Toy shop software for small and independent toy retailers
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How our POS software company serves older retailer customers
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The best way to get your business online is through smart POS software
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Independent retail businesses can get their business transacting online easily with less effort, greater accuracy and transactional consistency by linking their POS software direct to their e-commerce platform.
Here at Tower Systems we are expert at connecting our POS software to Shopify, magento and other web platforms. We are doing this easily for our customers, to new websites and to existing websites. The results are wonderful.
One customer processed thirty online orders in a few days where they were not online days earlier.
Being able to get online without double entering of stock makes it easy. This is where Tower Systems makes the pathway for a small business to move online easy, fast and accurate.
As retailers ourselves with with websites for our own businesses we have personal experience on which to draw to guide retailers as to the best moves for their businesses. This practical experience helps us provide our customers with retailer-centric solutions rather that a more tech software company solution.
Retail is personal after all. We get that from being retailers ourselves in several different retail categories. This is especially useful in the online space where service is paramount. Good service begins with a seamless and accurate link between the online and high street retail operations.
This is another Tower AdvantageTM.
40 Christmas marketing ideas for any independent retail business anywhere
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Tower Systems works with more than 3,500+ small business retailers in speciality retail niches including jewellers, garden centres, bike shops, toy shops, gift shops, newsagents, pet shops, adult shops and more. We offer these ideas as our Christmas gift to you.
- Make it easy. People often talk about how hard Christmas is. Be the local business that makes it easy. The ways to do this are with easy Lay-By, free wrapping, better shop floor help, guide buying advice or tips on perfect gifts no one else will think of. Consider making Christmas easy as being a key part of your messaging.
- Be thrilled people are in your shop. Your personal smile or greeting is something they may not see in a big business where employees are less invested in each shopper and where the owner is usually thousands of kilometers away.
- Make the giving easy. If people purchase items from you to send somewhere else. Offer a one-stop shop. Save them the trip to the post office.
- Make the shop less about Christmas. Consider pulling back on the Christmas visual noise. Go for something simple, muted, respecting the season but making a calm statement. Consider declaring the shop a Christmas carol free zone – not because you hate carols but because you want to help customers take a break.
- Help people rest and recharge. Create a Christmas shopping rest and recovery zone. Offer free tea, coffee, water and something to eat. Encourage people to take a break in your shop – without any obligation for them to spend money with you.
- Let your customers help each other. Setup a whiteboard or sheets of butcher’s paper, yes keep it simple. Get customers to write gift suggestions under different age/gender groups. For example: Girls 18 – 25, Boys 55+. Encourage your customers to help each other through their suggestions.
- Make price comparison difficult. If you sell items people are likely to price compare with other businesses, package them so price comparison is not easy. Put items into a hamper as a perfect Boy 8 to 12 bundle for example. Or offer the item with pre packages services if appropriate for an item.
- Less is more. The stack em high watch em fly mantra can be wrong. Indeed, it is often wrong in retail. Shoppers can be store blind because a shop is too full or a display is too busy. Consider creating simpler less cluttered displays and window promotions. Draw attention to what you want people to see by promoting that one thing. Every time someone asks if you have something that you think through should be able to find easily – take it as a challenge for you to address rather than a commentary on a facility of the customer.
- Change. Christmas season in your shop should evolve. Major change weekly is vital for people to see what you have that they could buy.
- Be socially engaged. On Facebook, Instagram, twitter and elsewhere, be the calm voice, the person people enjoy reading or seeing photos from. Provide entertainment this Christmas rather than the usual retailer shrill of come and shop here!
- Be community minded. Choose a local charity or community group to support through Christmas. Consider: a change collection tin at the counter; a themed Christmas window display; promotion on your social media pages; a donation to their work; a collection point for donations from customers.
- Facilitate sharing stories. Find space in your shop for customers to share their Christmas stories. It could be a story wall inside or in front of the shop. This initiative encourages storytelling by locals and better connects the business with the community.
- Award a prize at a local school. Fund a year-end prize at a local school. Attend a school assembly to award the prize. Work with the school leadership on a prize appropriate to your business.
- VIP preview. Host a VIP shopper preview night when you show off your Christmas ranges ahead of being available to the general shoppers. Respect and reward your local shoppers with deals and the opportunity to preview ahead of others.
