanging fruit is something we in small business know about. It’s about reaching for what is close, within reach, what will deliver tangible benefits in the short term.
This is what I wish governments, federal and state, would do when making decisions designed to stimulate the economy out of the Covid recession.
There are low hanging fruit opportunities, especially in the small business space. We see this here at Tower Systems, through our work across a range of specialty small retail channels. Some channels are already growing while others are stalled.
We also see broader low hanging fruit in small businesses compared to big businesses as the are known to act faster and invest more locally.
While we understand the need for financial support for businesses in distress because of Covid, we think there are opportunities to support businesses that do not meet the current JobKeeper criteria, businesses that are growing without current support as it is these businesses that present low hanging fruit opportunities. These businesses have proven resilience. Resilience is a good foundation for growth.
Businesses that do not meet JobKeeper qualification requirements could grow further and faster, add more jobs, increase local spending, if stimulus was targeted to encourage more growth for them.
I’d like politicians to look more closely at the businesses that are growing, businesses not on JobKeeper, to understand what they can do to leverage their success.
It is frustrating reading of public companies getting JobKeeper and increasing executive bonuses and shareholder dividends.
Thinking about low hanging fruit opportunities for businesses already doing well, I’d like politicians to consider … reinvestment rebate on reported profit, a reinvestment rebate on every new full-time head count, a reinvestment rebate for capital investment with Australian businesses.
I’d like governments to look at where jobs have been created in recent months and to talk to folks in those businesses to understand what they could to achieve more of this. I’d like them to specifically focus on jobs that could be created now without an education lead time, jobs that on themselves lead to other investment that could benefit the economy.
I see opportunities in plenty of niche retail channels as well as in local Aussie tech companies and a range of supporting service providers.
I want to see reward for local sourcing and local spending, and especially anything with a short lead time.
Them more spending today that can provide an impact this quarter has to be a priority. While I get that news outlets like big infrastructure stories, the more beneficial moves are those focussed on the next step as it’s that step that has more valuable potential right now, it’s that step that will help small businesses reach for more low hanging fruit.
Some retail businesses are having an awesome 2020
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Yes, some retail businesses are having an awesome 2020, plenty in fact. However, most of those having success this year do not want to talk too much about it. They want to keep a low profile because most of what’s in the media about business in 2020 is negative and they do not want to distract with what they think is a unique good story. Some even feel ashamed at their success.
The reality is that many retail businesses, especially local small retail businesses, are having a good 2020.
Yes, there is excellent good news out there. Here are some good news stories we see in our work with specialty retail channels, without identifying store details. These are channel-wide stories with many businesses in each channel having success.
- Garden centres are doing very well, offering customers the ability to grow their own produce, be more self sufficient, eat more healthily. Many garden centres we are working with have been challenged to keep up with demand. They have risen to the occasion, helping many folks into their first ever veggie patch.
- Farm supply / rural produce businesses have had a big and successful year. Sales are up as more people are living in regional and rural locations and needing more materials as they work on their properties in these locations.
- Toy shops are doing well helping people enjoy their time at home. Those who engaged online have done especially well. Those that expanded their jigsaw, game and relaxation product ranges have done well.
- Pet shops have done well as pets have become even more important this year, offering comfort and company, making isolation easier.
- Bike shops are having a terrific year as they offer people enjoyable ways to remain healthy in a safe way.
- Fishing and outdoors businesses are doing well, too, thanks to their ability to help people be more self sufficient for food.
- Newsagents are having an awesome 2020 as they have become more relevant through offering essential services, keeping people informed and helping people enjoy home time more through their games, jigsaws, crosswords and more.
We know many small local and independent retail businesses that have done so well that they do not qualify for government pandemic assistance. Double digit growth in 2020 is real for them. They are loving being in business and serving their local community. They are loving that local shopping is more popular in 2020 too.
So, while the TV news and current affairs programs focus on stories of doom and gloom, there are many, hundreds and thousands of good stories, happy stories, stories of growth and success in small business retail … stories of success in 2020.
For many of the business owners enjoying success this year, they have made it happen through their decisions and actions, they have pursued success and for this they have every reason to be proud.
Well done to all of these small business retailers having an excellent 2020, well done!
