We are proud to locally make software for local fabric and sewing shops
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Local
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Tower Systems Bookshop POS Software: Helping Local Bookshops Thrive
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The locally made and supported bookshop POS software from Tower Systems helps local bookshops in a bunch of ways, from the sales counter to the back office to a POS software connected website that drives online sales. But there are two ways in particular where our software provides practical and beneficial help to local bookshops:
- Returns management. Returning unsold books can be a time-consuming task. But with our bookshop software, booksellers can easily identify titles that can be returned based on when they arrived in store, how many have been sold, and how many are currently in stock. We also provide a structured approach to handling returns in a way that is friendly to publishers. Our approach has been tested with booksellers, so we know it’s genuinely useful and meets the requirements of suppliers.
- Titlepage integration. Our software has been integrated with Titlepage for many years. Our latest integration is even better and more useful for book retailers. And as Titlepage software continues to evolve, so will our integration.
We are grateful to local bookshop customers who have helped us evolve our bookshop POS software over the years, to help it lead into new areas of relevance and value for these vital local shops.
We provide local booksellers with POS software that is designed to help them serve their local communities. Our software helps them position their businesses as locally focused in unique ways, from reader loyalty programs to special interest focus to local club support to bundle offers. We help local bookshops better serve local readers and those who buy for them.
Beyond the shop, our seamless Shopify integration makes it easy for local booksellers to sell online professionally. This enables them to reach shoppers far beyond their local catchment area. We are proud to have delivered bookshop software connected websites that are doing this.
Our locally made bookshop software also includes other tools that booksellers tell us they like, such as:
- Easy searching of book inventory by title or part of a title.
- Easy searching by book inventory by author name or part of author name.
- Pacstream integration.
- Structured handling of special orders of books.
Book retailing is a challenging industry, with big businesses pushing hard in this space. Our goal with our locally made bookshop software is to help small local retailers compete more successfully every day.
The bookshop POS software we offer today is different to what we will offer tomorrow. We are constantly evolving our software to meet the changing needs of our customers and the bookselling industry.
If you are a local book retailer, we’d love to find out if we could serve your needs.
POS software Insights Dashboard helps retailers focus on decisions for success
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Retailers in local small business shops can feel alone sometimes when working on their business. They can sometimes get lost in a cave of thoughts without seeing a way out.
We thought about this and considered the thousands of different retailers in our POS software user community, and we developed the Insights Dashboard in our POS software, to deliver easy access to local small business retail insights that any retailer could leverage, regardless of size, location, specialty area or setting.
We wanted to ensure that what we delivered would be useful regardless of level of business management literacy and financial management literacy. We wanted to deliver the insights without the retailer having to seek them out. We wanted to genuinely add value to what a local small business retailer could gain from using our POS software.
So, via the Insights Dashboard in our POS software, we provide insights in business critical areas – with the insights delivered visually.
WHERE ARE WE TODAY
Gives you a snapshot of the overall sales & liabilities as it stands today. This is a quick view of how you are doing right now.
WHAT’S NOT SELLING
This gives you a visual understanding of what is not performing in your business. Deadstock in any business is lost cash. This report gives you the ability to make decisions on this underperforming stock whether it be discounting or other stock reductions strategies to unlock this lost cash.
WHAT AM I MISSING OUT ON
This give you a list of items that have sold out and potential missed opportunity. The visual sales history will assist in ensuring the right items are restocked to ensure future revenue is not missed out on.
WHAT SELLS WITH WHAT
This gives you an insight to consumer basket analysis. Through this you will see exactly what stock items sell with other stock items and from this you will be able to leverage upsell opportunities, co-location and promotion opportunities. This also shows the sold alone percentage so you can see item upsell efficiency.
IS THEFT AN ISSUE
This provides a in-depth visual overview of all the retailer audit log records by reason, number of occurrences by time day. This will assist in identifying staff theft/training issues that may need to be addressed within the business.
WHEN ARE WE BUSIEST & QUIETEST
This is a visual overview used to detect any quiet or peak times in your business by displaying over the week as well as detailed by hour.
The Insights Dashboard in the Tower Systems software is proving to be a winner for local small business retailers. The feedback has been wonderful, especially when people tell us their surprise at being guided to know more about their business than they could have known previously. This is a goal of our Insights Dashboard – showing retailers what they did not know.
POS software Deputy roster app integration helps local retailers and their employees
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The Tower Systems specialty retailer POS software integration with the Deputy employee roster management app helps local retailers more easily manage staff rosters and employees to manage their engagement with the businesses for which they work.
Managing staff rosters can be a daunting task for small business retailers and shop managers. It can be difficult to keep track of employee availability, hours worked, and breaks taken. This can lead to scheduling errors, overspending on labour, and employee dissatisfaction.