- Leverage Christmas traffic. Encourage the Christmas shopper traffic surge in after Christmas. Give them a reason to come back. A coupon promotion or a discount voucher on receipts could be the enticement to get shoppers back in-store. Note: the Tower POS software produces discount vouchers to rules you establish.
- Become a gallery. Work with a school, kindergarten, community group or retirement village to bring in local art for people to come and see through Christmas. A small space commitment can drive traffic from family and friends of those with art on show.
- Dress the shop. Fully embrace Christmas. Create a Christmas experience such that shoppers know they have stepped into somewhere special this Christmas. Go for more than some tinsel and a tree. Fully embrace the opportunity.
- Make your shop smell like Christmas.
- Send cards. Send Christmas cards early in the season to suppliers, key customers and local community groups. This connects you with Christmas. Invite all team members to sign each card.
- Host a Christmas party. For shops nearby. You are all in the season together – let your hear down before things get crazy.
- Ensure you have gifts targeted at occasions. For example: Kris Kringle, by price point and by recipient. Make it easy for people to know what they could give.
- Stocking stuffers. At your counter always have one or two stocking stuffers for impulse purchase.
- Offer gift vouchers – for someone to give when they are not sure what to give.
- Be local. Ensure you have a selection of locally sourced products available for purchase. Make it clear in-store that these products are sourced locally.
- Tell stories. On your Facebook page, talk about what is important to you at Christmas. Personalise the season and deepen the connection with those who could shop with you.
- Offer a free gift. Bulk purchase an item to offer those who spend above a set amount. For example, spend $65 and receive XX where XX may have cost $5.00 but could have a perceived value of $20.00.
- Keep it fresh. Every week make significant change to your Christmas displays and promotions to keep your offer fresh.
- Share Christmas recipes. Each week for, say, four weeks, give customers a family Christmas recipe. This personalises Christmas in your business, creates a talking point and makes shopping with you different to your bigger competitors.
- Free wrapping. Sure, many retailers offer this. Make your offer better, more creative and more appreciated.
- This is essential in any business. Manage it through your computer system with strict rules.
- Work the floor. Increase time on the shop floor. Be present to manage shopper flow and to facilitate purchases.
- Christmas is crazy busy I most retail situations. Give yourself and your team members sufficient time to recharge so the smile greeting shoppers is heartfelt.
- Keep a secret. If yours is a business selling gifts a partner may purchase for their loved-one, create some mystery with a closed off display for the shopper to see the products.
- Free assembly. If you sell items that require assembly. Offer to do this for free.
- Free delivery. Offer free Christmas Eve delivery for items purchased for kids for Christmas.
- Sell training. Leverage the specialist knowledge you have in your business by selling as gifts places at classes you run sharing your expertise.
- Hold back. Don’t go out with everything you have for Christmas all at once. Plan the season to show off what you have as the season unfolds. This allows you multiple launches.
- Share a taste. Regardless if your type of business, bake a family recipe of Christmas cake, Christmas pudding or Christmas biscuits and offer tastings to shoppers on select days. This personalises the experience in your shop.
- Offer hampers. Package several items together and offer them as a hamper. Time-poor shoppers could appreciate you doing this work for them. We have seen this work in many different retail situations.
- Buy X get Y. Encourage people to spend more with a volume based deal. Pitched right, this could get customers purchasing items for several family members in order to get the price offer you have. Use your technology to manage this.
Christmas is the perfect time to plan for next year. It is the time to do everything possible to leverage bonus Christmas traffic to benefit your business through next year.
Tower Systems offers Point of sale / retail management software tailored for your specific type of retail business. Our software can help you leverage Christmas traffic for year-long benefits.
We provide you with loyalty facilities that are fresh and small-business focussed, loyalty facilities through which you can pitch a point of difference compared to big business competitors.
One of our retail experts can help: Please call our sales team at 1300 662 957 or email them at sales@towersystems.com.au.
Actions do speak louder than words
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A newsagent called us this morning out of desperation. They use software from another newsagency software company and have been unable to reach them for help – despite claims from this other company they offer support on the weekend. The experience of the newsagent is otherwise. Calls to the help number and a call to one of th owners resulted in no returned call.
