It all started in 1981…
I
Massive POS software knowledge base expansion
M
Over the last three weeks we have completed a major piece of work in relation to our POS software knowledge base.
We have added many new articles and revised even more existing articles.
This work delivers a better experience for our customers who search our POS software knowledge base.
With now more than 700 articles serving our small business retail customers, our refreshed and renewed knowledge base is a key differentiator for Tower Systems.
We are not done yet, however. We have more changes coming, new articles too.
Our knowledge base will continue to evolve in 2021.
Aussie POS software helps retailers with Pop-Up shop help
A
Retailer Roam, the portable POS software from Tower Systems is perfect in a pop-up retail situation.
Where a pop-up shop needs to be up and running quickly, easily, with low cost and with a small footprint, Retailer Roam delivers on all these fronts and more. It is a perfect solution for pop-up retail shops.
Retailer Roam is serves retailers looking to take their business transactions to customers no matter where they are … local markets, on the farm, from the back of a truck, pop-up stores and more. Retailer Roam is truly portable POS software thanks to smart app development from the Tower systems web team working closely with the POS software development team.
This is why retailer Roam works well in a pop-up retail situation. It is POS software ideal for pop-up shops.
With pop-up retail more popular than ever, our pop-up retail POS software solution helps retailers to be up and running quickly, easily, safely and with an easy step to a m ore permanent future. Retailer Roam is made for pop-up retail … and more.
A common question we get is: Does Retailer Roam Require An Internet Connection?
Yes and No. You will need an internet connection to install the app and to obtain the base Retailer data.
If the location you’re selling from does not have internet connectivity you can use the device to transact, however, you will not receive any product updates or send sales back until the connection is re-established.
There is an ‘Offline Mode’ that can be turned on in settings for a smoother no-internet-connection experience. While in this mode the user will be limited to completing sales with what data has already been pre-loaded on the device. No API calls can be made in this mode, and sales will be stored locally until they can be synced.
There is an option to download all stock-data on the device; so, it can be used offline.
Retailer Roam is portable POS softeware for retailers on the move.
This is a wonderful solution for retail today, for businesses that want flexibility as to where and when they trade. It is continuing to evolve too as we discover more variations to the pop-up retail business model.
An awesome ride…
A
A big retail day today
A
We have been busy helping plenty of our retailers prep for today, Boxing Day with in-store and online deals to be managed by our software, ensuring the businesses maximising the Boxing Day sale opportunity.
Using our POS software and Shopify websites connected to our POS software we have helped retailers be ready for this.
If you are shopping today, our wish is that you shop local, shop the high street.
We are grateful…
W
2020 has been the year of the POS software training video
2
We are grateful to our team members and our customers who have participated in creating a record number of training videos that facilitate easy access to on-going learning as to how to use and get the most from our POS software.
Our videos produced this year range from fully produced in-studio content to videos of conversations from which people can learn.
Here is one example of the many videos produced for our customers this year, a video for new customers.
Tower-newcustomer from mark fletcher on Vimeo.
Christmas / New Year POS software support hours
C
We have shared with our customers the details of our office hours through Christmas and the New Year period, ensuring they have easy access to our POS software support services.
While our offices are closed the actual public holidays, our after hours support network will be live throughout. Outside of them public holidays, our office is open.
There will be no Aussie summer holiday here.
We are grateful
W
We are grateful…
W
January 2021 will be unlike any recent January for Aussie small business retailers
J
January will not be normal for local Aussie retailers.
January has traditionally played out in different ways for small business retailers in different parts of Australia.
In some parts of the country, retail is usually so slow that many shops close for several weeks. In other parts of the country, towns swell with tourists and trading hours are extended.
What has been consistent about January for small business retail in Australia is that it has been prdictable.
I don’t think January 2021 will play out in a predictable way.
People are not travelling overseas. But, they are motivated to travel, to shake off 2020 and to start 2021 with new memories, from more local travel.
With plenty of annual leave not taken in 2020, I suspect more will start 2021 taking leave.
Businesses will start 2021 earlier than usual, working on new approaches to business, including on-going working from home for some, which will open opportunities locally.
Places that have not seen many tourists over the years are likely to see some. Tourist destinations will fill early, encouraging people to look elsewhere.
