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July 7, 2023
1 Min read
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How garden centres use our POS software in their businesses
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We are so grateful to all the garden centres that have installed our garden centre software in the last year, and there have been plenty. The last 12 months have been busy in this space.
While how the garden centre software is used in nursery and garden centre businesses varies between businesses, there are plenty of core uses that our customers enjoy.
- Quote and invoice management. Strong, flexible, fit for purpose.
- Trade pricing profiles supporting pricing flexibility for your customers.
- Customer account management: Professional and accurate control.
- Pricing profiles. You can set pricing rules based on types of customers.
- Easier deliveries. Packing slips and delivery notes.
- Sell by weight or measure, including fractions.
- Bag your own products. Bag bulk to smaller and to your own brand.
- Colour / size / style. Track what you sell at a granular level.
- Product care receipts. You control design and detail.
- Re-potting. As plants grow, charge accordingly.
- Pre-orders – pre-sell stock and be ahead of the game.
- Special orders – easily manage special customer orders.
- Awesome loyalty through which you can easily differentiate.
- Seasonal reordering. Easily reorder inventory based on seasonal sales.
- Weatherproof labels.
- Greenlife integration.
- Electronic supplier invoice support – cut mistakes and save time.
- Easy Shopify integration.
Using this retail channel specific garden centre POS software, garden centres can provide personal service for their local community. They can encode their knowledge and guide that this be served to customers based on their purchases. Through these facilities garden centres can differentiate their businesses.
Unlike traditional everyday POS software, this garden centre POS software from Tower Systems is rich in features for garden centres, loaded with tools and reports that can help garden centre owners and staff run a more efficient and successful business.
The software evolves through regular updates. Many of the changes delivered in the updates are suggested direct to our development team by our users. It’s a transparent and democratic process.
And here are some questions we get asked about our garden centre software, and our answers:
Does the software handle garden 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 track frequent shopper purchases, like what you see in coffee shops buy 9 and get your 10th free? Yes.
Can the software report on frequent shopper purchase items we give away, to get a supplier rebate? Yes.
Does the software have a loyalty facility? Yes, there are several options – you can choose the one that works best for your needs.
Does the software let me manage my own time-based catalogue pricing? Yes.
Can I sell gift cards for my business? Yes.
I buy products in bulk and re-bag them to retail size. Can the software handle this? Yes.
I buy several products in bulk to mix to create my own brand of feed. can the software handle this? Yes.
We are thankful to our garden centre customer community for their support and encouragement.
What’s the best POS system in Australia?
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It’s a question retailers often ask: what’s the best POS system in Australia.
The answer, of course, will be subjective as there is no one who has used all the POS systems in Australia, there is no one who could speak authoritatively to answer the question.
There will be people who can nominate a POS system they like over another, but that does not make their recommendation the best POS system in Australia.
The question itself is too general for a jeweller, for example, will want to find the best jeweller POS software while a garden centre owner will want to find the best garden centre software.
Specialist retailers want, in fact the need, POS software, a POS system that offers facilities for their type of business.
It is interesting to see the number of POS software companies in Australia that advertise for the keyword, best POS system in Australia. We suspect they do that because they know people are searching for that keyword. What people want, though, is an answer.
No one can honestly answer the question for the reason we outlined at the start of this post.
What plenty of us can say, though, is that we offer good software for specialty marketplace needs. That’s what we do here at Tower Systems. We have software made specifically for a range of specialty retail channels, and in some of those marketplaces, we dominate more than any other POS software company. That endorsement by retailers is an indicator of best.
Instead of asking what’s the best POS system in Australia we think a better question is what’s the best POS system for my business. It’s your needs that matter most here. That’s what our advise is to start with you, what do you need from a POS system and what value do you place on having that need served to your satisfaction.
Answer the question with your own question. Get that right, get a list of your must-have needs right, and know the value of satisfying them and you are on your way because you know, for sure, what you are looking for.
The best POS system for your business will be the one that satisfies your needs for the price you are prepared to pay. It’s as simple as that. Oh, it is possible that the company that matches your needs for the price you want is not advertising for the best POS system in Australia keyword, because companies that spend a ton of online advertising may not have the investment in software development that you need to make the best POS system for your type of business.
When someone contacts us about our POS software, we like to start with questions, because we want to understand the needs of any prospective customer. It could be that our software does not serve your needs. We will say so if that is the case, as we should.