We have helped them get their system up and running and business transacting. We have done this without obligation or pressure for them to switch to us.
Our marketing claiming we are open for business over the weekend is true. Customer service matters to us.
More Xero skilled accountants list with our POS software co.
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Tower Systems is grateful that more accountants have provided their details for including on our website where we list the details of xero skilled accountants.
Connecting our small business retail customers with Accountants skilled in xero helps our customers and helps the growing bro community.
As Xero users ourselves we understand the value of working with like-minded service providers. Xero is innovative and time-saving. We are thrilled to have made the switch for our own shops and to be accessing the benefits we pitch to our sales prospects.
Using our POS software and the Xero add-on, our customers are able to easily, seamlessly and in the background share data between the POS and Xero, reducing bookkeeping costs, improving data accuracy and feeding more informed business decisions. This is a win for our customers.
Not all POS software companies are approved to partner with Xero. This can lead those not approved to be critical of Xero. Those of us in the room are grateful for the recognition and support of the company as we help retailers to pursue more efficient and successful businesses.
Tower Systems helps local small business retailers with free shop local marketing collateral
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POS Software company Tower Systems is helping small and independent local retailers to promote the support of local retailers through an innovative campaign of collateral created by the company for its retailers.
We are thrilled to be investing our creative resources in support of our retailer partners in this way.
This artwork is part of a series we developed in-house through our amazingly creative marketing team to give our retailers different voices and platforms through which to pitch their shop local credentials.
This is another Tower AdvantageTM.
More free collateral is available on the Tower website.
How discount vouchers help small business retailers beat big business at loyalty
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This is a personal story about small business retail and the value achievable from a smarter and more customer respectful approach to rewarding loyalty … but in a different way, a way that is counterintuitive in that it front-ends the approach.
Here is our story…
I want to share with you a true story of what happened recently in my own retail business. It is a story of how a small everyday purchase led to something bigger and how this happened as a result of fundamental changes in how the business is run.
While this story is about what happened in my newsagency, it could happen in any type of business. This newsagency, by the way, is not your typical newsagency. Close to 70% of what we sell is non traditional. It is high margin higher price point items that sit at the core of this unique business.
At its core, this is a story about shopper loyalty, especially shopper loyalty in a retail situation where between 25% and 30% of shoppers visiting the business are not local and therefore not likely to engage with the old-school points-based loyalty program.
A customer passing the shop noticed our greeting card range and stepped into make a purchase because of a specific need. They purchased two cards. On their receipt was a voucher for almost $2.00. As they are not usually in the shopping centre they looked around for something in which to spend the $2.00.
This is the key: the customer came in to make a quick destination purchase. The type of business we were did not matter. They were on the way to the car park and happened to pass buy our shop. Point 1: location is in our favour. The stepped in because they saw our greeting cards. Point 2: the floor placement of cards was key in getting them in the shop.
Having made the purchase, the customer then noticed, for the first time, what else we sold – because of the $2.00 discount voucher on their receipt. Point 3: we got them to look around and see what else we sold.
The customer did a 180 degree turn and saw a locked glass cabinet of beautiful collectible bears. This was in the right place at the right time as they had been looking for a gift for a child. Money was not an issue. They wanted something to last a lifetime. They purchased a $500.00 bear.
This purchase would not have been made had they not been given the $2.00 voucher on their receipt. The voucher is what got them to notice what else we sold.
Fast forward several weeks and this customer who said they don’t usually come to the shopping centre was back for another $500.00 purchase. Now, several more weeks later, the customer has another $500.00 order placed.
I can directly trace more than $1,500.00 in sales back to the $2.00 voucher.
The software produced the voucher based on rules I established. The initial staff member serving the customer made a brief professional pitch highlighting the voucher. These are both important factors as they are at the core of a structured consistent approach to what has become the most lucrative loyalty program I have seen in my 30+ years involved in retail as a retailer myself and working with retailers in many different channels.
While most times vouchers are handed out they are not redeemed, they are redeemed enough to make them worthwhile. They are redeemed for good margin product as they get people looking at the shop for the first time and discovering items to purchase they were not in our four walls to consider.
