The POS Software Blog

The POS Software Blog

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

CategoryWebstore POS integration

Is a website right for your shop? Come on, let’s explore that …

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It’s easy to say no to a website if you don’t have one because you don’t know what you don’t know. It’s also easy if you had one in the past and it failed.

Most websites don’t work. Smart people use a failure to do better next time.

Core to website success is filling needs and wants. While needs and wants are quite different, they compel good online business.

Here are the top reasons why we think every retail business needs a website:

  1. Capture sales when you are closed. Typically, more than 50% of online purchases are then the brick and mortar business is closed.
  2. Engage when you are closed. Use chat to answer questions from anywhere, or you geek-out and have an AI chatbot do this.
  3. Reach people not currently shopping with you. Typically, 75% of sales are from people located nowhere near your shop.
  4. Have a second outlet for quitting stock.
  5. Have a place where you can experiment.
  6. Playing with a plan Bin case your shop finds itself in choppy waters.
  7. To learn. A website, especially your first website, teaches you so much: What people want. What they could pay. Haw awful some people are.
  8. To get you out of a rut. If you’ve been in your shop for ages and are mailing it in each day, a website could put a spring in your step.
  9. To make your shop more valuable. Having a website can make your shop more appealing when you decide to sell.
  10. To find a secondary brand. Could be the first step in a shop rebrand.
  11. To drive traffic to the shop. People will find products on your website and visit as a result, for sure.
  12. To give you another source of revenue that is completely unrelated to anything you do in your shop.
  13. To harvest email addresses. Email marketing from Shopify is a breeze.

Having a website gives people a landing page from your Facebook, Instagram and TikTok posts. This is important.

Tower Systems makes Shopify and Big Commerce POS software connected websites to help retailers find new shoppers, sell 24/7, drive in-store traffic and run more valuable retail businesses.

POS software connected websites

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We are proud to have delivered hundreds of websites for customers. We do this on a fixed price basis. The two e-commerce platforms we love the lost are Shopify and Big Commerce.

Here’s a list of more recently delivered new or significantly enhanced websites:

We have plenty more under development, across a range of retail channels and delivering access to a variety of tech. innovation. We bring our software development skills to our web development, providing solutions in a range of settings and to many different needs.

If you’d like to consider a new website for your business, please email sales@towersystems.com.au and we will get back to you.

Fixed price POS software connected Shopify web development helps small business retailers land and stay online

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While we are a POS software company that makes, rents and supports POS software for a range of specialty retail businesses, we also develop POS software connected Shopify websites, and we have done this successfully for years.

Our approach is fixed price, and it’s full service.

Web development, good web development, is expensive. We price our work on a break even basis.

The websites we create are beautiful, functional and valuable. This takes time. Our web development expert, who would work with any local retailer customer, is patient and focussed on process to deliver a commercially useful website for you.

Companies that cost less tend to only be able to do this by having the work done offshore, despite what they may pitch in their marketing. All our work is done in Australia, by Christina. This has a higher cost, but it means you are working with someone more likely to properly understand your needs.

We accept there are people who choose to go elsewhere for a website. To be true to what we do and to ensure we compensate our colleagues here appropriately, we are unable to discount the price, sorry.

Tower Systems offers to create a Shopify website for which you receive:

  1. Pre development consultation. This is comprehensive phone call reviewing your needs to understand your requirements more completely.
  2. A checklist of work you complete, to provide assets such as text and images for the website.
  3. A live Shopify site as per everything outlined here.
  4. Shopify theme choice. Included in the quoted price is the selection of a paid-for theme available from the Shopify Theme Store at https://themes.shopify.com/themes.  Themes are used to create the structure, look, and feel of your site so choose carefully.
  5. Shopify link. The Retailer POS software to link with Shopify. This link transfers to the Shopify site the following data points for each inventory item.
  6. A 2 hour Personal hand-over remote training session so you can manage the day to day running our your new live site.
  7. Three months of phone-based support assistance (not including changes) following delivery.
  8. A comprehensive pre-prep / handover document that provides support, written training and guidance on your next steps. This is the same for all our Shopify site customers. i.e. it is not document written especially for you.

Regardless of who you choose to create your website, here are tips we offer to help make setting up a Shopify site successful for you.

  1. Know why. Knowing why you want the website can answer plenty of other questions. For some it is to win new customers, for others it is revenue growth, while for ithers it is better service of existing customers.
  2. Keep it simple. If you are just beginning your journey into eCommerce our message is keep it simple. If you start simple you can get important learnings from which you can make informed changes.  Remember where you start will not be where you finish.  One of the key areas we see people over thinking is freight our advice is to keep freight an easy as possible by using the flat rate options provided by Shopify.  Then, once you understand your customers change and adapt.
  3. Know your narrator. Every website has a narrator, the person behind the scenes writing the text, responding to queries. Think about that person, how they speak, words they use, their manner. Think of this person as a character you create.
  4. Look at competitor sites online locally and overseas as it is beneficial to see what someone else is doing and learn from that.
  5. Only use unique images. If you use supplier supplied images, they may be on other sites and Google will know this. Google likes fresh content.
  6. Write your own product name / title. Use search keywords in the name – that is, what people are searching for. Google likes fresh content.
  7. Write your own product description and think about what shoppers search for.
  8. Do not load everything. Too much stock makes a site hard to navigate.
  9. Consider using a website name that is different to your business name. Online can benefit from a different brand to your in-store situation.
  10. Be open to additional sites. You may make more money from having multiple.
  11. Support the site with active social media engagement.
  12. Promote the site with an email monthly at least, using Shopify’s marketing features.

