The POS Software Blog

The POS Software Blog

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

Latest stories

How the Tower Systems POS software helps local retailers be frugal, and run more valuable businesses

June 21, 2022
2 Min read
H

2022 is proving to be a challenging year for retailers. Covid continues to disrupt product supply and labour access. It is also impacting shopper behaviour.

The retailers doing best are those managing their business data, leveraging data for insights that guide business decisions. There is where the Tower Systems POS software helps local retailers.

Using our POS software, local retailers are able to be more frugal. Being frugal is a local retail business is beneficial, if it is done based on data, with a focus of driving overall business value. Being frugal is a good thing if done thoughtfully and well.

Let’s be clear though, there is a difference between being frugal and being cheap.

Being frugal is about being careful. Spending based on evidence when nit comes to labour costs and inventory costs.

Too often we see retailers over-index with labour, eating unnecessarily into business profits. Likewise, too often, we see businesses buying poorly, not based on evidence, and negatively impacting on the profits of the business.

Our POS software helps local retailers in these two areas and more, we help them be frugal in their approach to rostering and frugal in their approach to buying … with the goal of adding measurable value to the business. This matters.

The stronger the financial base for a business, the lower its operational overheads, the lower poor performing inventory volume, the better for the business. This is where being frugal matters. Done properly, it provides the business with capacity to weather economic challenges, to actually make the business stronger in its financial foundations. Our POS software helps local retailers do this.

There is a gloss and excitement to owning your own shop. The real gloss, and value, comes from running the business well. This is one of our goals here at Tower Systems – to make POS software and back it with support that helps small business retailers run their businesses well.

Being frugal is good for business and good for all in the business who rely on it. Our POS software provides insights as well as mechanisms for being frugal, for driving the value of and for the business.

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Free workshop: helping Aussie newsagents navigate getting online

June 20, 2022
3 Min read
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I am leveraging my newsXpress and Tower Systems experience for this …

Free online workshop: Websites for newsagents

Thursday June 23 @ 2pm.

This free workshop on websites for newsagents will look at:

  • how newsagents can be successful online
  • why this matters
  • pot holes to watch out for
  • what it costs
  • what about after you are live
  • easy steps you can take today to prepare

I’ll be hosting the session and sharing plenty of lessons from the last few years: websites I have launched that have failed and websites I have launched that have been successful.

I’ll discuss full time websites, and seasonal websites too.

Please have your camera on so people can see who you are. Please come with questions, too. Here’s how you can connect:

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86342284316?pwd=M1A1WGw2MkNDL0lFQVQrWjdRd3VSZz09

Meeting ID: 863 4228 4316 Passcode: 586410

Thursday June 23 @ 2pm Melbourne time.

I will record the session for people keen and who cannot make it.

Being online is as important today as having a photocopier in your newsagency was 10 or 15 years ago. The biggest challenge I see confronting newsagents in particular is what to sell online. I’ve seen some spin their wheels over this for months. Some take the approach of putting as much of their shop online as the can while others treat the new website as a start-up business. I am more from the latter camp.

I am not hosting this workshop to try and sell you anything. Rather, I am keen to share experiences so that you can make more informed decisions. I see too many retailers, including newsagents, making decisions about websites that waste money.

Just about any local Aussie newsagency is perfectly placed to host a successful online business.

Having a realistic view of being online is critical to being successful online. A website can be a hungry beast and I’ll explain how.

I will, for context, touch on the group connected websites newsXpress runs that offer the easiest path to selling online. Any marketing group can do this.

If you can spare an hour Thursday I am sure it will be worth your while.

Mark Fletcher
Managing Director
newsXpress and Tower Systems
0418 321 338
mark@newsxpress.com.au
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-fletcher-tower/

PS. If you’d like to know more about what newsXpress offers newsagents: Click here for what is included in our $175.00 a month (or $1,680.00 (inc GST) per year paid in advance) membership offer.. Please email help@newsxpress.com.au or call Michael on 0400 331 055 with any questions about newsXpress..

