The POS Software Blog

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

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Newsagents benefit from Epay access in newsagency POS software

September 10, 2020

1 Min read

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Tower Systems released Epay access from within its newsagency software earlier this year. It’s been a terrific success with newsagents loving the easy and direct access to wonderful voucher products from Epay.

Today, Tower Systems released a product update to its Epay integration, expanding the products available to newsagents to sell, offering them more revenue opportunities in their businesses.

This latest update is another step in the on-going enhancement of the solution, to serve the expanding needs of retailers, including local Aussie newsagents.

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Half price Toy shop POS software offer for independent toy shops

September 10, 2020

3 Min read

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$77.50 a month: Australian made software for toy shops.

Tower Systems today announces a limited-time half price offer for its Toy Shop POS software. See this software made for toy shops in a live online demo: sales@towersystems.com.au.

While the half price offer is available until November 30, 2020, half price for those who take up the offer is locked in forever.

Monthly rental is usually $155.00. Half price: $77.50.
Setup and training is usually $2,750.00. Half price: $1,375.00.

Why now? We know that going into Christmas is not when toy shops want to install new software. We wanted to make it financially enticing. Our shop software offers many benefits, including:

Save time with electronic invoices from suppliers.
Differentiate with you. Share your product use and care information.
Easy special customer orders. Smart track and notify of orders.
Community group pricing. Set pricing rules based on customer type.
Use tags to get a fresh perspective, side-view, on stock performance.
Easy record keeping: serial number tracking of items with serial numbers.
Ensure compliance when required with structured age checking.
Business differentiating loyalty. Stand out from the crowd. Drive sales.
Make money from pre-orders – Easily pre-sell before release.
Differentiate with bundles. Make price comparison hard.
Track who sold what.
Say goodbye to LayBy – with integrated buy now pay later options.
Market to customers based on past purchases.
Cut accounting and bookkeeping fees with integration to Xero and others.
Easily sell online with a direct to Shopify link from your POS software.

This half price offer for $77.50 a month, gives you:

Australian developed and supported toy business POS software.
Unlimited computer licences for your location.
Software updates as we release them.
Shopify / Magento / Woo link. Easily sell online from your POS software.
Xero link. Easing bookkeeping costs and streamlining accounting.
Our OzBiz link. This helps you link to MYOB through OzBiz.
Tyro link – safe, fast and easy EFTPOS link for streamlined sales.
PC Eftpos link. This offers easy EFTPOS processing for the major banks.
Easy buy now pay later options with Zip Pay and Humm.
Support – help desk access.
Training – unlimited one-on-one training over the phone.
User documentation. Access to our searchable knowledge base.

Rent for $77.50 each 30 days, in advance. It can be cancelled at any time.

We have a structured and personalised on-boarding process. The up-front half price on-boarding fee is $1,375.00 (inc. GST). This includes personal, professional training and setup help.

We are grateful to business owners and staff in your channel who guide our software development. Their advice helps us make more useful software.

We have just released R3, new software for toy shops. See it for yourself: sales@towersystems.com.au.

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Limited-time Pet Shop POS software offer for independent pet shops

September 9, 2020

3 Min read

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Rent for $155.00 a month: Aussie made software for pet shops.

Save $3,000 on training and setup: From now to November 30, 2020, training and setup has been cut from $3,750.00 to $750.00. Book a free live online demo now: sales@towersystems.com.au.

This is a genuine saving, for a limited time. We are pitching it to help more pet shops access our Aussie developed and supported pet shop software.

Total monthly rental is $155.00 for all the computers in the shop.
Setup and training is usually $3,750.00. With this offer it is $750.00.

