The POS Software Blog

The POS Software Blog

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

CategoryToy shop software

The best loyalty solution for local small business retailers

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

But who knows that they are worth?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Change the game: front-end loyalty

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

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

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

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

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

Building the basket

From the first day we saw shoppers changing behaviour.

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

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

Bringing shoppers back

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

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

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

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

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

The Discount Vouchers facilities in the Tower software have this.

Grow Your Local Toy Shop with Toy Shop Software

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Running a toy shop can be a lot of fun, but it can also be a lot of work. If you’re looking for ways to make your toy shop more successful, then you should consider using toy shop software. Toy shop software like what we make and support at Tower Systems helps local toy shops grow by providing them with a variety of features and tools that they can use to improve their business. In this blog post, we will discuss the benefits of toy shop software and how it can help your business grow!

One of the benefits of toy shop software is that it can help you manage your inventory more effectively. With toy shop software, you can track your inventory levels and ensure that you always have the products that your customers want in stock. This will help you avoid lost sales and keep your customers happy.

Another benefit of toy shop software is that it can help you streamline your operations. toy shop software can automate many of the tasks that are necessary to run a successful toy shop, such as ordering products, tracking sales, and processing payments. This will free up your time so that you can focus on more important tasks, like running your business!

If you own and run a toy shop, this Tower Systems toy shop software is made for you and here;’s why:

  • It is Australian made software, backed by Australian based support.
  • You can sell from anywhere. That means … from the counter, the shop floor, a pop-up store, a market. Yes, you can sell anywhere.
  • It links to Xero and MYOB – make accounting easier.
  • Offer loyalty rewards that work and set you apart.
  • It links to Shopify, Magento and Woo – sell online easier.
  • Sell products in bundles, it makes competitor price comparison harder.
  • Offer buy now pay later – where you are paid right away.

We create software for very specific retail business niches, like yours. We do the regular POS stuff, and we serve toy specific requirements.

If you compete with K-Mart, Target or any other majors oranyone online…

We offer tools specific to helping you compete, tools that you can leverage to genuinely differentiate your business …

When it comes to leveraging shopper loyalty, offering product bundling, sharing local knowledge, delivering product specific personal customer service, our Toy shop software has your back. We help you compete with big business.

We only sell to independent retail businesses. We are grateful to serve 3,500 businesses today, across nine specialty marketplaces, including Toy shops.

Our goal is to help our customers run more enjoyable, successful and valuable retail businesses – in physical shops or online or both.

  1. Competing with big business – we will show you tools you can use to do this, tools that are central to our software.
  2. Being local – Local communities benefit from local shops. We can show you how to leverage being local, to win more local business.
  3. Cut mistakes – They are expensive. Reduce them to save time / money.
  4. Catalogues are a breeze. Catalogue pricing is easily handled.
  5. Online selling is easier.
  6. Special orders are a dream.
  7. Handle toy supplier pricing models.

This is locally made POS software for local retail shops. It is small business focussed, because that is where we excel.

5 ways to make your local retail business more competitive

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Every day can feel like a grind in local small business retail. A grind competing with big businesses, a grind competing with online businesses. It can wear people down if they let it.

The key is to not let it wear you down.

It starts with loving your business, believing in it, respecting it and making it stronger at the core. That’s what this advice from Tower Systems is about today, making your business stronger at the core, by making the business more competitive.

5 ways to make your local retail business more competitive

Now, before we get into them they will feel easy, even lame. The thing is, these are deliberately everyday things you can do without a budget, just with a small time investment.

These are all things your POS software, like the Tower Systems POS software, can help with if you wish.

1. Offer something unique that your competitors don’t. This could be a unique product, service, or even just a specific focus or niche that you cater to. have a point of different. This matters a lot. Create it, embrace it, leverage it. This point of difference is you, it is your reason, your go to, your 7 second pitch.

2. Make sure your prices are competitive. This doesn’t mean always having the lowest prices, but rather offering a good value for what you’re selling. Value is something you create based on how you bundle items, how you source to differentiate, how you make raw price comparisons hard.