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How the Tower Systems POS software helps retailers navigate supply chain challenges

June 20, 2022
2 Min read
H

Supply chain challenges are impacting retailers across many sectors. The challenges are not new, certainly not in the last two years at least. Here in mid 2022, the supply chain challenges are more impactful than before, and local retailers are being hit hard.

In the face of the unknown as to inventory arrival, some retailers ignore revenue opportunities.

In our POS software we have facilities that they local retailers win business and lock-in revenue despite supply chain uncertainty.

From managing inventory to capturing revenue for forward orders to easily shifting from one supplier to another, our POS software provides retailers impacted by supply chain challenges with tools that can provide appreciated flexibility.

With plenty of products impacted by supply chain challenges, customers are happy to wait if there is certainty they will eventually receive the products. This is where our software shines as it manages these special orders, providing the detailer with a structured framework through which to manage the opportunity and the customer the confidence that the retailer has it covered. By systemising the approach, bringing certain structure to it, the retailer can capture revenue early and the customer can be calmed knowing the retailer has their back.

Good POS software helps local retailers navigate often complex situations that are outside their control, offering the local retail business revenue stability that is key to on-going trading.

Through our work across a range of retail channels we are well aware of and across the detail for supply chain challenges. We have helped retailers who acted to stock pile inventory to see them through, managing that inventory across multiple locations. We have also helped retailers work with other retailers to share inventory across multiple businesses.

These are just two ways we have practically helped local retail businesses deal with the latest supply chain challenges impacting local sales.

Offering flexible POS software, we have been able to provide local retailers with pathways though supply chain challenges that are usually only available to bigger businesses. We arebgrateful for a local small business retail community that works together.

Tower Systems is a local Aussie POS software company seeing a range of local specialty retail channels.

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2022 Hallmark Keepsake range launched for pre-order

June 18, 2022
2 Min read
2

We are proud to have created the Shopify website for the 2022 Hallmark Keepsake ornaments range available for pre-order now at www.myornaments.com.au. These highly sought after collectibles are loved around the world and here in Australia the best shop for being 2022 Hallmark Keepsakes is the My ornaments website, created by us and connected two our POS software running at the home shop in Mount Waverley, VIC.

The range of Hallmark Keepsake ornaments for 2022 in Australia is bigger than ever before and at the My ornaments website you can preorder more than ever before, including plenty of exclusive Hallmark Keepsake ornaments that are only available in Australia and New Zealand from this website.

My ornaments is the place to shop for your Hallmark Keepsake ornaments.

We have guaranteed supply by Hallmark direct, with supply numbers fixed for each piece. Once they are sold out, they are sold out.

Here are some of the Hallmark Keepsake Ornaments available now for pre-order:

We don’t have final images and details for our Hallmark/Funko collab ornaments, which are exclusive here to the My ornaments website, the metal ornaments and the resin ornaments. These details should be loaded to the website in the next week.

  • The expected availability date is noted on each product page.
  • We pack and ship in the order in which we receive orders.
  • We will hold off shipping an order until we have everything available for that order.
  • We ship anywhere in Australia and New Zealand.
  • We do offer click and collect from our Mount Waverley store.
  • If you want sign on delivery, please select that option.
  • If you want Express Post, please select that option.
  • Please note we are unable to add to an existing order.
  • There are no order quantity limits.
  • All orders will be confirmed by email.
  • Any delay to shipping will be notified by email.
  • We are unable to hold stock without payment.

We are so grateful to bring you these beautiful and collectible Hallmark Keepsake ornaments for 2022. orders are open and people a4re getting in early to ensure they do not miss out. Already, in the first 24 hours, we are seeing some ornaments that are highly cherished by our collectors.

There are many more than these @ MyOrnaments.

