The POS Software Blog

The POS Software Blog

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

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Serial number tracking in POS software

April 28, 2022
2 Min read
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Not all POS software tracks serial numbers.

The POS software from Tower Systems does track serial numbers, and here’s how:

This new short video is another in our series for our POS software customers and our sales prospects. It’s another way we remind local small business retailers the value of our locally made and supported specialty retail POS software.

Ideal for jewellers, pool maintenance businesses, firearms dealers, bike shops, pet shops, appliance businesses.

By tracking serial numbers using the Tower Systems POS software, retailers can provide a level of service to customers they will appreciate. Serial numbers are listed on receipts. They are recorded, too, for later use should the item be stolen from the customer and they need to do a claim.

Tracking serial numbers in this Tower Systems POS software also sets your business up for longer term tracking of the service history of an item. This can be a valuable way to differentiate the services provided by your business.

The serial number tracking tools are part of the POS software for specialty retail settings such as jewellers, bike shops, pet shops and more. It is included in these products at no extra cost, no additional monthly fee.

Embedded in the Tower Systems POS software for a range of specialty retail marketplaces, the serial number tracking tools are a genuine value-add without any additional cost., They are a core part of the Tower software, able to be used at any time. This is key in that retailers will appreciate not having to pay extra to use serial number tracking tools.

In the pet shop channel, the serial number tracking tools are used to record pet microchip details as they, in an of themselves, are a form of serial number. Being able to track pet microchips in this way, using the serial number tracking tools, helps pet shops to provide a service pet owners and lovers certainly appreciate.

The serial number tracking tools in this software are another differentiator, another benefit for local business retailers through which they can provide an appreciated level of service to customers.

Tower Systems is grateful to its customers for their support in helping us reach more local retail businesses.

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Expanding the team

April 27, 2022
1 Min read
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We are grateful to welcome a new team member today, to another new role in the business.

While plenty have found the pandemic to be challenging, we have leant into opportunity, and this has helped us flourish.

Making what we sell is good for local small business retailers and all here at Tower Systems who depend on us.

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How local small business retailers can be a big retailers in the shopper loyalty stakes

April 26, 2022
3 Min read
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Rewarding shopper loyalty in retail businesses has become industrial in scale, which means it is less personal, and more about the retail business than the shopper.

Too many local small business retailers think the best way to compete with big business loyalty offerings is to copy them, which means offering points to shoppers that they can then use somehow in the business.

What are points worth?

That’s the million dollar question. or, maybe, the million point question.

Because … in one shop a point is equal to a dollar, in another, it takes 1,000 points to equal a dollar, while in another it takes 10 points to equal a dollar for selected items in the shop but not everything they have available.

No wonder shoppers are confused as to the actual value of loyalty points. They are confusing.

While our awesome local retail POS software serves a points based loyalty offering, because our POS software customers wanted that, we also have an awesome, and better we think, loyalty solution that is $$$ based, that shoppers understand, and love – we say love because we have seen and heard shoppers say this. Better still, we see shoppers love our $$$ based loyalty solution through their spending patterns.

What we offer in our POS software loyalty solutions is flexibility, transparency and easy engagement.

You can have your Tower Systems POS software loyalty solution live in minutes.

It costs nothing to setup.

What you invest in it is 100% your call.

What shoppers get from it is 100% your call.

It’s a standard part of our POS software – you don’t have to pay us or anyone to participate.

Shoppers don’t need to register, which means more will engage.

This is about driving sales, as that’s key in any retail business.

Sure, likes are nice and follows are great and having plenty of members in a loyalty program makes your chest puff out … b u t  what really matters, what matters the most in any shop, in any retail business, is the business you put through your register and it is this business, what you sell and what you make from all that, which pays the bills, pays your people, pays you.

The Tower Systems approach to shopper loyalty through its local retail POS software offers a points based solution. but, better still, is the $$$ based offer that any customer can understand and with which any customer can engage, including those one-time customers you will never see again – those customers can do 2, 3, heck, even 4 transactions in a single visit. That’s what we have seen when retailers turn on our awesome POS software loyalty solutions.