Our comprehensive pet shop software offers many benefits, including:

Save time with electronic invoices from suppliers.
Differentiate with you. Share your product use and care information.
Track pet microchip numbers.
Track worming and other date-based treatments for customer reminders.
Easy special customer orders. Smart track and notify of orders.
Club and group pricing. Set pricing rules based on customer type.
Use tags to get a fresh perspective, side-view, on stock performance.
Business differentiating loyalty. Stand out from the crowd. Drive sales.
Multi buy pricing – like a coffee card – to drive loyalty.
Make money from pre-orders – Easily pre-sell before release.
Differentiate with bundles. Make price comparison hard.
Track who sold what.
Say goodbye to LayBy – with integrated buy now pay later options.
Market to customers based on past purchases.
Cut accounting and bookkeeping fees with integration to Xero and others.
Easily sell online with a direct to Shopify link from your POS software.

You can rent our software for $155.00 a month, giving you:

Australian developed and supported pet shop POS software.
Unlimited computer licences for your location.
Software updates as we release them.
Shopify / Magento / Woo link. Easily sell online from your POS software.
Xero link. Easing bookkeeping costs and streamlining accounting.
Our OzBiz link. This helps you link to MYOB through OzBiz.
Tyro link – safe, fast and easy EFTPOS link for streamlined sales.
PC Eftpos link. This offers easy EFTPOS processing for the major banks.
Easy buy now pay later options with Zip Pay and Humm.
Support – help desk access. No extra charge.
Training – unlimited one-on-one training over the phone.
User documentation. Access to our searchable knowledge base.

We have a structured and personalised and comprehensive on-boarding process, which includes training and setup and usually costs $3,750.00. With this special offer, the on-boarding costs $750.00. This includes:

We are grateful to business owners and staff in your channel who guide our software development. Their advice helps us make more useful software.

See our software in a personal live online demonstration: sales@towersystems.com.au.

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Fixed price website development for small business retailers

September 8, 2020

3 Min read

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If you are in a retail channel with big competitors, we suggest you think carefully before you take your current products online. Do your research and see if you feel you can compete with this online already, especially the big competitors.

This advice from us is especially relevant if your online plans are about attracting shoppers located outside your current catchment area.

Take the pet space. National pet retailers have a strong presence as do several online-only businesses. They own the value space, where people are buying on price, as well as the service space where people need it now. This is especially true with everyday pet food.

You have to ask yourself what is my point of difference? and can I make enough money off this to justify the website investment?

In terms of pet food and unless you are selling products unique to your business, it would be a tough road to find new shoppers outside your current catchment area. If you think about it, what do they have to go on, especially if you are selling known brands. Service and price are the two key factors. The big players will out spend and out service you.

Look at dog food, there are currently 8,800 searches a day in Australia for this. Once you add in the 65,000 variations to dog food related searches in Australia every day you soon hit almost 700,000 search results. That is the pool in which you would play if you are selling dog food. This is data from a respected data tool we subscribe access to.

Click here to see a summary report we ran recently on dog food. Click here to see a spreadsheet of of the first 30,000 keywords relating to this.

This example is relevant to all of our customers, regardless of whether they sell dog food. Each marketplace faces big business online challenges where keywords have been richly and widely mined.

If you are considering going online and want to reach shoppers beyond your current catchment area, your website will need to pitch in a way that differentiates to others.

So, if you are considering online and want to attract new shoppers, what is unique about your offer and is it financially viable.

We can help. We will research keywords for you, before you set on a path for a new or reinvigorated website. If you would like us to do this, feel free to email me direct (mark@towersystems.com.au) with keywords that you are considering. I will check out traffic volumes for you and email a report with data to help guide your consideration.

If the dog food example does not connect with you, let’s look at toys. In Australia right now, there are 40,500 searches for toys. On top of this, there are 528,000 keyword variables relating to toys with 7 million results. Click here to see a summary report based on current searches in Australia for Toys, which we ran recently.

Our core point here is that planning before you go online is critical to ensuring success once you are online. There are many opportunities online. They are often outside what retailers see as their preferred online solution.

Taking your business online is like creating a start up business. Researching before you begin is critical.

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We’ll leave the doom and gloom to others, let’s embrace happiness

September 7, 2020

2 Min read

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News platforms have been bursting over the last week with stories about the recession Australia is now in. There are the headline stories based on the numbers and the personal stories of people losing their businesses and homes, dreadful stories, sad stories.