We are grateful to be part of this, part of the community of businesses having a good year. We are thankful that through what we make we are able to play a role in helping retail businesses find and nurture success.
Now, if only media outlets could share some of the good news stories. They don’t have to look far to find them.
If Australian jobs matter to you and your family…
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There is plenty of talk from politicians, in the media and on social media about the need to create local jobs, in Australia, for Australians, about the need to provide opportunities for job growth.
Too often, the talk is the end of it, the talk is only talk.
The best way to create jobs is to buy locally. However, buying locally applies to all of us, including us in business. We need to buy locally as much as possible.
While I am not an economist, I think I am right in saying that the more of our money that we spend entirely pithing Australia, the more the Australian economy benefits and the more local jobs that will be created.
This is why in the retaIl shops I own we preference Australian made. Now, by Australian made we do not mean the products that limp over a line that says a percentage of the product has to be from Australia. No, we want the whole thing made here if at all possible as it is this that adds real value to our economy.
In our own business where we develop POS software, our biggest competitors are overseas companies that spend huge sums promoting through search engines and social media. We don’t spend dollars advertising on those platforms. Our investment is in our people, our software designers and developers, our help desk team, our admin people, Australians who will spend their pay check in the local economy with that spend helping the types off businesses we sell to.
To us, this is what shop local looks like. It is about understanding your place in the economy and knowing that your buying decisions can make a difference to other local businesses and hopping that those in control of those other local businesses support more local businesses.
The ripple effect of shopping and sourcing locally can be wonderful not only for the individuals benefiting but for the whole local economy.
The importance of this is something we leverage in our POS software by providing retailers easy ways to indicate locally sourced products, to help them in their shops and online to shine a light on locally sourced products. We have coded these tools into the software to make it easier for local retailers to monetise locally sourced products.
Shop local to us is much more than a poster or a slogan. It is about active decisions we make that help other local businesses, in the hope that their decisions, too, help other local businesses.
Now, if only politicians went beyond lip service on the shop local front, if only they actively engaged in this in terms of their personal spending and any spending then engage in on behalf of their constituents.
The real power in the shop local discussion is in the dollar. Spend the dollar in your hand locally and you make a powerful, and appreciated, contribution.
Small retail business marketing tip: leveraging shop local authentically
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If there is one good thing that 2020 has delivered for local small business retailers, retailers located on the high street, or strip shop as Aussies refer to it, it is that shopping local matters, is valued, appreciated and preferred.
Local retailers have shown their businesses as being safe, accessible, flexible and relevant in the middle of a pandemic. Shopping local has surged in Australia and for good reason.
The opportunity is to turn the 2020 surge into long-term engagement with shopping local.
Today, we write to share marketing tips with local small business retailers on leveraging shop local authentically. These marketing tips are based on discussions with some of our 3,000+ POS software customers and from our experiences running shops since 1996.
- Talk local. The more you speak to local news, local locations and local features on social media, on your receipts and in flyers included with products the more locals will feel your localness.
- Buy local. Seek out local makers of products that make sense in your shop. Your support of them can easily demonstrate your own local commitment toad this plays well for local shoppers supporting your local business. You can, through your POS software, indicate locally sourced products. Supplement this with collateral placed with the products to indicate they are local.
- Help local community groups support themselves. You can run a program where community group members present a cars at purchase to get special pricing,. This enables you to track the purchases so you can donate to the group a percentage of revenue driven by community group members. This program can see community groups encouraging their members to shop with you.
- Add local value. If you sell products that can be used differently in your local situation, as would be the case for a garden centre, fishing and tackle shop, pet store, bike shop and even toy shop, you could share local use insights that demonstrate your local knowledge and add value to what you sell to locals.
- Appreciate. One of the most important steps you can take to encourage locals shopping locally in your retail business is through appreciating them. A simple thank you at the counter, a thank you on a note you include with their purchase and a thank you on social media … these all play to appreciation.
- Personalise. Be sure through any communications from your business on social media and elsewhere that you show what shopping local means – the jobs created, the support to community groups you provide and more. be sure to help people to understand that what they spend with you helps so many, who have names and faces.
While we share these as marketing tips for small business retailers designed to encourage shop local, they are code business ideas designed to help you spread your local connections. It is critical in doing these things that you are authentic and authenticity is key in local retail.
