CategoryToy shop software

We are all set to go for our free live POS software stocktake training Zoom meeting this morning. We will share time saving tips, data accuracy tips and more as we share train ing on how to stocktake using our POS software. We will cover a full stocktake, a spot stocktake and a custom stocktake.

Better still, we will record the meeting and make it available t all of our POS software customers along with our articles of advice on stocktaking and our free one-on-one training on stocktaking.

This end of financial year, Tower Systems has you covered for stocktakes.

Australian retailers benefit from using Australian made and Australian supported Point of Sale software.

Of course we would say this, we are an Australian Point of Sale software company. We want you to buy from us. That is true. But moire important, we want you to buy Australian.

If your local Australian retail businesses ever pitches shop local, then where you source what you use and sell in your business matters. The COVID-19 pandemic and the economic response has brought that into sharp focus. It has helped us understand that our local economy matters.

Being an Australian Point of Sale software company we are focussed on serving here and nearby, like in New Zealand, Fiji and other pacific nations.

Buying your Point of Sale software local…

1. Keeps jobs local.
2. Drives local tax revenue.
3. Nurtures tech skills development locally.
4. Ensures more relevant software because it have been developed locally.
5. Provides access to more timely and local support.
6. Puts your closer to the developers and therefore more likely to influence enhancement.
7. Gives you a perfect answer for people who ask how much of your business is local.
8. Nurtures Australia to bee smarter.

The economy is circular. People shopping in your shop need money for their purchases. The most valuable money they can bring into your business to spend is that which they have earned locally. The more your buying supports local jobs the better for your business and every there local business.

The cliche is true, we’re all in this together. This is at the heart of why shopping locally for inventory and business infrastructure matters, it is why buying Point of Sale software locally matters.

Tower Systems is a proud local POS software company. We proudly make our software for local retailers. We are grateful to the 3,500+ local retailers who have partnered with us duo far on our journey. We are proud to have given so many their start in work and for many of those to contuse to offer them valuable and enjoyable employment – in creating land supporting locally made Point of Sale software.

We’re local. We’re proud. We’re making a difference, every day.

Point of Sale software from Tower Systems has been helping small business retailers navigate the challenges and leverage opportunities of this COVID-19 world.

Here we are almost four months in and COVID-19 is here and has fundamentally changed retail. The Tower Point of Sale software has helped retailers to quickly identify trends and thereby to respond to these in a competitive and timely manner.

In a more practical way, the Tower Point of Sale software has helped retailers access federal, state and local government funding support through the provision of accurate records that are key to meeting application criteria.

From a health and safety perspective, the Tower Systems Australian made Point of Sale software has helped retailers with shop floor management and staffing scheduling. This is key to providing a COVID safe working enviro9nment while helping the retail business to serve and transact.

More broadly, thanks to POS software Shopify, Magento and WooCommerce integrations, the Tower Point of Sale software has helped independent and small business retailers to transdact online for click and collect as well as for delivery. While often created in service of existing and local shoppers, the online connection has helped these retailers to find new shoppers who would otherwise not have known about the business.

Of all the COVID-19 related opportunities leveraged in the Tower Systems Point of Sale software, it is the insights offered through the data collected and curated by the software that offer the most value as this lays out a path ahead that is specific to each business using the software.

We have seen COVID-19 play out differently in different businesses. Some are up. Some are down. In almost all businesses there has been a shift in what sells and it is this shift, unique to each business often, that is most important to small business retailers.

Tower Systems has backed its software with COVID-19 workshops for its retailers, showing them how to use the software to better understand the COVID-19 impacts and opportunities in each business. This training and assistance is on-going as COVID itself is on-going.

Small business retailers in the Tower Systems POS software user community are, overall, trading well and with certainty that the software they are using helps shine a light on a path forward while at the same time offering understanding for the pathway behind.

2020 is proving to be a fascinating year in retail. We are grateful to our customers for their support and trust.

Tower Systems is an Australian software company. We make what we sell. We support it, too. Small business retailers keen to pitch shop local and themselves shop local for Point of Sale software.

Here at Tower Systems we are specialised,  we develop Point of Sale software specifically for small business retailers in a range of niche retail channels … jeweller, garden centres, bike retailers, toy shops, pet shops, produce businesses, farm supply businesses, newsagents, fishing and outdoors businesses, adult shops, homewares businesses, gift shops and even butchers.

Our Point of Sale software is called Retailer. We called it that 20 years ago when the first version was released as it speaks to who it is for. As retailers ourselves, we leverage our own experience as well as that of hundreds of other retailers in evolving the software, to ensure it is genuinely useful in myriad retail situations.

