Advice for local small business retailers: be yourself
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Tower Systems, our team and working from home
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Here at Tower Systems, we are not requiring anyone to return to the office. Our colleagues who want to continue to work from home are welcome to do so.
We’d rather people work from where they are happiest.
We are grateful that for our type of business, a software development and customer service company, we are able to have team members work where it suits them.
Even though our business grew up in the 1980s, 1990s and beyond, when working from an office inquire a formal way was the tradition, we have embraced the opportunity to change. In the first week of Covid we sent everyone home, and have not requested people return since. But, any who do want to return to the office are welcomed.
By being flexible in terms of where people work and even how they work has enabled us to expand our team, with six new roles created in the last few months. none of these roles could have been created in the old approach to working from a corporate office.
Saving commute time, saving on incidental expenses and more makes it easier for people to save, and be happier. Again, we are grateful to be in a position to offer this flexibility to our colleagues. For sure, the company benefits, too … and this benefits everyone.
We’ve read of businesses requiring staff to return to the office, demanding even. We’re not doing that and will not do that. Our position on work from home arrangements is here and locked-in. We like it and our colleagues like it. It benefits local communities, too, with more spending being done by our colleagues working from home, in their home locations, that would have been the case had they been office based. This is good for regional economies.
Retaining good people is challenging in any business situation, even more today. By being flexible as to where people work and how they work, we providing a flexibility that makes the company more appealing we’ve been told, and we like that.
We feel for businesses in CBDs. But the interest in work from home should not have shocked them. There was a move under way prior to Covid, although there pandemic amplified it considerably.
We love helping local retailers find opportunities cities within their businesses
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The team is everything in local retail
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“I just want to be seen, to be noticed” … how can my local retail business do that, be noticed?
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It can be a struggle in local small business retail to be noticed. You can feel helpless, under-resourced, too small to be heard. The negative self-talk can have you doing less, being heard less, noticed less.
In truth, local small business retailers have the best voices, the most authentic voices, the most valuable voices for the local community.
The best way for any local retail business to be promoted is through word of mount and word of mouth depends on customer service and value appreciation.
The Tower Systems POS software helps nurture word of mount. Better still, it helps support the value appreciation. It does this by demonstrating value consistently, at shopper touch points, in ways we see them appreciate, and talk positively about to others.
Our local small business retail helps retailers systemise and structure these activities so that the value of the business can be felt and understood in ways that support the growth of the business through the attraction of new shoppers, thanks to word of mount commentary.
Local small business retailers can compete against big, well-funded, businesses.
The key is to be yourself in what you do, what you offer and how you communicate. This is where the Tower Systems POS software helps as it comes from an understanding of the challenges of local small business retail and the value these businesses offer their local communities. Our software, which is only used in indie retail (no big business) offers subtle platforms for sharing the massages core to the business and ways the business can add value that are exclusive, unique.
Imagine the delight a shopper feels when they are given something unexpected, something they can use right away, something that appreciates their business in your shop that day … and that they have been given this without having to sign up for anything, without having to fill in a form, without having to give any personal details. This is a measure of trust between the business and the shopper. It has the shopper more engaged, more trusting and moire keen for the opportunity.
This is one way our POS software helps local small business retailers provide appreciation that is talked about, mentioned, raved about. We have seen this help bring new shoppers to local retail businesses.
This is one of plenty of ways the Tower Systems POS software can help local retailers be seen, be noticed, and flourish.
Together, we can do this. We’ve got your back!
We are proud to be helping support the largest thank you card give away in Australia with 10,000 Melbourne-designed, Melbourne-made cards being given away
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Yesterday, the newsXpress local retail group launched a national Thank You card give away in many of its member retail locations. If you buy 2 cards in many participating store, you are given a Thank You card (and envelope) valued at $6.99.
The card was designed and printed in Melbourne, using environmentally friendly treatments such as embossing and gold foil. This is a local campaign supporting local retail businesses. It helps people share appreciation, to share thanks. It is perfect card for these times.