How well does your POS software connect to Shopify?

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We won more new retail customers this week for our POS software because of our beautiful and trustworthy Shopify link.

Our software packages for jewellers, garden centres, bike shops, gift shops, sewing shops, toy shops, pet stores, firearms dealers, newsagents, produce and farm supply businesses, knitting shops, game shops, vape shops, adult shops, music shops, antique shops and charity / op. shops like to Shopify through a direst Shopify link.

It’s a two-way link.

We are a proud Shopify partner.

Our Tower Systems POS software manages the inventory, the text, the images, the videos. Plus, in-store, it transacts the sales. Shopify manages the sales online. And, Shopify and our tower Systems POS software sync – so you always have accurate stock on hand data.

Our Shopify connected POS software is helping many local retailers safely, efficiently and accurately sell online.

We won the business this week from the new clients once they compared the operation of ur link live to what they had using other POS software. This direct comparison resulted in quick decisions given the importance of online sales for their businesses.

I can’t believe how much better this is. You are going to remove a massive pain point for us. The time it’s going to save!

We were thrilled to hear this.

Okay, we know our POS software Shopify integration is good because we use it ourself in a couple of gift / homewares related retail businesses we also own. But it is wonderfully validating when someone using other POS software, well known POS software, shows us where we shine.

We felt pretty good.

But we’re not resting on this. We continue o tune there Shopify integration, just as Shopify themselves tune their own platform. This is what good software companies do. Change is daily, and important.

If you run a physical store and you sell online, the Tower Systems POS software and Shopify integration marriage could be the productivity and performance move you have been looking. We;’d be happy to show it to you free, without obligation. You can make up your own mind.

We are a no-pressure POS software company. Ask for a demo and we’ll give it to you. We won’t call or chase you. We trust local small business retailers to make business decisions in their own time. The last thing they need or want is sales people chasing them.

Now, if you have 50 minutes or so, you could watch this video from one of our Tower Systems POS software experts and one of our own Shopify experts. It’s packed with free advice you could find useful:

Discovering the beautiful Tufted Titmouse at our POS software company

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It’s fascinating what you learn working with specialty retailers. While we like birds, except swooping magpies, we’d never thought much about the Tufted Titmouse. That is, until we saw this adorable ornament in the Hallmark Keepsake range.

It’s a product item in our POS software and being sold online, too, through a website we created.

It caught our attention as our advice on keywords helped it be a Google page 1 find for people looking for the Hallmark Keepsakes as well as bird lovers interested in the Tufted Titmouse.

Bird lovers are especially interested since this is the 18th in the series of birds by Hallmark.

https://myornaments.com.au/products/the-beauty-of-birds-tufted-titmouse-hallmark-keepsake-ornament

We get pretty involved with our customers – as much as they want, with the usual POS software help and support as well as business advice on how to leverage the software at attract new shoppers and encourage existing shoppers to spend more.

It’s why we love working with local indie small business retailers. It’s personal. #Grateful #ShopLocal #SmallBusiness #Happy #Weekend

These Hallmark Keepsakes are beautiful Christmas ornaments. Crafted with care.

Our roles are to provide the software for the shop and there website for online sales. By providing both and ensuring they are seamlessly integrated we are able to help the retailer to sell in-store and online with surety and certainty. The two-way data flow between the website and Tower Systems POS software save time, improve data accuracy and offer a comfortable shopper experience.

Our POS software manages the images and product information – allowing these to flow to the beautiful Shopify site that we created. It saves so much time for the retailer.

If you go too the My Ornaments website you can see a large range of products – the data for which flow from our POS software. Look at the data that flows across for the Tufted Titmouse product:

Add nature’s splendour to your holiday celebrations with this handsome Tufted Titmouse Christmas tree ornament. Gem details and metallic gold embellishments pair with a dangling holly branch, sure to delight bird enthusiasts.

  • Key Features: 18th in the Beauty of Birds Keepsake Ornament series.
  • Additional Details: Artist crafted by Edythe Kegrize and Emma Leturgez-Smith. Plastic Christmas tree ornament.
  • Includes: One 2022 Keepsake Ornament in gift box for easy gift giving, preservation and storage.
  • Ornament Size: Approx. 3.57 x 7.07 x 9.16 cm
  • Product Code QXR9063

All this, plus the photos, and videos too if that is available for any product.

The integration between the Tower Systems POS software and Shopify sites is something we are proud of and grateful to provide to many indie retailers.

Retailers beware – there are some awful POS software webstore / website integrations out there

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We just switched another local retailer to our POS software because they wanted a website integration that worked. They were using a POS software solution that linked to an obscure webstore platform recommended by that POS software company.

After more than a year of problems and minimal sales, the retailer gave up.

They switched to our POS software and to a beautiful Shopify website directly connected to our POS software.

As a Shopify partner, the connection is true and secure, fast and easy to use.

The Shopify website offers better facilities and more elegant customer interface than what they paid too much for previously. We are grateful to be of service, to help this local retail business get POS software they love and get live with a website they are proud to promote.