In short, the usual January slowdown we have been used to in small business retail in most parts of Australia is less likely in 2021, in my view.
Locals staying local will be looking to embrace optimism about 2021. Local retailers can lean into this, nurture optimism and offer opportunities for engagement with the local community. In our shops we can make January fun and feed into the desire for a good start to the year.
Be ready. Make sure the shop is fresh, that you have new product and that ou provide an entertaining retail experience. Think about your hours. Find ways to leverage the changed situation.
I mention this today so you can plan. January will be different. How it plays for you depends on you.
Grateful
G
It’s Saturday morning, time for a dad joke … sorry
I
We are grateful…
W
How Tower Systems helps newsagents and other small business retailers sell online.
H
More newsagents and other small business retailers are selling online with beautiful websites created by newsagency software company Tower Systems.
These and POS software connected Shopify websites.
In 2021, having a website, a beautiful POS software connected Shopify websites, for online sales is like having a fax machine or a photocopier was all those years ago.
Through a consultative process, the web specialists at Tower help newsagents discover how they can genuinely differentiate online to attract new shoppers, especially shoppers who are not local, shoppers who may otherwise not know the business exists.
By researching current search engine data as to what people are searching for, Tower Systems has been able to help newsagents pivot online with POS software connected Shopify websites while using the existing business for labour and other overheads.
While the temptation is for newsagents to represent their existing business online, the most success is had by newsagents who treat their POS software connected Shopify website as a start-up, a new business. This is where the comprehensive keyword research by Tower can help unlock commercially valuable opportunities.
One newsagency in Numurkah Victoria created a beautiful baby website, helping that business to expand their baby gifts and products offering and through this to find many shoppers interstate, adding genuine bottom line value. Today, the website for that newsagency is one of the best you will see in that category.
All website development is done in Australia by the Tower Systems web team. They have delivered many POS software connected Shopify websites for newsagents and other small business retailers. They have also delivered five websites through which newsXpress members sell collectively, to reach an even bigger audience.
While Tower partners with the Shopify, Magento and WooCommerce e-commerce platforms, it is the Shopify platform that is most widely used for newsagents.
The Tower web development experts can offer guidance on shipping, methods of payment, marketing, pricing, product category structure, photos and more. They guide newsagents and other small business retailers from beginning to going live.
By connecting their website seamlessly to the Tower newsagency POS software, newsagents are able to manage inventory and data efficiently and accurately.
2021 is looking terrific for online connected newsagents. This is great news!
Supporting shop local with pet soap gift from our POS software co
S
Two weeks ago, we posted 1,000 gift packs featuring pet soap handmade in Australia. each pack was carefully assembled y us and posted to a thoughtfully collated database of small Aussie specialty retail businesses.
ww bought the handmade, ethically made, soap direct from the maker, in support of their local Aussie small business and to provide a connection for our message that we are a local Aussie business supporting local Aussie businesses.
It is a campaign that we planned several months out. Choosing the right soap was important, as were the words on the locally printed card that we included with each gift pack of soap.
We shared the story about being local, that we liked to support local and that we loved connecting with retail businesses that, too, loved supporting local.
This soap gift pack campaign is our way of practically showing what local can look like.
Interestingly, we sent the free pet soap to businesses outside the pet retail channel. It’s soap pet lovers will use and that is what matters most here.
What local looks like can vary by retail channel. In our POS software, we help small business retailers to pitch local, connect with local and demonstrate support for local in myriad ways. Within our POS software retailers have levers they can pullet pitch local without being overt or shouty with there shop local pitch. For us, in our software, when it comes to supporting local, we help retailers with a show, don’t tell approach. They love it. They love that they have ways they can show their local connectivity without being noisy about it.
Tower Systems is proud to serve more than 3,500 small business retailers across multiple retail channels. We are connected with each of the retail channels in different ways and support each with nuanced software, which is tailored for them.
It’s what we do … develop and support POS software for local specialty retail businesses, serving needs unique to their retail channel.
We are grateful for the opportunity to ourselves support shopping local in the execution of a marketing campaign that has at its core a shop local message.
Next time you look for pet soap, look for a locally made product. Your pet will love you for it.