Small business management discussion: Do reopen the borders calls ignore an opportunity?
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While we understand the desire for borders to be open and restrictions to movement to be lifted, there are plenty of businesses that have changed what they do and how they do it so as to not be as impacted by closed borders as they may have been.
We are not writing this to be political. Rather, we are writing it from a business strategy perspective.
What if shutdown / open / shutdown / open is something we have to contend with beyond 2020? What does that world look like? While calling for borders to re-open is one approach, another could be how we adapt for what could be a new normal.
In our own situation here at Tower Systems, for decades we relied on in-person trade shows, in-store demonstrations and in-store installation and training. From early March this year we moved online. Online demonstrations, online installation and training. And, no trade shows. Sales are up.
Thinking about the calls to open borders, it’s understandable. It’s about going back to where we were, where business was.
What if there were alternatives for businesses? What is there were other ways businesses could grow that were not as reliant on open borders? Not that we are calling for borders to stay closed, because we are not. Rather, we pose the question because some business people will embrace the exercise to think about how they could adjust their business to do better in that situation.
Through online you can reach shoppers outside your usual catchment area. Through an expansion of range you can reach more people locally.
It’s interesting watching the news and current affairs programs and seeing the conga-line of big business representatives calling for things to go back the way they were. Owners of small businesses are more flexible and innovative and, we suspect, less likely to want things to go back the way they were.
Again, thinking about our situation and other office business owners we speak with, we think that working from home and working regionally is a long-term shift. This one shift presents opportunities to local businesses. There will be other shifts too. For example, big businesses with now decentralised workforces are embracing ways to remain connected with customers. For example, locally delivered care packages are popular.
We have shared this today to encourage considering of thinking about next year and beyond in what could be a new normal business environment.
Ah, Spring…
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We’ll leave the doom and gloom to others, let’s embrace happiness
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News platforms have been bursting over the last week with stories about the recession Australia is now in. There are the headline stories based on the numbers and the personal stories of people losing their businesses and homes, dreadful stories, sad stories.
It is easy to get drawn into the doom and gloom news cycle. Unfortunately, news outlets think bad news drives clicks, and, so, they run the stories. The stories feed into themselves and can make matters worse.
In local communities and in local retail businesses, we think it is helpful that we act against feeding the doom and gloom stories. It is helpful that we do nothing to negatively impact consumer confidence. In fact, we think it is valuable to do the opposite, to encourage happiness and optimism.
Our suggestion is: focus on what has been working for you in 2020, present as business as usual, bring in new product, change displays, host in-store events, be active on social media, play happy music, run competitions, be a good local retailer.
It is these types of activities that distance your business from negative perceptions relating to the recession.
Yes, this is a tough time. Worrying about it being a tough time will not help you move through it.
You can’t control that there is a recession.
You can control what your business does. That has to be the focus.
As a business, we have been through two recessions. Each was different. This time around it is expected to be worse because of the global Covid situation. The reality is that for many small business retailers, there are elements of Covid that help your businesses. In many retail businesses we see, revenue is up in 2020 so far. This is good news. Indeed, there is plenty of good news out there.
Be attuned to opportunity. Also, keep a low profile as no one likes a bragger during times of adversity.
Sure, the economy is in recession. Our businesses, while part of the economy, are not the economy. Many of us are doing well, many of us have plenty to be optimistic about.
Let’s be positive. Let’s manage for optimism. Happiness feeds stronger and more appreciated businesses.
Today’s the day for dad jokes
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It’s the weekend for dad jokes
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Why we recommend against having your retail business website developed offshore
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Offshore web development is cheap, that is for sure.
Buyer beware, though. You get what you pay for in this world. That is especially true when it comes to website development.
Offshore website development is cheap because people are paid little. A web developer in some overseas countries get in a month what some web developers get in a day in Australia.
Money is not always the best guide as to who is best. No, there are other reasons to NOT have your retail; business website developed offshore.
- The understanding of local business is not as good.
- Terminology is different.
- Social mores are not the same.
- Support access is not in your time zone – if it is they are working overnight and may not be on their game.
- Access is not the same.
- Money sent offshore is not supporting the local community on which local retailers rely.
- Pursuing an offshore business in the event of a dispute is much harder.
