The POS Software Blog

The POS Software Blog

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

Latest stories

What is the best POS system for small retail business?

September 19, 2023
3 Min read
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It’s an interesting question, What is the best POS system for small retail business?, one plenty of local small business retailers ask.

We are Tower Systems We only make POS software for small business retail. We are not chasing big business. We are not chasing franchises with hundreds of shops.

Our focus is on local small business retail, local shops, specialty shops, small business shops.

So when you ask, What is the best POS system for small retail business?, we think a good response has to be – software from a company that makes software for small retail businesses, software from a company that only makes software for small retail businesses.

This is important because if you are a small retail business and you go with software from a company that serves plenty of big chains and big groups, your small business could get lost in the mix, not listened to, forgotten. While their marketing will likely pitch that your business will matter and that you will get personal service, one way big, massive, software companies serve their customers is through offshore services centres and automation.

Retail is personal, local retail especially.

Here at Tower Systems we provide personal service. You see this reflected in our POS software and in the support services to local retailers we provide for our POS software.

Each POS software update includes enhancements suggested directly by our customers. We discuss these with them, and let them know when and how they are proceeding. This direct contact between our software development team and our customers is unique as is the direct, easy and personal contact between our POS software customers and our help desk team – all of whom work for us and are local in Australia and New Zealand.

Okay, well, all of what we have shared so far here is about choosing the best POS software company for a small retail business. In terms of the software itself, it’s easy …

Be sure of what you need and what you want, and know the why s to each of these.

When looking at software, ask them to show you, using their software, how each of your needs is met. Don’t just take their word.

If they say sign up and test it for yourself rather than taking the time to understand your needs and wants and showing you this reflects on the personal service they will, or will not provide.

The best POS system for a local small retail business is the one that serves the needs of the retail at a price that works for the retail business.

Take your time, do your research. Get everything in writing.

This is a long-term decision, one worth taking time over.

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Advice for small business retailers on dealing with increasing retail theft

September 18, 2023
3 Min read
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We know from the news that retail theft has increased. Shoplifting, stealing, retail theft, call it what o=you like, has a financial cost as well as an emotional cost. It can debilitate business owners, managers and team members, multiplying the total cost to the business.

Employee theft is easier to uncover, track and address than shopper theft.

Good POS software will offer proven tools for indicating potential employee theft and do this in a way that empowers business owners to act before the cost to the business is out of control.

The challenge is that many small business retail owners and managers do not use theft discovery and mitigation tools in POS software. We know because our Tower Systems POS software is well resourced in theft detection and mitigation and too often in talking with customers it is discovered later rather than earlier.

Our advice for retailers on employee theft is to use your software, check regularly, act on the indicators to see if there is something concerning there. In our case here at Tower systems – call or email – one of our senior theft mitigation specialists will help. These are people who have worked with the police and insurance companies on such situations. They will Bring that experience to the table for you.

Shopper theft, shoplifting, stealing of products is best discovered by a regular process of what we call spot stock takes. Choose several high interest product categories and every week check stock on hand. This will indicate if there is an issue. If there is not, choose another.

Having a consistent approach to spot stock takes if key to the discovery point of shoplifting.

The best deterrent is your action. Here is our advice to be known as a shop not worth stealing from:

  1. Greet people when they enter the shop. Them seeing you see them, eye to eye, will deter some people planning to steal.
  2. Have systems to collect evidence: CCTV and, when appropriate, matching POS software data.
  3. Always report people caught to the police.
  4. Write about reporting it to the police on social media.
  5. If you have camera evidence of theft but no knowledge of the name, use the photo to try and figure out the identity.

If the problem in your shop is serious and at a point where it is distressing you, consider bringing in a uniformed security guard for a week or two. While there is a cost with that, it makes a physical statement about your approach to the security of your space.

Complaining about theft is not action.

Catching someone and getting your goods back is inadequate action.

Not acting on a hunch because of a fear for what you might discover is not action.

Theft requires action. Typically in local small business retail it is costing the business somewhere between 3% and 5% of turnover. In our experience, retailers trend to not act because they are not sure where to start.