The integration of our Tower Systems POS software with the Deputy employee roster management app can help you to more easily manage staff rosters:
- Create and manage staff rosters.
- Send rosters to employees via SMS or email.
- Track employee hours worked and breaks taken.
- Generate reports on staff productivity and performance.
The Deputy employee roster management app also provides employees with a way to manage their own engagement with the businesses for which they work. Employees can use the app to:
- View their schedules.
- Request time off.
- Swap shifts with other employees.
- Track their hours worked.
The integration of Tower Systems POS software with Deputy employee roster management app can help retailers improve staff management practices and nurture employee satisfaction. This can lead to improved customer service, increased sales, and reduced labor costs.
Here are some specific examples of how we have seen the Deputy POS software integration help local retailers:
- To create a roster that ensures that there are always enough employees on hand to meet customer demand.
- To track employee hours worked and breaks taken, which can help to ensure that employees are not being overworked or underpaid.
- To generate reports on staff productivity and performance, which can help to identify areas where training or improvement is needed.
Employees can:
- View their schedules and request time off, which can help to reduce the number of scheduling conflicts.
- Swap shifts with other employees, which can help to accommodate last-minute changes in availability.
- Track hours worked, which can help them to ensure that they are being paid correctly.
This integration of Tower Systems POS software with Deputy employee roster management app can be a valuable tool for local retailers. It can help retailers to improve their staff management practices, increase employee satisfaction, and improve their bottom line.
POS software integrated Slyp digital receipts help small business retailers compete
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The integration of our Tower Systems POS software with the Slyp digital receipt platform is helping local small business retailers demonstrate their engagement with leading tech ology to enhance the shopper experience.
In today’s digital age, shoppers like seeing good tech used to enhance their shopping experience. Shoppers want a seamless, convenient, and tech-savvy shopping experience.
That’s where Tower Systems and Slyp come in. Our two companies have partnered to create a solution that helps local small business retailers deliver on these expectations.
Tower Systems makes, sells and supports POS software for local specialty retail businesses. Our software is used by thousands of businesses to manage their sales, inventory, and customer data and plenty more.
Slyp is a digital receipt platform that allows businesses to send receipts to customers’ mobile devices. Slyp receipts are more than just a digital version of a paper receipt.
The integration of Tower Systems POS software with the Slyp digital receipt platform is a game-changer for local small business retailers in our community. It allows businesses to:
- Deliver a more convenient shopping experience for their customers. Customers can now access their receipts instantly on their mobile devices, without having to dig through their pockets or bags.
- Enhance the customer experience with interactive receipts. Slyp receipts can be used to track spending and more. This gives customers more control over their shopping experience and makes them feel more valued.
- Demonstrate their engagement with leading technology. By using Slyp, businesses can show their customers that they are committed to providing a cutting-edge shopping experience.
Our POS software Slyp integration has been live for some time, under the radar, under beta release. This followed comprehensive live acceptance testing. Through the beta release we enhanced the integration, to reach a point of delivering something we are truly proud of. The POS software Slyp integration is terrific, useful and differentiating for our local small business retailer community.
If you are a local small business retailer, you should consider using Tower Systems POS software with the Slyp digital receipt platform. It is a great way to enhance the shopper experience and stay ahead of the competition.
How Tower Systems has embraced work from home for a happier workplace
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A daily commute of an hour each way is a grind when you think about it. that’s 2 hours a day spend getting to and from work. While you can use the time to read, listen to music or daydream, if you’re not driving, it’s a grind dealing with people, traffic and, well, the commute itself.
But, so many of us did the commute day in day out, for many years.
Then Covid came along, and things changed. It was a moment for sure to try something different. We had to.
Now, kind of the other side of Covid, even though we are not really on the other side are we, work from home is still a thing, which plenty of people are grateful for.
Here at Tower Systems we decided early in the pandemic that we would not force people back to the office when Covid was over. And, we have not.
We are grateful to be in a industry where working from home can work for pretty much everyone on our team, and that’s what we have in place. Almost all Tower employees work from home.
The small crew in the office each day are the same folks who did that through the pandemic, because it’s what they wanted, what they preferred. And, those who work from home today did so through the pandemic.
We have work colleagues who spent two and more hours a day commuting. They were happy to do that. But now they have experienced life without the commute they are even happier. We are grateful we can provide a workplace with that flexibility.
Technology has played a key role in helping us to maintain good and personal customer experiences throughout. We have tech that facilitates collaboration, and this is critical in our business where we help local small business retailers thrive. And, it’s more than. one tech solution, it’s a whole kit from the well-known to the more advanced, specialist.
At the office we have used the space to create hot desk opportunities for those colleagues who want to come in for a day or more for a face to face reconnect, and plenty do, which we love.
There is no pressure to come in. We’ve not seen some of our colleagues for three and half years, and we’re okay with that.