POS software for charity shops, op. shops and community enterprises
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There is never a good time to talk about theft with local retailers
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There is no good time to write to local retailers about theft.
It’s a topic many of us in business don’t want to hear about, we don’t want to contemplate it.
But this happened.
We were checking the data for a local retail business that uses our specialty retail POS software. We noticed some anomalies in their data, in transaction sequences actually.
After digging a bit deeper we had evidence of employee theft.
From data covering three months we had enough evidence to put a value of $25,000 on the theft.
On our advice, the business asked for a meeting with the employee to discuss their concerns. The employee resigned immediately. They never returned to the business.
The business has the evidence police can use for a criminal investigation and, we expect, charges being laid. As we have done previously, we are prepared to be called as an expert witness.
Tower Systems is not your usual POS software company. Our help desk does the usual help desk stuff, and they go the extra mile – to help you maximise the value of the power of our Aussie made and supported POS software.
Our software has theft tracking tools, hidden away from everyday users, tools that can provide the evidence needed by police, and prosecutors to make their case in court.
Here is best practice advice which, if followed, will reduce the cost of theft in any retail business.
- Establish a theft policy and stick to it.
- Check references of prospective employees.
- Ask candidates if they would agree to a background check.
- Only sell what you arrive, bring into the store, through Point of Sale software. If you track it you can know if it has been stolen or not. If you do not track it who knows if it is stolen.
- Track ALL sales – by scanning, touch screen button or PLU (product look up code), a hot key on your computer screen.
- Stop all department sales, sales where the employee gets to enter the amount of the item.
- Scan out ALL products are returned to suppliers.
- Undertake regular spot stock take throughout the business. The discrepancy between what you have and what the system has reflects theft.
- Reorder stock using your software. This stops poor buying decisions. It also identified stock theft and employee fraud around stock.
- Use employee codes against each sale. Yes, this adds time to each sale. The benefits far outweigh the time cost.
- Set an end of shift balance target of $5.00. Many retailers achieve this – it takes discipline.
- Change your system passwords regularly. Make it a condition of employment that these passwords are never shared.
- Do random, during the day, register balance checks. Check that the cash your computer system thinks should be in the cash drawer is what is actually in the cash drawer.
- Use your software to check and report on behaviour which could indicate employee theft.
Retailers tend to worry more about shopper theft than employee theft yet, in our experience, employee theft has the higher cost to the business.
Outcome-focussed training packages help retailers get more from POS software
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Tower Systems released several new outcome-focussed training packages last month and customers are grateful. While each of these areas is covered in training, packaging them this way has caught the attention of more as retailers understand each of the needs.
- What am I not seeing in terms of performance of my business as captured in the software? In this 2 hour session we will train you on the key metrics tracked by the software, show how you can see them and consider business decisions available to you as a result of this, and we will do this with you using your data. $440.00.
- I am worried about theft and need to know what I can check in the software to see if it is an issue. In this 2 hour session that is for owners only, we will log into your system and show you using your own data what hidden tools there are in the software for tracking theft and hour you can use them. $440.00.
- My data is a mess. Please help. Over this 4 hour session we will work with you, logged into your system with you, reviewing a whole range of your data, talking through what we see and can do to clean up the data, and showing you how we do it, as we do it. This results in cleaner data and live training for you on what you can do yourself. $700.00.
These sessions are run by one of our POS software experts working with you, on your data. They are for a specific length of time. We have set the time based on our experience doing this work.
We are always looking for ways to help nurture more value for retailers who use our POS software in their shops. This focus on nurturing value uniquely positions Tower Systems.
As retailers ourselves we understand the importance of measurable achievements attributable to good use of our POS software. This is where training sessions like those noted above play an important role.
The training sessions are delivered one-on-one and they are available to any of our customers.
Tower Systems is grateful to serve more than 3,000 local small business retailers.
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Happy New Year
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Our POS software for op. shops, charity shops and community enterprises is part of our giving back commitment
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We price our POS software for op. shops, charity shops and community enterprises differently to our commercial offer. The pricing is subsidised by us to make the cost as low as possible for these valuable community enterprises.