We are proud to have had more than 20 years experience owning and running our own retail businesses in the retail innovation part of our company. It’s where we play, learn and walk in the shoes of our customers.

Through every year we release software updates to Retailer. These are developed based on customer enhancement suggestions. Our customers are invited to vote on the suggested POS softer enhancement. We love this, the democracy of it.

The Point of Sale software we sell and support today is very different to that with which we started. It is fresh visually, technically and functionally. We are proud to bring this to local retailers in Australia and New Zealand.

From our Xero integration to our Shopify and Magento integrations to our scale integration, we connect with tools that help retailers to operate more efficiently and successfully.

In the back office we offer repairs software, manufactured goods software and other tools that help retailers to run their businesses well and through the software. Our repairs software works a treat, for example, for jewellers, bike shops and any business with an in-house or external repair offering for customers.

We are a proud team of software professionals working in service of small business retailers. We are grateful to our customers for their business and for their recommendations. Their guidance and support has been wonderful for us as we have grown the business and helped more retailers run successful businesses.

That is what our Point of Sale software is about – helping local independent small business retailers to run efficient businesses they enjoy. We love seeing that.

While it may sound trite, we know it is true – we’re here to help. We know that if we can and do help, we will be appreciated and appreciation among current customers is at the heart of our future.

Shopify last week announced major innovation and changes to their online platform that will benefit small business retailers, especially those connecting Shopify to their Point of Sale software.

We love the latest enhancements announced by Shopify.

For our own retail business Point fo Sale connected e-commerce websites as well as for websites we develop for our small business retail customers this raft of enhancements from Shopify are terrific.

By connecting your Tower Systems Point of Sale software to Shopify you being together two awesome and separate tools and create a powerful and integrated platform for online selling. The latest enhancements from Shopify help us reach even more retailers with an online shopping solution.

With Point of Sale software managing the inventory and Shopify presenting the online store front, specialty tools are fulfilling their specialty roles.

We are across the detail of the latest Shopify changes and our web team is working with small business retailers for whom we are developing Point of sale connected websites to ensure the leveraging of the new opportunities now before us.  We are particularly excited about several of the changes delivered.

We love Shopify and that our PIS software co. is a partner of theirs, offering a direct integration.

Shopify powers 1,210,682 live websites around the world, according to BuiltWith.com. That is an extraordinary number. It is a powerful platform that is ideal for the needs of retailers. Small, medium and large retailers take Shopify online. While here at Tower our focus is on small business retailers, Shopify is broadly used, which is terrific news.

The latest changes announced last week make Shopify even more appealing for retailers, especially Point oil Sale software connected retailers.

If you are looking for a website for your business, the Tower Systems web development team could be the right partner. Based 100% in Australia, our web team understand local retail business needs. We are focussed on delivering useful and valuable solutions to retailers, particularly specialty retailers in the channels in which we also serve with our POS software.

Being Australian based, we are accessible when needed. Support is local too. Partnering with us is an investment in Australia and we are proud to offer that.

We are grateful to all those participating with us in our online workshop program. Here are two0 sessions scheduled for this week. We have a couple of more secret sessions too.

Online workshop: SEO & SEM.
How to guide online shoppers to find your website. This interactive workshop will explore SEO and SEM, explain them and show you what to do to make your website more easily found. We will also look at what people look for that gets them to websites that may compete with your plans.

Time: May 19, 2020 10:30 AM Melbourne time
https://zoom.us/j/94913369113?pwd=WndsWjQ5ODZBMnBIc3BmOVhVTzVIdz09
Meeting ID: 949 1336 9113 Password: 344536

How to take your newsagency online
We will explore what to sell online, how to sell online, why it matters and go under the hood and look at what people are looking for right now.
Time: May 19, 2020 09:00 AM Melbourne time.
https://zoom.us/j/93928597710?pwd=Njh6M2FzRVNaeVdnK3NJK1pGTDEvUT09
Meeting ID: 939 2859 7710 Password: 778081

Online workshop: Loyalty marketing using Retailer.
Now is a perfect time to refresh your approach to shopper loyalty, to maximise the opportunity with one-time and regular customers. In this workshop, we will show you several loyalty options in Retailer and explain how they can drive a deeper basket and a sooner return by shoppers. Plus, we will answer all of your questions.

Time: May 18, 2020 10:30 AM Melbourne time.
https://zoom.us/j/94829736147?pwd=SWlhSjVSb0xKZ3FtcHk1cVdvaXV0Zz09
Meeting ID: 948 2973 6147 Password: 502630

ANYONE CAN JOIN IN.

Yes, we understand that competitors could join in. We’re happy if they do as we welcome opportunities to help others help small business retailers be more successful.

WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT?

Our online POS software workshops are genuinely interactive. We present material at the start and are then guided by questions and comments as to where the session goes. This way we all learn and explore together. It’s a terrific experience that benefits all engaged.

We are also happy for people to sit and say nothing, just watching and listening and learning about out POS software.

We record the sessions too and make them available to customers who cannot attend. This usually expands the reach of the material five and ten fold, which is excellent as it expands the learning community opportunity.

ONE ON ONE?

In addition to these group workshops, we provide on-going one on one training opportunities for our customers, helping them to learn about our POS software  in a way that suits their specific business needs.

Learning is wonderful. It is calming as you get to exert more control over your business too.

Everyone is welcome.

Ahead For Business is a terrific, safe, mental health check-up and support resource for small business owners and those who support them. They are recommended by government. On their website they have a sell assessment opportunity to determine possible next steps if you are confronted by stress, anxiety or depression. And, for sure, many retail business owners will have these challenges. Our tip is check out the site and the resources available.

In our work with retailers we get to hear and see stressful situations first-hand, usually nothing to do with our POS software, but impacting on the POS software experience nevertheless. This one reason we have an interest in mental health resources and tools, so we can suggest if we think it is appropriate in the circumstances.

Safe Work Australia also has some excellent resources that they have curated specifically for retailers in this COVID-19 situation.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created an unprecedented situation for everyone. As a small business it is understandable you may have concerns about how to continue to meet your WHS duties at this time. There are a number of practical steps you can take to manage the risk of exposure to COVID-19 at your workplace and meet your legal obligations.

In our own situation we provide opportunities for our team members to decompress, which is important given the situations they can encounter when helping retailers.

As we have heard from government this week, mental health is a challenge as a result of the challenges of COVID-19. As time goes on, the challenges can magnify personally and professionally.  It is good to see that the politicians are investing in resources.

As business owners, we have an obligation, too, to ensure the right resources are available for those in our businesses and near our businesses. hence, our sharing of resource information to our customers here and through our regular customer emails.

We are not mental health professionals. Our goal with this post is to share some resources from them that small business retailers and their teams in our Tower Systems POS software user community may find useful.

The new normal for retail.

While the new normal is a cliche, it is true when considering retail for the back half of 2020 and beyond.

It is great news that businesses are reopening. However, the coronavirus is still there. This means that our retail businesses need to be safe. Our businesses need to be flexible in how we transact.

• Being easily found online is critical.
• Managing online sales efficiently and profitably are key.
• Offering click and collect is essential.
• Seamlessly connecting your physical shop and online is vital.
• Being able to sell from anywhere as you take the business to where people are situated through home delivery and more.
• Stocking what people want now matters.
• Setting opening hours and your roster to maximise revenue matters.

These things matter. 

In our experience, prior to this year many small business retailers went online because they thought they should – usually, without a plan or a specific focus.

Now, being online properly and with focus is as critical to a retail business as having the right staff and the right stock.

Being online is fundamental to business success. This is the new normal.

We develop, sell and support POS software. It’s made for specialty retail businesses in Australia and New Zealand: farm supply, produce, fishing, toy, garden, bike, jeweller, homewares, gift, firearms, newsagent and adult.

Our POS software works from the counter, the shop floor, the car, the truck. We have solutions to help you sell anywhere.

We also develop, sell and support POS software connected websites. We do our work in Shopify or Magento – depending on the needs of the businesses. We also link to WooCommerce.

Shopify and Magento are used by more small business retailers than any other platforms.

We can help you with the new normal.

Tower Systems is a local POS software company offering locally made POS software that is backed with local POS software support. Our focus is independent small business retail, serving these needs with commitment and passion, helping the businesses run efficiently, safely and toward maximising genuine value.

We serve in excess of 3,500 independent small business retailers with our Point of Sale software.

Here is a new video from  one of our tech experts demonstrating the ease of managing stock data using the Tower Systems POS software. The ease of manipulation, with appropriate security and management controls, delivers to small business retailers they appreciate from our POS software.

Join Tower CEO Mark Fletcher for a quick look at small business retail April 2020, into May and beyond in this new video from us:

Here’s a new video that we shot in the office yesterday…

A new video from us, about who we are and what we do. Shot in the office April 28, 2020.