We know from research that people tend to keep cards, meaning the appreciation recorded in the card lasts for years, decades. It becomes a keepsake, a wonderful memory, something toward the heart for years to come.
Tower Systems is helping with this campaign in a number of ways, from helping to track engagement to guiding the quantity of cards that could be given away based on store level sales analysis. Using our local retailer POS software, retailers are also able to offer subtle call outs reminding customers of the promotion, to put the opportunity of a free Thank You card in front of those who may not have seen it before.
The heart of the promotion is gratefulness. The giving of the free Thank You card at the counter, without asking for any customer details, makes it easy for people to have a way they can appreciate others, to share gratitude. That we can play even a small role in this makes us feel good.
To us, this free Thank You card promotion is a perfect local retail business promotion, a perfect way local retailers can show their difference.
POS software can feel and sound boring, mundane, when, in reality, it can be a glue helping local retail businesses spread love and good wishes. That’s what our software is being used for here. It really does many us feel good in our hearts.
While there is more we are doing to support this campaign than just what we have shared here, we note that it’s one of a range of social responsibility initiatives we have already engaged with this year. We love helping local retailers reach more people through socially engaged and heartfelt projects and campaigns.
Local small business retailers shine when connecting with their community. Giving a Thank You card to someone who has helped you is a wonderful way to nurture community connection.
Oh, and let’s say again, this free card is Melbourne designed and Melbourne printed. You can’t get more local than that!
We are proud to help local retailers stocktake with less stress
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Helping do good: Max the Dog for autism support and awareness
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We are proud to see how our local retail POS software its used by many local retail businesses to do good in so many different ways, from helping local business thrive to helping them help their local comunuies and more.
Recently, we have been proud to see how our POS software has helped hundreds of local retailers sell Max, a Beanie Boo created to raise funds for autism awareness and support.
Each Max sold raises funds. Max is encouraging other help, too. Max is also playing a part in raising awareness about autism.
We have helped Max reach more people in a few ways: through easy selling online through our Magento and Shopify website connected POS software, through easy finding thanks to Google searches and our online connections and through in-store sale and promotion thanks to platforms for this in our local retail POS software.
In doing this work, we have come, ourselves, to understand why Max was created and the work of a range off charities and organisations involved in supporting those with autism and those who care for them. we are grateful for these learning opportunities cities, to have discovered so much and to be able to help in different ways.
Using our Aussie made POS software, retailers are able to share valuable information when people buy Max, such as the details of local autism support groups and services, and more. Going the extra distance like this is a way local retailers are able to do more for their communities, to help support others and show the value of a genuinely locally owned and run retail business. Â We have been able to show retailers how they can do this easily, amplifying the reach of the Max campaign, which was first launched in the US by Ty Inc.
It’s one thing for local retailers to offer products as fundraisers and another, one more valuable, for them to go further, amplify the message and encourage more support and engagement by adding the local connections, because, after all, the best retail is local.
In a bg business, Max is a SKU, a barcode, something to sell. In a local retail business, Max is a campaign, for your friend, neighbour or relative. It’s personal. This is the small business difference, the way we can engage to help nurture more valuable and practical outcomes.
Good people are at the heart of every local retail business success
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Website advice for small business retailers who want to sell online
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Awesome delivery management tools for garden centres, produce businesses and farm supply businesses
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POS software that helps local retailers connect with locals
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POS software for gift shops: $159.00 a month
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Tower Systems offers gift shop software for $159.99 a month. This is POS software made for gift shops, local gift shop0s, small businesses, local businesses … software designed to help them thrive.
Made and supported in Australia, this gift shop POS software is purpose built to serve the needs of these local and loved businesses.
- Get rid of manual books at the counter for LayBys, special orders, stock you need to order and more.
- Cut dead stock and re-order based on data facts.
- Cut theft by knowing what is being stolen.
- Eliminate LayBy and get you paid sooner with buy now pay later.
- Make price comparison harder with bundled packs.
- Easily and consistently pitch locally sourced products.
- Drive community group member engagement with group pricing.
- Get one-time-only shoppers spending more with loyalty tools.
- Bring customers back with reminders on dates important to them.