POS software helps local small business retailers embrace Christmas
P
Christmas is the most important season for retailers, especially local high street small business retailers.
Using our POS software, retailers can leverage Christmas for maximum opportunity. How? … you may ask. Okay, using our POS software, here’s how small business retailers are able to embrace Christmas and make the most of the opportunity this year and beyond:
Price differentiation is easy in our software since retailers can bundle items and create their own, unique to their business, packs. You decide what is in the packs, their price and other details relating to sales.
Up-selling is systemised thanks to better workflow, sales prompts and additional information in-store as well as online through which the business can maximise the sale basket value,. Our POS software brings structure to the opportunity.
Bringing them back is a key focus through the POS software with tools serves as part of each sale that are designed to encourage and cajole the shopper back in-store to find other products,. That this can be done in a systemised and automated way makes it a no-brainer move in retail.
Rewarding good purchases is something you can do with software that tracks value and kicks in a reward when a value trigger is reached. This being done behind the scenes in a systemised way is valuable in any retail business but especially in local small business retail where there is tough competition.
Adding you to personalise the opportunity. Embedded in our small business POS software are tools you can use for adding valuable information to each sale, the information and knowledge that can differentiate your business and thereby establish a deeper shopper connection.
These are just some of the ways retailers can differentiate and add value to make Christmas for successful for them. In each case, the POS software from Tower Systems enables engagement with minimal labour cost and minimal capital investment. These are key factors for retailers to maximise the opportunities in their businesses, to make Christmas a more successful this season and trough the trading year that follows.
We see Christmas not only for what it brings in the lead up, but, too, in terms of what you can achieve after Christmas, through the next year, when new Christmas shoppers may come back into the business based on what you did or offered.
Scale integrated POS software helps local retailers sell by weight easily and accurately
S
The federal government tested and approved POS software scale integration from Tower Systems is used by feed shops, produce businesses, pet shops, butchers, garden centres and more. Indeed, any retailer selling products that are weighed and sold by weight can love the scale integration solution from Tower Systems.
This is smart software, enabling easy selling of items by weight.
The POS software scale integration by Tower Systems was completed years ago and has been reviewed regularly since to ensure it meets current standards.
The POS software scale integration from Tower Systems makes sense for these businesses. It’s smart for the business, smart for the customer and smart for the suppliers of products to the business. Data accuracy is key these days and scale integration facilitates data accuracy.
We have plenty of local independent retail business using our POS software scale integration tools to sell easily, accurately and seamlessly, through their scale integrated POS software.
The authorised and government approved integration of scales with the Tower Systems POS software enables us to deliver a beautiful solution to small business and independent retailers in many situations.
Our Tower Systems POS software talks with the scales, reducing the opportunity for data entry mistakes, making the sales process faster and delivering business outcomes that enable small business retailers to benefit.
Any retail business selling products by weight can rely on our scales integration for fast and accurate selling at the counter or anywhere in this business.
We work with our POS software customers to deliver a solution tailored through settings and other opportunities to serve the needs of the business. Our experience over the years from our extensive work on POS software scale integration has enabled us to provide a flexible and valued solution to our customers in this area.
Using the POS software scale integration, retailers can benefit from accurate stock on hand data, easier sales counter work flow, better business decisions and more. The benefits are considerable. The business can also be seen as more professional through scale integration with POS software.
Tower Systems serves more than 3,500 small business retailers in Australia and New Zealand. We are grateful everyday to our customers for their support.
Small business retail advice: Unique Selling Proposition
S
We work with more than 3,500 small business retailers in our POS software retail community. We are retailers ourselves.
One thing we know to be true – being unique matters. It gives people a reason to consider your business, to shop with you.
Today, we share updated advice on the importance of being unique in any retail business, but especially in local small business retail.
In his 1960 book, Reality in Advertising, Rosser Reeves, a respected US advertising executive, introduced the world to the concept of the Unique Selling Proposition, USP for short.
Reeves defined USP in an advertising context:
- Each advertisement must make a proposition to the consumer: buy this product and you will get this benefit.
- The proposition must be one that the competition either cannot or does not offer.
- The proposition must be so strong that it changes consumer behaviour.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the concept of a unique selling proposition evolved from being essential to advertising to being essential in business. Finding your business USP was considered mission critical to businesses, retailers especially. Businesses drifted however and forgot about the importance of a USP.