Tower Systems makes POS software for local specialty retailers like jewellers, garden centres, bike shops, pet shops, newsagents, toy shops, sewing shops, homewares shops, gift shops, firearms dealers, adult shops, bookshops, farm supply businesses, mobility scooter businesses and pool maintenance and supply businesses.

It is this specialisation, this service of local small business retail that helps us provide solutions for shoppers who do shop local and who can be loyal, providing wonderful and valuable business to the local high street retail economy.

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Expanding the POS software development team

April 21, 2022
1 Min read
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We are adding to our POS software development team, in the React space. We have several roles requiring skilled, commercially experienced, developers. here’s what we are looking for in candidates:

  • 2 years’ minimum experience in developing software using ReactJS (Typescript).
  • Experience in front-end development is a must.
  • Experience in back-end development is desirable.
  • Understanding of AWS Architecture, GraphQL, REST APIs, and offline storage.
  • Ability to work in a highly agile, non-prescriptive environment.
  • Must be able to work autonomously and with high level directives.

Tower Systems is grateful to support local IT professionals with leading edge opportunities.

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Tower Systems helps retailers separate online and in-store revenue for easy reporting

April 20, 2022
2 Min read
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If your shop sells online and in a physical store, how easy is it for you to report on sales revenue by location of the sale?

How easy is it for you to report in-store sales versus online sales?

We think this should be easy.

Online sales have a different set of costs compared to in-store sales. There are different customer acquisition costs, too, and different fulfilment costs.

By separating out the reporting of sales based on the platform through which sales are transacted, Tower Systems provides retailers using its POS software with insights that could be valuable in better understanding the business, and thereby better taking those next steps in the business.

This level of reporting in the Tower Systems POS software is differentiating for the business, it is helping Tower Systems to win customers, for which we are sincerely grateful.

When we shared our innovative approach with our customers, there was much joy. The enhancements were not sought out by our customers. We did it because we saw the need in our own retail businesses. So when the enhancements were released in an update a while back, customers were surprised. It was like giving them a nugget of gold that made their use of our POS software even more valuable. We are so proud of delivering this and delivering what’s next in this space, and next again.

While our POS software connected Shopify, Magneto and Woo customers can get the online sales data from those platforms, by bringing it together in the POS, which manages data for all sales – in-store as well as online – made sense to us. It’s a time saver for retailers and retail business managers. It is a good decision feeder by placing this data, these insights, in one place.

This is a good POS software move, a value-add, a way the Tower Systems POS software enhanced the user experience and the value they can mine from their use of our POS software.

Maybe you can tell we are excited. Well, that’s because of customer feedback. Yes, it’s been terrific, for which we are even more grateful.

2022 is a good year for local small business retail and we are happy to be part of the story evolving in many main street settings in Australia and New Zealand.

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5 benefits POS software companies neglect in their sales pitch

April 19, 2022
1 Min read
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Good POS software offer these 5 benefits. Tower Systems does.

  1. What’s not selling = cut dead stock waste.
  2. What you’re missing out on = stop selling out.
  3. What’s sells with what = selling more.
  4. Theft under your nose = save thousands.
  5. Know when you’re busy and quiet = reduce labour costs.

Of course, thanks to the Tower Systems POS software, there are many more benefits than these. Now, here’s a new video from us about these 5 benefits from the Tower Systems POS software.

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Tower Systems helps local Aussie retailers sell Aussie made products

April 18, 2022
1 Min read
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In many different ways in our POS software we help local retailers pitch local, and this matters to many in local communities.

Of course, the more more keep local jobs, the more the local economy thrives, and Thi sis good for everyone.

So, in our POS software, we make it easy for local retailers to shine a light on locally made.

And, outside our POS software, we promote local, in support of our retail customers.

This video is another way Tower Systems goes beyond what is traditional for a POS software company. We are proud to do this, and more.

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Aussie POS software for vape shops

April 18, 2022
3 Min read
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Vape Shop software made here in Australia for local Australian vape shops.