3. Offer excellent customer service. This could be something as simple as providing a great experience in your store, or going above and beyond to help your customers. make it personal, different and valuable. At each contact point provide that extra bit that helps people make better use of what you sell.

4. Use marketing and advertising wisely. Make sure you’re targeting your ideal customer, and using the most effective channels to reach them. When you market, market you, your point of difference – always ahead off price as price based shoppers are not loyal.

5. Stay up to date on industry trends. This will help you anticipate changes and stay ahead of your competitors. It will also help your business be a resource, and that will bring people back.

Being more competitive in local retail is all about you and the core of your business. get this right and worries about competitors out there, real or imagined, will fade away.

Tower Systems through its POS software helps with this and more. We have embedded in our software opportunities for you showing your competitive advantages, giving shoppers lived experiences they will love.

More retailers switch from MYOB Retail Manager to Tower Systems POS software

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We are grateful to have welcomed more retailers to the Tower Systems POS software community from the MYOB Retail Manager software.

With MYOB making their intentions re the future of Retail Manager clear, retailers, community groups, clubs and others using the software are looking for alternatives, solutions o9n which they can rely into the future.

Tower Systems has helped many businesses and groups move from MYOB Retail Manager to the Tower Systems POS software. We do this in a structured and methodical way, working with our customers to bring across what they trust and helping them setup in a new world with fresh data fresh settings and, best of all, comprehensive training and one-on-one support.

We have many customers in many different retail settings who have made the switch from MYOB Retail Manager before. They can speak to the software as well as our support processes that have helped them land where they are. People switching from MYOB Retail Manager today can rely on the experiences of others. They can also trust the Tower Systems commitment to continual evolution of its POS software in service o0f the needs of specialty retail.

Like any new installation of our POS software, we start the relationship wanting to ensure we understand the needs of a business. This actually starts before prospective customers even sign up with us. We want to make sure we can meet their needs. So, we start a discovery process before anything else. If our software does meet their needs, then it’s full steam ahead with comprehensive training in how to use the software and easy to access customer service for any query customers may have once the training is completed. We make it easy to learn and easy to continue to learn long after the software is being used in a business.

We differ from the old MYOB approach in that we provide all our own training, we are very accessible – through to our leadership team, our software is regularly enhanced, documentation is regularly updated, and, support access is easy and direct … by phone, email in person, text message or through social media. We make it easy for you to reach us when you need us.

If you are using MYOB Retail Manager in your business and you want to consider an alternative, Tower Systems is here for you. We’d love to find out more about your needs: 1 300 662 957 or sales@towersystems.com.au.

How local small business retailers can be a big retailers in the shopper loyalty stakes

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Rewarding shopper loyalty in retail businesses has become industrial in scale, which means it is less personal, and more about the retail business than the shopper.

Too many local small business retailers think the best way to compete with big business loyalty offerings is to copy them, which means offering points to shoppers that they can then use somehow in the business.

What are points worth?

That’s the million dollar question. or, maybe, the million point question.

Because … in one shop a point is equal to a dollar, in another, it takes 1,000 points to equal a dollar, while in another it takes 10 points to equal a dollar for selected items in the shop but not everything they have available.

No wonder shoppers are confused as to the actual value of loyalty points. They are confusing.

While our awesome local retail POS software serves a points based loyalty offering, because our POS software customers wanted that, we also have an awesome, and better we think, loyalty solution that is $$$ based, that shoppers understand, and love – we say love because we have seen and heard shoppers say this. Better still, we see shoppers love our $$$ based loyalty solution through their spending patterns.

What we offer in our POS software loyalty solutions is flexibility, transparency and easy engagement.

You can have your Tower Systems POS software loyalty solution live in minutes.

It costs nothing to setup.

What you invest in it is 100% your call.

What shoppers get from it is 100% your call.

It’s a standard part of our POS software – you don’t have to pay us or anyone to participate.

Shoppers don’t need to register, which means more will engage.

This is about driving sales, as that’s key in any retail business.

Sure, likes are nice and follows are great and having plenty of members in a loyalty program makes your chest puff out … b u t  what really matters, what matters the most in any shop, in any retail business, is the business you put through your register and it is this business, what you sell and what you make from all that, which pays the bills, pays your people, pays you.