Charity and op. shops are unique and loved businesses, providing valuable service to the local community and to those supported by the charity. We are grateful to serve these community enterprises with POS software made for charity / op. shops:
- Easy shopper loyalty. While the software offers a loyalty points system, we have found the cash-off approach in our loyalty tools works better in local retail. People understand money. A receipt showing an amount they can save on their next purchase gets, usually, at least 20% of people spending more that visit.
- Manage inventory your way. You can sell by barcode, products code, department, category within department, price point. You can sell, measure and report at the level point appropriate to your needs.
- Easy to learn. We have found that in community enterprises easy to learn / easy to use really does matter. Volunteer turnover makes this essential. We can record training specific to your needs and make these videos available for future volunteers.
- Secure. You can lock down parts of the software to secure them for management access only.
- Check and balances. This software guides processes. It also provides hidden tracking so you can investigate should the need arise.
- Club / group marketing and support. Leverage clubs and community groups with offers and pricing just for them.
Our Australian made and supported charity / op. shop POS software does much more than what’s on this list. See it for yourself, live and obligation free, to see if it could serve you and your business. We’d be glad to show it to all involved in the operation.
We understand it can be a challenging and fine line walking between running a business and serving a community in need, especially in a setting that relies on many volunteers. We try and walk this road with you, helping where we can, helping you to serve while at the same time respecting the tech. professionals on our team who help us do this.
Embedded in our software are tools to help the charity or community enterprise more efficiently focus on the mission of the organisation.
Our POS software for charity / Op. shops is evolving. we are grateful to so many who have helped and continue to help us on this path.
Stocktakes are so unnecessary in retail today, such a waste of time and money
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While our POS software has stocktake facilities to enable fast and accurate counting of inventory, it really is necessary for businesses to do them at the end of the financial year. The better approach is to:
- Track all inventory arriving in the business at the point of arrival.
- Track all sales, at the point of sale.
- Track all returns at the point of return.
- Spot stocktake parts of the business to get a read on theft.
These things alone, done with consistency and accuracy will provide the business with a stock listing, what you’d usually get from a stocktake, that is accurate for your financials and accurate for your taxation return purposes.
By having a tight and consistent approach to stock management at all appropriate gate points in the business and doing this work daily on stock movements, you negate the need for end of financial year work. This saves time, labour cost and results, actually, in more accurate business data.
Stocktakers, of course, will criticise this as this post makes the point that they are not necessary. the thing is, their manual processes, have been found to be inaccurate and, often, inappropriate.
For those who do want to do a stocktake, we make stocktake easy.
No, we are not talking about cutting corners or avoiding important and vital work for the business. Rather, we have a stocktake process that could save you time and help you know what you need to know today.
While doing a stocktake of the whole business is the traditional way, if you break it up and do sections of the shop when it suits, you could, through a rolling stocktake process, have more accurate data with a lower labour cost for the counting of stock.
The Tower Systems POS software lets you do part of the shop if you wish. That could be a shelf, an aisle, a section of the shop or even a single item. Of course, you can do a stocktake for the whole store too.
By doing a stocktake of a section or segment of the business, you can concentrate on high moving items, items more likely to be stolen or for some other reason. You can also schedule these sectional / spot stocktakes in a way that suits your labour availability. Finding half an hour to do a section in a daily roster could save the business money compared to bring people in especially to stocktake.
Having worked with 3,500+ local retail businesses for many years and participated in many stocktakes across a variety of product categories, our advice is that the rolling stocktake approach is usually more time efficient and financially beneficial to a business. This approach does provide you an earlier indication of possible theft challenges.
Good POS software gives you stocktake flexibility and this helps you drive value for your business.
Now, some quick fire stocktake questions, which we answer from the perspective of the Tower Systems software.
Can my shop be open while I stocktake? Yes.
Can I stop and start the stocktake? Yes.
Can I use multiple terminals to stocktake? Yes.
Can I use a hand help PDE or PDA? Yes, many brands are supported.
Can I use a laptop? Yes.
How long will it take? It all depends on your products, store layout and staff training. Time improves as they go usually.
How often should I do a stocktake? Once a year for the whole business or weekly in manageable time bites if doing the rolling approach.
Will you train us? Yes, we have excellent self-serve and one-on-one training resources and options.
