Great POS software, easy to use yet powerful for specialty retail.
Tower Systems helps small business retailers relax
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Small business retailers love discount vouchers
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Tower Systems has been a champion of discount vouchers for years. From launch to regular innovation, the benefits delivered have been valuable for small business retailers.
Through our work with the newsXpress gift, toy and newsagency marketing group we have produced channel-speficvi training. Here is a new video we shot last week outlining the benefits of discount vouchers from a business owner perspective. We share it here today to shine a light on the business support and management resources we produce for customers.
Software for jewellers: Helping you help the Franks of the world express their love, on time.
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Helping you help the Franks of the world express their love, on time.
Frank got to the shop just before closing, in time to purchase a beautiful necklace as a gift for his wife for their seventh wedding anniversary. Talking about this at the counter, we explained how we could remind him next year so there was no last-minute rush. Frank was thrilled.
Fast forward eleven months and Frank was in with two weeks to spare. He brought with him the voucher we sent as an early bird purchase encouragement. He spent $350.00 with us on another anniversary gift, bagging a $25.00 discount. Frank also told us about his daughter who had been born two months earlier. We asked for her birthday so we could remind him about that. “As long as you send me another voucher”, he joked. We will.
Reminding shoppers of gift buying opportunities is valuable for independent retail businesses. Doing this with thoughtfully tuned email or mail communications and including an offer can enhance the response rate.
These marketing tools are part of a range of jeweller specific marketing and management facilities in the jeweller software developed and supported by Tower Systems in Australia.
Another way we help maximise sales is with an instant loyalty reward. This is particularly useful where you see shoppers infrequently, like for anniversary gifts. Using rules you control, a receipt can include a reward offering an amount off the next purchase.
An average 19% redemption rate for the vouchers with a third redeemed the day of purchase. Male shoppers are far more likely to redeem the day of purchase. Frank will attest to that.
The instant loyalty reward can also work with a point based program for more regular shoppers too, helping them spend more with you.
Our jeweller specific software also offers:
- Bundle pricing where you sell several items together. For example, matching earrings and a necklace or a bracelet and a necklace.
- Including care instructions on receipts.
- Smart reporting. The most important competitor is your own business. Our software makes it easy for you to compare month on month, year on year, by category, supplier and more.
- Multibuy pricing where people purchase over time and receive a free item. This works particularly well as people build a collection.
- Theft mitigation. We help you protect your business against employee and shopper theft.
- Managing repairs, regardless of whether you do them in-store or not.
- Easy loading of electronic invoices from your suppliers.
- Linking to a website for online sales.
- Linking to Xero to cut bookkeeping and external accounting costs.
See the software live. Contact us for an obligation free demonstration: Please call our sales team at 1300 662 957 or email them at sales@towersystems.com.au.
This software is affordable. You can purchase the software outright, lease it or rent it. You can use it in your business loaded on local computers or in the cloud. How you purchase and access the software is 100% up to you.
Supported by humans, in Australia. Our help desk is in Hawthorn, Victoria. Everyone who works on the help desk has experience in retail. To access the help desk you can call, email, post a Facebook message Tweet or text us.
Training is personal. We come to your business and train you in the software. The training is tailored to your specific needs. Like I said, training is personal. Long after we install, you have access to one on one training, at no additional cost.
Previewing 2018 at our small business POS software co
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We appreciate the feedback from our POS software user customers about the preview we provided to the year in this video we shot in house. In addition to introducing some tech innovation coming early this year, the video also reflects our human and personal approach to software development, it underscores that we stand behind what we sell.
Twenty new knowledge base articles help POS software users
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Tower Systems continues to add knowledge base articles to the 700+ articles in our live 24/7 access knowledge base that helps our users get more from our POS software.
Here are the most recent topics covered in new articles we have published for our customers:
- BOGO – Buy One Get One Free
- Day of Week Report
- Daily Takings Report
- Weekly Takings Report
- Monthly Takings Report
- Detailed Takings Report
- Enabling POS Tracking
- POS Tracking Report
- Weekly Magazine Decay Report
- Sales By Customer
- Supplier Listing Report
- Sales Target Report
- Layby Report
- Department Listing Report
- Category Performance Report
- Detailed Performance Report
- Customer Listing Report
- Pack Units Report
- Sales Profitability Report
- Discount Types Report
We are grateful to our customers for feedback on articles they like and articles we can improve.