The discount vouchers are disruptive and this is why I love them. People respond in unpredictable ways.
Best of all, the discount vouchers are profitable.
For this story to work in any retail business you need to have the right products, placed strategically in-store. Your employees need to make the right pitch. Plus, you need to be attracting people who don’t know and probably don’t care what shop they are in.
Tower Systems offers not only excellent software but also the business acumen, experience and drive to help you make the most of the opportunities in the software.
From points on a purchase to buy X and get Y FREE to Discount Vouchers, the Tower software offers flexibility in loyalty offerings that enable you to make the pitch right for your business to bring shoppers bag to spend more than might usually be the case.
Mark Fletcher, managing Director. Tower Systems. M: 0418 321 338.
Fact checking POS software sales claims
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A competitor of ours recently said that our newsagency software was not compliant with XchangeIT, an industry owned EDI gateway.
Our newsagency software is compliant with XchangeIT and always has been.
The claim helped us win a sale as it proved a lie and that led the prospect to us.
Every claim a representative of a POS software company makes about a competitor ought to be documented and fact-checked. Any claim about a competitor found to be unsupported by the facts should be a reason to not deal with that POS software company.
Salespeople lie about competitors and competitor products when they or the product they represent are inferior.
We are grateful when we are told of a competitor claim that is untrue and are given the opportunity to present facts that speak truth.
The process of selling software to newsagency businesses, or any small business for that matter, demands professionalism and a commitment to ethics. We are committed here at Tower Systems to be the company sales prospects and small business retailers using the software can trust. Trust comes from telling the truth and from acting in a way that is true to our words. Those who do not do this are found out.
Actions speak louder than words for POS software companies
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Here at Tower Systems we are proud to have continued in 2016 our free weekly live training workshops for users of our POS software. These sessions are popular, often being fully booked, like our session today on how to use our powerful stock manager.
We are grateful to the support of our customers for this free training.
We headed this post actions speak louder than words because we fulfil our promises, we deliver on our marketing claims. This training is one example.
BOGO offers easy with Tower Systems POS software
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BUY ONE GET ONE FREE.
This is a common offer in retail, especially in pet shops, garden centres, some gift shops and some newsagencies.
The Tower Systems POS software handles these BOGO offers easily as part of our comprehensive loyalty management solution. This enables small business retailers to compete with big business competitors in a way that is easily understood, and indeed expected, by shoppers.
We enable local small business retailers to compete with big chains by making these offers easy to run, easy to manage and valuable to offer. yes, a locally owned retail business can eliminate the competitive advantage in this area for a big business.
In addition to BOGO offers, we offer discount with purchase, free with purchase and more. Plus loyalty points and discount off future purchase.
Having options for loyalty and discount offers for retail is important in retail today where things move quickly. Thanks to rapid-setup, a store can pitch BOGO quickly, in response to the activity in a competitor business.
Big retailers like BOGO as it is easy to implement and easily understood. In some respects it is lazy. This is where small business retailers can leverage BOGO on their own terms and in a way that is more respectful of shoppers.
Tower Systems supports the BOGO facilities with training, documentation and other assistance to help our retailers make the most from the opportunity.
Easy access to the POS software help desk
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We have posted two of these POS software help desk contact cards to our customers – to ensure easy access to our team when staff in a retail business need it.
This business card size card is part of an integrated campaign to ensure easy access to information on how to contact the Tower help desk.
In addition mailing two copies of the help desk contact card, the company sent a print newsletter with news on our latest software update, free training opportunities and other news for our 3,000+ retailer partners.
Christmas marketing tips for local small business retailers
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Christmas is a noisy time for shoppers. Every retailer is pitching to them on TV, radio, in print, on social media and in-store.
Christmas marketing tends to be the same: jolly, celebratory and, often, price based.
It is a challenge for small business retailers to cut through all of this noise.
Here are some tips for cutting through. Sure we are a POS software company, but we are retailers too and have been for decades. We have experience in several retail channels. This helps us create better small business software and provide advice beyond the software itself.
We hope this Christmas advice is directly helpful or unlocks ideas of your own.
- Make it easy. People often talk about how hard Christmas is. Be the business that makes it easy. The ways to do this are with easy Lay-By, free wrapping, better shop floor help, guide buying advice or tips on perfect gifts no one else will think of. Consider making Christmas easy as being a key part of your messaging.