Specialty POS software for local small business retailers in Australia and New Zealand
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Here at Tower Systems we are grateful to serve a diverse mix of specialty retailers in different marketplaces. These include:
- 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 in the monthly rental cost: software licences for unlimited computers in the location, help desk support (by phone or email) 6 days a week (including Saturday), access to a comprehensive support knowledge base, after hours support call access for urgent system down queries, access to our 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.
Tower Systems currently serves more than 3,000 local small business retailers.
It may be that our software is not right for you. Let us organise a personal live demonstration by Zoom. We’ll record it with you and give you a copy so you can show colleagues and others you’d like to consult.
If we think we are not a good fit for you we will say so and wish you all the best.
Email us: sales@towersystems.com.au.
Call us: 1300 662 957 (Australia) 0800 444 367 (NZ toll free).
We have a crew of awesome software developers, caring customer service people and a business support crew skilled in serving local indie retailers.
At our website, we have easily accessible recent demonstrations of our POS software, which you can access immediately and without sharing any personal contact details whatsoever. The transparency we demonstrate on our website reflects how we operate as a company.
Fixed price POS software connected Shopify web development helps small business retailers land and stay online
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While we are a POS software company that makes, rents and supports POS software for a range of specialty retail businesses, we also develop POS software connected Shopify websites, and we have done this successfully for years.
Our approach is fixed price, and it’s full service.
Web development, good web development, is expensive. We price our work on a break even basis.
The websites we create are beautiful, functional and valuable. This takes time. Our web development expert, who would work with any local retailer customer, is patient and focussed on process to deliver a commercially useful website for you.
Companies that cost less tend to only be able to do this by having the work done offshore, despite what they may pitch in their marketing. All our work is done in Australia, by Christina. This has a higher cost, but it means you are working with someone more likely to properly understand your needs.
We accept there are people who choose to go elsewhere for a website. To be true to what we do and to ensure we compensate our colleagues here appropriately, we are unable to discount the price, sorry.
Tower Systems offers to create a Shopify website for which you receive:
- Pre development consultation. This is comprehensive phone call reviewing your needs to understand your requirements more completely.
- A checklist of work you complete, to provide assets such as text and images for the website.
- A live Shopify site as per everything outlined here.
- Shopify theme choice. Included in the quoted price is the selection of a paid-for theme available from the Shopify Theme Store at https://themes.shopify.com/themes. Themes are used to create the structure, look, and feel of your site so choose carefully.
- Shopify link. The Retailer POS software to link with Shopify. This link transfers to the Shopify site the following data points for each inventory item.
- A 2 hour Personal hand-over remote training session so you can manage the day to day running our your new live site.
- Three months of phone-based support assistance (not including changes) following delivery.
- A comprehensive pre-prep / handover document that provides support, written training and guidance on your next steps. This is the same for all our Shopify site customers. i.e. it is not document written especially for you.
Regardless of who you choose to create your website, here are tips we offer to help make setting up a Shopify site successful for you.
- Know why. Knowing why you want the website can answer plenty of other questions. For some it is to win new customers, for others it is revenue growth, while for ithers it is better service of existing customers.
- Keep it simple. If you are just beginning your journey into eCommerce our message is keep it simple. If you start simple you can get important learnings from which you can make informed changes. Remember where you start will not be where you finish. One of the key areas we see people over thinking is freight our advice is to keep freight an easy as possible by using the flat rate options provided by Shopify. Then, once you understand your customers change and adapt.
- Know your narrator. Every website has a narrator, the person behind the scenes writing the text, responding to queries. Think about that person, how they speak, words they use, their manner. Think of this person as a character you create.
- Look at competitor sites online locally and overseas as it is beneficial to see what someone else is doing and learn from that.
- Only use unique images. If you use supplier supplied images, they may be on other sites and Google will know this. Google likes fresh content.
- Write your own product name / title. Use search keywords in the name – that is, what people are searching for. Google likes fresh content.
- Write your own product description and think about what shoppers search for.
- Do not load everything. Too much stock makes a site hard to navigate.
- Consider using a website name that is different to your business name. Online can benefit from a different brand to your in-store situation.
- Be open to additional sites. You may make more money from having multiple.
- Support the site with active social media engagement.
- Promote the site with an email monthly at least, using Shopify’s marketing features.
The simple way an $87.97 purchase resulted in a $165.00 add on purchase.
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Simple and cash beats points when it comes to loyalty marketing.