If you want a website for your retail business, especially if you want your POS software connected to the website for your retail business, go local, go expert, go with the tech business that itself is supporting the local community in which you live and operate.
We are grateful for the business we have won replacing an offshore developed website with a website we have created ourselves. This is good business, which is helpful for local retailers.
While we understand the importance of offshore revenue for some countries, the revenue has to be for good products and services that are genuinely useful for businesses. This is problematic in the website space given that a website is a deep reflection of a local business and getting this, encoding this and reflecting this is a website is a challenge, something that is best done through local and genuine understanding of the business.
We develop websites for local retail businesses in Australia and New Zealand, websites that are usually connected to our POS software, websites that help local businesses serve local communities and folks further afield. Our portfolio is strong and growing. We are grateful for terrific support from local retailers.
No free POS software here at Tower Systems
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There is no such thing as a free lunch, there is always a catch, always a way you pay.
Businesses that offer free POS software are paid in other ways, they have to be – otherwise, how do they pay their software designers, software developers, support people, sales people and more?
People like to be paid. It puts food on their table. A business offering you free POS software has to find another way to pay for its people because free POS software has a cost to develop, maintain and support, making free POS software not free once you work out who is actually paying.
Software development is expensive, this is especially true for good POS software. It requires specialist services, experts, working hard to make beautiful, fast, secure and stable software. This software, this specialist software is not something you want to be free.
So, when you see free POS software promoted, think carefully about value because it would be hard to find value in something that cost nothing to make and nothing to support.
It’s not free. Follow the money because it will be there. Someone, at some point, will be paying so that those developing, selling, supporting and promoting the software get paid so they can eat and have a roof over their heads. Yes, follow the money and see why free POS software is not really free. Once you follow the money, you can make an informed decision.
Tower Systems does not offer free POS software. We make and sell awesome specialty POS software for a range of retail niches. We are good at what we do and have a long track record of success in service of independent retail business channels.
Our focus is on delivering commercially valuable software to businesses that understand business and the importance of being paid for good business services. We pay our people well because they are good what what they do. We expect people to pay for our software so we can do this. This is at the core of all businesses that respect themselves and their people.
We get that free POS software is desired. However, as we said at the beginning, there is no such thing as a free lunch.
Chasing sunrise every day
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We created this social media banner a couple of weeks ago to speak to the hope and opportunity each day brings.
We love the optimism it reflects, the hope and opportunity, the joy of what the new day can bring. This is core to our goal of helping small business retailers nurture and curate opportunities for their businesses.
While we are a POS software company, we see our mission as beyond the POS software itself.
Small business support through COVID-19 from our POS software co.
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Tower Systems is grateful to be able to continue to help Australian and New Zealand small business retailers through COVID-19.
For us, it has been business as usual with no interruption to software development, support and POS software user training.
We continue to offer a full service POS software help desk service, releasing POS software updates and delivering our much-loves free one-on-one training to our retail business owners and their staff.
In offering business as usual, our customers have continuity of service. This helps them have what they need to work on their businesses … as that is what plenty of small business retailers have been doing through COVID-19, working on their businesses, re-calibrating, adjusting and, for some, pivoting. Indeed, we have helped some exciting pivots and we are grateful to have seen this and been part of it.
We are grateful to our own team of software developers, help desk experts, POS software trainers and our back office infrastructure support in that it is this group of people that has delivered for your customers through COVID-19 every day.
With small business retail at the forefront of community support through COVID-19, helloing them serve and grow is important to our customers and to us.
Our customers continue to haver access to a range of opportunities and benefits to help them best run their businesses in this situation.
- Free licences for home software access.
- Free unlimited training.
- No surcharge credit card use.
- Free access anywhere reporting tools.
- Pivot advice.
- Capped price low cost Shopify sites.
- Business performance analysis help.
So, here at Tower Systems, it is business as usual and, through this, we are helping our POS software customers achieve a business as usual experience. We know this is comforting to our customers, helpful for their business planning and operations.
But back to the pivot opportunity. We see plenty of this in a range of retail channels. By see we mean in business data. data show pivot opportunities and we can help our retail partners to explore these and consider whether they are useful. 2020 is a terrific year for a pivot and having the right software with flexibility can be helpful.
We hope your 2020 is going well too.