If you are choosing POS software, go with one that supports mainstream website platforms rather than an obscure platform. Go with one that is a partner of well known and loved webstore platforms.

We support several but prefer Shopify.

Shopify is an ideal platform for sites that do not have out of the ordinary requirements.  It is hosted securely by Shopify, reducing your reliance on, and costs associated with, web hosting.  Linking the site to our Retailer POS software is also easy. Shopify is easy to modify and change pages, products, look and plenty more.

For ease of reference and transparency, below is a numbered list of all work and tasks included in our fixed price Shopify website development. This is the complete list.

  1. Shopify account. We would use our development account until such time, as we deliver the live site to you. Once this has occurred you will need your own Shopify account and we will transfer the site to you.  We can help you get your own account.
  2. Template / theme selection. We will guide you through template / theme selection options. You will have free choice over any theme available at themes.shopify.com. Many templates have no cost while some have a cost, paid to Shopify. We will also fund the purchase of a paid-for theme up to US$250.00 in value if that is the theme you want.
  3. Overall design to be applied to the template selected to customise the look and feel of the site. While there is back and forth involved, the design process is not priced to be an extended back and forth process. Please be clear and concise in articulating our needs. We will listen to your brief and provide a design for your consideration. Adjustments can be made within the quote but any major diversion from the original brief may add to the cost.
  4. The setup of loading of products into the site via a live link to the Retailer software. We would need you to have this data in Retailer ready for export.
  5. Interfacing to payment gateways: Shopify Pay, Apple Pay, Stripe and Paypal.
  6. Training: over the phone and usually around two hours. We’d like 2 people from the business there as we have found this helps the business get the most from it.
  7. The site we create will have the following elements:
      1. Including text and images (which you provide through the Tower POS software), and site navigation. We would also include a business location map.
      2. Social media links to any business accounts you have for: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.
      3. About page. Your text, describing you and your business. This will need to be between 150 and 350 words. Well written, clear as to what you and your business are about.
      4. Legal / Privacy Policy. We can use yours or you can edit ours and use it.
      5. Terms and conditions page: terms and conditions that you can modify.
      6. Contact us page showing your contact details as well as an enquiry form.
      7. Configured Product Page showing the images and details about products.
      8. Shopify Chat setup, if you want chat turned on.
      9. Blog feed. A blog allows you to publish your own news stories. These can be critical for helping people find the site through Google.

When it comes to choosing a POS software and website software company, take your time, do your research, ensure that what you are buying is right for what you want. If you’re not sure, ask for reference customers from your type of business.

Free workshop: helping local small business retailers sell online

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Tower systems has announced details of another free workshop that aims to provide advice, guidance and support for local retailers to sell online. Our experts and retailers will be there with free advice for anyone see to sell online from any type of retail business.

This free session is open to anyone. Get details by emailing sales@towersystems.com.au

Our how when and why to sell online workshop is Wednesday, May 11 @ 10am Melbourne time.

Tower Systems makes POS software and POS software integrated websites for specialty retailers in a range of retail niches.

Fixed price POS software connected Shopify websites

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Tower Systems offers Aussie retailers access to Aussie developed and supported Shopify e-commerce websites connected to the Tower Systems POS software.

We like Shopify plenty because after the website is live, local retailers can maintain the site without having to rely on others to do this work.

Offering a fixed price website development solution is rare, yet here we are doing just that, in service of efficient and effective e-commerce for local small business retailers.

Tower Systems offers to create a Shopify website for a fixed price for which each client receives:

  1. Pre development consultation. This is comprehensive phone call reviewing needs as outlined in the survey, seeking to more completely understand your needs.
  2. A checklist of work you complete with our guidance, to provide us assets such as text and images for the website. The current version of the checklist is part of this quote. This lists what any web developer will require from you.
  3. A live Shopify site as per everything outlined here. During development, there will be back and forth discussions by email and phone to ensure that the evolving meets expectations. Your timely attention to communication is key.
  4. Shopify theme choice. Included in the quoted price is the selection of a paid-for theme up to the cost of US$250.00.
  5. Personal hand-over training so you can make your own tweaks to the site as needed. This is usually around 2 hours.
  6. Three months of phone-based assistance (but not software changes) following delivery of the site.
  7. A comprehensive pre-prep / handover document that provides support, written training and guidance on your next steps. This is the same for all our Shopify site customers. i.e. it is not document written especially for you.
  8. Shopify link. The Retailer POS software to link with Shopify. This link transfers to the Shopify site the following data points for each inventory item:
    1. SKU
    2. Name
    3. Qty
    4. Web Description
    5. Web Price
    6. Department
    7. Category
    8. Images

This is all backed up by pre-planning documentation, to help any retailer properly prepare their data and other assets needed to bring an awesome website to life.

The Tower Systems Shopify website development service is personal, engaged and accessible. We have developed many websites for many different customer situations. We are grateful to have a terrific portfolio to show-off and help others find the path they would like to follow.

How POS software integrates Shopify websites help small business retailers thrive

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A POS software integrated Shopify website delivers plenty of benefits to local small business retailers beyond the expected, beyond what you may expect from an awesome website.

While selling online, reaching new shoppers, adding icing on the cake revenue to the business and leveraging exisiting overheads for this new revenue are valuable benefits, it is through the smart POS software / Shopify website connectivity and integration that a local small retail business really benefits.