A customer spent $87.97 in a shop in suburban Melbourne last week. They were an infrequent shopper there. On their receipt, they received this auto generated voucher for $4.40.
They looked at the $4.40 amount and then looked back into the shop. A few minutes later they purchased $165.00 worth of products saying they might as well get these things here and save money.
They live an hour from the shop and were shopping locally with a friend they were visiting yesterday.
The $4.40 voucher was enough to encourage them, to give them permission, to spend the additional $165.00.
While our POS software offers integrated (and to no extra cost) points based loyalty marketing, it also offers what we have shown here. It’s a fresh approach loved by hundreds and hundreds of retailers in Australia and New Zealand.
It’s easy to implement. You have complete control over the settings. It’s backed with insightful management reporting.
Differentiating your business in your loyalty pitch can encourage shoppers to spend more, and to come back more often.
This facility also has offers a wonderful local community group engagement and fundraising opportunity.
Tower Systems is not your average POS software company and here is another reason why. In addition to creating the POS software and providing our customers with training, we provide business context, the burg between purpose, function and why. The why is what matters as too many businesses just copy others without understanding the why.
The loyalty offer we have described here goes into the why, as well as the value of differentiation for local indie small business retailers.
The story is real, the value already banked by the retailer. And, it’s a story we hear regularly from our customers, bonus value harvested from this very simple and self-funding opportunity embedded in our software.
Every version of our software has this facility. There is no extra charge to use it. It’s so easy. Customers can be reaping value after a minute or two.
We are grateful to our customers who share their feedback on how they are using our POS software in their specialty retail businesses. It helps us learn, it demonstrates to us and to prospective customers value.
How to Use Repairs and Jobs Module in the Tower Systems POS software for Grooming Business 🐶
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In this video, we show you how to use our POS software Repairs and Jobs module for a grooming business.
Although we don’t offer any designated facilities for managing grooming, we can use Repairs and Jobs to track what was done for a client, what service was provided, the cost of that, whether any goods were used, and allocate images.
We give you a run-through on how it works, including adding a new job, choosing a customer, assigning staff members, printing job cards, allocating parts and images, and finalising payments. You can customise fields and set reminders for customers.
This is another example of the flexibility, in our POS software, another way retailers are able to use something designed for one type of business, in another unrelated business.
Music shop POS software
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Finding retail inspiration in Bali
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We are grateful for the opportunity to be in Bali recently with 17 local Aussie retailers, meeting with potential suppliers, getting to see artisans in their workshops and getting to visit with some exciting retail businesses.
Here is a short video from us in which we show off three awesome retailers in Ubud and Seminyak, showing that there is plenty of retail inspiration in Bali.
It’s stocktake season and Tower Systems is helping small business retailers be ready
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Our advice to retailers re stocktake is first and foremost: never pay an outside party to do your stocktake and never do a stocktake outside of your POS software.
The most accurate stocktake result for any retail business is doing it yourself, using your POS software. The Tower Systems POS software offers easy to use and reliable stock facilities and workflow.
Last year (2022), we got together with one of the stocktake experts at Tower Systems to discuss this and answer common stocktake questions we are asked. Here’s the video.
Our help goes beyond this. We have written advice, and we offer personal training. We make stocktaking easy and reliable for local samall business retailers.
25% off POS software training
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Over the last couple of weeks we have been offering our all of POS software customers 25% off the cost of POS software training. This offer is part of our end of financial year package of offers for our local indie retailer community.
We have pitched the discounted POS software training offer in our regular customer emails.
Here at Tower Systems our POS software customers have access to a comprehensive and fresh video training library for no cost. Plus, they have access to hundreds of up to date articles and written training in our knowledge base.
Some customers prefer to learn through one-on-one training. This is when there is a cost for training, and right now, to the end of the financial year, it’s 25% off.
We have a team of professional trainers for our POS software. They know retail and they know our software. Each session is tailored to the needs of the specific customer.
We compared the price of our Tower Systems POS software with the price for Vend, Square and EPOSnow and were surprised
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Note: prices can change. This is a moment in time comparison. Total cost of ownership of POS software is important for any retailer to consider.
Retailers simplify accounts management with Xero integrated POS software from Tower Systems
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The Xero accounting software integration with POS software from Tower Systems helps local independent retailers save time, save money, reduce mistakes and make better informed business decisions.