If you have any questions, please email: orders@myornaments.com.au

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With buy now pay later facing so many problems, LayBy is back in vogue

June 16, 2022
2 Min read
W

Buy now pay later businesses are having a rough ride. They face challenges due to the ease with which people can get credit, their break fees, the cost to retailers of offering the payment method and the entry of new competitors into the space – like banks and Apple.

It feels like the glory days of buy now pay later as a traffic driver for retail are over.

In our Tower Systems POS software we have good LayBy tools, which any retailer can offer and manage easily. We developed these many years ago and have maintained them. Today, we have some retailers handling thousands of LayBys every year. We bring structure and support to offering LayBys in any local business.

Here is a 6-minute video we shot about this yesterday morning.

Using the LayBy tools in the Tower Systems POS software, small business retailers can offer professional management of LayBys including:

  • Structured terms and conditions.
  • Collecting a deposit every time.
  • Managing payments.
  • Handling the adjustment of what is in a LayBy.
  • Managing the collection of the LayBy.
  • Understanding the total LayBy situation of a business.
  • Knowing the location of a LayBy.
  • Feeding LayBy data through to any connected accounting software.
  • Giving even casual employees a structured process through which they can be certain with LayBys.

Best of all, the LayBy facilities in the tower Systems POS software help a retail business to bring structure, certainty, to the LayBy offer in a business and this leads to good business, efficient business, profitable LayBy business.

We make LayBy easy but certain, a differentiator on which local retailers can rely to win business and provide a service local shoppers love.

For too many retailers, offering LayBy can be a grind, problematic to manage. Using our LayBy tools we offer structure. many retail businesses in our POS software community find this useful to LayBy being a more enjoyable part of their businesses. We like this. One of our goals is to help small business retailers enjoy their business more.

With the advent of BNPL, LayBy can be a small business win, a true differentiator, and Tower Systems helps achieve this.

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What makes the Tower Systems POS software for produce / rural supply / farm supply businesses worth considering?

June 14, 2022
3 Min read
W

Only you can know which POS software is right for your rural supply / farm supply business. You can only reach this conclusion once you have researched the software out there, seen it first hand, and matched it against the needs in your business.

Tower Systems is grateful to serve many local rural supply / farm supply / produce with produce business POS software. This is specialty retail POS software made for these specialty retail businesses.

Our off the shelf software is designed to serve many needs of these unique local rural businesses, to help them serve farmers and other with the sale of materials, stockfeed and more.

We see some software companies out there saying they are the best. They can’t know that, just as we can’t know that about our software.

What we do know is that we try our best, and that our software continues to evolve, based on customer feedback. Indeed, customer feedback is key to our software evolution.

Our advice when you see a software company saying they are the best is to ask them to prove it, to show what they know about other software that makes theirs the best.

All we know is what our produce / farm supply / rural supply POS software offers, and it is plenty.

  1. Dispatch management. Smart. Intuitive. Developed in the field with real users.
  2. Quote and invoice management. Strong, flexible, fit for purpose.
  3. Customer delivery management options.
  4. Sell from anywhere, anytime option through Retailer RoamTM.
  5. Trade pricing profiles supporting pricing flexibility for your customers.
  6. Customer account management: Professional and accurate control.
  7. Sell by weight, including fractions.
  8. Bagging up feed. Bag feed into smaller packs, with accurate stock data.
  9. Pre-orders – pre-sell stock and be ahead of the game.
  10. Special orders – easily manage special customer orders.
  11. Genuinely informative receipts. You control design and detail.
  12. Colour / size / style. Track what you sell at a granular level.
  13. Awesome loyalty through which you can easily differentiate.
  14. Seasonal reordering. Easily reorder inventory based on seasonal sales.
  15. Weatherproof labels.
  16. Electronic supplier invoice support – cut mistakes and save time.
  17. Easy Shopify website integration.

This list is only the start. Our software offers much more.