- Be thrilled people are in your shop. Your personal smile or greeting is something they may not see in a big business where employees are less invested in each shopper and where the owner is usually thousands of kilometers away.
- Make the giving easy. If people purchase form you to send somewhere else. Offer a one-stop shop. Save them the trip to the post office.
- Make the shop less about Christmas. Consider pulling back on the Christmas visual noise. Go for something simple, muted, respecting the season but making a calm statement. Consider declaring the shop a Christmas carol free zone – not because you hate carols but because you want to help customers take a break.
- Help people rest and recharge. Create a Christmas shopping rest and recovery zone. Offer free tea, coffee, water and something to eat. Encourage people to take a break in your shop – without any obligation for them to spend money with you.
- Let your customers help each other. Setup a whiteboard or sheets of butcher’s paper, yes keep it simple. Get customers to write gift suggestions under different age/gender groups. For example: Girls 18 – 25, Boys 55+. Encourage your customers to help each other.
- Make price comparison difficult. If you sell items people are likely to price compare with other businesses, package them so price comparison is not easy. Put items into a hamper as a perfect Boy 8 to 12 bundle for example. Or offer the item with pre packages services if appropriate for an item.
- Less is The stack em high watch em fly mantra can be wrong. Indeed, it is often wrong in retail. Shoppers can be store blind because a shop is too full or a display is too busy. Consider creating simpler less cluttered displays and window promotions. Draw attention to what you want people to see by promoting that one thing. Every time someone asks if you have something that you think through should be able to find easily – take it as a challenge for you to address rather than a commentary on a facility of the customer.
- Christmas season in your shop should evolve. Major change weekly is vital for people to see what you have that they could buy.
- Be socially engaged. On Facebook, Instagram, twitter and elsewhere, be the calm voice, the person people enjoy reading or seeing photos from. Provide entertainment this Christmas rather than the usual retailer shrill of come and shop here!
We think the key to a more successful Christmas is to be different to what people expect from your business.
Delivering a POS software help desk experience retailers love
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How can small business retailers be sure they POS software company they choose will deliver the support they need to get the best value from the software?
This is a tough question because too often you will not know if a customer service experience is working for you until you are well into using it.
Here is how POS software company Tower Systems has structured its business to deliver personal service small business retailers love. We say love because of the retention numbers of Tower customers over many years.
Here is what we strive for and deliver in our POS software help desk experience:
- Personal service. No scripts. Our help starts with a conversation.
- Accessible service. No waiting days for a call back. We are here, in the moment, when you need.
- Follow up. Advice is followed up with an email with supporting material to help beyond the call.
- Escalation. If you want to take the call outside the help desk we are happy to do this.
- Management access. To anyone. At any time.
- Democracy. Software update content is voted on by our customers.
- Transparency. Through social media we are accountable to our customers.
- Freebies. Weekly live training, one on one training … added value often.
Through these things and more we are grateful for opportunities to serve our customers with personal service.
Retailers love Christmas marketing tips from our POS software co.
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We are thrilled with the feedback from our customers for the unique Christmas marketing tips we published in our customer email last week.
We sought to provide tips from left-field, tips retailers would not expect. Feedback suggests they like what we pitched and some are trying the tips for themselves in their businesses.
Tower Systems is not your usual POS software company. We engage with our customers in a unique way and appreciate the opportunities to do this.
New POS software Help Desk team member
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We are thrilled to have brought on stream a new member for our help desk. Roy has been with us for close to two weeks and has now started dealing direct with customers. He brings wonderful experience as well as a respected university degree to his role with the business.
Small businesses winning online sales thanks to Tower Systems POS software webstore integration
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Tower Systems is thrilled to be helping small business retailers win valuable online sales through its suite of websites across multiple retail categories.
The image shows how far one package purchased through one of our our POS software integrated websites travelled this week. Thanks to site design and marketing by us, the Queensland based business found a valuable new shopper in Victoria, delivering revenue from this sale and establishing a relationship that is certain to benefit in the long term.
Connecting local small business shops with customers located on the other side of the country is helping these local town retailers find new shoppers.