We are grateful
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Helping essential retailers retailers serve customers through COVID-19
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As a core business software partner of retailers designated by government as being essential, Tower Systems is proud to be of service to these retailers, ensuring uptime for their POS software and other software we have provided for business management use.
In addition to our POS software, we offer other infrastructure opportunities and services in service of essential small business retailers. This includes cloud hosting, C2B and B2B online transactions, theft mitigation, food chain inventory management and more.
Our POS and other software are at the core of the operations of plenty of specialty retailers classed by governments as essential. Our role in their essential operations is important, something of which we are sincerely proud.
While most of our operation is remote and has been for months through 2020, some services, from time to time, we are office based as needed for infrastructure support and use.
Essential retailers are providing vital and essential services for communities and that is where we play a role as many essential services rely on core infrastructure providers to ensure that their essential services businesses can continue to trade through.
2020 is an odd year with plenty off challenges confronted already and plenty more to come. Here at Tower Systems we have rolled with the challenges, embracing those we can and managing our response as needed to help our customers and help others who rely on us.
Being flexible has been key in the first 7 months of this year and most recent challenges in Australia especially have been complex to confront.
Having customers across all Australian states and territories has helped as has having customers in New Zealand. This along with our placement of Tower Systems team members working across Australia and New Zealand has helped us be balanced in our work and service, especially of essential businesses.
Being a broad-based business that serves locally owned and run independent specialty retail; businesses helps us serve in 2020 in ways that matter not only to these businesses but to those served by these businesses. This is especially true in local and regional communities.
Serving essential businesses is a responsibility we take seriously and with sincere appreciation.
Helping small business retailers deal with the evolving COVID-19 situation
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This week has been particularly challenging in this 2020 time of COVID-19, especially in small business retail where impacts have been considerable. From the challenges of masks in some locations to supply chain issues elsewhere, COVID-19 is imp-acting everyday retail.
We have shared with our customers some thoughts, revisiting past comments and advice…
With the second wave in Victoria now 3 weeks old and problematic infections in NSW and SE Queensland, and with restrictions being tightened as a result, retailers are noticing a fall in foot traffic, with Tasmania, Western Australia and the Northern Territory the exceptions.
With foot traffic down, it can be disheartening. You can push back on this by having projects in the business on the go, working on the business. We are reminded on earlier advice on day to day operations:
- For inventory purchase decisions, be safe and frugal, stick to winners.
- Be aware of changes in what will sell now compared to what might be usual for this time of the year.
- Look at your data and focus on moving stock that’s not been selling.
- Reset the look and feel of the business from existing products and resources.
- Be positive on social media.
- Tap into any state government grants that may be available.
- Keep the business clean and safe, and your employees safe.
In our own business, our approach is to look at corona being with us for the long term. The moves we made re working from home, remote training, remote installs were all for the long term. In our own retail shops our focus has very much been about being online with a terrific surge in sales being experienced.
Mental health matters, especially for small business retailers
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2020 is a tough year, on the back of plenty of tough years for small business retailers.
Drought, bushfires, corona, these and other factors have been impacting communities and small businesses serving those communities.
Small business retailers, their employees and their customers are on the front line, impacted often all to regularly by the mental health challenge.
We think it is timely to pause for a moment in any business and consider how it approaches the issue of mental health, to ensure it has up to date information and leverages the appropriate practices in the business and with all team members.
Australian Bureau of Statistics figures reinforce why mental health is a 365 day a year challenge:
The stat for suicide among young people is horrifying.
While we are not mental health professionals, we have been in the software and retail businesses for many years and have had experiences working with and supporting people.
We share here today a revised version of information we have shared here before on this.
There are wonderful resources from government departments available. For example, The Victorian Government has a page online on this topic, which includes good practical advice, advice we remind our own team members of regularly:
- Make time to exercise each day: For example, a simple daily lunch time walk can help maintain a positive outlook.
- Practice mindfulness: Mindfulness means being aware of your reactions/feelings/thoughts as you have them. This helps you choose how to manage matters as they arise. Mindfulness is a great tool to help lower stress and anxiety levels.
- Adopt work/life boundaries: Don’t let work overtake your life. Set some boundaries to ensure you have time for both work and a social life. You might decide not to discuss work from 5pm Friday night to 8am Monday morning because weekends are for family time only.