Looking back, one factor that has enabled us to so fully embrace the work from home opportunity is each of our team members. They are good tech professionals, adults, people who understand our mission, respect each other and appreciate our customers. Having good people certainly makes for a better work from home experience for everyone.
Here at Tower Systems we think work from home is here to stay, and we are grateful for the opportunity to figure out how this works for our colleagues, and for our POS software customers.
We are grateful to help local retailers stand out from the crowd
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POS software for op. shops and community enterprises
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Small business retail advice: The indicator of employee theft that too many retailers ignore
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Take 2 minutes and read this advice for local small business retailers. It’s about employee theft. Most retailers do not consider or engage with employee theft as a topic until they have seen or felt the cost of employee theft, until after the event.
We know that employee theft in retail usually costs more than customer theft and that it is less likely to be detected
If the cash draw is open from the previous sale, the staff member can scan the items for the next sale, let the customer know the amount, receive payment (and give change if needed) and cancel the sale. They then keep a note of how much of their money is in the register.
Now while growth EFTPOS means less cash passes through a business. For someone wanting lunch money on the business each day they can achieve that. 5 days a week, 48 weeks a year and it could be close to $5,000 a year.
We have seen this often in retail businesses we have helped.
In our POS software there is a secret audit log that only the owner can access. This tracks a bunch of stuff, like cancelled sales. Spotting a questionable pattern is easy. This could be the thread that leads to discovery of theft.
Already in 2023 we have helped retailers detect theft. We have provided evidence to police to assist in prosecution. We have provided retailers irrefutable evidence so they can deal with recovery and / or an insurance claim. It’s the POs software, the business data and our retail data analysis skills that combine to help local small business retailers confront employee theft.
We have helped police and prosecutors deal with employee theft and ensured our software can help small business retailers in this area.
It’s not glamorous and not the key reason to consider Tower Systems. But it is a valuable reason. What you might save in a year could easily pay for the right POS software.
Find out more:
www.towersystems.com.au
1300 662 957
sales@towersystems.com.au
Too often small business retailers will not want to know about employee theft. Data don’t lie.
Tower Systems will work with you confidentially, quietly, providing the evidence., The steps you take are 100% up to you. It all starts with knowing.
POS software digital receipts, roster integrations and self-checkout help local independent retailers shine
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New in the Aussie made and supported Tower Systems POS software:
- Roster integration solutions direct connected to our POS software: Tanda, Deputy and Planday (by Xero).
- Digital receipt platform Slyp – for businesses and customers who prefer a digital record over paper receipts.
- Shopper self-checkout using indie-retail focussed hardware and a new release of our software.
Plus, Tower Systems customers have free access to our FREE online marketplace: www.findit.com.au, a place designed to drive in-store shopper traffic. Simply tick a box and your products are listed at FindIt, helping you be found by more people.
FindIt is a marketplace where you will find a broad range of products from local small business retailers. If you prefer to shop local and shop small, FindIt is a platform sure to interest you. Retailers connect to FindIt through their Tower Systems POS software.
Local shopping is good for the local community since local businesses tend to hire locally, spend locally, source inventory locally and engage locally.
Those who care about the local community will; tend to support local businesses for these reasons.
Local shopping is a win for everyone given the circular nature of the local economy.
The more we shop where we live the more those businesses can support local community groups and hire locally.
We all benefit from this.
The other benefit of local shopping is that it tends to be at local small businesses. These businesses tend to h
Our goal is to help local independent retailers run healthier, happier and more valuable businesses. We nurture this through our POS software, our engaged customer service and through free enhancement opportunities, like FindIt.
We have demos publicly available for each specialty retail channel at www.towersystems.com.au. You don’t have to register, give your email or your phone number to watch.
Our www.findit.com.au free marketplace for retailers using our POS software is gaining traction with Google and Bing.
We have more than 100,000 items not currently showing because of lack of images of images. Google wants images. What you can see live is products with good images and good descriptions.
To list your products for free, start by clicking here: https://www.towersystems.com.au/findit-vendor-signup
Our Lightspeed POS and Vend POS software alternative attracts new customers
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We are grateful to retailers who have used Lightspeed POS and vend POS software who are considering our Tower Systems POS software on the back of being told that they would face additional charges if they do not use the Lightspeed Payments platform for customer payments.
Here’s a short video about our alternative to Vend and Lightspeed for retailers frustrated by their decision to charge extra if you choose to not use their payments platform …
We don’t run a payments platform, we’re a POS software company. We leave all that to the banks.
We link to the big 4 banks via Linkly as well and direct to Tyro and to SmartPay if you like their fee-free EFTPOS solution.