Australian made. Australian supported. $155.00 a month.

Thanks to the work Tower Systems does in a range of regulated specialty retail spaces, we have software ideal for vape shops, as current vape shop software customers tell us. Find out more here: www.towersystems.com.au/vape

  • Easily manage an age check at the sales point. Being able to demonstrate that you do this in a structured way help if you are checked by regulators.
  • Product use information on receipts.
  • Customising product labels with the information that you want on there.
  • Tracking the tastes of customers so that you can market to them if a new product emerges that may satisfy their interests, needs or tastes.
  • Selling by fractions. With some products sold in less than whole number units of measure, track inventory at the fractional level.
  • Selling online through our Shopify link– stock data and images flow across.
  • Tracking who sold what and when.
  • Strong remote management tools for owners away from the businesses.
  • Strong audit tools through which to track behaviour that may compromise the integrity of the business.
  • Loading electronic invoices from suppliers.
  • Ultimately, that’s what this software is about – structure, business structure through which the business can safely and consistently operate to the benefit of the business and those who work in it.

Here are 5 more reasons to love our Vape Shop Software:

  1. Local matters. Our software helps you leverage your localness, to genuinely differentiate your business from big competitors.
  2. You are a key asset. Only your business has you and your people. You can leverage you through our software, to easily share your knowledge.
  3. You can bank on loyalty. In our software, you have fresh loyalty tools customers truly love.
  4. The unseen can reveal opportunities. Knowing return on investment and return on floorspace … knowledge is power.
  5. Not every shopper will walk past your door. A smart and seamless connection to a beautiful website can help you sell more.

Our Vape Shop Software costs $155.00 for each 30 days. The $155.00 is for access from as many computers as you have in the business.

There is no long-term contract. You can cancel at any time. There is no finance application.

We understand the controversy around vaping. Our commitment is to provide specialty retail POS software for legal specialty retail businesses. Should legal settings change and result in selling vaping products be illegal in Australia, we will stop offering our software.

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Retailers: beware POS software companies that charge per transaction

April 14, 2022
3 Min read
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When comparing POS software for your retail business be sure to look at the total cost of ownership.

If there is a fee per transaction, work out what you would be paying for the software based on your current transaction volume level.

One local retailer recently discovered that they would be paying $5,000 a year more for another POS software product compared to going with Tower Systems. This is despite the other company saying they were low cost.  Once they added up the software rental cost, the per transaction cost, the EFTPOS cost and the cost for additional support to match what we consider to be basic support, the cost was even greater.

We all have EFTPOS costs so comparing the companies on that net each other off. The real differences were in the per transaction cost – we don’t have one – and the cost for extra support – there, it’s all included.

Taking a moment to more completely research the cost of POS software can reveal significant cost differences.

Another company said their rental was $50 a month less if you sign ups for their payments platform. You had to dig a bit to see the actual costs of that. What we found in that situation was that their payment costs were 33% above market cost, meaning a business that signs up for their payments platform would pay far more to use their POS software than if they went with us, where costs are transparent and fixed.

The retailer being hit with these costs, once they discovered the extent of them, was horrified at what they had been paying.

Here at Tower Systems we are a POS software company. We are not in the business of setting our price based on your transaction volume or how people pay. Indeed, it frustrates us when local retailers discover how much extra they have paid because they signed up to a transaction fee arrangement as most we have spoken to who did this did so without understanding. They thought it was a saving. They tend to feel dudded and this negatively impacts how they see all POS software companies.

All of us in business owe our customers transparency when it comes to pricing. Charging per transaction or charging based on the use of a payments platform is not transparent based on what we can see, or not see as the case may be.

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Tower Systems makes it easy for retailers to load supplier invoices and stock files

April 13, 2022
1 Min read
T

We are grateful to win for retailers to the Tower Systems POS software thanks to our easy to use approach for loading supplier electronic invoices and stock files.

This happened again a couple of days ago when a retailer switched once they saw how easy we made it to load electronic invoices. They were tired of not being able to do this and appreciated that we make it easy.

here;’s the thing though – we have been doing this for years and years.