- Connect with others: Find someone worthy of your stories – a confidant or mentor you can talk to about your business experiences. Make sure this person is supportive, a good listener and someone whose opinion you value.
This government website also lists indicators that are helpful for business owners and managers to be across:
- Physical signs: For example, a constant knot in your stomach, tense neck and shoulders, feeling nauseous, heart palpitations or chest pains.
- Changes in behaviour: For example, being unable to sleep, crying regularly, feeling moody or often irritable, increase or loss of appetite.
- Unclear thinking: For example, not being able to make decisions, not understanding directions, not being able to focus, being inattentive.
- Feeling sad or anxious regularly: We all have bad days – they’re a normal part of life. This flag needs attention if you begin to notice feeling like this regularly.
- Disconnecting from others: This may include not joining in social activities, choosing to spend time away from family and friends or stopping hobbies/sporting activities.
- Feeling overwhelmed: It is difficult to find solutions to problems, and in some instances it feels like they are insurmountable. Problem solving becomes difficult
There are links to some excellent resources too:
- Business In Mind: An online resource specifically designed to support business owners who may be experiencing mental health challenges.
- Beyond Blue: beyondblue provides information and support to help everyone in Australia achieve their best possible mental health, whatever their age and wherever they live.
- The Ripple Effect: A resource for rural communities that addresses suicide in rural areas.(Ph: 03 5551 8587)
- Sane provides online information, support and connection for every Australian affected by complex mental illness through its website, peer-to-peer forums and helpline. SANE also has a range of factsheets on managing mental health in the workplace. (Ph: 1800 18 7263)
Our approach to mental health as business owners has to be continuous, on-going. It can’t be a one day of the year focus or a stunt. It has to be part of how we run our businesses, everyday.
In our experience, talking is key – offering an environment where people can talk, where they know it is safe to talk, where they are encouraged to talk and where active listening happens. While it is not always perfect and does not always achieve what is hoped for, it is documented as being valuable.
Update on COVID-19 arrangements at Tower Systems
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The headline is that it is business as usual at Tower Systems, as it has been all through Covid.
Since March 2020, most of our team members have been working from home. Our head office is open with a skeleton staff covering essential services.
- Our POS software development team members are all busy enhancing our software, working on updates, new facilities and fine-tuning what we have.
- Our web development team is business creating several new web and app products as well as creating beautiful Shopify websites.
- Our customer-facing help desk team members are busy delivering personal support to people who call, email or message us with queries or requests for help.
- Our new customer trainers are busy training people new to our software, as we are adding new customers weekly.
- Our leadership team is busy designing strategic moves for the software into 2021, positioning the company for another strong year.
The commitments we made at the start of Covid continue to be held: our support fees have not increased, the free software licence offer for folks working from home is still in place, the no credit card fee policy is still in place, our hardware discount offer is still in place and our specific retail channel support packages are still in place.
Our goal from early March was to provide our customers with a regular year regardless of what Covid brought. We think this focus has been appreciated by small business retailers who, themselves, have sought as normal as possible a year.
Stay safe and well everyone.
Postcode and mobile phone tracker in POS software helps retailers in this ear of covid
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Retailers are loving that they can record customer mobile phone numbers in our POS software at the sales counter as well as easily track shopper postcodes in the POS screen.
With the obligation for accurate tracking of critical data that can help with contact tracing, having these and other tools in our POS software is good for business’s good for the community and good for suppression.
We are grateful to have these tools in our POS software for years and for them to now have a public health benefit in this ear of corona.
This is engaging and smart POS software serving community health needs, doing good for the community and those who shop in each shop using our software.
In Victoria recently we have seen the value of the data capture and tracking tools, to enable easier management for the retailers needing to control those who are shop[ping in the shops where our POS software is in use.
Recording a mobile phone number at the time of sale is easy. recording shopper postcode is easy too. This can be particularly helpful is law enforcement are tasked with checking the data, that it is available, accurate and able to show if there is an issue with people accessing a business who should not because of corona lockdown restrictions.
Outside of the corona need / benefit, these tracking tools provide wonderful business insights for small business retailers using our POS software. They can demonstrate the reach of the business as well as provide post-visit marketing opportunities based on purchase items and more. This is clever and valuable all in one.