We are often asked by small business retailers how our Point of Sale software compares to VEND POS software. We have not used VEND so we cannot comment from personal experience. What we can say is this:

1. Our POS software is made by us.
2. It is specialty in nature.
3. Our POS software is designed for specialty retailers.
4. It is feature rich, tailored to the specific needs of certain retail channels.
5. It is not designed to be for everyone.
6. It is not basic.
7. It is not the sort of software that would teach yourself.
8. It is regularly updated.
9. Our POS software connects with many suppliers for electronic invoices and supplier stock files.
10. Our POS software connects direct with Xero, Shopify, magenta, Woo, Tyro, PCEftpos and more.
11. It can be rented or bought outright.
12. It is updated regularly.
13. You control when nit is updated.
14. Our support is offered by humans. When you call us, which is easy, a human answers.
15. You can speak to the owner of our business.
16. We provide unlimited one-on-one free training.
17. People in our company use their real name.
18. We have a ton of user documentation if you like to read.
19. We enjoy what we do.
20. We’ve been in business since 1981.

That’s 20 points. We could go on.

We are proud of what we do, what we offer and that we are a different POS software company to those chasing the everyday marketplace. Our comfortable place is niche, specialty retail. We do it well and have done for many years. We walk away from more opportunities than we pitch to, because we are a specialty POS software company making and supporting POS software for certain specialty retailers.

We’re not for everyone, and that’s good. It helps us focus and that helps our customers focus.

Point of Sale software is critical for small business retailers. More important than that is the right POS software. Too often retailers think any POS software is good for them. Specialty retail needs specialty software and that is what Tower Systems develops, sells and supports – specialty POS software to serve the needs of specialty retailers in the retail channels we name in our website.

Here at Tower Systems we share business advice with our small business Point of Sale software users regularly through emails and other platforms, to help them run more successful and enjoyable businesses.

Recently, we have provided advice on addressing concerns about EFTPOS fees. As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, use of cards has risen considerably, adding a layer of cost to small business retailers that they cannot easily mitigate. We put together advice for small business retailers on how to deal with this, through their POS software and through key management decisions they can make.

Here is what we first sent to our customers over a month ago…

With the use of EFTPOS higher now, here are some tips to help insulate your business from a higher operating cost compared to cash.

1. Promote cash. Check advice from the Royal Australian Mint on handling cash during COVID19.
2. If you use Tyro, offer cash out as that cuts your fee to $0.00. We love Tyro EFTPOS – it’s fast, easy and safe.
3. 99c. Use 99c pricing wherever possible. Pricing psychology suggests that 75c, 90c, 95c and similar are seen as the same as 90c.
4. Price smart. We know from  pricing experts that $12.99 is seen the same as $13.99, that $16.99 is seen the same as $17.99, that $18.99 is seen as the same as $19.99, that $28.50 is seen the same as $29.99 … you get the drift..
5. Bundle. Package multiple items into an easy shop bundle. This makes price comparison harder and allows you to creep on price.
6. Have excellent impulse lines at the counter. An extra item or two I the basket drive purchase value beyond what the shopper may have approached the counter with. How do you know items are excellent? Their performance, trial and error.

Practical advice like this is common from us as we serve our small business retailer POS software users with ways they can work on their businesses to improve return as well as business enjoyment. It is advice that comes from our own well of us running ships ourselves, from using our own POS software in our own shops. It helps us walk in the shoes of our customers.

Tower Systems has been helping retailers with advice and support elating to COVID-19 since late January, when we realised that the coronavirus outbreak was going to significantly impact SME retail around the world, especially in areas where we serve.

In a practical sense we have helped by eliminating some fees, making some add-on modules to our software free, offering free home licences and freezing software support fees at 2018 price levels.

We have also maintained full capacity on our help desk – to ensure our SME retail customers have access to the POS software support they need. Call traffic has continued at pre-COVID-19 levels. However, the nature of the calls has changed, which is interesting. retailers are spending more time woking on their businesses. It is terrific to see and we are grateful to the able to help them do this.

We have also recalibrated our web development team to ensure we quickly serve the needs of current and new custommeersd seeking our help to bring their businesses online.

We have also been hosting free online training sessions as well as retail business owner connectivity sessions – helping retailers have a place where they can talk with and support each other. This has been important in encouraging good mental health.

While COVID-19 is challenging for SMEs, Tower Systems is helping retailers to efficiently  and safely serve their customers. That our retailers can offer contactless retail has been a real boost for their businesses and a terrific comfort to their customers. Having our product in the marketplace years before COVID-19 helped is have an established and beneficial solution that retailers can leverage to their benefit as they themselves navigate the pandemic.

There is a silver lining in all this. retailers, especially SME retailers are developing stronger businesses, businesses that are evolving rapidly to the new world, a changed world and we are grateful to be part of these transformations. With many being data driven we are there. With some switching retail channels, we are there. As a specialty retail POS software company we understand niche and are grateful to be able to help.

Tower Systems serves in excess of 3,000 small business retailers in Australia and New Zealand.

Oh, welcome to May 2020!