Helping newsagents transform their businesses
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newsXpress, a newsagency marketing group with which we are connected, invites newsagents from across Australia to free management workshops. We also offer to fund air travel for newsagents to ensure easy access to this important event.
Hear how newsagents are transforming their businesses, finding new customers, enjoying a new lease on life. We will share case studies from city and country newsagencies.
- See new, exclusive, product that is attracting new shoppers, product you have never seen at a gift fair or trade show before.
- See greeting cards not available in any other newsagency, greeting cards that appeal to shoppers beyond the usual caption range in Australia.
- See the evidence of success of the newsXpress multi-site web strategy that is driving online as well as in-store sales. We will share the latest sales data.
- See the newsXpress P&L – demonstrating transparency.
Here are the only dates in this series. Please tick your selection.
- ADELAIDE: 5th Feb, 10am @ Rydges South Park, 1 South Terrace SA 5000
- SYDNEY: 6th Feb, 10am @ Hilton Sydney, 448 George St Sydney NSW 2000
- BRISBANE: 7th Feb, 10am @ Brisbane Riverview Hotel, Kingsford Smith Dr,
- PERTH: 8th Feb, 10am @ Parmelia Hilton Perth, 14 Miller St Perth WA 6000
- MELBOURNE: 9th Feb, 10am @ Grace Park Hawthorn Club, 6 Hilda Crescent
I am posting this here as I am a director of newsXpress and will be hosting each workshop.
Book by emailing help@newsxpress.com.au or by using the booking form.
If you have any questions, call me – 0418 321 338.
Software for Australian pet and produce businesses
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Tower Systems is grateful for the opportunity too pitch our produce business software and pet shop software to members of the AIRR and Tuckers Pet group today and tomorrow at their national conference in Adelaide.
The latest release of our specialty software is on show as is our personal, local, service … helping local businesses grow. We’re here to help…
Retail business owner advice: understand insolvent trading
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A business owning three shops went broke months ago, owing close to two million dollars. The liquidators report was released recently, declaring that the business had been trading while insolvent for at least two years. This finding could have serious consequences for the directors.
ASIC defines insolvent trading:
An insolvent company is one that is unable to pay all its debts when they fall due for payment.
Yes, the definition is that simple. The director of the company to which I refer above was a blowhard, a gunna my mother would have called them. Gunna do this or that, with an attitude that they were an amazing business operator. Except, they were not. Many suppliers to the channel were left out of pocket along with banks and the ATO – and through the ATO, all Australians.
In my experience, often, the louder someone is about how great they are in business the worse they are.
ASIC provides advice on what to do if your company is insolvent:
If your company is insolvent, do not allow it to incur further debt. Unless it is possible to promptly restructure, refinance or obtain equity funding to recapitalise the company, generally, your options are to appoint a voluntary administrator or a liquidator. The three most common insolvency procedures are voluntary administration, liquidation and receivership.
ASIC has plenty to say on insolvent trading, including:
If dishonesty is found to be a factor in insolvent trading, a director may also be subject to criminal charges (which can lead to a fine of up to $220,000 or imprisonment for up to 5 years, or both). Being found guilty of the criminal offence of insolvent trading will also lead to a director’s disqualification.
ASIC has successfully prosecuted directors for allowing companies to incur debts when the company is insolvent, and has sought orders making directors personally liable for company debts. ASIC also runs a program to visit directors, where appropriate, to make them aware of their responsibilities to prevent insolvent trading.
If you think you may be insolvent, reach out to someone you trust for advice and to be by your side as you navigate the challenges.
The retailer in my story did not want help. They said there was no problem.
Garden centre software: Helping you help local gardens grow.
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Helping you help local gardens grow.
Neil and Alison responded within minutes of getting the email. They pre-ordered $500 worth of new season roses, months before they would be available in-store. As rose collectors and lovers they wanted to be sure they had the new varieties for their beautiful garden.
Back at the garden centre office, emails were coming in thick and fast. Each one was an order.
The campaign was a success because the manager of the business knew the rose lovers in their customer community. They sent a thoughtfully targeted email to announce pre-orders for new season roses. This was before they had finalised their own orders.
By the time they did order stock, they had substantial deposit funds, backing customer orders. They could order with certainty.