Using the Xero link with our POS software retailers can streamline their processes, connecting POS software and Xero accounting software, removing double entry and cutting mistakes.
The Tower Systems POS software offers:
- In-Store Point of Sale from the register, shop floor, or mobile thanks to Roam.
- Integrated eCommerce with Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce and Big Commerce.
- Streamlined Inventory Management through the business from arrival to sale, or return.
- Customer tracking and marketing based on purchases.
- Smart fulfilment based on criteria you can manager.
- Powerful Loyalty and and Customer Retention – with flexibility and differentiating options retailers love
- Advanced Reporting and Insights – see what matters.
The Xero accounting software solution offers:
- GL, P&L and Balance Sheet management and reporting
- Payroll management
- Invoice management
- Inventory management
- Expense claims
- Payments management
- Bank connections & reconciliation
The Tower Systems POS software Xero integration is a solution made for local small business retailers, to save time and money, to help nurture stronger and more valuable retail businesses.
Connect the Tower Systems POS software with Xero in minutes and keep everything in sync. Simply connect the tow and map your accounts. Our crew of retail experts can help;p you do this.
Once connected, your Tower systems POS software will upload your chosen key financial data to Xero – saving time on admin and cutting data mistakes.
Tower Systems is proud to deliver the advanced Xero POS integration local specialty retailers deserve for the complexities and competitiveness of modern retail.
Tower Systems is grateful to support thousands of Australian and New Zealand retail stores with our comprehensive POS software. We give retailers the tools they can understand and use to run more valuable, enjoyable and successful local retail businesses.
Tower Systems only serves local specialty retailers. This ensures that every customer matters. Are are thankful that more than 3,500 retailers have already chosen to partner with us.
Our service is local, from Aussie and NZ based retail experts. Our software is local, too, made here, for you.
The Xero integration with our POS software is one example of the value of integration relationships that we bring to life for our local indie retailer community.
Change
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Tower Systems helps local retailers connect with locals
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Advice for local indie retailers on how to thrive through the valley of death of retail: June – August every year
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June, July and August are tough months in many local shops, independent shops. There is no major season, and, it’s winter. Brrr. Some who have been in retail for ages call these months the months of death.
This year could be tougher because of interest rates and the penchant in newsrooms for stories negative about the economy and the future.
Here are 7 ways you could make these three months work for you.
- Be happy. Make the shop bright, happy, smelling good and sounding good. Good lighting. Have a candle burning. Have an awesome playlist. Make your shop a place people enjoy. And, reflect this in your social media posts.
- Pitch your offers consistently: discount vouchers, buy x cards and get a card for free. If you have value offers, pitch them in-store as well as on your socials.
- Google My Business. Post several times a week. Be found by people nearby searching for what you sell.
- Christmas in July. Get out any Christmas related stock you have and sell it off. Heck, host a Christmas party to launch it. Load the sale with other stock you’d like converted to cash. Consider a local charity or community group connection.
- Bring in something new, something you’ve never sold before, something you thought you’d never sell. Challenge yourself to reach new shoppers. Launch it with an event. Put on some drinks and nibbles. Give people a reason to come out.
- Get a second opinion on your business performance. Gather your data and ask someone to look at what’s working and what’s not. It could be that fresh eyes help clear a better path ahead for you. We gladly help retailers with this.
- Pitch occasions like you would seasons. Bring together cards, gift bags and gifts to make it easy for people to celebrate: new home, baby arrival, engagement, wedding, congratulations and, yes, even sympathy. Choose one for a week or two and bring all the options together. Sometimes we have to show people what to do. The best opportunities here are the ones other retailers ignore.
Our point with this list is that this valley, June, July and August, separates retailers. Those who do well tend to be engaged, they tend to embrace opportunities to make their own success.
What’s this got to do with POS software? Plenty. Here at Tower Systems we serve a community of local indie specialty retailers. Our interest in their businesses reaches beyond our software and for they use it. We share ideas and inspirations to support their businesses because we want local indie retail to thrive.
It’s easy to spot AI bland in marketing and blog posts from companies
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Have you read a blog post or article from a company recently and thought about how generic and bland it was. It’s happening more thanks too AI. AI bland we call it.