If you’re looking for an alternative POS software solution to Lightspeed and / or Vend, we’d love to learn more about your needs, to see if our software could be a good solution. Our promise is – we will tell you if we think we’re not right for you. This is important as it’s critical you do your research into what is right for your business.
We have successfully tested our Vend POS data conversion software that brings across Vend inventory data, including variants.
Let’s talk: sales@towersystems.com.au, 1300 662 957 (Australia) 0800 444 367 (NZ toll free).
Here are the specialty retail marketplaces we serve:
- Bike shops. $195/month.
- Fashion retail. $195/month.
- Gift shops. $165/month.
- Garden centres. $165/month.
- Produce / farm supply businesses. $210/month.
- Fishing and outdoors businesses. $165/month.
- Jewellers. $165/month.
- Pet shops. $165/month.
- Toy shops. $165/month.
- Health Food shops. $165/month.
- Newsagents. $195/month.
- Firearms dealers. $195/month.
- Game shops. $165/month.
- Sewing shops. $195/month.
- Pool Supplies and Maintenance. $195/month.
- Charity / op. shops. $105/month. (Giving back)
- Doll / Bear / Collector shops. $165/month.
- Antique Dealers. $195/month.
- Music shops. $165/month.
- Mobility Scooter businesses. $195/month.
- Computer Shop / repair businesses. $195/month.
Here’s what’s included: software licences for unlimited computers in the location, help desk support (phone or email) 6 days a week (incl Saturday), access to a knowledge base, after hours support call access for urgent support, Shopify, Xero and other integrations, access to our supplier invoice import tools.
- NZ and Aussie based customer service by us. No call centre.
- Humans answer our phones.
- Email us and a retail knowledgable human responds.
- Our office is open Monday through Saturday.
- Month to month rental – no lock in contract.
- No lock-in EFTPOS contract. You choose the EFTPOS that suits you.
- Self serve training videos and knowledge base.
- Low cost training for those who want it.
- The listed prices are genuinely monthly – not annual paid up front.
We have a crew of awesome software developers, caring customer service people and a business support crew skilled in serving local indie retailers.
Is compare POS quotes engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct?
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In our opinion, we think they are.
If you type tower systems into Google and click search, this ad comes up:
The thing is, if you click on the ad, there is no comparison to or with Tower Systems.
The headline of the ad reads to us as misleading.
They have not looked at our software, investigated our software, compared our software.
Yet, here is the compare POS quotes website, which is run by Comparison Advantage Pty Ltd, an Australian company with the ACN 626 309 073. The comparison website they run is an ad platform. Products are listed by them for companies that pay to have their products listed.
It needs to be called out for what it is and their headlines, that we claim in our opinion are misleading and deceptive need to be see for this.
It frustrates us that they pay Google to come up as an ad when people are searching for our company.
We can’t figure out why software companies pay to be listed with Comparison Advantage and their compare POS quotes website. Imagine paying to get a lead when someone is actively looking for a competitor product.
We know we should ignore it. But then we see the deliberate and in our opinion misleading ad today and it frustrates us. We have done good work to build our reputation and here they are trying to trade off of that for customers of theirs, for businesses willing to pay to get in front of retailers looking for our POS software. Talk about desperation.
We think the folks at Comparison Advantage know what they are doing and that they have deliberately calibrated ads for their compare pos quotes website to pitch businesses looking for us and for other businesses they name in their ad keyword campaign with Google.
Our advice to anyone using comparison websites is – be aware that companies listed on these websites are there because they have paid to be there. There has been no assessment, no consideration, no effort at all to be considered appropriate. Comparison suggests assessment,. You won’t find that here.
Compare POS quotes by Comparison Advantage is an ad website and in our opinion it’s not worthy of consideration.
How Tower Systems is helping local Aussie newsagents transform their shops for a brighter future
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Newsagents using the industry-standard Tower Systems software for newsagents are leveraging the software to help transform their businesses to drive relevance in a changing marketplace.
But first, let’s talk about the industry standard. there are around 2,800 retail newsagency shops in Australia. Tower Systems serves in excess of 1,700 of these with its newsagency software. The choice of the majority of newsagents to choose Tower Systems makes it the industry standard, for which we are sincerely grateful.
The local Aussie newsagency has been evolving for years. This picked up pace ten years ago. We have newsagents using our software to serve other retail categories in what were once traditional newsagencies. Here are some examples of how newsagents are relying on our software to evolve, here are some of the new categories we’ve helped with:
- Coffee shop.
- Baby shop.
- Gift shop.
- Camping and outdoors shop.
- Repair shop.
- Bookshop.
- Toy shop.
- Cafe with table service.
- Tourism product rental.
- Local artist consignment.
Yes, these are all categories we have seen different local newsagents embrace as they evolve their businesses to ensure relevance to new shoppers. They have been able to do this with our software as it is flexible in terms of facilities and services. And, the software curates a valuable dataset that can provide guidance as to business evolution opportunities.