Here at Tower Systems we offer guidance to retail business owners on what to do, actions to take, processes to establish to at least get a handle on what might be happening. That is the best place to start if the business has not been acting consistently up to that point.

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Australian-made POS software for small business specialty retailers

September 15, 2023
3 Min read
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Here at Tower Systems, we develop point of sale (POS) software specifically for small business retailers in a range of niche retail channels. We develop what we sell and support, so you can be sure that our software is designed to meet the specific needs of your business.

Our POS software is called Retailer, and while it’s been around for many years, what we offer today is technically and visually fresh, up to date, and ever-evolving.

We’ve built it with the input of many hundreds of retailers and today it’s used by thousands of retailers, so we know it’s genuinely useful in a variety of retail situations.

Retailer is used by specialty retailers like jewellers, garden centres, bike shops, toy shops, pet shops, produce businesses, farm supply businesses, firearms dealers, newsagents, adult shops, gift shops, homewares shops, and more.

We release software updates to Retailer several times every year, based on customer feedback. We love this democratic approach, and it’s helped us to make Retailer the best it can be.

The POS software we sell and support today is very different to that with which we started. It’s fresh visually, technically, and functionally. We’re proud to bring this to local retailers in Australia and New Zealand.

In addition to our POS software, we also offer a range of integrations that can help your business operate more efficiently and successfully. These include integrations with Xero, Shopify, Magento, Big Commerce, scales and more.

We also offer a range of back-office tools that can help you run your business well, including repairs software and manufactured goods software. Our repairs software is a great option for jewellers, bike shops, and any business that offers in-house or external repairs to customers.

We’re a proud team of software professionals who are passionate about helping small business retailers succeed. We’re grateful to our customers for their business and for their recommendations. Their guidance and support has been invaluable to us as we’ve grown the business and helped more retailers run successful businesses.

That’s what our POS software is all about: helping local independent small business retailers run efficient businesses they enjoy. We love seeing that, and we’re here to help you make it happen.

So if you’re a small business retailer looking for a POS software that’s designed to meet your specific needs, then contact us today. We’d be happy to show you how Retailer can help you run a retail business you enjoy more.

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Cash beats points when it comes to loyalty marketing in local retail

September 14, 2023
2 Min read
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Loyalty points are hard to quantify. But cash, we all understand.

Think about it. When did you look at the loyalty points in a retailer or airline program and try and figure out how much they are worth. Confusion suits them. We think it dilutes the value significantly.

A customer recently spent $87.97 at a shop in suburban Melbourne. They were an infrequent shopper there, but they were given a $4.40 voucher on their receipt.

The customer looked at the voucher and then back into the shop. A few minutes later, they spent an additional $165.00 on products. They said they might as well get these things here and save money.

The customer lives an hour from the shop and was only shopping locally because they were visiting a friend. But the $4.40 voucher was enough to encourage them to spend more.

The Tower Systems POS software offers integrated loyalty marketing, including points-based and cash-back rewards. The cash-back rewards are popular with retailers because they are easy to implement and track.

Differentiating your loyalty program can encourage shoppers to spend more and come back more often. The Tower Systems loyalty platform also offers a way for retailers to engage with local community groups and raise funds.

We believe that cash-back rewards are a better way to build loyalty than points-based rewards. This approach is a differentiator for local indie retail businesses.

Too often, small businesses think that copying what big retailers do is the smart way to go. But it’s not. Big retailers have the resources to offer complex loyalty programs with lots of bells and whistles. But small businesses can’t afford to do that.

The Tower Systems loyalty platform is a simple and effective way for small businesses to build loyalty. It’s used by retailers in Australia and New Zealand, and it’s helped them to drive basket depth and bring shoppers back sooner.

This loyalty program is easy to setup, and to fine tune based on experience. With no overhead and no external people to deal with, it’s so easy for local retailers to leverage local opportunities and Leeds in how they execute their loyalty offer.