The Tower Systems approach to shopper loyalty through its local retail POS software offers a points based solution. but, better still, is the $$$ based offer that any customer can understand and with which any customer can engage, including those one-time customers you will never see again – those customers can do 2, 3, heck, even 4 transactions in a single visit. That’s what we have seen when retailers turn on our awesome POS software loyalty solutions.

Tower Systems makes POS software for local specialty retailers like jewellers, garden centres, bike shops, pet shops, newsagents, toy shops, sewing shops, homewares shops, gift shops, firearms dealers, adult shops, bookshops, farm supply businesses, mobility scooter businesses and pool maintenance and supply businesses.

It is this specialisation, this service of local small business retail that helps us provide solutions for shoppers who do shop local and who can be loyal, providing wonderful and valuable business to the local high street retail economy.

Tower Systems helps retailers separate online and in-store revenue for easy reporting

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If your shop sells online and in a physical store, how easy is it for you to report on sales revenue by location of the sale?

How easy is it for you to report in-store sales versus online sales?

We think this should be easy.

Online sales have a different set of costs compared to in-store sales. There are different customer acquisition costs, too, and different fulfilment costs.

By separating out the reporting of sales based on the platform through which sales are transacted, Tower Systems provides retailers using its POS software with insights that could be valuable in better understanding the business, and thereby better taking those next steps in the business.

This level of reporting in the Tower Systems POS software is differentiating for the business, it is helping Tower Systems to win customers, for which we are sincerely grateful.

When we shared our innovative approach with our customers, there was much joy. The enhancements were not sought out by our customers. We did it because we saw the need in our own retail businesses. So when the enhancements were released in an update a while back, customers were surprised. It was like giving them a nugget of gold that made their use of our POS software even more valuable. We are so proud of delivering this and delivering what’s next in this space, and next again.

While our POS software connected Shopify, Magneto and Woo customers can get the online sales data from those platforms, by bringing it together in the POS, which manages data for all sales – in-store as well as online – made sense to us. It’s a time saver for retailers and retail business managers. It is a good decision feeder by placing this data, these insights, in one place.

This is a good POS software move, a value-add, a way the Tower Systems POS software enhanced the user experience and the value they can mine from their use of our POS software.

Maybe you can tell we are excited. Well, that’s because of customer feedback. Yes, it’s been terrific, for which we are even more grateful.

2022 is a good year for local small business retail and we are happy to be part of the story evolving in many main street settings in Australia and New Zealand.

Retailers: beware POS software companies that charge per transaction

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When comparing POS software for your retail business be sure to look at the total cost of ownership.

If there is a fee per transaction, work out what you would be paying for the software based on your current transaction volume level.

One local retailer recently discovered that they would be paying $5,000 a year more for another POS software product compared to going with Tower Systems. This is despite the other company saying they were low cost.  Once they added up the software rental cost, the per transaction cost, the EFTPOS cost and the cost for additional support to match what we consider to be basic support, the cost was even greater.

We all have EFTPOS costs so comparing the companies on that net each other off. The real differences were in the per transaction cost – we don’t have one – and the cost for extra support – there, it’s all included.

Taking a moment to more completely research the cost of POS software can reveal significant cost differences.

Another company said their rental was $50 a month less if you sign ups for their payments platform. You had to dig a bit to see the actual costs of that. What we found in that situation was that their payment costs were 33% above market cost, meaning a business that signs up for their payments platform would pay far more to use their POS software than if they went with us, where costs are transparent and fixed.

The retailer being hit with these costs, once they discovered the extent of them, was horrified at what they had been paying.

Here at Tower Systems we are a POS software company. We are not in the business of setting our price based on your transaction volume or how people pay. Indeed, it frustrates us when local retailers discover how much extra they have paid because they signed up to a transaction fee arrangement as most we have spoken to who did this did so without understanding. They thought it was a saving. They tend to feel dudded and this negatively impacts how they see all POS software companies.

All of us in business owe our customers transparency when it comes to pricing. Charging per transaction or charging based on the use of a payments platform is not transparent based on what we can see, or not see as the case may be.