Beyond the software, here are features of a relationship with Tower Systems…

  • We are local. Local matters in local communities. Tower Systems is Australian owned, developed and supported. Call us and a human answers the phone.
  • Our training is personal, in your business. We think people learn better from face to face training.
  • Unlimited free training. Long after you install the software, ask for free top-up training and all we will organise it.
  • New customer care. All new customers have a separate specialist team with which they connect, to ease settling-in.
  • Customers guide our software enhancement. We offer a transparent, democratic, process for guiding software update content.
  • Produce business specific. This software is developed for your type of business.
  • In the cloud or in-store. You choose where the software runs.

If you own a local farm supply / produce / rural supply business and are looking for software, consider Tower Systems, check us out and see whether our POS software could serve your needs.

What makes Tower Systems worth considering? It’s that we will serve your need to find what’s right for you.

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Retail insights: making shopping happy benefits everyone

June 13, 2022
1 Min read
R

We shot this video in which we look at a wonderful local suburban pet shop in the US over a month ago. The video is all about retail and what we discovered visiting the awesome Rosie Bunny Bean shop in Los Angeles.

We’re more than a POS software company. We love good retail.

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Celebrating the Queen’s Birthday

June 13, 2022
1 Min read
C

Okay, we know it’s not her birthday and, yeah, we are keen for Australia to be a republic, but who would say no to a holiday? Not us!. No matter, our online businesses are open today, including offering Platinum Jubilee mint coin sets like these:

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Helping local small business retailers surf

June 9, 2022
1 Min read
H

Learning how to use POS software is like learning to surf on so many ways. It’s about knowing when to push off, which wave to catch, how to balance, how to ride it is and when yo feel exalted.

It’s kinda how we approach training, mentorship and support here at Tower Systems for our 3,000+ local retail business POS software customers.

Every local retail business has different waves, different challenges and opportunities. Every local retail business owner and team member has different skills. We know that a one size fits all approach does not work, that there is no corporate approach you can take to implementing POS software. It’s why our approach is personal, fit for each customer business.

We like the surfing analogy because it reflects the unexpected we see in local retail, the need to be flexible, to read the waves and to adjust accordingly. This is what our POS software helps with, and our training guides local retailers on this.

Tower Systems is not your average POS software company.

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Aussie made gift shop software for Aussie gift shops for $159.00 a month, that’s all

June 9, 2022
3 Min read
A

The price of gift shop software can be confusing. here at Tower Systems, it’s not. Our gift software software costs $159.00 a month.

That includes GST.

It also includes access from as many terminals as you want.

And, there is no additional cost based on transaction volume.

Also, the price is not dependent on you signing up to any specific EFTPOS provider.

Plus you can cancel any time.

Oh, and you pay monthly. There is no need to pay a year in advance to gat the $159.00 a month price.

And, we almost forgot, the $159.00 a month is in Aussie dollars. There is no exchange rate to tangle with to get this months price.

All those factors matter, if you compare the Tower Systems gift software software with some others.

On top of this, we’re an Aussie company providing Aussie supports with context for your type of business, your local conditions. We understand you and serve you, from here in Australia, in Hawthorn VIC, actually.

Come and join 3,000+ local small business retailers, indie retailers, who already use our software.

It costs $159.00 a month to rent (inc. GST). This includes the software, help desk support (Melbourne based), half a day one-on-one setup and training and access to an awesome knowledge base of advice and help.

You can cancel the rental at any time. There is no lock-in contract, no requirement for you to pay up front for a year. Pay as you go, monthly.

There is no requirement that you use a particular EFTPOS service. We mention this as some POS software companies lock you in on a service with a high price.

Find out more at www.towersystems.com.au/gift.

Watch a demonstration: https://youtu.be/0kArDkAKE4E

From sales to special orders to pre-orders, from Xero integration to Shopify integration, from loyalty that works to easy shopper postcode tracking, from smart ways to pitch shop local to featuring locally made products … our gift shop software is made for gift retailers, made to help you thrive.