- Save money on bookkeeping by integrating with Xero.
- Leverage your knowledge on receipts and elsewhere. Sell you.
- Reach beyond your 4 walls with a direct Shopify link / integration.
here’s more about this awesome gift shop PSO software:
When you are ready, we’d love to show you our Gift Shop Software and through that show you answers to other questions you have.
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.
POS software for spare parts retailers helps manage inventory, reduce theft and save time
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Tower Systems is grateful to see its POS software serve spare parts retailers in an often neglected space of retail.
This opportunity has grown out of other specialty retail channels in which we serve. Tower Systems has served bike shops, jewellers and farm supply businesses with spare parts inventory software for many years.
Growing out of our workshop management software, our spare parts inventory software became critical to accurately recording sale and use of spare parts in repairs as well as over the counter to customers.
Offering tracking by brand, use, supplier, barcode, SKU and more, this spare parts inventory software works in a range of situations and businesses. Motor bike businesses, trailer sale and repair businesses, bike shops, jewellers, outdoors businesses, farm supply businesses, pool maintenance businesses … they can all use this spare parts inventory software.
Within the software, you can ember use and care instructions for each product. While this is optional, it offers the business the ability to be more than a seller of products. Selling products with information, intellectual property, can differentiate the business and this is key to return business.
Managing spare parts inventory in multiple locations can be handled. Pricing, too, is flexible with the ability to offer flexibility to shoppers based on purchases and other factors. This is software that has been road-tested in a range of retail settings.
Retailers are able to bundle multiple spare parts together into a package that you sell. This can make price comparison harder. It can also better serve customer needs if some spare parts are always bought with other spare parts.
In addition to managing inventory, this spare parts inventory software offers multiple reporting tools that enable various views of inventory performance. The flexibility in the reporting is useful and a key factor in the software serving needs across several types of spare parts related businesses.
Accessible in-store, online and through a remote POS solution, the spare parts inventory software from Tower Systems is a software solution for many different businesses.
The best way to see if the Tower Systems spare parts inventory software is suitable for your needs is to see it. The company can organise a demonstration easily, when it suits you. Send an email to sales@towersystems.com.au and one our skilled software advisors will get back to you and show you as much of the software as you would like to see.
Tower Systems serves more than 3,500 independent small business retailers across a variety of specialty retail channels. That several of these retail channels depend on spare parts inventory software positions Tower Systems well to offer service to others with this need.
How local small business retailers can make the annual stocktake a thing of the past with smart POS software
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Retailers can save thousands of dollars by using the Tower Systems POS software to undertake a stocktake rather than using in an external stock taker as retailers have traditionally used for decades.
It’s easy, efficient and accurate. Any retailer can do this. No external help is needed.
External stock takers often deliver s little outcome except a stock value for the end of the financial year. By using Retailer for the stock take retailers get accurate on-hand data which is vital for reporting on a range of retail performance metrics.
Using your data creates a more accurate result. too often, external stocktakers engage in estimates and assumptions, with the results being less than accurate.
Smart Point of Sale software offers a range of stock taking options from the portable to the hard wired. Regardless of the hardware technology you use, the result is the same: an accurate stock on hand count and value plus updated stock details.
Every time a stocktake count is done using smart POS  software you are dealing accurately, often there are anomalies discovered in the stock database. The stock take is a good opportunity to address this. A manual stock take loses this opportunity.
Our recommendation is that once a business has undertaken a full stock take once using their Point of Sale software and if they have good processes around receiving, selling and returning stock, a process of rolling stock takes would serve the business well in maintaining an accurate stock on hand figures.
Through the stock take facilities in our software, our retail partners have access to a suite of tools with tremendous flexibility, allowing a retail store to count in a way which suits their operational needs. many of our customers operate with a program of rolling spot stock takes. These are designed to ensure accurate stock on hand figures in the system as well as identify theft situations.
Expensive and single purpose stock takes can be eliminated from any retail business with the proper use of quality Point of Sale software. Through our advice sheets, training videos, online training workshops and other opportunities, Tower Systems helps its retail customers to access the benefits of accurate stock on hand data.