In addition to finding new opportunities and walking the path to implementing these, the newsagency software itself helps guide improved business efficiency by eliminating keystrokes and laying down workflows that anyone can follow, freeing up more skilled resources in the business for looking over the horizon.
Our Tower Systems newsagency software also directly integrates with Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce and Big Commerce. Plenty of newsagents use these integrations to sell online and online is where the local Aussie newsagency can be very different to what is usually seen on the high street. We develop the websites, connect them to the newsagency POS software and offer advice on how to drive traffic to them.
The local Aussie newsagency is changing, playing outside what has been traditional for newsagency businesses. We are grateful for the opportunity to be engaged with these transformations.
How our Tower Systems POS Software Can Help Local Independent Small Business Retailers in Australia
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Like every day here, we are writing today for local small business retailers, independent retailers, specialty retailers.
As a local independent small business retailer in Australia, you know that you need to be on top of your game in order to compete with the big competitors. One way to do this is to invest in a POS (point of sale) system. A POS system can help you to streamline your operations, improve customer service, and boost your bottom line.
Here are some of the things that local independent small business retailers in Australia can do with POS software from us, from Tower Systems:
- Streamline your operations. A POS system can help you to streamline your operations by automating many of the tasks that you currently do manually. For example, a POS system can easily track inventory from when it arrives to when it sells, provide guiding insights, and process payments. This can free up your time so that you can focus on other aspects of your business, such as customer service.
- Improve customer service. A POS system can help you to improve the customer experience by providing a more efficient process for transactions at the counter. From keystrokes eliminated to processes streamlined, good POS software guides efficiency and this can boost sales.
- Boost your bottom line. A POS system can help you to boost your bottom line by providing you with accurate data about your sales and inventory, and packaging these items in an insightful and decision-guiding way. This information can help you to make better pricing decisions, identify trends, and optimize your inventory levels. This can lead to increased sales and profits.
In addition to these benefits, POS software from Tower Systems offers other features that can be helpful for local independent small business retailers in Australia. These features include:
- A user-friendly interface that is easy to learn and use, something retailers rely on.
- Payment options, including cash, credit cards, and contactless payments.
- Integration with popular e-commerce platforms, such as Shopify and WooCommerce.
- A robust reporting system that can help you to track your sales, inventory, and customer data. Better still, an insights platform to guide decision making.
If you are a local independent small business retailer in Australia, consider the POS system from Tower Systems. Call 1300 662 957 or email sales@towersystems.com.au.
Take care:
- Do your research. Choose the one that is right for your business.
- Consider your needs. Know what matters to you.
- Talk to other business owners. Talk to other local independent small business retailers who have used a POS system and get their recommendations.
- Get a free demo. This should be tailored to your needs.
Here at Tower Systems we make and support what we sell. We’d love to find out more about your needs.
Gift shop software on show at Reed Gift Fair in Melbourne
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We are grateful to be featuring our Aussie made and supported POS software for gift shops at the Reed Gift Fair in Melbourne.
This awesome trade show started yesterday and already it’s been terrific for us with new customers signing up on the stand. It is terrific meeting these folks face to face and live demonstrating the software to them.
Our stand has been busy, which we love of course.
At the trade show we are showing our Gift Shop POS software as well as our cloud based and truly portable POS solution, Retailer Roam. This product can run anywhere, any time, with or without Net access. Version 2.0 of this product is packed with features retailers are loving
Our gift shop software features:
- Easy and accurate selling.
- Integrated EFTPOS and you choose the bank or EFTPOS partner that suits you.
- Instant access to money making business performance insights.
- Less time spend on setting up new stock thanks to supplier partnerships.
- Less mistakes with reordering thanks to ordering based on past history.
- A deeper average shopping basket thanks to marketing and other tools.
- More frequent shopper visits thanks to loyalty solutions shoppers love and engage with.
We’re a POS software company. We make money renting our POS software to retailers. We’re not relying on you going with any particular payments platform or buying from any particular supplier. This matters because it keeps us focussed on making sure you gain value from our POS software.
Gift shop owners who want to make more money from their businesses can benefit from our business insights and labour saving tools. We know that the more our retail partners make more money using our software the more customers we will attract thanks to word of mouth. We really are all in this together with our gift shop oner customers.
Not all gift shop POS software his the same. Not all POS software companies are the same.
We are grateful for and proud of our differences. Our Tower Systems gift shop POS software is a stand out, a product on which you an rely to run a more successful and enjoyable business, a business that’s easier to run and delivering the benefits you want, and need.
From sales to special orders to pre-orders, from Xero integration to Shopify integration, from loyalty that works to easy shopper postcode tracking, from smart ways to pitch shop local to featuring locally made products … our gift shop software is made for gift retailers, made to help you thrive.