When the roses arrived, months later, their software automatically emailed customers with the news. It also printed labels for the roses, with customer details. This ensured that everyone received what they ordered.
While being able to tell this story in your own garden centre business would take time, the financial rewards are worth it.
The facilities in the specialty garden centre software from Tower Systems described here are a small part of a beautiful suite of software designed here in Australia for Australian garden centres.
There is more to this software than marketing. An asset of your business is that you are a local expert on all things garden related. You can share your expert local knowledge through notes on receipts. These are automatically included on each receipt, along with care instructions for plants purchased in a transaction.
Automatically, receipts, invoices and delivery dockets can include locally relevant information you provide. This free information pitches your business as different to an online shop or a big business that is less focussed on personal service.
Another way we help maximise sales is with an instant loyalty reward. This is particularly useful where you see shoppers once a year or quite infrequently. Using rules that you control, a receipt can include a voucher offering a specific amount off the next purchase if that purchase is made in a timeframe you set.
An average 19% redemption rate for the vouchers with a third redeemed the day of purchase. Male shoppers are far more likely to redeem the day of purchase.
Our garden centre software also offers:
- Quotation facility where you quote ahead of winning business.
- Reporting on hazardous goods when these are supplied.
- Group discounts, where members of a local group loyal to you save money.
- Easy loading of electronic invoices from your suppliers.
- Linking to a website for online sales.
- Easy customer reminders for seasonal plant care.
- Linking to Xero to cut bookkeeping and external accounting costs.
- Rewarding loyal shoppers with points and / or cash off their next purchase.
See the software live. Contact us for an obligation free demonstration: Please call our sales team at 1300 662 957 or email them at sales@towersystems.com.au.
This software is affordable. You can purchase the software outright, lease it or rent it. You can use it in your business loaded on local computers or in the cloud. How you purchase and access the software is 100% up to you.
Supported by humans, in Australia. Our help desk is in Hawthorn, Victoria. Everyone who works on the help desk has experience in retail. To access the help desk you can call, email, post a Facebook message Tweet or text us.
Training is personal. We come to your business and train you in the software. The training is tailored to your specific needs. Like I said, training is personal. Long after we install, you have access to one on one training, at no additional cost.
Free POS software Xero link training for small business retailers
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Next week, Tower Systems offers a free training workshop for small business retailers on the POS software Xero link and show it can save time, cut mistakes and help guide better quality business decisions.
This free training workshop is the latest in the weekly series from Tower Systems. We offer live and interactive training for small business retailers to help them get more from their tech investment.
We have delivered this free training for years as a service to our customers and to potential customers. It is all part of the service here at Tower Systems.
As our motto says: we’re here to help.
More newsagents switch to the Tower Systems software
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In 2017 Tower Systems switched more users from other newsagency software to its best-practice newsagency software.
Serving in excess of 1,750 newsagents in a retail channel of 3,400 newsagency businesses, Tower Systems is proud of its national base and commitment and appreciates the support of small business newsagents.
Newsagents tell us they switch to Tower Systems for:
- Easy access to professional support.
- Terrific newsagency-specific software.
- Business growth advice and encouragement.
- The ability to choose when to date the software.
- Optional support fees.
- Strategic guidance.
Newsagents large and small, city and country, shopping centre and high street … they are all welcome at the Tower Systems newsagency community. We work hard to help newsagents enjoy their businesses more, every day, in many different ways.
This is our mission. Well, part of our mission … as serve a range of retail business channels with specialty software.
Is the Tower Systems software the best newsagency software? Only those with experience using different software packages can say. What we do know, however, is that we are the only newsagency software company that runs newsagency businesses. We walk in your shoes, every day.
Pet and produce software on show at the AIRR / Tuckers conference this weekend
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In the AIRR pet and produce space all eyes are on Adelaide this weekend as the best of the best gather to talk business. Tower Systems is grateful for the opportunity to be there, to be working with AIRR on helping its members grow stronger and healthier businesses.
Tower Systems is an Australian software company that develops, sells and supports software for selected specialty marketplaces including pet and produce businesses, like the businesses of the AIRR group.
We only serve independent retail businesses, including businesses just like yours.
Using our pet and produce software it is easy to:
- Offer variable pricing by customer, catalogue, volume purchased and more.
- Manage free bags for customers who buy X bags of pet food and other items over time, and track the customers who use this.