Some thoughts on considering the federal election in the context of smalll business vs. big business, major parties vs. independents – without the politics
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POS software for antique shops, made and supported in Australia
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Tower Systems is grateful to offer locally made and supported POS software for antique shops.
There is so much specialisation in this software, so much in the way of facilities that antique shop owners and operators will find helpful, useful. here’s a bit of a Q&A we did for antique retailers …
We sell products on behalf of others. Can the software track this? Yes, the software can report on sales by those you carry antiques for in the business, enabling you to easily calculate your commission.
We carry items on consignment, can the software manage this? Yes, you can track consignment items and report on sales.
We rent access to part of our shop to people who display antiques here, can we charge for this through the software? Yes.
We do not barcode products, can we easily sell items without a barcode? Yes, you decide the level of tracking and reporting you require and that determines the best approach to recording sales.
Can we use the software to print barcodes for products if I want? Yes.
We sell very small items, does the software support barcode labels for these? Yes, we offer a fine butterfly label that you could use on a ring or fine bracelet.
Does the software track the purchase and sale of second-hand goods? Yes.
Can we produce a valuation certificate from the software? Yes. This software is also used by jewellers, who do valuations.
We repair antiques, can the software help in tracking this? Yes, the software has a repairs management facility built in, which tracks components and labour for you.
Can we market to members collector groups or clubs? Yes. You can tag customers as belonging to a club and target market to club members.
Can we track sales to club members to rebate the club as a fundraising opportunity? Yes.
Can you pass on product provenance or care information? Yes, you can load files, images, documents or PDFs for products (information sheets, advice, notices) and have them automatically included in emailed receipts.
Can we do this by text or email? Either, we support both.
Can we look-up historical servicing records for a specific customer? Yes.
Can the software track special or one-off orders for customers? Yes, from the moment the order is placed.
Does the software track product serial numbers? Yes. You have a couple of different ways you can do this.
We sell items by colour, size and style, can the software do this? Yes.
Can we integrate the software with our suppliers? Yes. We have many customers importing stock files and invoices. If you want to provide a supplier a data feed of sales of their product, our software can do this too.
Does the software connect with our website? We partner with Shopify, Magento and WooCommerce and offer direct links to these.
Can we email receipts? Yes.
Can we track where our customers come from? Yes.
Do we have to pay for software on additional computers in our business? No.
Does the software handle LayBys? Yes.
Can we connect with our EFTPOS terminal? Yes. We have a direct link to Tyro and through Linkly we connect to all major banks.
Free stocktake training for POS software customers
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Tower Systems started offering its 2022 free stocktake training for retailers using its POS software several weeks ago.
The training available is in video as well as written form. It covers a full stocktake as well as partial stocktake and theft mitigation stocktakes.
By providing baseline video based training, the company offers a consistent starting pout to all retailers, covering everything everyone needs to know.
Every Tower Systems POS software customer has access to the stocktake training, without cost, without any financial commitment requirement. By making access free and easy, the company is ensuring that all customers have the same opportunity to get accurate stock on hand data for their business.
We shot the baseline stocktake training video a few weeks. This shows best practice stocktake advice relevant to 2022. It leverages pas advice and presents it fresh, with content relevant to this year.
Here is some of the advice we published to ur POS software customers previously re stocktake. It reflects more practical advice advice, operational advice.
Take the technology to the stock and not your stock to your technology.
For the process to be as easy as possible you will need a wireless network – vital for OH&S reasons.
The best way to do a stocktake in your business is by using a laptop (or laptops) or tablet computer with a scanner attached. This enables you to do the stocktake live with no impact on sales and absolute integrity of your stock on hand data.
While using a laptop (or laptops) or tablet computer may seem cumbersome, it is our best practice advice for speed, data integrity and the ability to address data issues you may encounter on the shop floor. It enables you to do management work to ensure completely accurate data.
The alternative is to use a PDE. The challenges with this are the many different PDEs and it is challenging to be expert in all plus the PDE counts at that time and you load the data at a later time – meaning a gap in time in which sales could have been done. While PDE software is available for live to data updates, we have seen this be problematic and so we do not use it.