Jack Trout told us just a few years ago that it was as relevant today. In 2000, he said that a Unique Selling Proposition was mission critical in business in his aptly titled book Differentiate or Die.
Differentiate of Die. There is no doubt about the call to action in the title, no doubt about the consequences of inaction.
You reflect the uniqueness of your business in 2020 through your inventory mix, shop floor storytelling, your online presence, your social media presence, and, how you reflect your own intellectual property, your own knowledge with and through what you sell. Indeed, you are the key, in many retail businesses, you are the USP.
A good USP will not require an advertising campaign to communicate. It will become obvious through the decisions you make and the actions that follow.
By living the USP in every facet of the business you soon become seen as unique by shoppers and this can drive excellent word of mouth and success for the business.
So, what us your USP and how is it reflected in your business in-store, online, on socials and elsewhere?
We are grateful to offer locally made and supported POS software for specialty retailers
W
[sound on]
Thank you for shopping local this Christmas
T
Small business retail advice: handling community group donation requests
S
This article is another in our series of advice for small business retailers. The advice comes from ur experiences helping small business retailers with POS software and from years of running our own shops, places where we learn retail ourselves from inside out.
Advice for small business retailers on dealing with donation requests from local charities and community groups.
Requests from schools, charities and other community for donations can be a challenge for any size business. If you do not take a structured approach to this you will find yourself giving away plenty for little or no return.
Requests are often loaded with guilt. People can be passive aggressive in their approach. Often, people requesting help leverage pester power. It can be hard to say no. There are too many stories of retailers giving a gift as a prize, receiving the Thank You poster and achieving no benefit for the business.
Our advice is to manage your philanthropy as you would any business activity.
THE PRIZE / GIFT
Decide the amount in cash or product value or both that you are prepared to donate in a full year, calendar year or financial year.
Our recommendation is you give away cash, but in the form of a voucher to spend in your business. This ensures that value of the gift or prize is greater than the cost of it to your business.
The best mechanism for giving away cash or an amount to spend in-store is to do it by way of a gift voucher. Use your software to manage this as any manual approach is dangerous and time-consuming.
YOUR PITCH, NOT THEIRS
Get on the front foot and write to local community groups outlining that you budget a year in advance. Seek their submissions. With this advice sheet we have included the text of a suggested letter. Please read the letter as it outlines the approach we suggest and why. It is important you communicate this with all community groups.
On the page after the letter is a suggested notice for use in-store when you are asked for donations.
HOW TO PICK GROUPS TO SUPPORT
Focus on community groups that support you. That is, groups with members who support you. The more they support you the better you are able to support the community.
Be prepared to ask where people shop for the items you sell in your business. Ask if they will change in return for your support.
Asking these questions underscores to you the importance of approaching the decision as a business decision.
Be thoughtful and deliberate. Support the groups that support you. This is important as it helps you stay within a budget.
LET YOUR SHOPPERS CHOOSE
If you run discount vouchers and if customers say they don’t want the voucher, invite them to contribute the voucher to a local group – one of three you setup for in the business. Every month, two months or three months, tote up the vouchers and give the group a parentage of the total voucher value ‘voted’ for them.
This idea could be in addition to any giving program you run in the business. It offers a daily reminder of your commitment to local giving.
Grill’d burgers for years ran a program kind of like this where each shopper is given a bottle cap, which they place in a tub to vote on a group to receive a cash donation for the month. The process of groups submitting to be considered is onerous.
REWARD ENGAGEMENT
In addition to any direct gift, consider an offer whereby anyone who is a member of the group who shops with you accrues an amount you donate to the group. You could manage this through your software. It could be you offer a discount to the shopper as well as accruing a value for the group.
This type of program could also be in addition to your core giving program as the value here is driven by sales – hopefully, incremental sales.
EDUCATE GROUPS ABOUT GOOD ENGAGEMENT
Here are things groups you support can do to help your business. You should ask them to do these things:
- Tell members to buy from you.
- Write about your business on their Facebook page.
- Distribute flyers of your offers.
- Have you speak at a meeting.