The postcode data has helped retailers realise that their shopper base is less immediately local than they imagined and through this they have re-cast their inventory mix to help even further broaden the appeal of the business. This is what happens once you know how far someone will travel for what you sell. Data is gold, as they say.
Tower Systems is proud to serve local small business retailers with locally made and supported POS software,. helping these businesses compete with online, get online themselves and compete with big businesses.
Advice for retailers confronted by a COVID-19 contact in-store
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It can be challenging for any retailer to receive advice that a shopper who visited their shop has been diagnosed with COVID-19. The protocols in such a situation will depend on your location as each state and territory has different approaches. If you are formally notified of such contact, ask the notifying authority for recommended actions. They should have protocols for you to follow regarding cleaning and staff management.
Here is a list of state and territory helplines. This is from the the Safe Work Australia website:
- New South Wales - 1300 066 055
- Queensland – 13 432 584
- Victoria – 1800 675 398
- South Australia – 1800 253 787
- Tasmania – 1800 671 738
- Western Australia – 13 26843
- Australian Capital Territory – (02) 6207 7244
- Northern Territory – (08) 8922 8044
Here is what Safe Work Australia says about cleaning following advice that someone diagnosed was in your workplace:
There is no automatic requirement to close an entire workplace following a suspect or confirmed case of COVID-19. It may be unnecessary if the person has only visited parts of your workplace or if government health officials advise you the risk of others being exposed are low.
Whether you need to suspend operations in your workplace will depend on factors such as the size of the workplace, nature of work, number of people and suspected areas of contamination in your workplace.
Click here to access the cleaning advice for any workplace where someone has been diagnosed.
Our advice re cleaning is as follows, this is the advice for our own shops too:
- Regularly, hourly or at least twice a day, clean all touchable surfaces (EFTPOS machine, doors, door handles, counter, newspaper stand, anywhere someone is likely to touch) with high grade anti-bacterial wipes that are known to kill germs. The major supermarket protocol in Victoria is to clean each checkout counter between each shopper. Double bag all cleaning materials and discard right away.
- Install and keep clean splash screens at the counter.
- Require all staff to wear a face mask, which you provide daily.
- Encourage all staff to wear gloves.
- Ask all customers entering the shop to hand sanitise using sanitiser you have at the entrance.
Here is what Safe Work Australia says about routine cleaning:
Workplaces should clean surfaces at least daily. Special attention should be given to frequently touched surfaces (e.g. tabletops, door handles, light switches, desks, toilets, taps, TV remotes, kitchen surfaces and cupboard handles). Ideally, once clean, surfaces should also be disinfected regularly. Alternatively, you may be able to do a 2-in-1 clean and disinfection by using a combined detergent and disinfectant.
Surfaces and fittings should be cleaned more frequently when:
- visibly soiled
- used repeatedly by a number of people (e.g. trolleys, checkouts, EFTPOS machines), and
- after any spillage.
For routine cleaning, disinfectants are usually only necessary if a surface has been contaminated with potentially infectious material. For this reason, when and how often a workplace should undertake disinfection as part of routine cleaning will depend on the likelihood of contaminated material being present at the workplace. For example, in a busy retail environment with many customers and others entering a workplace each day, more frequent disinfection is recommended to prevent the spread of COVID-19. By contrast, for a small work crew operating the same item of plant each day with little interaction with other people, routine disinfection in addition to daily cleaning may not be reasonably practicable.
We have shared this here not as experts. rather as retailers ourselves, supporting other retailers.
Australian newsagents are the core of local Aussie towns through COVID-19
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Aussie newsagents have been critical in local towns and cities through COVID-19. While plenty of businesses have closed or gone into hibernation, the local newsagency, or newsagents as many call them, has been open, trading and supporting the local community.
The thing is, the newsagents is not what it used to be. News has taken a back seat in these evolving retail businesses as other products have come to the fore, making the local newsagents more valuable and useful to people in local communities, especially regional communities.
Sure, newspapers and magazines still play a role and they are the news part of the name, the reality is that in terms of overall business contribution and value, they lie outside of news, our side of that part of the newsagents name.
Many newsagency businesses have evolved deeply, into gifts, homewares, home office solutions, games, toys, jigsaws, nesting products, comfort products, art supplies and more. The local newsagency is less about the news and the agency and more about helping people enjoy themselves, helping them relax, helping them create and helping them find their voice.