Saving time for retailers is a key goal. Couple this with data accuracy and it is a no brainer for POS software companies to make loading electronic invoices and stock files easy. we are grateful when. People switch to our POS software for this and are proud to deliver them with even more facilities they can love.

While it doesn’t make sense to us when we see POS software that does not make it easy to load invoices and files, we leverage the opportunities competitor missteps provide.

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Tower Systems gift shop software @ Reed Gift Fair in Sydney

April 11, 2022
3 Min read
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We are grateful to be at the Reed Gift Fair in Sydney. We are 2 days in and we have met so many gift shop owners, newsagents and other local small business retailers. It’s a wonderful opportunity to show off our POS software.

Being the only POS software company here is a treat,

Our stand is in a good position, which is a bonus.

The mood of people at the gift fair is terrific, optimistic. People have an appetite for change. Very few talked about wanting things to be the way they were. They are looking ahead, evolving, planning business moves for the new normal rather than the old past.

We have had so many good discussions, useful discussions and what’s interesting is people are up for it, they are up for a chat to explore business. It’s this face top face that people have been missing and to be there at the first major show on this scale in 2 years is a joy, a delight and a wonderful opportunity.

We are glad to have invested the money to be here, to meet face top face with retailers.

What’s particularly interesting about this gift fair is that it has attracted a diverse mix of retailers, most of whom trade in retail channels we serve: jewellers, garden centres, gift shops, homewares shops, toy shops and newsagents. This has made the show even more valuable for us, which we sincerely appreciate.

Our Aussie made and supported POS software for local specialty retailers is software to love and here’s why …

  1. Local matters. Local retail businesses make a vital contribution to local cycling communities and families. Our software helps you leverage your localness, to genuinely differentiate your business from big competitors.
  2. You are a key asset. Only your business has you and your people. You can leverage you through our POS software, to easily share your knowledge in ways big businesses cannot match.
  3. You can bank on loyalty. Points don’t reward loyalty. What is a point worth anyway? In our local shop POS software, you have fresh loyalty tools you can bank on to drive a deeper visit value, bring shoppers back sooner and genuinely leverage their lifetime value opportunity.
  4. Service, service, service. Offering service and managing this for the benefit of your customers and your business can genuinely differentiate thanks to our smart management tools. You can bank on this difference.
  5. Not every shopper will walk, or rides, past your door. A smart and seamless connection between your software and a beautiful website can help you easily and with low overhead sell to people you will never meet.

Uploading supplier data is easy, as is sharing data with Shopify websites – through two-way traffic.

All of this has been on show at the Reed Sydney Gift Fair.

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Insights from Shoptalk 2022

April 8, 2022
1 Min read
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We are grateful to have been able to attend Shoptalk 2022 live in Las Vegas last week, along with thousands of retailers and tech experts working with retailers. here is some of what we are prepared to share publicly in terms of insights:

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Insights for pet retailers and other retailers

April 6, 2022
1 Min read
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A couple of us got to see some cool retail in Los Angeles last week. here is one of the videos. This one is about a fun and happy pet shop serving locals in suburban Los Angeles.

Beyond our POS software, we support our 3,000+ local retailer community with business insights and advice, to help them run more enjoyable and valuable local retail businesses.

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$159/mth gift shop POS software on show at Sydney Reed Gift Fair

April 6, 2022
3 Min read
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We are grateful to have a terrific stand at the Reed Gift Fair that starts this coming weekend in Sydney. Situated in the main hall, in the centre of action, we will have fresh new gift shop POS software on show, software available for a monthly fee of $159.00, including GST.

You won’t miss our stand as it features our latest artwork, which includes:

We are so excited to show off this new software, which is packed with features to help local gift shops thrive in-store as well as online.

Gift shops can rent this software for $159.00 a month. Here his what is included in this complete package offer:

  • Software made for gift shops.
  • Free half a day one-on-one training and setup advice.
  • Free training videos. Learn at your own pace.
  • Free knowledge base / online manual.
  • Free access to a help desk – based here in Australia.
  • Cancel at any time.