If you’re a small business owner, we encourage you to check out the Tower Systems loyalty platform. It’s a great way to differentiate your business and build customer loyalty.

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Alternative for Vend and Lightspeed POS software customers concerned about Lightspeed payments

September 13, 2023
3 Min read
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More retailers using Vend POS and Lightspeed POS have told us of concerns at being told by Lightspeed to switch to the Lightspeed Payments platform or face what reads like a penalty charge from the company for continuing with a current, non-Lightspeed, payments solution.

As recent Lightspeed earnings reports have revealed, growing Lightspeed Payments revenue has become a key commercial activity for the Lightspeed business. This pitches them as like a road a tolling business, making a clip from each transaction processed by retailers using their Lightspeed POS software or their Vend POS software.

It’s like they see revenue from a clip of retail sales in the shops of their customers is more important to them than the revenue they get from the actual rental of their software.

Here at Tower Systems, our view is that as a software company it is important that we make most of our money from our software, and not off the back of hard work by retailers using our software. Making money off our software itself keeps us focussed on the evolution of the software, it keeps the software at the core of what we do.

The more businesses using our software, the more money we make, the more money we have available to invest in enhancing the software.

If you think about the Lightspeed model, they make more money when your transaction volume increases. Does this mean bigger businesses, with higher turnover, are more important to them as a company? We don’t know.

What we do know is that here at Tower Systems every single customer is valued and treated the same because we are not tracking sales volume.

We don’t care what EFTPOS or payments platform you use. Our POS software integrates seamlessly with all major Australian banks, so you can process payments quickly and easily without any extra keying or keystrokes.

We also don’t charge any penalties or fees based on your payments platform choice. We believe that retailers should be free to choose the best payments platform for their business, without being penalized for doing so.

Unlike Lightspeed, Tower Systems offers a flexible, no-contract rental plan. You can rent our software for as long or as short as you need, with no lock-in period.

We are committed to providing our customers with the best possible support. Our team of experts is available 24/7 to help you with any questions or problems you may have.

If you are a Lightspeed POS or vend POS customer and are looking for an alternative to Lightspeed Payments, consider Tower Systems. We would be happy to discuss your needs and see how we can help you.

There’s more to us:

  • Comprehensive reporting tools to track your sales and inventory
  • Customisable features to fit your specific needs
  • Robust security measures to protect your data
  • 24/7 customer support

If you’re a Vend POS or Lightspeed POS customer and happy with their products and service, terrific, please stay with them. What matters most is that you are using software you love from a company that appreciates you.

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Free small business retail advice: Bing Business Profile. Steps you can take to be more easily found.

September 12, 2023
6 Min read
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Further to our advice in recent emails on how to setup your Google Business Profile, here is advice on doing the same for Bing:

How to set up Bing Places for Business and Connect it with Google My Business

Yes, Bing is a thing. It is growing in popularity as a search engine. It’s leading on Ai integration and that is one reason for growth in its use.

Now, the why: Establishing a strong online presence is crucial to being found, especially by people nearby, searching on their phone. One effective way to ensure your business gets discovered by potential customers is by leveraging local search platforms like Bing Places for Business and Google My Business. In this article, we guide you through the process of setting up Bing Places for Business and offer advice on connecting it with Google My Business to maximise your online visibility.

Here is our advice, which we have followed for our Malvern store.

Part 1: Setting Up Bing Places for Business

  1. Create a Microsoft account: To get started, you’ll need a Microsoft account. If you don’t already have one, visit the Microsoft account creation page and follow the instructions to sign up.
  2. Access Bing Places for Business: Once you have a Microsoft account, navigate to the BingPlaces for Business website (https://www.bingplaces.com/) and sign in using your account credentials.
  3. Claim your business listing: On the Bing Places for Business homepage, search for your business using its name, address, or phone number. If your business appears in the search results, claim it as your own. If not, proceed to create a new listing by selecting the “Add new business” option.
  4. Provide accurate business information: Fill out the required fields with accurate and up-to-date information about your shop, such as the name, address, phone number, website URL, and category. Make sure to be consistent with the details you provide across different online platforms.
  5. Enhance your listing: Bing Places for Business allows you to enhance your listing by adding photos, business hours, descriptions, and other relevant information. Utilise these features to make your listing more appealing and informative to potential customers. These details also help when people search.
  6. Verify your listing: After submitting your business information, you’ll need to verify your listing to prove that you’re the rightful owner. Bing Places for Business offers various verification methods, including phone verification, email verification, or postcard verification. Choose the method that suits you best and follow the instructions provided. We used the phone verification and it was fast, and easy.
  7. Keep it up to date. This is important. It’s also why we outline advice on connecting to Google My Business.