This is what Tower Systems does – it creates beautiful Shopify websites connected to its specialty retail POS software, for its POS software customers. In the back end, though, it helps in myriad ways:

  • Reduced mistakes through synchronised data sharing.
  • Time saves through using the POS software inventory data.
  • Inventory managed in one place.
  • Accurate selling what you have in-stock thanks to auto-syncing.
  • Better management fulfilment through the POS software connection.
  • No double handling of inventory and sales data.
  • Easier order management through the integrated dashboard.
  • Smart management of variants through the sync between POS software and Shopify.

These are just some of the benefits Tower Systems brings to the table through its POS software connected Shopify websites. Tower Systems has been delivering to small business retailers in this space for many years, we are a Shopify partner and are grateful to leverage their expertise for our local retail customer community.

Best of all, our customers have the ability to tune their websites, to evolve them over time. This is something to love about Shopify – it’s easy for non-tech people to engage with. It is a reason to love it, as many of our customers do.

A Shopify site, like any website, is a hungry beast. By this we mean that it  needs to be fed, with new content and changes, regularly.

  1. Continue to add products and ensure they are named and described how people would search for them.
  2. Refresh your collection / category landing page descriptions. A landing page is a collection page on which you have items for that collection. Write 3 or 4 crisp sentences of 15 or 20 words each with the sentences punching keywords people are likely to search for. Remember, you are writing more for the search engines than humans.
  3. The best photos are those you take, of single products. A photo of a display is not easily understood by humans or Google.
  4. Add articles. Your knowledge could be what differentiates your business from any competitor. Indeed, non-product content will most likely drive more traffic than product content.
  5. Get suppliers and others to link to you. The more the better.
  6. Sell products on additional channels: Facebook, Instagram & eBay.
  7. Regularly pitch your site on social media.
  8. Use Shopify’s abandoned cart feature to push sales.
  9. Pitch promotional discounts to draw in new customers.

Beautiful POS software connected Shopify websites help local small business retailers find new shoppers online

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Now, not to brag, here are some of the Tower POS software connected websites our awesome web dev. team has developed:

  1. Avalon Nursery – https://avalonnursery.com.au
  2. Berry Newsagency (Books n Gifts) – https://booksngifts.com.au
  3. Bear Essence – https://bearessence.com.au
  4. Making Spirits Bright – https://makingspiritsbright.com.au
  5. Seaspray Jewellery – https://seasprayjewellery.com.au
  6. Gippy Cycles – https://gippycycles.com.au
  7. IT Warehouse – https://itwarehouse.com.au
  8. Sportfishing Scene – https://sportfishingscene.com.au
  9. Northside Produce Agency – https://northsideproduceagency.com.au
  10. NXP Leven (Serenity Home & Gifts) – https://serenityhomeandgifts.com.au
  11. Reservoir Newsagency (The Shop Nxt Door) – https://shopnxtdoor.com.au
  12. Camping World Dalby – https://campingworlddalby.com.au
  13. Randall’s Newsagency (Back O Bourke Collective) – https://backobourkecollective.com.au
  14. Peppercorn Gifts & Homewares – https://peppercorngifts.com.au
  15. NXP Highlands Market Place (Highlands Gifts & Plush) – https://highlandgiftsandplush.com.au
  16. The Shop, University of Newcastle  – https://shop.newcastle.edu.au
  17. The Petfood Warehouse – https://thepetfoodwarehouse.com.au
  18. H Rehfisch & Co – https://rehfisch.com.au
  19. Sprengers Rural Traders – https://sprengersruraltraders.com.au

There are many more than these. We have also developed websites that connect multiple retail outlets.

To help customers keen for a Shopify website we have just launched a trial of a 12 month interest free payment plan for new Shopify website development. This is for new websites ordered from now. Our sales team can explain this to you but essentially it is 12 monthly payments of $550.00. The site goes live as soon as you and your data are ready. The payment plan is designed to help you smooth out your cashflow. To consider a Shopify site developed by us, please email sales@towersystems.com.au.

Tower Systems offers free advice for small business retailers on POS software connected Shopify websites

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Several weeks ago our team at Tower Systems hosted four free workshops covering a range of topics related to creating POS software connected Shopify sites and how to drive traffic to them. The goal was to share insights and offer free advice and training for retailers looking to grow online sales.

We share here videos of these sessions in which a deep well of free advice was shared and explored.

Here are videos of the workshops for anyone interested. If you are considering a website for your business, buyer beware. There are plenty of shonky business people in the web development space. Our hope is that the four workshops share information that you find useful in navigating a path to growing your online sales.

This last session is all about writing good blog posts and how they play a key role in driving traffic.

We are grateful to the retailer who participated.

SEO advice for POS software connected Shopify websites helps small business retailers drive traffic

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We have shared updated SEO advice with our local small business retailer customers for whom we have developed beautiful POS software connected Shopify websites.

Through personal training and backed by peer-reviewed written advice, we have shared how they can. Make the best use of product names, descriptions and other text so as to drive up their rankings through Google and other search engine platforms.

Just as the search algorithms change overtime, so does our SEO advice for POS software connected Shopify websites. Our latest advice was first field tested prior to sharing with our customers. we have been able to sow them how following the advice can play for their businesses.