- Manage freight for goods inward.
- And with our next update in development now, manage freight in a range of situations that we have discovered are unique to produce businesses.
- Track sales by employees.
- Sell by measure.
- Sell using scales.
- Offer an immediate loyalty reward for shoppers you rarely see.
- Easily integrate with Xero, MYOB and more.
- Easily integrate with Shopify, Magento and other ecommerce platforms.
What makes us different is how we engage.
- We are local. We are a 100% Australian owned software company, based in Hawthorn Victoria. When you contact us, a human responds. We don’t use automate phone systems. Our help desk team members don’t follow a rigid script. Small business thrives on human interaction, we do too.
- We welcome working with your suppliers to create data links that save you and them.
- We provide business insights based on data cultivated through the software – to business owners who ask. This is a free service.
- Our help desk provides context for advice. Rather than the turn it off and turn it on advice, our help desk team members explain the why, why from a business perspective the advice they are providing matters.
- Our software updates contain enhancements suggested and voted on by customers. You can have a direct say in the evolution of the software.
- Our communication is in plain English. While we are a company of IT geeks, when talking with customers we keep it simple. We won’t scare you.
Hiring for the POS software help desk
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We have been advertising externally for new people for our Melbourne-based small business POS software help desk. Interviews are now under way as we have a terrific pool of skilled candidates.
Our candidate selection process is structured and multi-layered, to ensure we find not only a tech skilled candidate but someone who communicates appropriately with small business retailers.
Like all new hires, candidates selected this round will undergo considerable training and beta testing, yes, beta testing, prior to live access with customers. That is when we will introduce them to our customers – through our weekly customer service email.
Helping Australian newsagents grow their businesses
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Ideas for transforming your newsagency in 2018.
A free management workshop for newsagents.
newsXpress invites newsagents from across Australia to free management workshops. We also offer to fund air travel for newsagents to ensure easy access to this important event.
Hear how newsagents are transforming their businesses, finding new customers, enjoying a new lease on life. We will share case studies from city and country newsagencies.
- See new, exclusive, product that is attracting new shoppers, product you have never seen at a gift fair or trade show before.
- See greeting cards not available in any other newsagency, greeting cards that appeal to shoppers beyond the usual caption range in Australia.
- See the evidence of success of the newsXpress multi-site web strategy that is driving online as well as in-store sales. We will share the latest sales data.
- See the newsXpress P&L – demonstrating transparency.
Here are the only dates in this series. Please tick your selection.
- ADELAIDE: 5th Feb, 10am @ Rydges South Park, 1 South Terrace SA 5000
- SYDNEY: 6th Feb, 10am @ Hilton Sydney, 448 George St Sydney NSW 2000
- BRISBANE: 7th Feb, 10am @ Brisbane Riverview Hotel, Kingsford Smith Dr,
- PERTH: 8th Feb, 10am @ Parmelia Hilton Perth, 14 Miller St Perth WA 6000
- MELBOURNE: 9th Feb, 10am @ Grace Park Hawthorn Club, 6 Hilda Crescent
I am posting this here as I am a director of newsXpress and will be hosting each workshop.
Book by emailing help@newsxpress.com.au or by using the booking form.
If you have any questions, call me – 0418 321 338.
Tower Systems is proud to be affiliated with newsXpress.
Inspiring visual merchandising for homewares retailers
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We get to see plenty of terrific VM displays in our travels in retail and at trade shows. here are a couple of terrific displays we saw in Atlanta a week ago.
How our POS software co. recognised Australia Day
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are proud of this tweet…
Easy POS software connected websites for small business retailers
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Australian POS software company Tower Systems provide a one stop shop solution for independent retailers looking for a POS software integrated website.
As expert POS software developers and expert website developers with experience with Shopify, WooCommerce and Magento, the team at Tower Systems can help small business retailers implement a seamless single inventory database solution that saves time, maximises selling opportunities and helps the business leverage the latest in tech.
The Tower POS software offers specialist solutions in a range of small business retail channels. Each solution is tailored to the specific channel.
The web solutions are business specific, not off the shelf. They are developed to the spec of the business, serving local needs. This enables local businesses to deliver online the services and facilities they offer in-store and to do so 24/7.