Part 2: Connecting with Google My Business

  1. Sign in to Google My Business: If you haven’t done so already, sign in to your Google account and visit the Google My Business website (https://www.google.com/business/) to access the platform.
  2. Add your business: Click on the “Manage now” button and enter your business name in the search field. If your business appears in the results, select it and proceed to claim it. If not, click on the “Add your business to Google” option.
  3. Provide accurate business details: Fill in the required information about your shop, including the name, address, phone number, website URL, and category. Ensure that the information matches what you’ve provided on Bing Places for Business.
  4. Verify your business: Google My Business requires verification to confirm your ownership. Similar to Bing Places for Business, you can choose from various verification methods, such as phone verification, email verification, or postcard verification. Follow the instructions provided to complete the verification process.
  5. Optimise your listing: Take advantage of the features offered by Google My Business to optimise your listing. Add high-quality photos, specify your business hours, provide a detailed description, and encourage customers to leave reviews. The more complete and engaging your listing is, the better it will perform in search results.
  6. Link Bing Places for Business and Google My Business: To connect the two platforms, visit the Bing Places for Business dashboard and locate the “Connect to Google My Business” option. Follow the provided instructions to link your Bing Places listing with your Google My Business account. This connection enables seamless sharing of your business information across both platforms.

Here are some additional tips to consider:

  1. Consistency is key: Ensure that the information you provide on both platforms is consistent and matches the details displayed on your website and other online directories. This includes your business name, address, phone number, and website URL. Consistency helps build trust and avoids confusion for customers.
  2. Utilise keywords: Incorporate relevant keywords in your business description, category selection, and other fields. This helps search engines understand the nature of your business and improves your chances of appearing in relevant search results. And, you can adjust these as you go.
  3. Monitor and respond to reviews: Regularly check and respond to customer reviews on both BingPlaces for Business and Google My Business. Engaging with your customers demonstrates excellent customer service and shows potential customers that you value their feedback – even if it is negative.
  4. Add additional business attributes: Both platforms offer the option to add extra attributes to your listing. Take advantage of these features to highlight special offerings, amenities, accepted payment methods, or any other relevant details that may attract customers to your shop.
  5. Share photos and videos: Visual content plays a crucial role in attracting customers. Add high-quality photos and, if possible, videos that showcase your products, services, and the ambiance of your shop. This visual representation helps potential customers get a better sense of what to expect when visiting your business.
  6. Monitor analytics: Both Bing Places for Business and Google My Business provide analytics and insights on how users are interacting with your listings. Monitor these analytics regularly to gain valuable insights into customer behaviour, popular search terms, and the overall performance of your listings. Use this information to optimise your strategies and improve your online visibility.

Remember, maintaining an active and updated online presence is an ongoing process. Regularly review and update your information, respond to customer inquiries, and adapt your strategies based on analytics to stay ahead in the competitive online marketplace.

By following these steps and implementing effective strategies, you can leverage the power of BingPlaces for Business and Google My Business to enhance your shop’s visibility, attract more customers, and boost your local presence.

We get that this can feel daunting, time consuming and not necessarily immediately valuable. Our advice is that it is valuable, and well worth doing.

Do not pay someone to do this work for you. It’s your business, your digital shop front, your responsibility to set your own narrative.

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New free POS software training videos for small business retailers

September 11, 2023
2 Min read
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We are grateful to have published plenty more POS software training videos to our free to access training library. Each video is on a separate topic and compact in time – to get to the point, cover it and provide customers an opportunity to try for themselves.