Small business retailers can’t be expected to be SEO experts. Our recommendation is that they NOT hire SEO experts though as too often we have found that money wasted. The key is to now the best type of customer for your business. They, to research how to best connect with that type of customer. This is where an understanding of your specific specialty retail business can make a difference. It’s where our Tower Systems expertise can make a difference.

Our latest SEO advice for POS software connected Shopify websites has been provided to all customers for no charge, as part of our customer service suite of services. we see it as a genuine value-add for our customers, something we are grateful to have been able to provide to them.

Running consumer-facing websites ourselves positions us for useful knowledge, which we leverage for our customers through advice like we have mentioned here. We’ve made SEO mistakes from which we have learned. we have also made some very cool SEO moves, from which we have also learned. We have sheared our own experienced, to add to the free resource pool available for our customers.

Helping our local small business retailer community leverage practical advice for SEO settings for their type of business is part of what we offer as a specialty retail focussed POS software and web development business. We have helped several retailers recently stop paying fees to external businesses based on the free help in this area available to them as part of the Tower Systems community.

Advice for local small business retailers considering a website for their business

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Our CEO sent the following email to small business retailers on our database Saturday morning. We share it here as we know some retailers are being encouraged to go online, including by some with dubious claims about their success and what they can do:

Good morning this Saturday morning.

Like many of you, I guess, I am sitting here getting some work donw while rgularly checking for Covid updates, to find out when the various press conferences will be. I’ve also been checking emails.

I am frustrated at some of the email pitches I am seeing to retailers offering websites. I am especially frustrated by those who claim it is cheap and easy.

Like anything in this world, you get what you pay for. 

There is one shonk emailing claiming that you’ll make a ton from selling online from a. website they setup for you. I check the traffic they get to their own online shop and it’s under 100 visitors a day.

I own Tower Systems and I own several retail shops. Each shop has a website connected to it. I know how hard it is to get the website up and running, attract shoppers and maintain traffic. The rewards can be worth it.

There is no easy road. But, that should not put you off for if you get it right, the reward can be wonderful.

Click here to see some of the many websites we have created.

I have a small high street retail shop in suburban Melbourne that will do more than $160,000 in online sales this year. What we have done for that shop is what we advise our POS software and web development customers to do. It runs a POS software commented Shopify site, which we created here at Tower Systems.

A website is a hungry beast. If you leave things to someone else, I guarantee the results will not be as good as they could be.

There is no easy road. We have a pathway that focusses on early wins, good commercial outcomes you will like.

We develop POS software connected websites for our customers for $6,600.00. But, we expect you to get your data ready, in the POS software, so it flows across. We guide you through this.

We also develop Magento websites. They are for more complex needs. One of our magento websites does around $500,000 a year in sales. It’s connected to a group of retail businesses, which are owned by local retailers.

We have used WooCommerce but no more. It’s expensive to maintain. Anyone who asks our advice, we say don’t go with WooCommerce.

With the news our of NSW yesterday about click and collect, we can help you with this. It’s part of what we do for customers through a POS software connected website. We can also help you navigate complex shipping requirements as well as connecting with a variety of payment options.

If you are interested in a POS software connected Shopify site, click here to see our fixed price quote.

In addition to developing a beautiful site for you, we can help with the planning by sharing data for your competitors, guiding you on keywords and making suggestions on look and feel.

Given what has happened in NSW, VIC and the ACT in the last few days, we can fast track a site for you. let us know if this interests you.

To find out more, email sales@towersystems.com.au or call Tim on 0401 833 917 or Justin on 0434 365 789.

If you have the time, check out videos some of the workshops we have hosted in which we discuss with retailers web development and how to make some of the decisions you need to make around this.

Thanks for reading. I hope you are safe and well. And, please, beware claims offering cheap websites setup entirely by others.

Mark Fletcher
Managing Director
Tower Systems
0418 321 338.

PS. As a guide, online should by now be at least 10% of your product revenue.

Local small business retailers keen to enhance online and click & collect

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Our Zoom meetings yesterday with local small business retailers about getting online and making the m out of the online opportunity have resonated, and resulted in plenty more informed with evidence they can use as they walk the pathway to doing more business online.

Our sessions stayed away from pitching our web development services. We said they would be educational, not sales focussed, and that is how we ran them. we even had a couple of web developers join us to find out about connecting with our POS software.

With so much misinformation abut there about taking your retail business online, it’s important to us that we offer facts from which small business retailers can benefit.

When you are ready to connect your POS software to Shopify through a beautiful and easily found website, we can help through our professional web development services.

Helping retailers fix problematic websites

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We offer a service whereby we help small business retailers fix problems with websites created for them by another business.

While our preference is to create a fresh website using the skills of our webbed team, in some cases it is better to fix what others have done. So, that’s what we do.

We help our customers connect their tower POS software to their Shopify, WooCommerce or Magento website. W have a proprietary platform through data flows between the website and the POS software, s0o that the POS software maintains accurate stock on hand data.

It is frustrating seeing some of the mistakes in websites delivered to customers by external web developers. They range from poor design through to technical failures. All fixable, but all should have been addressed as part of the solution delivered.

Our skills webbed team is ale to help our small business retail customers fix many of the website problems they have been left with by others. Sometimes, this work evolves into a re-design to make the website look more presentable.

With the website an online representation of a retail shop, it is important to get it right, to get the website itself right as well as the connection to the website with the POS software right. We offer web developers a ton of help to do this. Unfortunately, some of them reject that help, thinking they know better. oo often, what they deliver demonstrates that they did not know better. This is why we end up spending time fixing issues, fixing their websites to be of commercial value to our customers.