With the majority of e-commerce sites for independent and small business retailers being either magento, Shopify or Woo based, you know that from these three you have access to the best of the best. This is another reason Tower Systems has become expert in each.
The Tower web team is also skilled at SEO and SEM services that help raise the website rankings in key search engines, ensuring the site is found ahead of others.
But best of all, Tower Systems provides professional advice and guidance to small business retailers keen to build their online presence. Our commitment is honest transparent advice on which any small business retailer can rely.
The Tower Systems web development team is Australian based, working out of the company’s head office in Hawthorn. This is important as many web development businesses are overseas. While you might have a locally based contact person development too often is done overseas, leading to challenges with delivery and usefulness.
Tower Systems is committed to local development for local businesses. Our developers understand retail in Australia and New Zealand. We leverage that to deliver practical and valuable business outcomes.
From simple websites to complex multi business solutions, the Tower Systems web development team for retailers is skilled and capable of delivering valuable solutions.
Tower Systems has plenty of websites it can share as reference sites for its skills in this area.
POS software support on Australia Day
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While the office is closed today, our after hours and escalation numbers are all live, showing we’re here to help.
Free workshop: How to get the most from the POS software Xero link
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WQe are thrilled to be hosting another free workshop for retailers sharing knowledge and experience on how to connect your Tower POS software to Xero and facilitate easy and accurate data flow.
This new workshop is another in the weekly series of live workshops we offer our customers.
The Tower Xero link. What it is, how to use it and what to expect from it.
This workshop, like all our workshops, is live, interactive and educational. We help our customers get more from their software investment, regardless of h9ow they purchase our software.
2018 is young and already we are busy training plenty of small business retailers.
Ideal POS software for Australian fishing and outdoors shops
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How we can help more Nicks fall in love with your business.
Nick is an avid recreational fisherman. Every couple of weeks he is out pursuing his passion. He loves to try new locations. This weekend Nick is in your shop, in the need of bait, hooks and tackle.
Back in the car, checking his receipt, he notices the local fishing advice you include, especially the note about your own favourite local location. He also notices the $3.50 off any purchase in the next 28 days. That is enough to get him out of his SUV and back into the shop for a chat and another purchase.
At work on Monday, he tells his mates about the experience, about the local advice and about the money he saved. A couple of weekends later, he tells people he shares a campfire with at another fishing hole about your shop and the experience.
A month later, Nick smiled when he read your email with news of local catches, technique advice and the fishing event you are sponsoring. He shot back a quick response saying he will be there with a couple of mates.
Fishing and outdoors businesses are unique. They need unique software. Everyday Point of Sale software will not maximise your specialisation.
Using our software developed specifically for Australian Fishing and Outdoor businesses, you can leverage what is unique about your type of business.
Here are three of the ways you can use our specialty software to leverage specialisation. Today, you might sell a rod, reel and other items as single items. Using our software, you can package these into a combo pack. This has benefits:
- Shoppers perceive a combo pack as a good deal. Also, it is harder for them to price compare.
- Someone purchasing a pack may purchase more items than intended.
- You can create and undo packs at will, maintaining accurate stock data.
An asset of your business is that you are a local expert on fishing. You can promote your expert local knowledge through local notes on receipts.
Automatically, receipts can include information about local fishing conditions and local opportunities. This free information pitches your business as different to an online shop or a big business that is less focussed on personal service.
Another way we can help maximise sales is with an instant loyalty reward. This is particularly useful where you see shoppers once a year or quite infrequently.
Using rules that you control, a receipt can include a voucher offering a specific amount off the next purchase if that purchase is made in a timeframe you set.
An average 19% redemption rate for the vouchers with a third redeemed the day of purchase. Male shoppers are far more likely to redeem the day of purchase.
Our Fishing and Outdoor Shop Software also offers:
- Catalogue management – managing seasonal deals that you promote.
- Repairs management – if you offer repair service.
- Club discounts, where members of a local club loyal to you save money.
- Easy loading of electronic invoices from your suppliers.
- Linking to a website for online sales.
- The ability to sell items by colour, size and style.
- Handling special orders, where you order items in for a specific customer.
- Linking to Xero to cut bookkeeping and external accounting costs.
- Rewarding loyal shoppers with points and / or cash off their next purchase.
See the software live. Contact us for an obligation free demonstration: Please call our sales team at 1300 662 957 or email them at sales@towersystems.com.au.