Tower Systems makes it easy for retailers to load supplier invoices and stock files

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We are grateful to win for retailers to the Tower Systems POS software thanks to our easy to use approach for loading supplier electronic invoices and stock files.

This happened again a couple of days ago when a retailer switched once they saw how easy we made it to load electronic invoices. They were tired of not being able to do this and appreciated that we make it easy.

here;’s the thing though – we have been doing this for years and years.

Saving time for retailers is a key goal. Couple this with data accuracy and it is a no brainer for POS software companies to make loading electronic invoices and stock files easy. we are grateful when. People switch to our POS software for this and are proud to deliver them with even more facilities they can love.

While it doesn’t make sense to us when we see POS software that does not make it easy to load invoices and files, we leverage the opportunities competitor missteps provide.

Retail advice: if you are concerned about rising EFTPOS merchant t fees, here are some steps you can take to help

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It’s an easy complaint to make – my merchant fees are going up, it’s not fair, time for me to consider another supplier.

Okay, yeah, that’s an easy take. It’s a cheap shot by us to call it out. But, let’s explain and explore it with you.

Our advice is to look at your data first.

We have thoroughly looked at hundreds of thousands of baskets from many retail businesses.

The most common reason merchant fees are increasing is because of more sales transacted using EFTPOS.

While sometimes the actual fee basis, flat fee per Tx or percentage, increases, this is rare.

Yes, the most common reason a retailer paid more in merchant fees last month than the month before is because more transactions were paid for on a card.

So, the EFTPOS provider is not the cause of the issue.

Retailers is some marketing groups have access to preferential rates that see them paying the lowest fees in the country.

But, that addresses only the base cost.

To address the growing cost to the business, of people using a card to pay, you need to be an engaged retailer. Here are some ideas:

  • Promote cash payment – if you want the costs associated with cash of course.
  • Be clear as to the cost of using a card. You could apply a surcharge, which I think is a ridiculous idea though.
  • Price knowing that cards will be used. Build the cost into your pricing model. Keep the bump under 2% and it is less likely to be noticed.
  • Lower a cost elsewhere to cover the cost. Look at your labour cost, for example. Shaving a hour of employee rostered time can save you around $30.00, that’s equal to purchases of $3750.00 on a card – depending on the type of card used.
  • Increase sales. While you should be single-mindedly focussed on this anyway, increasing sales helps you address the EFTPOS cost and more in the business.

It’s easy to kick a bank over EFTPOS fees. But … before you do that, look at your own behaviour. Here are common points in retail businesses that retailers overlook when they kick a supplier:

  • Dead stock. It’s easy to identity but often not. A problem not seen is not a problem to some. In my experience on conducting an audit of stock performance, usually, 20% of stock on the shop floor over which the retailer has full control underperforms and should not be there.
  • Bloated roster. Some prefer to spend money on people so they have time to themselves for relaxing, golf or to sit in the back office, where no customer purchases from.
  • Wrong trading hours. Some stay open too long while others are not open long enough. Either way has a cost to the business.
  • Being blind to theft. Theft in retail, like a local newsagency business, costs on average between 3% and 5% of turnover. Not watching for it, tracking it and mitigating against it has a cost to the business.
  • The wrong product mix. GP% is a key measure of retail business performance. Increasing yours beyond what is traditional for your channel provides you with a buffer. For example, transaction count / sales can decline and you can be okay. Measure GP%. Set a goal. Chase it. The air is cleaner in above average.
  • Ignorance. It’s not bliss. It’s not! There are insights in your software that can guide better decisions, faster decisions, more financially rewarding decisions. Yet, too many in retail don’t want to know. That failure costs them plenty.

The 6 items on the above list are all on the retailer to address.

We get that it’s easy to complain about high EFTPOS fees. If you are contemplating that, please take a moment to look back inside your business, look at the reason why and see if there are decisions you could make that are more valuable than complaining about EFTPOS fees or changing supplier. Our team here at Tower Systems would be happy to help.

Rising EFTPOS fees are likely not a problem since the y reflect rising sales, unless your provider is hiking your fees, which is rare.