Our years of experience in commercial web development using Shopify, Magento and Woo see us with a terrific skill set, which we leverage for our customers through the websites we deliver to them.

Our web development work is fixed price, based on a thorough understand of what each customer needs. We only get to this point once we are certain we know exactly what a customer is looking for from a website. The biggest mistake we see web developers make is not knowing what a customer needs or wants. We see this when we are called in to fix problems with websites.

Fixed price POS software connected Shopify sites for local retailers

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The Tower Systems approach to Shopify website development and connection to our specialty retailer POS software is thorough. it includes …: For ease of reference and clarity, below is a numbered list of all work and tasks included in the above quote and work you will have to do. This is the complete list.

  1. Shopify account. We would use our development account until such time, as we deliver the live site to you. Once this has occurred you will need your own Shopify account and we will transfer the site to you.  We can help you get your own account.
  2. Template / theme selection. We will guide you through template / theme selection options. You will have free choice over any theme available at themes.shopify.com. Many templates have no cost while some have a cost, paid to Shopify. We will also fund the purchase of a paid-for theme up to US$250.00 in value if that is the theme you want.
  3. Overall design to be applied to the template selected to customise the look and feel of the site. While there is back and forth involved, the design process is not priced to be an extended back and forth process. Please be clear and concise in articulating our needs. We will listen to your brief and provide a design for your consideration. Adjustments can be made within the quote but any major diversion from the original brief may add to the cost.
  4. The site we create will have the following elements:
    1. Including text and images (which you are to provide), and site navigation. We would also include a business location map.
    2. Social media links to any business accounts you have for: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.
    3. About page. Your text, describing you and your business. This will need to be between 150 and 350 words. Well written, clear as to what you and your business are about.
    4. Legal / Privacy Policy. We can use yours or you can edit ours and use it.
    5. Terms and conditions page: terms and conditions that you can modify.
    6. Contact us page showing your contact details as well as an enquiry form.
    7. Configured Product Page showing the images and details about products.
    8. Shopify Chat setup, if you want chat turned on.
    9. Blog feed. A blog allows you to publish your own news stories. These can be critical for helping people find the site through Google.
  1. The setup of loading of products into the site via a live link to the Retailer software. We would need you to have this data in Retailer ready for export.
  2. Interfacing to payment gateways: Shopify Pay, Apple Pay, Stripe and Paypal.
  3. OPTION: Interfacing to Humm, Zip and Afterpay. The work is all done at once for all 3 or for those of the 3 you go with. It is vital you do all at once.
  4. Training: over the phone and usually around two hours. We’d like 2 people from the business there as we have found this helps the business get the most from it.

There is more to the work we do than this. It is detailed, comprehensive and small business retail ourcome focussed. Oh, and all done in Australia for local Aussie businesses.

Retail business advice on POS software integrated websites

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We make POS software integrated Shopify websites for a fixed price: $6,600.00 (inc. GST).

Too often we see small business retailers pay a web consultant anything between $5,000 and $15,000 for an awful website, one not connected to your POS software.

A retailer called us just recently in tears about money wasted on a site that looks like it is from the 1990s … thousands down the drain.

We are seeing too many WooCommerce / WordPress websites that businesses want to switch from. Web developers recommend WooCommerce as it guarantees income for them. In our experience, this is an expensive platform to maintain, a platform we moved from ourselves for e-commerce years ago.

If you want a website for your business, please ask us. You have nothing to lose and much to gain by getting us to quote.

See some of the beautiful websites we have created: www.towersystems.com.au/Websites-we-have-created

Before we start creating a beautiful website for your business, we want to know about what you need from the site, your competitors and how you’d like to handle things like shipping, payment methods and more.

We also share details of our experiences with the consumer facing websites we run ourselves as well as experiences from the websites we have developed for others.

Here’s where to start: contact one of our sales people, please call 1300 662 957 or email sales@towersystems.com.au.

Australian made.
We make websites for our customers ourselves. We do not outsource this work offshore. There is something to be said for locally made websites for local retail businesses that, themselves, want local people to shop locally.

At the core of what we do, we create websites that we would want if we owned your business. Each website is a calling card, something we want to show off to win business for you and to win business for us.

Website Q&A.
Can I run multiple Shopify websites from the one business? Yes
Can Retailer POS software connect to a website? Yes.
Where is the best place to manage stock description and price data? Retailer.
Can I have a different price online to in my shop? Yes.
Can I have a different description online to in my shop? Yes.
Does Retailer store photos for what I sell? Yes.
Can these flow to the website? Yes.
Do I have to put everything I sell in my shop online? No.
Where do I start? Do our online questionnaire.
After I do the questionnaire, what’s next? Sign up with us and we will guide through a structured process designed to get the best website possible for your business.
Money is tight. I can get a website cheaper elsewhere. You should go with the web developer that best suits your business. Remember, you get what you pay for.
Let us show you what we can do in creating a website for your business.

We’d love to show some of the beautiful, functional and flexible websites we have created for our customers. Let’s talk …

A website of itself will not drive success. What’s needed is a beautiful website with the right tech and connections to help you reach more customers than you do now.