We have found these short videos to work very well in training local retailers in the use of our POS software.

Here are some of the new videos we have published:

  • Monthly Sales Comparison – the best report for ay retailer looking to understand and grow their business. 
  • Ranked Sales Report – so many options for discovering what’s working and what’s not.
  • Installing Retailer Updates – how, when, where and what.
  • General Stock Listing Report – for those who like old-school.
  • Supplier Stock Listing Report – when you want to hone in on a supplier.
  • Sales Transaction Log – the guts of sales history.
  • Detailed Takings Report – everything you want to know.
  • POS Touch Screen Advanced Settings – make your POS screen your own.
  • How to access and find knowledge base articles (including using F1) – the easy way to get help when you want it.
  • Access Support – Understanding Priority and Logging Support Tickets – tips for the best customer service experience.
  • Importing a Supplier Stockfile – we make it easy, and certain.

These videos and the many others released this year are designed to help you get more from the software for your business. We are grateful for customer feedback on the videos.

POS software training can be a challenge in a retail business with a staff turnover or a roster of casual staff. Our video training library with, now, around 70 new videos offers a resource set that retailers can use to ensure staff are well trained to get more form their Tower Systems POS software.

In publishing this list of most recent training videos produces by us for our POS software customers, we are showing our commitment to customer service. It would be easier to tell, but we prefer to show. facts matter and this list of training videos is real and fresh training content that our small business retailer customers are telling us they love, and we are sincerely grateful for that.

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Helping local small business retailers save time and improve efficiency

September 2, 2023
2 Min read
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Labour costs are under the spotlight in businesses around the world. The obsession with AI is, in part, because it reduces reliance on labour. In San Francisco 3 autonomous (driverless) car companies now operate taxis. We saw them when there on business just a week ago. 7-Eleven in Australia is trialling just walk out type tech. several shops where registered shoppers can walk in, take items off the shelf, and walk out. WH Smith now has self-checkout terminals in most of its Aussie c-store businesses.

We are working on several fronts for you in related areas.

  • Our ChatGPT AI integration is saving time on writing product descriptions and has been since January this year. Retailers are loving it – the time saving and the improvement in product descriptions.
  • Our free version of Retailer Roam makes it easy and fast to photograph products using your phone or tablet, load these into Retailer and sync with your website. In seconds you can take and load images of products via your phone, or tablet.
  • We are trialling our new Retailer Self-checkout facility using a new shopper-friendly portrait checkout screen. It’s an easy for shoppers to self check out, a labour saver in some settings.
  • Qjump, our new mobile customer-accessible true self-checkout facility is in trial. Think the new 7-Eleven app but for local indie small businesses without the weirdness of capturing shopper images and the high tech implementation cost.
  • Our new EasyEDI platform offering easy access to time-saving electronic invoices is in early trial with a supplier who, until now, has not offered these.

We are working on more innovations in our small business focussed Retailer POS software to help improve your efficiency. Time saving is a key focus, as is data accuracy.

It’s in these areas of work that we genuinely differentiate for our local small business retailer customers.

We are grateful for the support of our customers. Thank you. We hope you have an awesome lead into the Christmas retail season.

Oh, one more thing … Google has released a core update, which will impact website rankings. We shared advice by email with our customers about this in the last week of August.  Let’s know by email if you’s like a copy. sales@towersystems.com.au

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The easy way to learn how to use POS software

September 1, 2023
2 Min read
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Learning how to use POS software can be a pain, especially if you are new to a business that has been using the software for some time. Usually, in that case, you are trained by someone who has been trained by someone else in the business who may have been trained by the software company – if you’re lucky.

Here at Tower Systems we take a different approach. We make it easy for everyone using our POS software to tap into good professional and current content training.

Our library of training videos is regularly enhanced. each video is single topic, short and accessible regardless of level of technical skill.

We make it easy for any retailer or retail staff member to learn how to use our POS software.