AI tech is grinding out content fast and doing do by regurgitating what others have written and trying to make it sound new and from the voice of the person giving the AI machine the prompts. The blandness is one of several AI tells. You can see it in the words, the formatting and more. Ho-hum.
It’s okay, businesses can use AI for their posts if they want. But, here at Tower Systems, we prefer the real, the human, the emotional, the reality with feelings, because, after all, local indie retail is all about feelings. You know what we mean 0- you walk into a local shop and there’s a warm smile from a local, locally relevant conversation, useful local knowledge and engagement with the local community that locals understand.
AI doesn’t get any of this, because it has no feelings, no local roots. It can only fake it so far.
In our POS software we reflect the humanity of what we do by bringing to life enhancements our customers ask us for. Every enhancement we deliver in response to a customer requests, and votes from their colleagues, enhances the humanity of our software, the connection our software delivers to our customers, to0 its users.
Here at Tower Systems, our knowledge base articles are written by humans, our videos are made by humans, our software is written by humans. We do all this in service of local indie specialty retail – a very human local retail endeavour. Locals feel the heartbeat and that’s something that AI cannot give you.
So, next time you read something from a company and it feels bland or middle of the road, wonder to yourself if it is AI bland, wonder if the company cared about the reader in a way that they used an AI bot to write for you rather than having a human from their team write it.
What are we in small business if we are not ourselves, real, human, authentic, and in the moment? Sure, AI can provide useful tools, but when it comes to communication abut who we are, what we do and why it matters to customers and prospective customers, being human is our difference.
Advice for local small business retailers confronted by big business competitors
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Small and independent retailers can sometimes feel helpless when a big national retailer opens up nearby. There is no match for their range, buying power, advertising coverage or even news coverage.
The sheer size of a national competitor is what scares many smaller retailers. It can feel overwhelming.
Here at Tower Systems, all of our customers are local small business retailers, indie retailers, because that is the community we seek out.
Here are 5 practical tips for small businesses on how to face and deal with a national retailer moving into the area:
1. Don’t compete. By not talking about the competitor, pricing against them or pitching your business in any way, you separate yourself. While they may have similar products, it is unlikely that they are targeting your specific business so why target them? Focus instead on your own business. Not competing should include not advertising price comparisons, not focusing on the competitor at staff meetings, not expanding your range to sell more of what they sell and not obsessing about them.
Know why you are different and lean more into that, and, it’s likely that price is not a significant difference in your mind.
If you know why customers shop with you, you have the opportunity of not giving up margin out of fear.
2. Run a better business. From the moment you hear about a new national retailer coming to town, look at every aspect of your business for opportunities for improvement. From the back room to the front counter fine tune your processes, employee training, stock buying and the look of the business. Dramatically improve your business from the inside out. This will improve your business health and help you weather challenges which may lie ahead.
Too often, independent retailers wait until the national retailer is open to react. This is probably a year or two too late.
3. Be unique. Look for ways to make your business unique. It could be on product range, operating hours, add-on services or something else. Embrace any opportunity to make your business unique.
Even a unique niche range of products can give you traffic a big competitor will not chase. Try and focus on products which require a level of retail skill and knowledge to sell – national retailers have challenges hiring and retaining retail employees with specialist knowledge and skills.
4. Engage the community. Like, really engage. Support local groups, speak at functions, get known as someone and a business who care deeply about the local community. Subtly make the connection that you are fortunate to be able to help because of your local business.
Being smaller and independent you are better able to personally engage with the community. You and your team are the business whereas a national chain will always be the corporate. They can throw money around locally, you can throw time, knowledge and more flexible assistance.
5. Tell your stories. Your retail narrative, your stories, connect you with the local community. Tell these through the people you contact, your own blog, a Facebook page and in the pages of the local newspaper. Tell human stories about your business, the people who work in it and the local stories which connect with it.
Your stories could be about local community connection, convenience of shopping, commitment to range, personal customer service, product niche knowledge … there are many different narratives with which an independent retailer can connect. It is important that one you have your narrative you stick to is, that it inhabits your decisions, marketing and public presentation.
Local indie retailers can compete against with any big business by not acting as a big business would. This is the key. Be yourself. Have faith in yourself. Sell yourself.
Now, why is a POS software company sharing something like this? That’s easy – we care about our customers, we care about local indie retail. We’ll embrace any opportunity to help local indie retailers shine.
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