Small business retail advice on making your website successfully work for you

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Having a website for your retail business is terrific – as long as the site is terrific. That means serving a need, being easily found, being enjoyed and integrating seamlessly with your business.

Here at Tower Systems, we develop websites for our POS software customers. Websites that integrate with your POS software.

To help you consider what your retail business website could look like and could be used for, here are some suggestions that we and our customers have found useful for those considering a website to engage with …

  1. Look carefully at competitor sites online locally and overseas as it is beneficial to see what someone else is doing.
  2. Only use unique images. If you use supplier supplied images, they may be on other sites and Google will know this. Google likes fresh content.
  3. Write your own product name / title. Use search keyworks in the name. Google likes fresh content.
  4. Write your own product description and think about what shoppers search for.
  5. Do not load everything. Too much stock makes a site hard to navigate.
  6. Consider using a website name that is different to your business name. Online can benefit from a different brand to your in-store situation.
  7. Be open to additional sites. You may make more money from having multiple.
  8. Support the site with active social media. A Facebook page with a name the same as the web name.
  9. Promote the site with an email monthly at least, through MailChimp or similar.

Too often we see small business retailers think their website needs to reflect an online version of their shop. While that may be okay, it may not be the best business move. Sometimes, exploring a new category of product or service online could be a soft and good way to explore expanding the business without disrupting the existing in-store business.

A website connected to a retail business can be a good way to explore the expansion or evolution of the retail business. Tower Systems as its webstore team can work with you, helping you to explore options and opportunities that may align with your current business and the goals you have for it and for yourself.

This is where an engaging and consultative approach could work to help you walk to an online solution that is more nuanced and enjoyable to your personal and business needs.

POS software connected websites developed by Tower Systems for small business retailers

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We are grateful to be expanding out portfolio of websites for small business retailers, helping them to transact online.

Here are some of our recently completed POS software connected websites:

www.backobourkecollective.com.au
www.inspiretasmania.com.au
www.brindabellastockfeed.com.au
www.heavensabove.com.au
www.loavesrobe.com.au
www.masterjewellersonline.com.au
www.chitchatgifts.com.au
www.eidsvoldrural.com.au
www.forevergiftsandmore.com.au
www.funporium.com.au
www.goulburnstationery.com.au
www.rehfisch.com.au
www.merimbulaextra.com.au
www.morganpark.com.au
www.nextragiftsorange.com.au
www.northsideproduceagency.com.au
www.pamperedpetz.com.au
www.www.paperplayonline.com.au
www.parkesnewsandgifts.com.au
www.rivercitypets.com.au
www.smithstreettraders.com.au
www.sprengersruraltraders.com.au
www.hefeedshop.com.au
www.shop.newcastle.edu.au
www.toyworldcanberra.com.au
www.toyworldwauchope.com.au
www.reasureboxgifts.com.au
www.uncletomspps.com.au
www.warragulpetemporium.com.au
www.welbygardencentre.com.au
www.wollongongbikehub.com.au

If you are interested in a POS software connected website, please reach out to our sales team: sales@towersystems.com.au.

Included in our fixed price local retail business website development package, we will create a Shopify site for you.

For ease of reference and clarity, below is a numbered list of all work and tasks included in the above quote and work you will have to do. This is the complete list.

  1. Shopify account. We would use our development account until such time, as we deliver the live site to you. Once this has occurred you will need your own Shopify account and we will transfer the site to you.  At this point you will need your own Shopify account.
  2. Template / theme selection. We will step you through template / theme selection options. You will have free choice over any theme available at themes.shopify.com. Many templates have no cost while some have a cost, paid to Shopify. We will also fund the purchase of a paid-for theme up to US$250.00 in value if that is the theme you want.
  3. Overall design to be applied to the template selected to customise the look and feel of the site. The design process is not priced to be a back and forth process. We would consult prior to doing the customisation. We will listen to your brief and provide a design. Minor adjustments can be made within the quote but any diversion from the original brief would add to the cost.
  4. The site will have the following base elements created for you
    1. Including text (which you are to provide), images, button. We would also include a location map.
    2. Home page links to any business accounts you have for: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.
    3. About page. Your text, describing you and your business.
    4. Privacy Policy page listing a policy we have – that you can modify.
    5. Terms and conditions page: terms and conditions that you can modify.
    6. Contact us page showing your contact details as well as an enquiry form.
    7. Configured Product Page showing the images and details about products.
    8. Shopify Chat setup, if you want chat turned on.
  1. The setup of loading of products into the site via a live link to the Retailer software. We would need you to have this data in Retailer ready for export.
  2. Interfacing to one or both payment gateways: Stripe and Paypal.
  3. Interfacing to both of Humm and Zip. You will need to create the accounts with them. Afterpay is an additional $500 and you will need to create an account.
  4. Training of your nominated person in the management of the site. This is done over the phone and should take no more than two hours. We would suggest two sessions of training for appropriately skilled people.

We have many moe websites in our portfolio and new sites launching every week.

We love seeing our customers in the news

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The Cairns Post ran a feature on The Feed Shop from Gordonvale, located half an hour out of Cairns, and their online sales. We are grateful to have made their POS software connected website. The reference in the article to tech support is a reference to us.

Michelle, the owner of the business said this yesterday on our private Tower customer Facebook group: If there are any Tower customers who are considering an online store with Tower, I encourage you to chat to the team. From the first step in planning, to completion, and now upkeep/new ideas, the Tower support has been amazing! Our online store has made HUGE difference to our business during these challenging times. 