WRITE ABOUT YOUR ENGAGEMENT
Once you have a decision on which groups you will support, write about this in your newsletter and on Facebook. Not just once but multiple times. Invite them to provide you with content to publish too. Talk about their good works.
Ask them to write about you too.
Your giving must serve your heart and serve your business. Going about it in a structured way will ensure you meet your objectives.
Here is suggested text for a notice about giving by the business:
OUR POLICY ON HANDLING COMMUNITY GROUP DONATIONS.
We receive requests to support local community groups and charities regularly. As a small family business with loans, rent, wages and other costs, we cannot say yes to everyone. We wish we could but we cannot.
To help us better connect with and serve the groups we do support, we now decide at the start of the financial year the groups we will support over the next year. The selection process is based on written submissions from groups.
Our decision to select the groups we support at the start of the year means we cannot take on additional donation requests through the year.
We hope you understand and respect this.
Please consider applying in advance of the start of the next financial year.
But all is not lost…
If your group can bring in new customers to our business to purchase items they want we may have another way we can help. Ask us for details.
Thank you and we wish you all the best in your community group.
Small business retail advice: how to take on a local competition
S
This article is another in our series of small business retail management advice. It comes from a deep well of experience helping small business retailers, local retailers, as well as our own experience running successful retail businesses.
How to take on a local competitor with care and respect.
If you want to grow your retail business it is likely that at some point in time you will need to take on a local competitor. By take on, we mean compete with, head-on, in a category or on a whole of store basis.
While it can sound cold-hearted suggesting you take on a local business colleague, it is survival of the fittest in the world and, especially, in business. Better you than them.
The time you might consider taking on a competitor could be when you are looking at taking on a new product category, something sold in another business nearby. Such a move could likely be seen as an attack on the other business – hence the need for careful planning and management … BEFORE you make the move.
Here is advice on how to approach taking on a local competitor.
- Ensure there is a need in your business or the community for you to move against a local competitor. The need could be in your business – the need for more traffic and / or revenue. The need could be in the community for better products because the competitor is doing a bad job or overcharges. Ensure you know what the need is and that it is enough to fuel your commitment for what is ahead.
- Make sure that the new product category fits with your business and how you and your customers see your business.
- The move must make sense in terms of what you sell and what you are known for.
- The move must have a story backing it for you and your customers to believe in the move.
- Thoroughly assess risks you and others working with you see.
- How the competitor and / or community might react publicly.
- How the competitor and / or community might react privately.
- What the competitor might invest to fight.
- Whether they can take on what you plan to stock and directly compete.
- How people might perceive you taking on a local business.
- To you and your health – competing takes stamina.
- Do you have sufficient resources for a long-term plan?
- What if the competitor closes? Are you ready to deal with that?
- What will be your Unique Selling Proposition, what will separate your offer apart from the competitor(s)?
- You must have a genuinely unique proposition: range (deep into a niche for example), quality, brands, price, customer service or a combination of these.
- The differentiating proposition must be obvious and valuable to local shoppers for it is this that will justify you taking on a competitor.
- DO IT BETTER. On all fronts. This is the most important factor of taking on a business.
- You must do it better, from the outset.
- Better products, better brands, better displays, better service, better marketing. Price does not have to be a factor if you are better in all other areas.
Taking on a competitor by introducing new products or product categories in your business can be tough anywhere. The goal of our advice is to have you plan for the move for good planning is a key factor in success.
We often see businesses take on a competitor without thought and eventually retreat having lost money. Avoid retreating by taking time to research and plan.
Small business retail advice: how to manage an employee theft situation
S
This article is another in our series of advice for small business retailers. It comes from our experience running a POS software company that serves small business retailers and from running our own retail shops.
How to deal with an employee theft situation in small business retail
Discovering theft by an employee can be debilitating and destabilising. To help you through this, we provide here our advice on what to do once you discover employee theft. The goal is to offer straightforward steps to help you get through as it is on the other side of this where you can find the opportunity to move on from the feeling of violation that often accompanies employee theft in small business.
- Be sure of the facts, gather the evidence. Evidence could include, video footage of cash being take from the business, business records being modified to cover tracks, stock being stolen and more. Evidence does not include gossip, feelings and opinions. Without evidence you have nothing to proceed with.
- Once you have all available evidence and if this clearly implicates one or more employee, quickly work out what you want.