We’re not your usual software company. See these videos at our YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/c/TowerSystemsPOS ) with practical business advice:

Local really does matter to us. We’re a locally owned company employing local software developers and local help desk people. Most of our competitors are big overseas businesses, like Amazon is to you. So, we do understand the challenges of being local in a competitive world. We’d love to help you.
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Small business retail advice: attracting new traffic

June 7, 2022
2 Min read
S

Attracting new traffic, new shoppers, is vital for local retail businesses. Every new shopper adds value to the business today and into the future.

We are always looking for businesses that do this well, in ways not traditional for that type of business. We found one a few weeks ago in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin – the Avant Cafe & Cycle shop. Here is a new video from us in which we explore what we like about what the folks at Avant are doing, what we learned from them.

They offers are well defined, quality and complimentary, yet able to successfully stand along … and that is key to any business attracting new traffic for specialty products or services – they need to be able to stand alone as that strength enhances the value of the combined offer.

Pursuing new traffic is the single most important business management activity for you and your business.

We suggest pursuing new traffic is a meditation point for any local specialty retailer… new traffic, what it is, what it means and how you can attract it. 

When you approach any management or strategic activity in your business, think about what this task or activity will do to attract new shoppers.

It is not enough to do something in your shop for that is only seen by people in your shop.  What are you doing to promote this outside your shop?  … because that is where new traffic is to be found.

This is not something for your suppliers to do. It is up to you. Only you and your actions can attract new traffic.

Pursuing new traffic is about far more than putting new products in your store. Indeed, stock is only one of several steps that are all connected in pursuing new traffic. However, stock is the start. Stocking new lines never offered in the business are the best first step to take to bring in people who do not shop with you today.

What they are doing at Avant is attracting people who love and appreciate good coffee while at the same time attracting local cyclists and people wanting to purchase bikes or have their bikes serviced.  Each of these separate areas does well, and they compliment each other.

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When was the last time your POS software company sent you a newsletter in the mail?

June 6, 2022
2 Min read
W

Yes, mail is so yesterday for many. But, for some, mail is a wonderful way to receive information and advice. That’s what plenty of our local small business retail customers tell us. That is why, here at Tower Systems in mid 2022, we continue to publish a regular customer newsletter in print form, and post it to all customers, free.

This latest POS software customer newsletter is our third for this year. each newsletter includes advice, help and more … designed to help our POS software customers gain more value from using our POS software.

The newsletter gives them something to put on the notice board or to share with others. It gives them something to read anytime, anywhere.

We will keep producing print newsletters as long as our customers tell us they are of value to them. The newsletter is another point of personal customer service.

Each newsletter we send includes this important box of information, reminding our customers of easy contact points:

Tower Systems also sends a weekly customer email with advice and suggestions on best practice use of our software. Plus, we have social media access points as well as direct access for our customers through our website portal. We want to ensure we are where our customers need us to be, when they need us. The print newsletter plays a role in that and we are grateful to be able to produce this and provide it to our thousands of local small business retail customers at no cost.

We see too many software companies, especially POS software companies, de-humanising contact. Retail is personal. POS software, as a retail service, needs to be personal.

The more contact we have with our customers them more we understand the pathway forward for our software.

This matters.

Each time we send out a print newsletter we receive feedback. It is wonderful seeing customers discover something from the print newsletter that we expected everyone to know and understand.

So, yeah, sending a print newsletter is old-school. we are proud to do it and grateful that our customers engage with it. We understand that retail is personal and are committed to offering our customers personal service.

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Tower Systems, our team and working from home

June 4, 2022
2 Min read
T

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.

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“I just want to be seen, to be noticed” … how can my local retail business do that, be noticed?

June 3, 2022
3 Min read
&

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!

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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

June 2, 2022
3 Min read
W

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!

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