This software is affordable. You can purchase it outright, lease it or rent it.
Supported by humans, in Australia. Our help desk is in Hawthorn, Victoria.
Training is personal. We come to your business and train you in the software.
Awesome software for Australian pet shops
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Helping you make the world a happier place, one pet at a time.
Melissa loves Rosie, her cute staffy of six years, she would do anything for her, buy anything for her. We have Melissa on our staffy mailing list. She loves the care hints in our emails, the birthday card for Rosie, the staffy calendars – she bought two – the staffy card and our suggested playtime toys.
Melissa also loves that by shopping with us for food and treats for Rosie she gets to nominate a local animal shelter that her purchases raise funds for.
Best of all, Melissa loves that we help her keep Rosie healthy with reminders on worming and flea treatment, based on when she last purchased.
While for sure this is business for us, we know that helping pet lovers nurture and love those they serve is good for our business. We know, too, that happy pets and happy pet lovers make for a happier world.
Local pet stores are unique businesses, with tough big business competitors and an ever-growing online challenge.
The Tower Systems pet shop software is designed, developed and supported here in Australia. We only sell to independent local pet businesses. We believe in small business!
Our software is loaded with facilities developed specifically for pet stores. These are facilities you will not see in regular, often cheaper, POS software. The facilities continue to evolve, too, based on suggestions from people like you.
There is more to this software than the marketing described above. For example, we make managing catalogues easy. You can load the offers and have them run for the date / time range you select. In fact, the catalogue tools are quite powerful, allowing considerably more flexibility that you might be used to from the old-school approach to catalogues.
Another way we help maximise sales is with an instant loyalty reward. This is particularly useful where you see shoppers infrequently. Using rules you control, a receipt can include a voucher offering an amount off the next purchase.
An average 19% redemption rate for the vouchers with a third redeemed the day of purchase. Male shoppers are far more likely to redeem the day of purchase.
The instant loyalty reward can also work with a point based program for more regular shoppers too, helping them spend more with you.
Our pet shop software also offers:
- Marketing based on pet birthdays and other anniversaries.
- Group discounts, where members of a local group loyal to you save money.
- Easy loading of electronic invoices from your suppliers.
- Linking to a website for online sales.
- Linking to Xero to cut bookkeeping and external accounting costs.
- Rewarding loyal shoppers with points and / or cash off their next purchase.
See the software live. Contact us for an obligation free demonstration: Please call our sales team at 1300 662 957 or email them at sales@towersystems.com.au.
This software is affordable. You can purchase the software outright, lease it or rent it. You can use it in your business loaded on local computers or in the cloud. How you purchase and access the software is 100% up to you.
Supported by humans, in Australia. Our help desk is in Hawthorn, Victoria. Everyone who works on the help desk has experience in retail. To access the help desk you can call, email, post a Facebook message Tweet or text us.
Training is personal. We come to your business and train you in the software. The training is tailored to your specific needs. Like I said, training is personal. Long after we install, you have access to one on one training, at no additional cost.
Small business retail advice: how to cut shopper theft
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Here are seven steps we suggest to cut the cost of shopper theft in your retail business. While there are other steps you could take, these seven are most valuable from our years of working with retailers.
- Look at people as they enter. Make sure they see you see them. Eye contact is key. Ideally, say hello to them. The more they think you have seen them the better.
- Have a screen near the entrance / exit so people can see that you filming them with your security cameras. The more people think they will be caught they less likely they are to steal.
- Work on the shop floor. This puts you or your employees among shoppers and heightens the chance of detection of theft.
- Walk the floor. Every so often, do a circuit. Be present. Talk to people.
- During peak shopping periods, station someone outside the business looking. Ensure they are trained on appropriate action should they see misbehavior.
- Bring in a security guard on a casual basis during your most busy periods.
- Have a no receipt no exchange or refund policy.
- Use your POS software. Spot stock take. Understand the cost off theft. In our experience the evidence is that items being stolen are bot those you think are being stolen. Data is key here. hence our advice to use your POS software.
- Act on the evidence.
- Ensure all who work in the business are in on this project.
The more likely people are to be caught the less likely you are to experience shopper theft.
Tower Systems has many years of experience in helping independent small business retailers mitigate em ploy theft and shopper theft. We leverage this experience for our customers through excellent POS software, free training, group training workshops, data analysis and expert witness support for authorities in specific cases.