We understand the value and power of knowledge, that’s why we make accessing training easy, and free for our customers.

Each of our videos is what we call snackable. By that we mean they are like a snack – quick and easy to digest. we have found this approach to training to be more useful, more appreciated, more valuable to the business. The shorter form videos are also more easily maintained y us, and we know our customers appreciate this.

Our approach to POS software training means that someone can join a business where our software has been used for several years and get free access to our training rather than relying on colleagues for training. We know this is differentiating for us, we have made it so, and we are proud of it.

The better retail employees know how to use our software the more value they are to the retail business and the customers it serves, also, the better they could feel about their work, their own value. It’s a genuine win win here.

With more than 16 hours of fresh training content available in video form and more than 600 searchable articles, our POS software customers can rely on being able to learn and refresh easily and without extra cost. We think this approach to accessible and free POS software training is key to serving the needs of local small business retailers.

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Retailers loving the latest POS software update

August 31, 2023
1 Min read
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We released a major software update around 10 days ago following a comprehensive beta release program. This update delivers net new facilities in our POS software, across a range of vertical markets in which we serve.

We are grateful to the many customers who engaged with us through the pre development consultation process and those who submitted their businesses to the beta release program. Your help has resulted in a wonderful product.

It is a buzz seeing how many of our customers have loaded this update already and started using it.

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Retail management advice: Small Business Loyalty Programs: Don’t Mimic the Big Guys

August 30, 2023
3 Min read
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Many small business retailers copy the loyalty programs of big retailers, too many in fact. Here at Tower Systems, based on years of experience working with retailers and running our own shops, we think this is a mistake.

Big retailers can afford to offer generic rewards like points, which mean what anyway (?), but small businesses need to be more creative and offer rewards that are relevant to and understood by their customers.

Here are a few tips for creating a loyalty program that will wow your customers:

  • Make it personal. Don’t just offer generic rewards like points. Instead, offer rewards that are specific to your business and your customers.
  • Make it easy to participate. Your loyalty program should be easy for customers to understand and participate in. The last thing you want is for customers to get confused or frustrated.
  • Make it rewarding. The rewards you offer should be valuable enough to keep customers coming back. Don’t just offer small discounts or coupons. Instead, offer rewards that your customers will actually want, like free products, exclusive experiences, or early access to new products.
  • Make it understood. Cash is what people understand the best. A dollar is worth a dollar.

If you follow these tips, you can create a loyalty program that will help you attract and retain customers.

Here are some specific examples of loyalty programs that small businesses can offer:

  • Discount vouchers: This is a simple but effective way to reward customers. You can offer discount vouchers for a percentage off their next purchase, or for free shipping or other perks.
  • VIP card: This is a great way to show your most loyal customers some extra love. VIP cardholders can enjoy exclusive rewards, like early access to new products or special discounts.
  • Bundled package offerings: This is a great way to encourage customers to spend more money. You can offer bundled packages of products or services at a discounted price.

No matter what type of loyalty program you choose, make sure it’s something that your customers will actually want to participate in. If you do that, you’ll be well on your way to building a loyal customer base.

Here are more thoughts on loyalty programs for small businesses:

  • Be creative. Don’t be afraid to get creative with your loyalty program. The more unique and interesting your program is, the more likely customers are to participate.
  • Be flexible. Your loyalty program should be flexible enough to change as your business grows and evolves. Don’t be afraid to make adjustments to your program as needed.
  • Be social. Promote your loyalty program on social media and other channels to reach a wider audience.

By following these tips, you can create a loyalty program that will help you grow your small business.

Now, our preference is discount vouchers because we know they work, we see it in business data from many hundreds of local small business retailers. Shoppers love them, and spend as a result.

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Aussie small business retailers love using AI to create better product descriptions

August 29, 2023
2 Min read
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ChatGPT integrated POS software from Aussie company Tower Systems auto-generates more meaningful products descriptions, saving time and removing a pain-point for small business retailers.

Released in February 2023 and fine-tuned since, the ChatGPT integration is loved by retailers.

The product descriptions are concise and tuned for search engine success.