Tower Systems POS software helps local Toyworld shops sell in-store and online

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Tower Systems is grateful that its toy shops software has been chosen by local Toyworld shops to help run their local toy shop businesses.

The Toyworld shops using this Aussie made and supported POS software can rely on it to help provide a consistency of service to folks buying toys for friends, family or themselves. This is POS software made for toy shops, which makes it good POS software for Toyworld shops.

In serving Toyworld shops with POS software, Tower Systems offers a lever of service that helps the local retailers and that does so in a way that respects national brands you will usually see in a Toyworld store. This commitment to brand consistency is something you’ll see not only in the Tower Systems toy shop software but also in the websites connected to the softwares especially the websites created for toy shops by Tower Systems – this is evident in Toyworld online stores created by Tower Systems.

We are grateful to local Toyworld retailers for their support and their business.

Using our toy shop software, local toy retailers have access to tools and facilities that help the business thrive locally as well as online. Here are 5 key reasons we think our toy shop software is ideal for local toy shops:

  • Local matters. Local toy shops make a vital contribution to local communities and families nearby. Our software helps you leverage this, to differentiate your business from big competitors.
  • You can bank on loyalty. There is excellent data revealing the lifetime value of a family and those they purchase for. Leveraging this through smart loyalty tools and marketing tuned for toy shops helps you maximise the opportunity.
  • Safe decisions make for a better P&L. While following your gut can see you catch wins, safe decisions, those based on the data, are bankable. From data feeds from suppliers through your POS to accounting software, we help you nurture data for the safe decisions.
  • Not every shopper will walk past your door. A smart and seamless connection between your software and a website can help you sell to people you will never meet. This should be easy, certain and financially rewarding.
  • You are a key asset. You and the people in your business are a differentiator to big business competitors. Too often we see toy retailers not leverage themselves. Our software helps correct this … because you and your knowledge are an asset.

There are other reasons, too.

Here at Tower Systems we are grateful yo serve local toy shops. Find out more: sales@towersystems.com.au or call 1300 662 957.

Xero connects POS software helps local small business retailers save time and cut mistakes

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The Tower Systems POS software connects directly with Xero and has done for many years. we are grateful to be a development partner of Xero, providing seamless and safe data flow between the POS software and Xero.

Retailers using the Tower POS software can turn on the Xero accounting software connection without additional cost. yes, this Xero POS software link is included with the software, helping to reduce the cost of accurate accounting for local small business retailers.

The development of the POS software Xero link has been overseen by our retail software development experts and our own COPA accountant, taking it beyond the usual software focus – this is a whole of business focus, a whole of business solution, which we use ourselves in the 4 retail businesses we currently own – yes, we have our own practical experience with this PSO software Xero integration.

Save time, eliminate bookkeeping costs, cut mistakes and make better business decisions sooner with the Tower Systems POS software Xero integration. This link cuts keystrokes and every keystroke cut is a possible mistake eliminated.

The Xero integration designed by Tower Systems, working with the folks at Xero, makes it easy for small business retailers to cut accounting paperwork and thereby tap into time and money saving benefits.

This POS software Xero link has been made for local small business retailers like jewellers, garden centres, bike shops, pet shops, toy shops, sewing shops, newsagents, produce businesses, fishing shops and many more. It has been made for them, to help drive efficiency.

PERSONAL SERVICE MATTERS.

Here are areas where the Tower Systems approach shines, where our personal service matters.

Our training is personal, one-on-one. It is delivered by someone with extensive retail experience.

Our help desk is based locally. When people call, the call is answered by a human and not a computerised phone system. We believe in personal service.

This matters especially to retailers using the Xero link in that if they have a query, it is vital it is answered quickly and professionally. This is the Tower Systems difference in action – based on our own personal experience using the POS software Xero link ourselves – we bring that experience to every call, every interaction.

Specialty retailer POS software enhanced

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Tower Systems has released a new functionality POS software update, delivering genuinely new facilities to it’s customers, enabling some to offer and manage services they have not offered before.

This advance in POS software functionality for local retailers has some about through extensive customer and sales prospect consultation and comprehensive new tech. software development. The project has been many months in the making, involving several members of our local Aussie based POS software development team.