It is easy to get drawn into the doom and gloom news cycle. Unfortunately, news outlets think bad news drives clicks, and, so, they run the stories. The stories feed into themselves and can make matters worse.

In local communities and in local retail businesses, we think it is helpful that we act against feeding the doom and gloom stories. It is helpful that we do nothing to negatively impact consumer confidence. In fact, we think it is valuable to do the opposite, to encourage happiness and optimism.

Our suggestion is: focus on what has been working for you in 2020, present as business as usual, bring in new product, change displays, host in-store events, be active on social media, play happy music, run competitions, be a good local retailer.

It is these types of activities that distance your business from negative perceptions relating to the recession.

Yes, this is a tough time. Worrying about it being a tough time will not help you move through it.

You can’t control that there is a recession.

You can control what your business does. That has to be the focus.

As a business, we have been through two recessions. Each was different. This time around it is expected to be worse because of the global Covid situation. The reality is that for many small business retailers, there are elements of Covid that help your businesses. In many retail businesses we see, revenue is up in 2020 so far. This is good news. Indeed, there is plenty of good news out there.

Be attuned to opportunity. Also, keep a low profile as no one likes a bragger during times of adversity.

Sure, the economy is in recession. Our businesses, while part of the economy, are not the economy. Many of us are doing well, many of us have plenty to be optimistic about.

Let’s be positive. Let’s manage for optimism. Happiness feeds stronger and more appreciated businesses.

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Our small business is proud to be creating jobs in Australia

September 4, 2020

2 Min read

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Tower Systems is proud to have created two new jobs in Australia, for entry level tech roles, in the last 2 months.

We have been able to do this because Australian companies, local small business retailers, are supporting us, using our POS software.

So, thank you. Thank you to all the businesses that have chosen Tower Systems this year already. We are on track to welcome more new customers this year than in the last six years, which themselves were each a good year.

Creating jobs is something we are proud of. Welcoming Matt and Eric to our team is a thrill, something for which we are sincerely grateful.

As a company focussed only on serving local independent small business retailers, we are aware of the importance of service of the local community. Our software helps our customers in this mission. Being a small business ourselves, it keeps us grounded, focussed on the same goals as our customers.

We know that is we serve the local community well, the local community will serve us. yes, it reads as cliche. However, it is more than that, it is a maxim to live by.

By adding two new roles to our front line help desk, we have improved our ability to serve our customers, to help them enjoy more from using our software, to help them create businesses that are more valuable to all who rely on the business for personal value.

We get it that we are part of an eco system. Playing our role really does help others. This is another reason why we need to keep evolving what we do. hence, our regular review of staffing levels and growing as we need to grow.

2020 is an unusual year. for us, it is a year of growth, evolution and discovery. We are enjoying the year, even though the news out there is not ideal. We think we are better at what we do and that is part of the reason we are seeing the growth we are enjoying in 2020.

Thank you for your faith in us, for positioning us that we need to add new roles to the company. It is your support of us that has helped us created these 2 new roles and the Australian economy appreciates that. Small steps, for sure, but steps in the right direction.

Have a wonderful weekend…

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Buy now pay later helps small business retailers replace LayBy

September 4, 2020

2 Min read

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The Tower Systems POS software is integrated with Humm and ZipPay / ZipMoney and have been since they launched. Both offer small business retailers valuable tools for buy now pay later trading in their specialty retail businesses.

Using Humm or Zip, retailers are able to offer easy over the counter purchase to customers who might otherwise have wanted to use LayBy. This way the customers can take their items immediately and the retailer is paid the next day.

There are rules and processes, which are managed by the POS software.

Tower Systems delivered the first POS software integration for Humm, pioneering years ago a solution that has been beneficial for many small business retailers. This was followed by the ZipPay and ZipMoney integration with the Tower POS software.

Offering buy now pay later is particularly helpful in retail situations where a business is supplying one time only shoppers or infrequent shoppers as it helps the business capture sales that the old LayBy approach may not have served for those businesses.