There is no lock-in contract, no requirement for you to pay up front for a year.
- Get rid of manual books at the counter for LayBys, special orders, stock you need to order and more.
- Guide shoppers to spend more with loyalty tools we think you will love.
- Nurture community group member engagement with group pricing.
- Pre-sell hot items – get paid before the stock arrives.
- Leverage your knowledge on receipts and elsewhere. Sell you.
- Reach beyond your four walls with a directly linked Shopify store.
- Eliminate LayBy and get paid sooner with buy now pay later.
- Cut dead stock and re-order based on data facts.
- Cut theft by knowing what is being stolen.
- Make price comparison harder with bundled packs.
- Easily and consistently pitch locally sourced products.
- Bring customers back with reminders on dates important to them.
- Save money on bookkeeping by integrating with Xero.
As a software company, our focus is on locally owned small business retail. We’re not after big retailers with 20 or more shops. It’s in local indie retail where we thrive and where we help our retailer partners thrive.
If you’re at the Reed Gift Fair, drop by and say hi. If you’re not, call is on 1300 662 957 or email us at sales@towersystems.com.au. Or, check out our gift shop software: www.towersystems.com.au/gift.
Here are our answers to some common questions we are asked about our gift shop software:
Are you Australian based? Yes.
Do you make your software? Yes.
How do I contact your help desk? By phone or email. Our help desk is Australian based with one team member working from New Zealand.
When can I contact you for help? Weekdays: 7am through 6PM AEST, Saturdays 7:30am through 3PM AEST. After hours for urgent calls: 24/7.
What if I am unhappy with support? You can escalate to our Chief Operating Officer or our Managing Director – every customer is given their direct numbers and email addresses.
Can I run the software in the cloud? Yes.
Can I run the software on my desktop? Yes.
Can I backup to the cloud? Yes.
How long am I locked in with software rental? There is no lock-in. You can cancel rental at any time and billing stops immediately – once the current month is completed, there is no further charge.
Can I sell gift cards for my business? Yes.
I sometimes sell from a market stall. Can the software do this? Yes, our Retailer RoamTM option manages selling from anywhere.
Does the software handle club member pricing? Yes, this can be a great marketing tool, getting local community group members support the business and fundraising at the same time.
Does the software have a facility for encouraging infrequent shoppers to spend more? Yes, it’s proven to work well at achieving this.
Does the software let me buy in bulk and break up to retail packs? Yes.
Does the software produce WAS / NOW price labels? Yes.
Does the software manage time-based catalogue pricing? Yes.
Can I include product care instructions on the receipt? Yes.
Does the software track where I have stored a box for an item? Yes.
I have similar items from several suppliers. Can I compare suppliers? Yes.
Does the software handle LayBys? Yes.
Can the software manage special orders for customers? Yes.
Can I bundle items together, like into a hamper, and easily sell that? Yes.
My business is seasonal, can I report on last season when planning for the next? Yes.
Can you reach out to customers based on what they previously purchased? Yes.
Does the system handle account customers? Yes.
Shopping local warms out heart
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Aussie made and supported POS software for fabric shops helps these local businesses thrive
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Fabric shops help those who love sewing to make the most beautiful and functional clothing for family, friends, and customers. Local fabric shops help people express themselves.
From handling the sale of fabric by length, or weight, our POS software for fabric shops and for sewing shops helps these specialty retail businesses to leverage their specialisation, to feature what makes them different, and valuable.
Here are some of the ways our POS software for sewing shops helps fabric shops:
- Sell easily, including by length.
- Sell accurately.
- Know what’s working, and what’s not.
- Reduce time on paperwork.
- Get accurate insights into business performance, easily.
- Rare visit loyalty. We are told that customers visit a fabric shop infrequently compared to other retail settings. Our software offers subtle loyalty tools that encourage more value from each visit.
- Sell online. Connect your fabric shop POS software to a beautiful Shopify website offering your fabric and other products to shoppers anywhere.
- Pre-orders. Easily manage selling products before you have them in-stock. Someone planning a project can order through you and pay prior to the fabric arriving in-store.
- Buy Now Pay Later and LayBy. Through our software you can have both.
- Manage browser shopping. Fabric shoppers can wander, ask you to hold an item, wander some more, bring something else back to hold and this cycle can go for a while. Our Fabric shop POS software tracks these purchases.
- Repairs management. If you do repairs type work, like dressmaking in house, track the project from the moment it starts.
- Club / collector marketing and support. Leverage clubs and collectors with offers and pricing. Nurture the love of home sewing and connecting to this community, and growing the size of the community.
- Special orders. With some items ordered in for a customer request, managing these types of orders helps the business to manage opportunities and to capture revenue in advance.