Our existing POS software customers have been provided access to there software update through an easy implementation pathway, along with easy access to training so that they can fully learn how these new facilities work and how to implement them within their business.

Our POS software rental customers have immediate access.

Our hosted close POS software customers have the update installed for them, when they want – with timing 100% their call.

As well as the new facilities introduced with this POS software update, plenty of existing facilities have been enhanced based on suggestions made through our transparent Software Ideas platform. Software Ideas is where our customers can suggest enhancements and other customers get to vote on these once we have provided feedback as to technical feasibility. Software Ideas is a differentiator for Tower Systems as it provides to our customers a level of transparency and and democracy that is not common in the commercial software space.

At the same time as releasing this update, we are releasing access to the most comprehensive overhaul of our POS software documentation in more than 15 years with new articles released as well as many existing articles enhanced and adjusted to serve the software its it is today and our customers as they make use of the software today. Our commitment to continual improvement of our documentation and user training resources is key to helping our customers leverage more value from their POS software investment.

Tower Systems is grateful to the active engagement of its customers as this is at the heart of what we deliver for our customers through these POS software and documentation enhancements. 3,500+ local small business retail customers do make a difference.

POS software on-boarding, the key to success with POS software in your retail business

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POS software is like the structure of a house, roof, walls, floors … yes, the structure. What makes the house liable is the furniture and knowledge of how it all works.

This is what POS software onboarding is all about – the training, support and help to make the software useful, valuable, a good investment for your business.

Without professional onboarding, what you get from the POS software may not be what you hoped for.

The tips you learn, the efficient ways to use the software, the accurate handling of data – these are all valuable things to learn and know, all things covered in professional on-boarding, and much more.

The best onboarding for your POS software is that done by the POS software company itself, they are the other party most invested in your successful use of the software. While a third party consultant may do a competent job, they are not commercially invested in the long term benefits for you and your business and its use of the POS software as you are or as the POS software company is.

The Tower Systems approach to POS software onboarding is professional, comprehensive, tailored to each retail sector in which the company serves and fine-tuned to the needs of each business based on what they advise is key to them.

We provide an account manager to oversee the process and a professional software specialist to deliver the training and setup work and advice, to help you get the most from our POS software. These are Tower Systems employees, not outside consultants. This is a huge difference, a valuable difference. It is what makes the house a home, some place you will love, appreciate and benefit from.

This is what good on-boarding looks like. It is what helps local retailers get more value from their POS software. It is the fine-tuning, the tweaks, the adjustments that help deliver POS software setup for your business. No amount of reading or playing can substitute for the efficiency and gains from professional on-boarding by experts who have done it hundreds of times already. Their years of experience can put time and money on your side.

These are just some of the reasons why on-boarding by Tower Systems is valuable to all of our POS software customers.

Footnote: we call it onboarding. But, we have referred to it as on-boarding too as some do.

 

Giving POS software customers more power

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Last week we released new customer facilities for our POS software customers. These are back office facilities, accessed through our website, for our customers and how they interact with us and, in particular, our support team.

Once our POS software customers log into our website they have access to new technology through which they can log their own cases, see any current cases, search their past cases and, access pre-set help that may offer immediate assistance for any new case.

This advanced self serve technology goes beyond what we offered in the past, beyond what is common is local small business retail POS software support.

What we released last week is a blend of leading edge, best practice, expert technology from overseas, layered with technology we have developed ourselves and populated with a truckload of knowledge and data from our years of service of local small business retailers.

What we released last week is technically innovative, the culmination of a considerable financial investment by us to bring this to life for our customers. we have been working on this project for close to a year. We brought in a CRM solutions expert from outside to help us bring this home.

The project is a good example of us investing in our infrastructure and bringing on board people expert in the area, rather than relying on only our experience.

We are grateful to be able to make this investment for our customers and thankful for the feedback already from customers who are loving the new facilities and the greater power they have for themselves.

POS software support is all about offering advice and answers that suit the questions and in a timely way that serves the needs of customers. What we have released fits with this, and more.