Our advice to retailers is that you can cut the cost of theft if you manage your business to achieve this goal. Sadly, too many small business retailers do not do this because they do not see theft until it is too late. We say be on the front foot, manage to cut theft even when you cannot see it.
Advice for young people joining the full-time workforce in retail jobs
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In our work with independent small business retailers we get to see man different retail businesses up close. We have seen plenty take on young employees, right out of school. Some do it well while others struggle. Through this time we have see good attributes in school leavers that we share here…
- Learn as much as you can.
- If you are not sure of something, ask. Don’t assume.
- Work out how to love your job, because if you don’t, working there will not be good for you or the business.
- Be as low maintenance as possible. Your employer is not an ATM you can tap every time you feel like sleeping in.
- How far you go in a business, and in your career, is up to you. You get out what you put it.
- Add value. If you do this a business will want to keep you and that gives you leverage in this job and your next.
- Every day, it is up to you.
If you are a business owner and hiring school leavers, step up to the responsibility seriously. You hire them, train them, manage them and determine their value to the business as as the value of the business to them. Oh, and being their friend is not an ideal step to good management.
Small business retail advice: steps to successful stock management
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Retailers using our POS software have access to a deep and wonderful suite of advice on how to use the software to the best advantage of the business and those who rely one it. Here is an example of business management advice we provide. This one is on SIMPLE STEPS FOR SUCCESSFUL STOCK MANAGEMENT IN RETAIL
Small and independent retail businesses too often lose stock through inadequate processes. This simple, practical and free to implement advice seeks to reduce the opportunity for stock to be lost and mistakes to be made.
- Always receive stock into a consistent location in the business set aside for the purpose.
- Check boxes as they arrive. Only sign for receipt if the box count is accurate and the boxes are not damaged.
- Only move stock from the receipt / arrival location once the contents have been checked and counted, entered into your computer system and are trackable with a barcode you add or that is already on the product.
- Scan everything you sell
- Scan everything you return to a supplier as damaged or returned for some other reason.
- Scan out everything you write off or throw away.
- Do spot stock checks (a mini stock take) regularly to determine if there has been shop floor theft. Use the right gear to make this efficient and accurate.
- Order using your computer system as this will soon highlight employee or other theft.
- Stock should only ever be in the business in one of four locations:
- Goods inwards.
- Goods outwards: returning to a supplier, going to charity or going to trash.
- On the shelves in-store.
- On the shelves in the storeroom or warehouse.
The most important advice in this list is having locations set aside for goods inwards and goods outwards and strict processes in place for handling goods into and out from these locations. Get this right and you will find inventory more under control.
Tower Systems is committed to helping small business retailers to get more from their POS software experience than is usual. We leverage our own retail experiences to help our customers way beyond what is usual.
All Tower customers have access to this advice and more.
Why hardware quality matters in small business retail
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We visited a small retail business recently to switch them to our software and found their hardware, which they had purchased less than a year earlier, to be inadequate to the task. In fact, based on what we saw, we suspected that the hardware they purchased as new was actually secondhand. It was that old and under spec.
While we are a software company first and foremost, were also sell hardware to those that want it. The hardware we sell is retail business grade Hewlett Packard hardware. By retail grade wee mean quality, robust hardware designed for retail business use. This is not hardware you can buy from a shop. It is not cheap. But it lasts and it is backed by a three year on site warranty.
With hardware, like POS software, you get what you pay for.
Spend a bit more today on quality hardware and you will get a better return that you would on buying cheap hardware today.
The Tower Systems relationship with HP is solid, professional. We selected them because of the quality of their gear and because of the backup they provide in the rare instance of their being a failure. We have fo8und them to be true to their word. This is important to small business retailers.
We had a situation last year where a retail business in the outback of Australia experienced a hardware failure. The HP tech made two flights and drove for several hours to provide the on-site warranty coverage promised by the company. There was no hesitation. The support promised was delivered, making the small business owner a lover of HP for life.
But back to the story we started this post with. The small business retailer was ripped off by their previous POS hardware supplier in our view. They paid too much for hardware of dubious quality. This left the business with further costs and only the option of legal action against the company that duped them. They chose to not take action. Instead, they prefer the store of poor quality hardware to spread, so others do not make the same mistake.
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