- Serve fabric care details. You can code care details by product and include this on receipts.
- Sell by length. This may seem basic. It’s not in some software. In the Tower software, you can sell by length, including fractions.
Our Australian made and supported fabric shop software does much more than this.
One of the biggest benefits of our fabric shop and sewing shop software is the inventory management facilities. With inventory, like fabric itself, being the biggest investment in the business, it takes time and effort to manage this well and effectively for the business to be successful.
In our fabric shop POS software we track all products that come in and go out. We can instantly report on the value of inventory, what’s working, what’s not working and show trends. All of this information can feed into better business decisions, and make the fabric shop more successful.
From managing inventory to tracking customer engagement to selling online to leveraging community groups and clubs, the fabric shop software from Tower Systems is fit for service and ready to help your business thrive.
We are grateful to serve local fabric and sewing shops and thank the owners and staff members for their advice and support.
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Small Business Retail Advice: making your business more secure
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Security is important in any retail business. Over the years, in our work with local small business retailers and in our own shops we have collected advice on shop security. Here are some built point tips you may find helpful from the basic and simple to the more tech. oriented:
- Know how many keys there are to your premises and who has them.
- Keep a spare key is a safe place away from the business.
- Change the most powerful / valuable password for your computer software monthly and share it sparingly. Passwords should be complex. Check the strength of your password here: https://howsecureismypassword.net
- Keep a current data backup off site, in the cloud preferably. Regularly check that you can restore the data from your backup and that the data is current.
- Regularly check the use of your business software for the deletion or alteration of sales as this could indicate employee fraud.
- Have current reputable virus protection on all your computers.
- Have current reputable firewall installed on your network.
- Never open a zip file sent by email.
- Never open an email from a bank, the ATO or the police.
- Be discrete when talking about the business and its performance.
- Do not do the banking at the same time every day or every few days. Do not follow the same route. Do not carry the same bag.
- Have a camera system installed to get a good shot of the faces of everyone entering and leaving the business.
- Consider registering your CCTV with the local police – this is an option in some jurisdictions.
- Ensure customers can see they are being filmed.
- Train employees to make eye contact with customers.
- Train employees on emergency procedures for handling: theft, aggressive people, shoplifters.
- Use the full stock control facilities of your software to understand the financial cost of shoplifting.
- When doing magazine returns, check discrepancies weekly to understand magazine theft.
- Ensure your windows are not cluttered. The police advise cluttered windows are a security risk because of what they can hide.
- Ensure there is good lighting outside if the store is locked up when it is dark.
- Ensure you have the best possible sight lines of the shop from the counter.
- Have a no personal items at the counter policy.
- If you catch someone in the act of shoplifting ask them to wait in the store, and call the Police. Also (advice from NSW govt. Crime prevention):
- Tell them who you are.
- Tell them why they have been asked to stay in the store. o Advise them that Police have been called
- Ask the person to surrender any property that doesn’t belong to them. Remember, retailers and other citizens have no legal right to search a person.
- Most importantly, do not put yourself at risk.
- Have a clear refund processing policy and ensure all employees are trained on this.
- Track all sales by employee code.
- When hiring: ask if applicants agree to a police check, check their references, do not hire friends of employees, explain your commitment to zero tolerance re employee theft.
- Have an employee theft policy in full view.
Some of this may read like common sense. We continue to be surprised when hearing of a business that has experienced a security breach that has not considered most of what is on this list.
Develop your own list. Check it regularly. Follow your own advice.
We are a POS software company, making and supporting POS software for specialty retailers in Australia and New Zealand.
Small Business Retail Advice: rules of this business
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Every retail business needs rules of this business, rules everyone working in the shop is asked to follow, rules to guide behaviour.
Business without rules can function okay, until that one time when someone behaves in a way that is unacceptable.
here are some suggested rules that we have used in our shops over the years. they include some rules we have seen others use successfully in their local small business retail settings.
- Customers come first. Please treat them with respect. Appreciate them.
- We value your opinion. If you think there is something we should stock that will sell, please tell us. If you think we are making a mistake in running the business, please tell us. if you see a colleague misbehaving toward work colleague please tell us. If you see theft, please tell us.
- This is a safe place. Thank you for helping us ensure that.
- No staff member is permitted to serve themselves, ever. If you do purchase from then business, purchase from the customer side.
- Any staff discount is not to be added to already discounted items unless a manager agrees.
- If you want to buy something you do not take it off the shelf until you are ready to pay for the item. NO setting items aside.
- You are not permitted to buy something on a staff discount for someone else.
- No personal mobile phones at the counter.
- No reading behind the counter.
- No bags at the counter.
- Do not sit behind the counter.
- When a sale is over, COMPLETE THE SALE. Shut the cash drawer. Do not leave a completed sale on the screen.