Tower Systems is grateful to serve 3,000+ local specialty retail businesses that trade in a range of unique retail niches. Our focus is on locally owned family businesses as serving their needs is different to serving big mass businesses. We do not serve bug business customers. Our service is personal, local – like the businesses of our customers.

Toy shop software helps local toy shops sell to locals as well as online to shoppers elsewhere

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Toy shops are in a competitive situation, dealing daily with well-resourced major retailers chasing the same shoppers. It’s challenging, especially for local small retail businesses.

Local toy shops thrive if they can pitch a point of difference. we see this every day in our work with local toy shops. By having a tight handle on data and leveraging this along with good product and local knowledge to provide a value-add experience, a differentiating experience.

Through our toy shop software local toy retailers can leverage their knowledge and situation to differentiate. This is toy shop software made specifically for toy shops. That’s right, made for them, based on feedback from them, evolving to meet evolving needs.

When general POS software does not go far enough and does not understand toy shop needs, this toy shop software  from Tower Systems goes the distance. we are so grateful to our toy shop customers for their support and advice. They have made a difference to us and the toy shop software  that we are so proud to sell.

As retailers ourselves, yes we own and run retail shops, we are grateful for experience in the  toy / collectibles / gift niches since the late 1990s. Here are 5 reasons we love our toy shop software :

  • Local matters. Local toy shops make a vital contribution to local communities and families. Our software helps you leverage your localness, to genuinely differentiate your business from big competitors. By local we mean local clubs, community groups, shoppers and suppliers.
  • You are a key asset. Only your business has you and your people. You can leverage you through our toy shop software, to easily share your knowledge in ways big businesses cannot match. What you know sets you apart if you leverage it.
  • You can bank on loyalty. Points don’t reward loyalty. What is a point worth anyway? In our toy shop software, you have fresh loyalty tools you can bank on to drive a deeper visit value and bring shoppers back sooner. People love value and value is not always tied to product price.
  • The unseen can reveal opportunities. Knowing for sure what sells with what, knowing how suppliers compare knowing return on investment and return on floorspace … knowledge is power. we help you see in the basket to leverage this for tomorrow.
  • Not every shopper will walk past your door. A smart and seamless connection between your software and a beautiful website can help you easily and with low overhead sell to people you will never meet.

Local toy shops are vital in local communities. We are committed to helping you run a more enjoyable and successful business.

Our Tower Systems toy shop software is made for toy shops. We are proud and grateful to be in this space.

7 steps for a successful stock take in your retail business

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In order to stock take in your retail business successfully, keep these 7 steps in mind.

Bit first, make sure you are using smart POS software that lets you stock take while the shop is open, software that lets you stock take using several computers or terminals.

STEP 1: Decide who will be stock taking and how often it needs to be done. Ask yourself the following: “How big is my stock?” and “How long should stock last?”. Another thing to bear in mind is that stock takes must be done systematically and not on an ad hoc basis. Typically, a shop with 3,000 items can be completed by two people in less than a day.

STEP 2: You stock take should start with a stock count of your stockroom, before you move too the shops floor. Be consistent, methodical, in your approach, covering each space fully before you move to the next space.

STEP 3: In the old manual days, you would write a stock take list as stock takes can be very long processes and this list will act like an agenda for the stock taker. Also, it is useful to use reminders on stock take lists such as “if stock isn’t available check with suppliers”. But those days are over. Today, using smart POS software you can do a stock take faster and more accurately using the POS software.

STEP 4: Stock counts must be done individually to get accurate stock counts. Scan an item, enter a quantity, move on. You can scan each barcode if you wish but that tends to take more time. Move down each aisle in a consistent way: Scan, count, scan, count. Your POS software makes it easy.

STEP 5: All stock of the same type of product should be counted at once to get an accurate total of all stock for that item. This will make stock takes very quick and efficient. See point 4 for doing this in your POS software, scan, count, etc…

STEP 6: Rely on your POS software to store the stock take count data.

STEP 7: Once you have the stock take done, you are ready to use this valuable data to cut for the business dead stock, stock that has not sold in months or years, stock that his not paying its way. This is the value of a stock take for a retail shop.

The Tower Systems smart POS software helps small business retailers complete accurate and time efficient stock takes.