- If you involve the police, they and, subsequently, the courts, will control the process including getting your money or goods back, an apology and more.
- If you don’t involve them, think about if you want the money or goods back, an apology, the person to stop working for you without negative impact on you – or a mixture of these.
- Check your insurance policy. Be sure you understand what you might be able to claim and in what circumstances. For example, your policy may require a police report. This could determine your next steps. If you are not sure what your insurance policy says, call the insurance company for advice. Knowing your insurance situation early is vital.
- If the person committing the crime is a minor:
- Advise their parents or guardian by phone. Invite them to the shop or an independent location to see what you have. Have someone else there with you, as an observer. This meeting needs to happen quickly.
- Present the evidence.
- Listen for their response.
- If they (their parents) ask what you want, be clear.
- If agreement is reached, put it in writing there and then and all involved sign it, so there is clear understanding.
- If agreement is not reached you need to decide your next steps and engage them with haste.
- A return of the money, likely by the parents, should be in a lump sum, immediately. I have seen a parent pay $22,000 where a uni student studying psychology stole and out their career at risk by being caught. I have seen another situation where a 75-year-old mum repaid the $12,000 stolen by her adult daughter so the daughter did not have to tell her husband about her gambling problem.
- If the person committing the crime is not a minor:
- Get an opportunity to speak with them face to face, ideally with another person there as a witness.
- Tell them you have evidence of them stealing from the business.
- Ask if they would like to see it. If they say no, ask what they propose.
- If they do want to see the evidence, show it and ask what they propose.
- If there is an offer of a full refund, an immediate resignation and never entering the business again it could be a good practical outcome. The challenge is you may not know the value of what has been stolen. Experience indicates that someone stealing cash will understate the amount considerably. I was involved in one case where they said they stole $10,000. The irrefutable evidence showed it was $75,000.
- Get any agreement in writing. If there is an offer to repay, our advice is to only accept an immediate lump sum. If the proposal is payment of, say, more than $10,000 over time, involve the police.
- If the person denies any wrongdoing, go to the police immediately.
- If you have suspicions and do not have the evidence, put in place opportunities to gather the evidence without entrapping the target, without setting them up. I have seen situations where local police have provided advice and support for this. It could be worth asking them if you are in a regional or rural situation.
If you are nervous about meeting the person or their family, write down what you plan to say. Keep it short. To the facts. No emotion. Having a script prepared can be useful even if you do not read it.
If there is any risk of violence, do not have a meeting. Go straight to the police.
Time is of the essence here. The longer you know about the situation and the longer you do not act the less useful the outcome is likely to be.
Advice for small business retailers on selling higher priced items
A
This article is another in our series of advice for small business retailers. While we are a POS software company, we are retailers too. Often, we are asked for advice from retailer colleagues. Here is an example of advice we provide:
That won’t sell in my shop, it is too expensive for my customers.
Before you say something will not sell because it is too expensive, consider the actions you can take that could make the product work.
It could be that you are a factor in something not selling as in your placement, visual merchandising, business marketing and more you set the price expectation.
When you think something will not sell because it is expensive, consider that it might sell in another business. What does that business look like? Is there an opportunity for you to connect with shoppers who might shop at that business?
Here is how you influence higher price acceptable of an item or group of items in your business.
- Display to the target shopper. Treat the product as special, something of quality, away from the usual cheaper products on the shelves. Respect the higher price, the higher quality.
- Do not place the higher price items with cheap products. Location is everything. Set aside a location that reflects the difference of these products.
- Price / product signs. Make them. Handwritten. Explain the product. Reflect quality.
- Use lighting, or darkness, to draw attention.
- Know the product. It is more expensive for a reason – quality, source location, rarity. Know the reason and ensure all staff can speak to it.
- Don’t be scared of the price.
- Remember you are not your customer.
- Know if if you don’t sell this someone else nearby might or at least products in the same price bracket. Beat them.
- Treat the higher priced product with respect, through your actions show that the price is worth it.
Here is why you would do this: new traffic plain and simple.
Every new item that appeals beyond the usual, the average, for your business is an opportunity to attract a new shopper.
Attracting new shoppers is, in our view, the single most important business activity for you every day.
Recent Comments