CategoryToy shop software

Choosing what goes into each update of our small business POS software is a transparent and democratic process at Tower Systems.

We understand that good software needs to evolve as the needs of the retail channel in which it serves evolve.

This is why retailers need to look beyond what software does today and understand what they may need tomorrow. The commitment of their software provider to providing access to software enhancements is key as is their commitment to a structured process for considering and deciding on user suggested software enhancements.

It can be hard to choose a software company based on what they may do in the future as any sales person could make a promise knowing that fulfilment of the promise lies elsewhere in the company.

Here at Tower Systems we promise our POS software customers continuous evolution and improvement of our small business POS software.

Our customers can submit change suggestions.

Our customers can vote on submitted change suggestions.

The more votes, the more attention given a suggestion.

While we ourselves bump suggestions to the top of the list based on how amazing and valuable they are, others we like to see what our customers think.

We take this open and transparent approach to POS software enhancement suggestions to show our customers their active engagement with the direction of the software.

Our approach is unique in that it is highly engaged and inclusive with and for the custoemrs who like that.

The whole POS Software Ideas process is open for even those considering purchasing our software to see. While this gives our competitors a free-kick, we are confident enough of our processes and commitment to leave it as transparent.

We launched shed Software Ideas years ago. None of our vertical market competitors has anything similar. It is a genuine point of difference for us and we like that.

If you are considering POS software for your specialty retail business, make sure that the software company y you are considering will deliver access to relevant software into the future and not just today. Your software company relationship will be long-term. That is why engagement matters.

Mark Fletcher is the owner of Tower Systems. His mobile phone number is 0418 321 338. His email address is mark@towersystems.com.au. This information is on our website and almost every piece of company literature from our weekly customer email to our print newsletter to marketing literature.

It is rare for a POS software company Managing Director to be so accessible to customers and prospective customers.

We think such accessibility is important as it speaks to trust in the company, its products and its customer service. It shows the Managing Director as having such faith in the business that they are happy for people to know how to reach them directly.

To small business POS software businesses that do not publish this information, that do not make it readily available, we would say what are you afraid of? Why not let people get straight to the top?

A common contact with Mark is from customers who ring or email to say they are happy with an enhancement in the software or to compliment a team member for a service they have provided. Being accessible for this type of contact is as important as being accessible for people who would like to complain about a poor service experience.

Tower Systems is a business about people, small business people. Personal service matters in small business retail as much as it matters in a small business POS software company. It matters a lot. Therefore, we trust the process and gladly share the direct contact details of our Managing Director.

Mark’s background is diverse, meaning he can speak to a range of topics from retail strategy to retail business management to software design to actual use of our POS software. Most weeks he has time behind the counter in one or more of the retail businesses owned by Tower where he gets hands on with the software and with in-store customers. This personal engagement with the software in a regular basis provides personal experiences that not only inform the direction of the software, they also inform the services provided by the company and provide context for some direct contact with customers.

Here at Tower Systems we believe in small business and we believe in small business retailers. We love helping them become powerful … through easy access to good business data. We love helping foster superheroes.

What a terrific conference Xerocon was. Awesome presentations about Xero. Wonderful people asking about our POS software. New friends. New clients. 100% professional. Glad to be among the best of the best with it comes to Xero.

Plenty of fun.

Tower Systems is an Australia based POS software company with thousands of customers in a range of retail niches:  gift shops, jewellers, bike shops, pet shops,  toy shops, fishing/outdoors, garden centres/nurseries, newsagents, produce stores and firearms retailers.

1. We are a software company, not a consulting business using software as a mechanism for driving consulting fees.
2. We are in your business. Not a contractor we hire, not over the phone, when we install the system we do it in your business, working with you and your people.
3. We offer more facilities than any other system. These offer you flexibility for driving purchases in the current visit and for bringing shoppers back more often.
4. You have access to extraordinary customisation, enabling you to represent your business son receipts, invoices and other documents how you want.
5. Embedded in our software are facilities for tracking how the software us used. This enables us to help you monitor and reduce employee theft.
6. Retail focussed. The big challenge of retail is to uncover opportunities, which you can still leverage them. We have smart reports, which unlock for you information about your business, which can help you plan and grow.
7. Our customers have access to the owner of our company as well as other senior management people.
8. We have a loved escalation process.
9. Our documentation is online and 100% searchable.
10. We develop our own software. This means when we promise something, we rely on our software development and testing team to deliver, not a contractor, not another company.
11. We have a transparent process through which our customers can suggest software enhancements. All of our customers can vote on these enhancement suggestions. Many of our software changes have come from customer suggestions.
12. We designed the software ourselves. What we sell today has evolved over many years working in close consultation with our customers – many of whom have been with us for more than twenty years.
13. The software we sell to retailers has been developed for retailers, by us.
14. Each specialist retail channel has its own version of the software. Interestingly, our software for each sector has benefited from experiences with other sectors.
15. We only sell to independently owned retail businesses in selected specialist retail channels.

We could add many more reasons. This list is a start. As our motto says: we’re here to help.

Tower Systems has rolled out the next release of its POS software connected website solutions, offering small business retailers a stronger armoury of tools with which to compete with global and national online businesses.