The newsagents of yesterday is the place of happiness, joy and communication today.
Whether it is a greeting card, journal, art supplies, a candle, a thro rug, a scarf or local Aussie essential oils, a newsagency is a fresh and innovative business delivering local town access to a diverse range of products in service of local community needs.
Tower Systems is proud to serve more than 1,700 newsagents with its newsagency software, software used by more newsagents than all other software companies combined. We take that leadership role seriously and respectfully, helping newsagents to reach the potential of their local area opportunities.
Whether it is in-store or online, our newsagency POS software is helping newsagents to transact where there need to and when they need to, accurately, efficiently. It is also helping them to find new shoppers as new shoppers are the lifeblood of any business. Indeed, we are grateful to smart newsagents for walking this path of innovation and opportunity with us.
The 2020 of corona is challenging. For newsagents it has been a year of opportunity and it is a thrill to see so many step up to that opportunity in service of their local communities.
Why you will not see our POS software listed on on top lists
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There is a scam in the software business space where software companies are invited to pay to be put on lists of the top software.
Some lists are application specific like POS software while others are retail channel specific like gift shops, jewellers and similar. There is another list going around for top inventory management software and another for top retail software linking to accounting software.
Tower Systems has been approached five times in recent months to pay to be listed on such lists. In one case, the amount you paid determined your position on the list. The fee sought to be on such a faux list of the best has ranged from $2,500 to $15,000. With between 8 and 15 companies on such a list and the promoters often creating 10+ lists every few months you can get a sense of the financial value, to them, of the scam.
In each case the invitation said they had assessed us and our POS software as being worthy. We checked them out and there had been no assessment whatsoever. Each approach was, in our view, a scam, a commercial operation designed to drive revenue for the business in control of the like by providing a fake ranking that the software companies listed could point to in their marketing – further promoting the fake.
We have never participated in these scams at Tower Systems. We have not and will not pay to have our POS software listed in a list that says we are one of the best.
The only assessment we trust is that of each of our POS software user small business retail customers. The toy shop owners, farm supply business owners, jewellers, garden centre owners, landscapers, pool repairers, newsagents, bike shop owners … these small business owners matter to us.
Paying to be on a list reflects poorly on the software companies on the list in our view. It demonstrates that the software and services provided by any company on such a list were not a factor in determining place.
The next time you see a software company promoting that they are on a list, ask them how they got there, ask them if they paid anything to the creators or promoters of the list. You will not see our Tower Systems POS software there, and for that we are grateful.
The covid pivot that is helping small business retailers in 2020
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What a thrill it is when a retailer calls and says I got my first online sale … when your POS software co created the POS software connected website just for them.
This is happening here at Tower Systems with more and more small retailers embracing our covid pivot encouragement, attracting new shoppers from out of state and even sometimes overseas as they expand their shopper reach and, in some cases, expand their product offering reach.
The covid pivot is about making a move in your business to find new customers and to do this using smart POS software usually connected to a beautiful Shopify website.
The covid pivot is not reactionary. No, it is thoughtful, opportunistic, leveraging existing infrastructure, doing it with the least investment possible, chasing a brighter and more valuable future for the business.
The covid pivot is smart small business retail.
Our web development team is busy developing Shopify and Magento websites for our POS software customers. Building them, fashioning them to attract new shoppers in local, out of state and other areas. Through our research we understand keyword and SEO opportunities that can leverage data sent from the POS software to the online Shopify or other site and to do this in a labour effective way.
Having an in-house web development team as well as a POS software development team as well as retail businesses with websites of our own – we are conditioned and positioned to be able to help our customers to embrace this opportunity, to embrace what we call the covid pivot opportunity.
The covid pivot is something we first discussed here back in March this year, once were understand what corona was and games out how this could play out for small business retail. We worked it into our own business strategy, to help small business retailers to make the most of the opportunity in their businesses.
We did not want to wallow and think oh, poor us with all this stuff going on. In our marketplaces, bike shops, produce businesses, farm supply businesses, toy shops, newsagents and more have bene growing through corona and in plenty of cases this is because of covid pivot engagement, being opportunistic themselves in making the most of today not knowing what tomorrow may bring.
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