Fixed price POS software connected Shopify website development

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Tower Systems offers a fixed price website development solution for retailers keen to sell online using Shopify. Our POS software connected Shopify websites are made to serve the needs of each retail business that partners with us.

We engage in a discovery process to ensure we genuinely understand their business needs. Our website development team then works with them to create a beautiful POS software connected Shopify website.

The work is considerable, detailed, interactive and focussed solely on delivering for the retail business the POS software connected website solution they want. And, yes, all of this is delivered on a fixed price basis.

We went with offering fixed price Shopify website development because of the need we saw and the discovery that too often web developers hooked people with a lowball quote and then applied add-on charges, making the website far more expensive than needed.

Our fixed price Shopify POS software connected solution has already been embraced by many retailers with commercial success, helping them to sell to shoppers who live in other states and even countries.

Our approach is structured from the outset, undertaken with the goal of delivering what our retail business customers want. We have found that by engaging in through pre-planning we are able to deliver happiness to our customers. The old adage of measure three times and cut once is true when it. comes to our fixed price Shopify POS software connected website service.

Our Tower Systems Shopify website development service is 100% based out of our Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia office. This matters as our web development people understand the needs of local retail. They work local hours. They have the cultural and retail knowledge experiences to deliver an intuitive and engaging Shopify website solution. And, again, this is a fixed price service.

We suggest you approach launching a website as a start-up business. Sure, it may sell some or all of what you sell in your shop. However, it is different, it is its own thing with different needs and different opportunities. Seeing it as a start-up can help. Also, seeing it as a start-up could take you on a fresh path.

You need to love your website. If you don’t it will not get the attention and support it needs from you. By lovewe mean love what it sells, how it does this and how it represents you.

Seamless POS software Shopify integration helps more small business retailers easily sell online

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Tower Systems offers seamless integration of its POS software with Shopify, sharing sales data, inventory data and inventory images. The flow of data from the POS to Shopify and from Shopify to the POS software means that small business retailers can deliver a whole of business approach to data management for physical and online sales.

Better still, Tower Systems developed Shopify websites for customers, in addition to developing POS software for specialty retailers.

Our POS software development team and our web development team are separate in our POS software company but they do collaborate, to ensure that the Shopify POS software integration is seamless, robust and to the standards expected by Shopify.

As a Shopify partner, we are grateful to have delivered for our customers in this area, providing a seamless two-way data link between Shopify and our POS software.

Last year, we helped many retailers sell online through our Shopify POS software integration. In 2021 we are set to help even more.

We offer a fixed price Shopify site development solution, guiding our customers through product selection, design, editorial, theme selection and go-live. Our approach is comprehensive. It is assisted by a strong and direct link to Shopify from our POS software, built to the standards set by Shopify.

We go further…

Through a consultative process, the web specialists at Tower help retailers discover how they can genuinely differentiate online to attract new shoppers, especially shoppers who are not local, shoppers who may otherwise not know the business exists.

By researching current search engine data as to what people are searching for, Tower Systems has been able to help retailers pivot online while using the existing business for labour and other overheads.

While the temptation is for retailers to represent their existing business online, the most success is had by retailers who treat their website as a start-up, a new business. This is where the comprehensive keyword research by Tower can help unlock commercially valuable opportunities.

Selling online is hard work made easier if you get the technical foundations right first. This is where Tower Systems can help, it is where our POS software / Shopify integrated solution helps small business retailers – to get online, sell online and through this to find new shoppers who might otherwise never have discovered the retail business.

Shopify POS software solution for small business retailers

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Aussie POS software company Tower Systems is grateful to offer a Shopify POS software solution for small business retailers.

As a Shopify partner, the Tower Systems Shopify POS software solution it seamless between the in-store POS snd the online store, with one central dataset for inventory as well as for managing sales – in-store and online.

It’s a complete solution, a proven solution in stores across many different retail niches.

Developed in Australia and delivered first years ago and enhanced regularly since, the Shopify POS software solution is robust and first for purpose for gift shops, jewellers, bike shops, toy shops, newsagents, games shops, pet shops, garden centres and plenty more. This is a robust solution for a range of vertical market businesses.

The Shopify POS software solution from Tower Systems works beautifully both at the sales counter as well as  through the online shopper experience. Tower Systems is grateful to own retail businesses with strong online sales where this Shopify POS software solution has been tested by the business itself.

By walking in the shoes of our retailers we have been able to fine-tune the Shopify POS software solution to ensure it genuinely is a solution. We bring together both sides – the POS software side and all it manages for the retail business and the Shopify side, through beautiful websites that we develop to capture online sales. By building both for our small business retail customers we are able to deliver a wholistic Shopify POS software solution.

As one of the world’s most popular eCommerce platform, Shopify is the perfect tool for selling online. With a customisable template that can be edited with ease, and a powerful backend allowing monitoring of store data, Shopify is optimal for the growth of your business.

Through the Tower Systems Shopify POS software solution link, your business can sell online with very little additional effort. The website becomes a reflection of your physical store, allowing online sales with no change in everyday trading.

We are grateful too be able to help small business retailers transact online in a seamless and data safe way, with one data set, one place to manage critical business data. This ihas been brought about through our Shopify POS software solution, something that is Australian made, for Australian businesses.

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