Offering POS software direct links to Shopify, Magento and WooCommerce websites, the Tower Systems integrations bring new business opportunities to small business retailers, opening doors to finding new customers.

Embedded in the new software are facilities that are fresh for the small business online space, fresh for POS software integrated websites.

Tower Systems has gone beyond the usual approach of announce and then deliver some time in the future. the company has developed, delivered and then announced. This is the company proving what it has done before making any noise about it.

We think actions speak louder than words.

Small business retailers who want to compete with online have Tower Systems in their corner. Our beautiful web connected POS software works for retailers in different channels. It helps retailers attract new shoppers. We deal with the challenges of freight. We make shopping easy. We help win business from the tricky abandoned cart situation and more.

Being a local POS software company, we leverage our local marketplace knowledge not only for ur POS software but also for the websites we create for our customers.

We make selling online easy for small business retailers.

We develoop websites for Tower Systems customers. We have web developers working in ur Melbourne office with skills in Magento, Shopify and WooCommerce.

Having websites developed by us ensures a best-practice connection between your POS software and the websites.

We have plenty of store connected websites we can show you, where shoppers can shop online with interest free online lay-by, shop using click and collect, pay by PayPal and more. We can sync the data between your shop and online as frequently ads you want. We have sites doing it every five minutes and others doing it daily.

We have seen retailers choose to have their website developed by a low-cost offshore web developer only to have to spend considerably to have it fixed. We have had to do this for several of our customers, where offshore developers have delivered a broken website.

To find out more about our web development services as well as our SEO (website marketing) services, please email sales@towersystems.com.au.

Change of any sort can be challenging. Part of our role as a POS software company is to offer encouragement for continuous change. While we cannot force you to be confident in embracing change, we can provide a safety-net of sorts and a cheer-squad of encouragement.

In our own situation we are confronted with change and challenges every day. What we do today is very different to what we were doing five and ten years ago. Here are things we have found encourage confidence.

1. Know your business. This starts with knowing your business data, respecting it and basing decisions on the data. This provides a foundation for changes that are right in and for your business.
2. Take small steps. Sometimes, confidence fades or can be a challenge when the task ahead or the changes to be made appear too big. Break them down. Focus on the next step. Take that one step. Cheer the result. Next, take the next step.
3. Most of what we suggest is based on either direct experience or considerable research. Trusting this could see you embrace change sooner and, hopefully, thereby enjoy more success sooner. This, in turn, will boost your confidence.
4. Know you are not alone. No matter what change or challenge you face, we are part of your community, part of your cheer-squad. Talk with us before, during and after change. We will help in any way we are able.
5. Focus on the destination. Where do you want to be as a result of a change in your business, new products or a new marketing initiative. Focus on the destination and ignore the barriers you create in your head. Often, the barriers are only there because you allowed yourself to see them.
6. Facts encourage confidence. Facts such as evidence of success of others and evidence of success in your own business underpin confidence. The key is to look at the facts, to focus on them and not the possible barriers you can create.
7. Hire confident people.
8. Let go of people who are not confident, who talk change down, who are negative at their core.
9. Play confident music in your office and in the shop.
10. Dress with confidence.
11. Know that a failure is always a success. Every change you make in your business is a success because you either make more money, enjoy your business more or learn what not to do next time because it did not go as planned. There is only upside from change.

A lack of confidence is not easily overcome. We understand that and do not seek here to be glib about it. Lack of confidence in anything is a serious challenge, yet one to overcome for the future of the business, personal achievement and the benefit of all who rely on the business.

Rather than investing time in the fog of a lack of confidence, our advice is to look out beyond the fog, to take steps out of the fog and to do so knowing we are with you.

Yesterday, Tower Systems hosted a major workshop on how to leverage special customer orders in our POS software to help any retail business grow revenue and increase customer stickiness.

Our pitch explained the value of using smart software that manages the special customer orders process through the entire business:

If you have an order book at the counter or in the office, for orders that are too messy or cumbersome to put through your software, Special Customer Orders in the Tower Systems POS software could be ideal.

If you or staff are forgetting to track special orders when they come in or are challenged advising customers when special orders are read to be collected, this software can make the whole process hassle-free for you.

We can help you win more business.

We make it easy for every employee to handle special customer orders with consistency, even casual employees.

Developed in close consultation with retailers in the jeweller, bike retail, produce, toy and garden centre retail channels, the Special Customer Orders facility in the Tower Systems POS software is powerful, flexible and enjoyable.

See it live in this free online workshop. We will demonstrate the software to you, take questions and share user insights.

The demonstration will take only half an hour. We are sure you will be surprised how fare this function in the Tower software goes.

We are grateful to all our customers who participated. It was a full session with more than twenty participating, learning, for free.

This session is another in our regular series of free learning opportunities for our POS software companies.

Social customer orders functionality is unique to Tower Systems. What we have developed is deep and comprehensive, created based on the needs shown to us by our customers in various retail channels. We build the facilities from scratch, based on the customer outlined requirements.

We are grateful to our customers for supporting this training session, and, indeed, all of our free online training workshops.

We develop software and websites for: gift shops, jewellers,  bike shops, toy shops, fishing/outdoors businesses, garden centres/nurseries, pet shops, produce stores, firearms businesses and newsagents.