Given the advances in technology, our best practice recommendation is either a laptop of tablet computer as either offers a better solution than a PDE.
We suggest you setup a Laptop or tablet and use Team Viewer or the like to connect in and count this way. This approach means you do not need to purchase an additional software licence for the laptop. Team Viewer is easy to setup. If you do need our help on this there would be a support cost.
For the physical stocktake, we suggest you approach the business aisle by aisle, counting and rearranging stock as you go.
Tower Systems POS software helps retailers who sell by fractions
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Local retail business advice: sell online but not as you sell in your physical shop
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We were recently asked to write an article for a magazine for Aussie newsagents about selling online. The advice we included in that article for local retail newsagents applies equally to any local retailer. We share the article we wrote here to offer advice for local small business retailers contemplating selling online:
Sell online, but not as your shop today.
When people shop online they shop for an outcome. They search for the product or purpose. They do not search for a masthead.
This is a valuable insight for any newsagent considering a website for their business for putting your newsagency online with what you sell today could be an expensive mistake.
Tower Systems has built many websites for newsagents and most are not sites that represent the newsagency shop online. Rather, they present as a different business, focussed on a niche category and leveraging the shop infrastructure to help the business expand.
This is the smart move for any retailer selling online – using it as a start-up opportunity that makes use of space and labour in the shop but not relying on products in the shop.
In one case, a newsagency business has grown online to where it is more financially valuable than the shop within which it was incubated.
In another case a newsagent tested a category online, hit gold and expanded the shop to offer this, hitting more gold.
Engaging with Tower Systems to create a POS software connected website provides newsagents with access to comprehensive online sales data through deep Google results research. This can help newsagents discover opportunities not previously on their radar.
By tapping into current keyword search data using respected commercial tools, Tower Systems is able to show newsagents pathway opportunities into new product areas online. These can be opportunities tapped into with a minimal capital investment, an opportunity for expansion with a modest budget.
While I understand the push to take the shop online, in my years of experience owning newsagencies and running successful and failed websites connected to the shops, my advice is to leverage the website opportunity as if it is a start-up, playing in a space you have not played in before, with the goal of it leading you on a path of discovery.
Tower Systems is better placed to support this greenfield approach than a local web developer … we have found local web developers more likely to replicate online what you have in. the shop and that, my friends, is unlikely to attract for you the volume of new shoppers you might hope for.
Being online is critical for every business. Doing it right, in an approach appropriate for 2022 and beyond is key.
Take your time. Do your research. Make sure that what you choose can be maintained by you. And, only sign for a fixed price website build.
TitlePage POS software integration for bookshops
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The Tower Systems POS software integrates with TitlePage, offering a true value-add service for bookshops and anyone who sells books. Here’s a short video from us demonstrating the TitlePage POS software link.
We are grateful to bookshops and book retailers who use our POS software and the TitlePage integration to better serve book customers.
Advice on how to deal with theft in local retail businesses
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Theft is a scourge in retail businesses. beyond the financial cost is a considerable motional cost to those in the business from employees to owners.
We shot a brief video a few months ago in which we discussed theft in retail, leveraging our years of experience helping local retailers to reduce theft.
There are things retailers can do to protect against theft as well as to deal with it when it is discovered. This video is a peek inside what Tower Systems offers its local specialty retail POS software customers.
As retailers ourselves we draw on lived experience in providing this advice. The more we all share on this challenging topic the better for all retailers.
Here is an example of some pf the advice we have provided to retailers.
Too many retailers read advice about theft and ignore it. Indeed, the most common trigger for small business retailers to work on reducing employee theft is the discovery of such theft. Here are simple steps you can take to detect and manage employee theft:
- Track your stock. Receive all stock into your business through your computer system so you know exactly what sock you have.
- Scan everything you sell. Do not use department keys as this makes it easier for employees to steal since they know there is no trackback to stock on hand. Using department keys is an invitation to steal.
- Track every sale by employees. Give your employees a card with a unique barcode or have them enter a code – to track every sale they make back to them. Change the code every six months or so.