Every day we are seeing excellent sales processed through the sites, valuable sales … and they are growing.
There are multiple layers to this success: the websites we created, the POS software integration enabling genuinely live stock on hand data and the guidance through sales processing to help retailers make sure they leverage the opportunity.
Delivering e-commerce revenue to small business retailers without them needing to have their own websites is an achievement of which we are most proud. We have been doing this for months across multiple website platforms and the result is terrific for our retail partners.
While there is no doubt of the value of a business being online for itself, there is even greater value for a business to be in an online community with like minded retailers, leveraging the group for each of the local stores. This is the unique delivery from Tower Systems.
We love helping small business retailers win new customers.
Free small business training on the Gold Coast today
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We are thrilled to be providing free face to face training for small business retailers on the Gold Coast today through another of our social media masterclass sessions.
This training fits well with our POS software and its opportunities for helping retailers to attract new traffic shoppers.
It leverages our experience in starting and running several successful social media presences for small retail businesses we run ourselves. The session draws on that experience and demonstrates live how we are using social media to attract new customers to our own businesses.
This free training is another way we put the Tower Systems message or empowerment for small business retailers out there for more to see and feel.
More retailers are embracing omnichannel retailing with Tower Systems
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We were thrilled to see another retailer turn on a beautiful website connected to our POS software tidy as the next step in their well-considered omnichannel retail strategy.
We are glad to be part of this journey. Directly, too … not relying on another web company to do the work.
The depth of skill in our POS snd web development teams and the vision of the leadership of these teams enables us to deliver the type of solution we have delivered today.
We are proud of another win for small business retail and proud to be leading more to genuine 24/7 trading through beautiful POS software integrated websites.
Our web portfolio is brimming.
Watching the US election
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We projected live coverage of the US election result in a common part of the head office today, so everyone could keep up with the action. The US election has been a popular water-cooler topic in our office over the past year. This public projection today is another example of different and connected work place outside what you might expect for a POS software company.
Enhanced Australian Fishing and Outdoors Store Software
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Tower Systems is thrilled to be rolling out enhanced Fishing and Outdoors Store software to its customers.
Fishing related retail is unique. This is why fishing and outdoors retailers need software designed for their businesses and not for a café, clothing shop or basic gift shop. Tower Systems offers software designed for fishing and outdoors businesses.
OUR SOFTWARE IS MADE FOR YOU.
Fishing and outdoors shops have unique needs. Your business is personal. You need a software company committed to serving you and committed to helping you more efficiently transact with your suppliers.
From the sales counter to the back room, our Fishing and Outdoors Shop Software is fit for purpose. It is not everyday POS software. No, this is Fishing and Outdoors Shop Software.
WE MAKE IT EASY TO GET UP AND RUNNING.
We come to your business, install the software and train you and your staff, face to face, jargon free. We provide personal support as you settle in.
WE REMEMBER YOU.
After the installation is done you can call us for help and a real person answers, with their name. Our help desk is in our Hawthorn office. You are welcome to visit at any time.
YOU CAN KEEP LEARNING.
You can watch any of our 130+ training videos at any time. Plus, you can access our knowledge bade from anywhere – this is like a live and searchable manual.
YOUR SOFTWARE KEEPS EVOLVING.
Thanks to advice from our customers your software continues to evolve, meeting changing needs, keeping your business up to date.
WE HAVE YOUR BACK.
If you are confronted by employee theft, customer theft or falling business performance, we are there for you. We have experience with police prosecutors, helping to convict employees who have stolen. We have helped turn around businesses confronted by trading challenges.
Tower Systems is not your usual POS software company. The best evidence of that is that I am writing to you. I am the founder of the company. My contact details are on this letter. I personally stand behind what we sell.
HOW THE SOFTWARE CAN HELP.
Using our Fishing and Outdoors Shop Software you can easily:
- Sell fishing licences for Victoria and New South Wales – from within the software.
- Handle customer special orders.
- Offer Gift Cards.
- Sell products as hampers / packs / bundles.
- Sell by weight – like bait.
- Offer LayBys.
- Run Catalogues.
- Offer traffic-driving shopper loyalty – $$$ off the next purchase based on rules you set. Successful loyalty offer for independent retailers.