Small business retail advice: how to compete with big business competitors

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Here at Tower Systems we only work with and support local retailers ranging from small shops to modest size family businesses with several outlets. We don’t sell to big business.

We have seen many local retail businesses compete with big businesses. The most successful have done well by not competing directly.

This is our advice today. if you have a big business competitor, spend less time looking at them and what they do and spend more time on what you do and how you can make your business more interesting, useful and healthier, because the healthier you are the better you will be.

Don’t compete on price. Price based shoppers are not loyal. They are not.

Be smart about this. Compete on value as value is appreciated. People who experience value will vie back again and again.

Using our Tower Systems POS software you have a range of options for competing on value. yes, the software itself helps you do this. It has facilities built into the software than enable this, that help you pitch value at the transaction level and after the transaction.

Small business retailers often express frustration at big business competitors: they have more money for marketing, get better supplier deals and often have lower overheads per dollar of revenue.

In our experience, there is little to be gained from worrying about these things, which we cannot change. There is more to gain from focussing on points of difference we can leverage.

For example, using our POS software, you can bundle items to make price comparison difficult or impossible, you can offer a loyalty pitch big businesses will not offer, you can be flexible in how and where you pitch products while big retail businesses are structured and, usually, inflexible.

Bundling is particularly useful as you can create a bundle unique to your business, which feels like it is a value proposition unlike anything they have seen to that point. While this is a product by product task, it is in these small steps that you can find success, by changing shopper perspective and winning business more direct competition may have denied.

The best way to compete with a big business is to not be in their lane. Create your own lane, your own playing field where big businesses are air a disadvantage. Our Tower Systems POS software can help you do this.

It’s the add-ons that can cost more with POS software, but not at Tower Systems

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Here at Tower Systems we provide POS software for local small business specialty retailers rich in function, robust in structure and ever-evolving to serve changing needs.

Gift shops, garden centres, jewellers, bike shops, pet shops, toy shops, antique shops, sewing shops, nurseries, newsagents, mobility scooter businesses, farm supply businesses and fishing and outdoor businesses all use our specialty retail Australian made and supported POS software.

We bundle in with the Tower Systems POS software facilities that too many other software companies charge extra for or get to you go to a third party to access, which we think is not ideal for small business retailers.

By including these facilities and services in the one price, Tower Systems POS software customers know what they are in for, they can budget, they can rely on what we do and how we do it.

Take a look at this list of what is included with our POS software, what you done;t need to pay extra for.

  • Registers – no additional charge for additional registers.
  • Integrated payments for EFTPOS. Less mistakes. Less theft.
  • Accounting (Xero integration).
  • Ecommerce (Shopify / Magento / Woo).
  • Loyalty (points and discount vouchers).
  • Integrated LayBy.
  • Product care instructions on receipts.
  • Product box location tracking.
  • Integrated gift cards (your branding).
  • Community group pricing and local club pricing – to help promote your business locally.
  • Product bundling (hampers etc) – makes price comparison harder.
  • Was / Now pricing.
  • Special customer orders.
  • Seasonal sales tracking.
  • Targeted customer marketing.
  • Sell by weight.
  • Sell by length.
  • Sell by fractions.
  • Colour / Size / Style.
  • Digital receipts.
  • Secondhand goods.
  • 24/7 customer service. Staffed by humans, who are local. This is not an offshore call centre.
  • Launch services. To help you settle in and get running with the software.
  • API access.
  • Serialisation. Yes, you can sell products that come with serial numbers.
  • Dedicated account manager.

This is not a complete list, not by any measure. There are many more inclusions with our POS software that are marketplace specific, inclusions in terms of supplier integrations and more, that make this POS software specialist in nature for specific retail channels.

Tower Systems is a small business focussed POS software company developing, and supporting POS software for niche specialty retailers. Jewellers, garden centres, bike shops, toy shops, produce businesses, farm supply businesses, fishing shops, pet shops, charity businesses, landscape gardening businesses, antique shops, sewing shops, haberdashery businesses, newsagents and more benefit from this software.

Find out more at www.towersystems.com.au Call 1300 662 957 or email sales@towersystems.com.au

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