“We run 3 shops ourselves and love the time this saves,” commented Mark Fletcher, Managing Director of Tower Systems. “The ChatGPT integration generates the description based on simple prompts. The retailer can review the text, and adjust if necessary.”

“Local small business retailers are time-poor so anything we can do to save time is a win.”

In a typical shop, coming up with a description for a new product can take several minutes with a range of factors to be considered. The ChatGPT integration eliminates this. The feedback from customers using the new facility are encouraging and motivating to the software developers as it recognises the practical value of their focus on productivity enhancements.

“Looking at product descriptions from many small business retailers, we found many were overwritten and not tuned to search engine needs, thereby denying sales opportunities to these businesses.”

The ChatGPT integrated POS software update was provided to the Tower customer community for no cost. Retailers using the software have the option to not use the AI integration.

It is part of a suite of POS software enhancements that targeted productivity improvements for local small business retailers who use the Tower Systems POS software.
Here is what the ChjatGPT integration looks like live:

…

Tower Systems serves more than 3,000 local specialty retailers in Australia: newsagents, pet shops, jewellers, garden centres, farm supply businesses, bike shops and gift shops.

The company also owns and runs 3 high street shops in Melbourne and 6 online retail businesses.

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Advice for retailers following the Google core update

August 28, 2023
3 Min read
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Four days ago, Google announced that it had released a core update. This has implications for all businesses that are found via Google searches.

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Whenever Google updates its search ranking algorithms, your website can do better or worse in the search results. It is important to watch how your website is impacted.

Google offers useful advice on dealing with the implications for a core update, including this excellent and practical advice:

We suggest focusing on ensuring you’re offering the best content you can. That’s what our algorithms seek to reward. To learn more about how to create content that’s successful, see our help page on how to create helpful, reliable people-first content. It has questions that you can ask yourself when assessing your own content.

This is key for any local small business retailer with a website: ensure your contact is unique, fresh, and valuable to the reader.

Our advice to retailers for whom we have developed websites connected to our POS Software is to ensure content is fresh, useful and updated as appropriate. 

We recommend against paying content farms, AI platforms or others to write content for you. If you are an expert, be the expert. Consider using your name, as a byline, on pages you have written.

Consider deleting pages that are out of date. Quality matters more than quantity.

Ensure product descriptions are your text and not that supplied by a supplier to all retailers they supply. Unique content matters.

Consider questions you answer. Do your answers on your website make you an authority? What changes could you make to be more of an authority?

Make sure page headings are relevant to the content.

Think about the humans you want to attract to your business, write for them and not for a search algorithm.

Every page on your website needs to have a human related purpose, the Google algorithms consider this.

If your business website contains any pages written by others, especially if those pages were created offshore, review them thoroughly and ensure your voice is heard, ensure the pages reflect what you want said about your business and its offers.

Here at Tower Systems we create and support POS Software for specialty retailers, and we create websites for retailers using our software. 

We are grateful to serve more than 3,000 local and independent retailers in Australia and New Zealand.

If you’re looking for new POS Software, we’d love to find out more about your needs:
Australia: 1300 662 957
NZ: 0800 444 367
Email: sales@towersystems.com.au
Website: www.towersystems.com.au – where you can easily access videos of software demos and our pricing.

Thanks for reading.

Mark Fletcher
Managing Director
Tower Systems International (Aust.) Pty Ltd
ABN 61 007 009 752
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-fletcher-tower/

PS. Your web developer may say that they will update the content on your website to leverage the Google changes. While that may appeal as a time saver, it is important that the content in your website reflects your expertise.

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The most important competitor a local small business retailer has is themselves

August 28, 2023
1 Min read
T

Too often in local retail business we get in our head about big business competitors when the most important competitor any local small business retailer has is themselves.

Here at Tower Systems we develop and support POS software for local specialty retailers. We are retailers ourselves, too.

We’ve worried too much about big business competitors ourselves when wonderful opportunities can be seen when we look at ourselves as our own competitor.

This short video speaks to this opportunity.

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