- Do your end of shift through your software and have a zero-tolerance policy on being over or under. Reconcile banking to your computer software end of shift. One business where this was not done was being skimmed regularly for $200 a day.
- Do spot cash balancing. Unexpected checks can uncover surprises. One retailer needing to do a banking during the day uncovered a $350 discrepancy that lead to discovery of systematic theft.
- Change your roster. Sometimes people work together to steal. One retailer found a family friend senior and their teenage daughter stealing consistently.
- Check your Audit Log. Look at cancelled sales, deleted sales and items deleted from a sale. Leaving a cash drawer open from the previous sale, scanning items, taking the cash and cancelling the sale is the most common process used by employees to accrue cash they then take from you. Good software tracks cancelled sales and what was in them. This can be matched with video footage.
- Check Gross Profit by department. If GP is falling outside what you expect, research it further.
- Setup a theft policy. Put this on a noticeboard in the back room. Get staff to read it and sign up to it. See the last page of this advice.
- Keep the counter clean. An organised counter reduces the opportunity for theft. It makes detection easier.
- Have a no employee bags at the counter policy. This makes it harder for them to hide your cash.
- Beware employees who carry folded paper or small notepads. These can be used for them to keep track of how much cash is in the register that is theirs – i.e. not rung up in the software.
- Beware of calculators with memories at the counter. One retail business employee used the memory function to track how much cash had to be stolen prior to balancing for the day – cash from sales not rung up.
- Do not let employees sell to themselves. If they want to purchase something make them purchase it from the other side of the counter.
- Be professional in your management of the business. The more professional your approach they less likely your employees will steal as they will see the risk of being caught as high.
- Advise all job applicants that you will require their permission for a police check. From the outset this indicates that you take your business seriously. In many situations applicants who have been asked for permission to do a police check advise they have found a job elsewhere.
- Do not take cash out for your own use in front of employees. If they see you take cash for a coffee or lunch some will see this as an invitation.
These steps work – based on decades of helping small business retailers to reduce and manage employee theft.
What’s the one thing that differentiates the Tower Systems POS software?
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While we think it’s more than one thing that differentiates our POS software, some of us got together to record this video where we each share our one-thing:
The best POS software help desk support comes from people who are local, people who understand your type of retail business and your local retail situation
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Too often today, businesses situate their call centres and help desks off shore, in a place where labour costs less. The key requirement in those settings is that someone can read off a script.
Small business help should not come from a script. It should start with listening. From that flows questions and conversation.
Understanding the query or need is key to helping someone, anyone.
Here at Tower Systems, our POS software help desk is Australian based, serving retailers in Australia. We are proud to be local, to offer local support that is delivered by people who live here and understand local business. We also have a team member in New Zealand, where we also have customers.
Too many POS software companies selling to Aussie retailers do not have local help desk support.
We are grateful to be in the position of delivering local service and support to our local retail community.
We support shop local as a company and encourage retailers and others in business to shop local. This is why we pitch today that when you talk with our help desk you are talking with an Aussie, someone who knows local business, local retail and can speak to local needs. Yes, local really does matter.
To keep jobs in Australia and help the Aussie economy to come out the other side of the coronavirus pandemic, shopping local matters. This is why we urge retailers to ask the question abut the location of POS software help desk personnel. While we feel for call centre staff in India, Pakistan and elsewhere, now is the time when local matters.
Now, we do have one caveat for this. We have a help desk team member, an Aussie, living and working in New Zealand. But that’s okay as we have a ton of customers in New Zealand. And, hey, we consider Aussies to be Kiwis and Kiwis to be Aussies
If you are in a local retail business and considering POS software for the business, check out where there trainers and help desk team members are located. Make sure that the company you are considering doing business with is supporting the local economy as much as you want your local economy to support your business. These things matter in terms of the truth of your own shop local pitch.
Shop local and support the local economy. It ripples out from your business to the town to the state and to the country. That is how we see it an how we try and live our lives here at Tower Systems, a proud local Aussie POS software company.
Local is where we thrive
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