- Offer the more traditional points-based shopper loyalty.
- Import electronic invoices and stock files from suppliers.
- Reorder based on accurate data – reducing the cost of dead stock.
- Handle BOGO: handling Buy One get One Free offers.
- Offer MultiBuy – like a coffee card, free product over time.
- Save time with the Xero accounting interface – cut bookkeeping costs.
- Link to Magento and Shopify – connect to your website.
- Save time & cut mistakes with EFTPOS integration.
- Save time on stock takes.
- Print professional receipts with your logo.
- Track product serial numbers.
- Age check for items with a minimum age requirement.
- Use up-sell prompts for staff.
There are many ways you can use this software to help you personalise the shopping experience that make comparing your business to others difficult.
We help you shine a light on your point of difference.
For example, you can have product use and care information included automatically on receipts. This can be information you have written that sets your business apart from others.
You can use smart reports in the software to quickly gain a view of business performance:
- By supplier.
- By season.
- By brand.
- Comparing trading periods.
- By employee performance.
- By customer value.
- By day of week.
Good data easily accessed guides better business decisions – we see this every day in our work with small business retailers.
We would love to show you the latest Fishing and Outdoors Shop software, obligation free and to hear from you about the needs of your business
Free social media marketing workshops for small business retailers
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In addition to owning Tower Systems I am a Director of newsXpress, a proactive marketing group for newsagents who are transforming their businesses. I am hosting a series of free workshops open to anyone offering access to the newsXpress training on how of use social media to find new shoppers for your retail business.
- Discover how to attract new shoppers with Facebook.
- Learn the most time-efficient way to post to Facebook.
- Look behind the scenes at the best newsagent Facebook posts and learn how to use these ideas in your business.
- Find out how to reach beyond those who like your page.
- See how to thoughtfully target Facebook posts so they reach those you really want to reach.
- Find out how to organise photos for the best possible impact.
- Join a discussion about what time of day it is best to post.
- Find out which posts Facebook users like the least.
- We will do posts live for in the workshop, so you can learn first-hand.
This session will be practical, offering ready to use advice suitable for any retail business. If you want to learn about how to use Facebook, Instagram or Twitter in your business this is a good session for you. The session will also cover using your website to find new shoppers. Bookings now available for:
- ADELAIDE. November 9 @ 10am. Rydges South Terrace. Book now.
- GOLD COAST. November 10 @ 12 noon. Sofitel. Book now.
- MELBOURNE. November 15 @ 10am. Hawthorn Arts Centre. Book now.
- SYDNEY. November 16 @ 10am. The Lakes Golf Club. Book now.
- BRISBANE. Nov. 17 @ 10am. The River View Hotel Kingsford Smith Drive. Book now.
We will add Perth as well. The sessions will be interactive with plenty of time for questions. Spaces are limited as we want to ensure everyone can engage.
The Tower Systems commitment to small business newsagents
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As the newsagency channel undergoes extraordinary change, suppliers to the channel are also changing. Supplier support is vital to the future of many businesses.
Tower Systems remains a constant support through its best-practice newsagency management software, newsagent support and newsagent marketing help.
With more than 1,800 newsagent customers, Tower Systems serves more newsagents than all other software companies combined.
For the record, here are our commitments to small business newsagents in Australia:
- Tower Systems will not leave the newsagency channel.
- We will fight for you. Beyond our software, outside of support, we will help with supplier issues, business strategy and other challenges you confront.
- No locked-in support fee. Taking support coverage is optional.
- Lower support costs.
- Fast support. Most calls are handled when you call. If not, we call back fast.
- Easy management access. The leadership team of Tower Systems is available if you need them. We take customer service seriously and personally.
- Updates when you choose. You are in control of when you load updates.
- You are listened to. We offer the only transparent, user driven, software enhancement suggestion service. All our customers are listened to.
- Free training. Long after you install our software you have access to free personal training to refresh knowledge or provide training on new facilities.
- More integrations. Our direct links to Xero, Magento, Shopify and more mean you have more direct link options to help you grow your business.
- Business management insights. We can look at your business performance data and provide a personal analysis of what we see
- Owner access. Our owner, Mark Fletcher, is easily accessible: 0418 321 338.