- Only a manager permitted to remove money from the register during trading.
- Never put anything aside for someone who calls unless you know them and they are a regular shopper.
- The computers in the business are not to be used for personal use unless approved by the owner or manager.
This is a retail business.
Customers are our only source of revenue. Greet them with a smile. Thank them for shopping with us when they leave. This means the shop floor is the hub of our operation. Your focus on the shoo floor and our customers helps the business and this helps you.
If there is anything we can do to help you enjoy working here more, please let us know.
Every day we try and help our 3,000+ POS software customers beyond the software itself. We know that the stronger our own retail community the stronger we are as a company.
Bankable Advice for Small Business Retailers
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Engaged local small business retailers know that everyone’s got an opinion on how to run a shop. But what’s the best advice for small business retailers?
Here’s our top 7 tips, based on our own experience and decades of working with small businesses in providing POS software and even running shops ourselves:
- Use your data. Your POS software can tell you a lot about your business, from what products are selling to how often your customers visit. Use this data to make better decisions about your inventory, marketing, and staffing. yes, this sounds boring. But, it’s true. How your business has performed can be the best guide as to how it could perform.
- Connect your systems. The more you can automate your processes, the less time you’ll waste on manual tasks and the more accurate your data will be. less keystrokes = less mistakes = time saved = better business decisions.
- Look under the hood. Good POS software can give you insights into your business that you might not even know you need. Ask your POS software company what kind of data their software can track and report on.
- Set goals and measure performance. What do you want to achieve with your business? Once you know your goals, you can track your progress and make sure you’re on track. Our POS software can measure and report on valuable local retail business goals.
- Reorder what sells. Don’t waste time and money on products that don’t move. Keep an eye on your sales data and reorder the products that are selling well.
- Place products together. People often buy products that go together, so place them near each other in your store. This will make it easier for customers to find what they’re looking for and increase your sales.
- Train your staff. Make sure your staff know how to use your POS software and how to provide excellent customer service. This will help you create a positive shopping experience for your customers and keep them coming back.
Following these tips can help you run a more successful and profitable small business. Use your data, connect your systems, and look under the hood!
Now, for some extra advice:
- Be customer-centric. Put your customers first and everything else will fall into place.
- Be innovative. Don’t be afraid to try new things and experiment with different marketing strategies.
- Be persistent. Success doesn’t happen overnight. Keep working hard and never give up on your dreams.
Tower Systems is grateful to serve 3,000+ local independent small business retailers in a variety of specialty retail channels.
Advice for small business retailers on dead stock
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Dead stock has no value in any retail business. Indeed, it has a cost as it takes up space and needs labour to keep it clean at least. It sits there, occupying this space, not being bought, paging with each day.
What constitutes dead stock will vary by type of retail business. In some, stock has an expiry date, making that the drop-dead date for the stock. In other businesses, stock is dead when a new version or new release of an item is out.
For the purpose of the advice we provide here, our definition of dead stock is that which has not sold whatsoever in six months or more. The is, you have a quantity of an item on hand and have not sold any of then in six months.
Knowing what stock is dead in your small business shop is critical. It is the start, the beginning, of resolving the issue of dead stock.
Our Tower Systems POS software helps local small business retailers easily identify dead stock. You can decide what constitutes dead stock in your business and list it, bring it up on the screens for attention.
Start there, start with your definition. next, use your software to identify what’s dead. Once you have this information you need to jump, what for some, is a hurdle … you need to decide to quit that stock.
Some retailers are adamant that they need to make a profit on everything they sell. These retailers don’t like discounting to quit dead stock. The thing is, the stock on the shelf is worthless until someone pays you something for it.
In our pragmatic view, getting something, anything just about, is for stock that is dead is better than waiting longer and getting nothing for that same dead stock.
Quitting dead stock is best considered a freeing cash move. That’s what we say getting anything at all is better than the stock sitting on the shelves and not moving.
Use your POS software to identify the dead stock and then jump that hurdle and quit it, quickly, freeing the space and allowing you to focus on what’s next.
In our Tower Systems POS software, the Stock manager tool is best for identifying stock that is dead. You can easily see when you last arrived stock, what’s on hand and when it last sold. In seconds you can have a hit list of stock that could benefit from action. Stock manager operates in a way that any retailer could use it. It’s not complex, not daunting. We have a terrific video showing how to do this with Stock manager. We also have a wonderful advice sheet.
Retail businesses exist to support those who rely on them for income. Dead stock is not helping with this.
Unfortunately, too many small business retailers do not actively engage with the opportunity of dead stock.
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We are grateful to serve more than 3,000 local and independent small business retailers here at Tower Systems. Our POS software community is diverse and very much appreciated by us for their support and feedback.
The advice we share here comes from our years of engagement with them and our own experience as engaged retailers ourselves.
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