Why do gift shops need specialty POS software? Why can’t they use basic software? They can. However, the more specialty the software, the more facilities the business has to attract shoppers and leverage what’s special about the business.

The Tower Systems gift shop software is specialty POS software made for gift shops. It has been made to help gift shops leverage what is unique about their businesses. We think this is a reason many hundreds of gift shop retailers have chosen our software.

At the Reed Gift Fair in Sydney we will offer live demonstrations of this software boy our skilled professionals. They will be able to answer questions and help any retailer see whether this software could be right for their business.

We’re not 100% sure as these things can change but our latest check indicated we were the only gift shop software company at the trade show.

Using our gift shop software, local gift retailers can tap into plenty of benefits, including:

  • Easy and accurate selling.
  • Less dead stock.
  • Fewer sales mistakes.
  • Get rid of manual books at the counter for LayBys, special orders, stock you need to order and more.
  • 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 four walls with a directly linked Shopify store.

Our team will do everything possible to help your local gift shop thrive – in the city or country, on the high street or in a mall.

Tower Systems only serves local retailers in selected specialty marketplaces.

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Tower Systems features in ABC news report on work from home

April 5, 2022
1 Min read
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I am grateful to Dan Ziffer and the ABC for the opportunity to participate in this story about working from home. I am also thankful to colleague Jennifer for being willing to be interviewed and to Michael and Minh for their live shots and to some other crew members for joining on the Zoom. Here’s a link to the full story: https://iview.abc.net.au/video/NC2206H037S00

The story itself is an indicator of changes in reporting. Dan shot the interview with Jennifer at home and myself in our office over 2 days. The content made its way onto radio, TV and online yesterday.

On the topic itself, for us, engagement came about because some people were calling for a return to the city, a return to offices. That didn’t make sense to me so I wrote about it. Dan Ziffer from the ABC noticed that. My view is there is no going back to office blocks full of people. People who can work from home should be able to. People who want to work in an office should be able to.

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Thrift shop POS software helps local thrift shops manage

April 4, 2022
3 Min read
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Thrift shops, like charity shops, have unique needs when it comes to business management. The Tower Systems thrift shop software helps these businesses meet plenty of uniquer needs in their service of local communities and causes.

The Tower Systems thrift shop software has facilities designed to serve these unique needs such as:

  1. 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 thrift shop 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.
  2. 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. This means thrift shops have multiple ways in which they can track what they sell, to understand what they sell.
  3. Easy to learn. We have found that in community enterprises, like thrift shops, 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.
  4. Secure. You can lock down parts of the software to secure them for management access only. With volunteers working in thrift shops they may not need access to some parts of the software.
  5. Check and balances. This software guides processes. It also provides hidden tracking so you can investigate should the need arise.
  6. Club / group marketing and support. Leverage clubs and community groups with offers and pricing just for them. Thrift shops often exist to serve local community needs, our thrift shop software makes it easy to incentivise engagement by locals for the support of locals.

Our Australian made and supported thrift 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.

Here are some questions we have had from thrift shop managers:

Does the software support community group member pricing? Yes.

We work on behalf of several local charities. Can we track purchases by their members as a fund raising tool? Yes.

We have a lot of volunteers, is the software easily learnt? Yes.

We report to a board, are there good checks and balances? Yes.

Do we have to barcode everything we sell? No.

Can we compare the performance of different categories of what we sell? Yes.

Can we report on sales by product type so we can understand the categories that sell? Yes.

Does the software produce WAS / NOW price labels so we can show what something would cost in a regular store? Yes.

Our manager is off-site. Can they access the software from there? Yes.

Does the software support a loyalty program? Yes, there are several loyalty options that work in different situations from infrequent shopper visits to regular shopper visits.

Can we set a quantity purchase price for items? Yes.

Can we bundle items together, like into a hamper, and easily sell that? Yes.

The best way to see if this thrift shop software is good for your situation is through a demonstration.

We are grateful to support the work of local charity / thrift shops:

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