You can purchase our software, lease it or even rent it by the month. You choose the path most appropriate to your needs. We make doing business easy.
A checklist for anyone considering buying a retail business
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A common question we are asked by people contemplating purchasing a retail business is what should I ask for when looking at buying a retail business?
The question itself, when asked, indicates how green a prospective purchaser is when it comes to purchasing a business.
Here is a list of data we suggest retail business purchasers access from the vendor or their representative:
- P&L from the accountant for the last two years. i.e. not a spreadsheet created for the purpose.
- A good explanation of any add-backs.
- Sales data reports, for the last two years, from the POS software in use – to verify the income claim.
- Sales data reports from the lottery terminal to verify the income claim.
- BAS forms to confirm data in the P&L.
- A list of all inventory to include purchase price and date last sold for each item.
- A copy of the shop lease.
- A copy of any leases the vendor expects you to take on board.
- A list of all employees: name, hourly rate, nature of employment, start date, accrued leave.
This is good basic information that will enable any purchaser to undertake reasonable assessment of a business.
A good business will shine through the numbers just as a business with upside achievable by new owners will shine through.
Our advice to newsagents looking to sell who are concerned about this list is: think about it now and focus on your business so the data I have listed looks good.
Every day you make decisions in your business that impact many of the data points listed.
This is why we say every day is your pay day. Run a smart, lean and profit focused business and you will have a good pay day today and a good one when you come to sell.
The most appealing businesses are those that are easier to run and are making money.
Sure a purchaser can turn a business around. They should get the rewards if they are expected to do that for your business.
The price you can sell your business for will be based on what it is making now.
Getting the data ready for the sale of the business could, of itself, help you improve how you run your business.
Specialist produce, stockfeed and rural store software
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Tower Systems is proud to offer Specialist produce, stockfeed and rural store software. This software has been developed by the specialty retail software development team at Tower System,s in close association with produce and rural store specialists.
Australian designed and developed, this software provides access to a host of valuable functionality that has been fine-tuned for these unique and niche businesses.
- Fast POS: Sell to customers quickly with simple touch screen, mobile scanning & eftpos integration.
- Customer Loyalty: Offer discounts, points or vouchers to increase customer spend.
- Stock Management: Receive stock electronically from suppliers, stocktake, track performance & re-order.
- Targeted Marketing: Market to customers based on their behaviour & have them purchase more often.
- Accounting Integration: Financials flow across to leading software including Xero, MYOB & Quickbooks.
- Special Customer Orders: Handle all customer orders easily & automatically notify customers when stock arrives.
- Smart Reporting: Report on profit, stock, customers, suppliers & even seasons easily.
- Customer Accounts: Advanced email invoices & statements, debtor tracking & late payment reminders.
- Gift Vouchers: Paper, loadable card or electronic vouchers with fully customisable design.
- Webstore: Sell online by integrating with leading ecommerce platforms such as Shopify & Magento.
- VIP Pricing Profiles: Create structured pricing profiles and look after your key customers.
- Promotions: Run multi-buy, department, time based or up-sell promotions easily.
- Product Advice & Warnings: Automatic special use or hazardous goods warnings on receipts.
- Bulk Stock Management: Sell items by weight or length. Bag up bulk items into smaller bags easily.
In addition to these tools, the software offers excellent retail management tools, Xero integration, Shopify integration, Magento integration, scale integration and plenty more thanks to the comprehensive tools available in the Tower Systems retail management suite.
Introducing Tower Systems.
Tower Systems is an Australian software company that develops, sells and supports software for selected specialty marketplaces including pet and produce businesses.
We only serve independent retail businesses.
Our mission is to help retailers run more successful businesses. Our definition of success is a business that is making money, where the owners and employees enjoy what they do and where suppliers enjoy transacting.
Good software can play an important role in nurturing business success as it sits at the heart of the business: transacting sales, managing stock, tracking customer activity and shining a light on business opportunities.
What makes us different is how we engage. We go beyond what is traditional software company.
- We welcome working with your suppliers to create data links that save you and them time, data links that improve data accuracy, data links that feed more accurate business reports.
- 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 know technology scares people. We don’t want it to scare our customers.
- We are accessible. You get to talk with real people all the time, including our leadership team.
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