Integration is easy and payment is seamless. Tower Systems helps retailers connect with bot the respected buy now pay later finance companies, delivering beneficial access and providing front line support to serve these business needs.

While our POS software continues to offer LayBy, it is being used less as businesses seek to use less space for then storage of LayBy goods. Also, consumer legislation covering LayBy can sometimes present more onerous challenges for retailers than nis the case for buy now pay later operations.

The Zip and Humm integrations and just two of plenty of integrations delivered by Tower Systems in this space of helping small business retailers offer broader solutions beyond the core POS software functions. Tower has a long track record of working with other businesses, connecting with them and helping small business retailers to leverage these connections for their own operations.

Tower Systems is a vertical market POS software company serving thousands of independent and small business retailers in Australia and New Zealand with fresh and innovative POS software that is tailored to the unique needs of each retail channel in which it serves.

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5 things any small business retailer can do to today increase the value of their business.

September 3, 2020

3 Min read

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We are not your usual POS software company. The advice in this email is an example of advice we provide beyond what’s usual for a POS software co. Here are practical ways we help small business retailers…

5 things any retailer can do to today increase the value of their business.

Quit dead stock. This topic is considered by many to be a snooze. In our POS software we make it easy to identify dead stock. Helping one business, they thought they had around $5,000 in dead stock. We listed for them the $17,500 in dead stock. They were shocked and acted immediately, freeing cash and space for innovation.
Cut the cost of theft. Cutting theft starts with detecting it. In a hidden part of our software we have tracking tools that let you see what is not obvious. We have worked with police and prosecutors on employee theft cases. Business owners can access these tools too.
Offer real loyalty rewards. While many retailers jumped on the points bandwagon, supermarkets and others ruined them for everyone. One of our customers implemented this advice and added $15,000 in gross profit in the first year for no capital investment. Our discount vouchers (you can call them whatever you like) change the conversation, they actively drive shopper visits and purchases. You can bank on the results. Setup takes less than 5 minutes. Customer engagement can be immediate.
Sell you. Often in specialty retail businesses it is your knowledge that separates you from others. You can encode that in your POS software, for products, so that your advice is provided to customers when they purchase. Your knowledge can bring people back to your business.
Cut overheads. Every activity eliminated can save time and cut mistakes.
1. Electronic invoices from suppliers can be loaded in seconds.
2. Linking to Xero eliminates bookkeeping activity and provides faster access to an accurate P&L.
3. Linking to Shopify or your website cuts double handling of data.
4. Integrated EFTPOS customers mistakes.
5. Sell anywhere improves efficiency.

Small steps matter.

The most sustained success in small business retail is the many small steps you can take that combine to provide for valuable sustained success.

The five suggestions in this email are small steps, low cost steps, they can be a valuable foundation for making a business more valuable.

Beyond these 5, there are many more benefits for small business retailers using the Tower Systems specialty POS software for speciality retailers.

Our software is made locally for local retailers.

See our software live.

See all this and more in an obligation-free demonstration via video link. Email us at sales@towersystems.com.au.

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POS software for organic produce businesses

September 2, 2020

3 Min read

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More and more organic produce retailers are choosing the POS software from Tower Systems for managing their organic produce businesses.

The organic business POS software from Tower Systems has facilities that serve the needs of organic produce retailers well. Using this Aussie developed and supported POS software, organic produce businesses can easily:

Sell by weight thanks to government approved scale integration.
Sell by fractions.
Sell by bundles: singles, 4, 8, 8, 12 or a box – you choose.
Bulk food sales are easy.
Managing making your own goods is easy with multiple raw materials combining to create new product.
Include product use and product care information on receipts.
Reorder based on sales – tracing current sales to inform tomorrow’s purchases.
Include product source information on receipts and product labels.
Focus on locally sourced products and shine a light on this consistently.
Sell on the road, at markets and elsewhere easily using our Retailer Roam App.
Link direct for fast EFTPOS processing.
Link to Xero and reduce bookkeeping costs.
Receive electronic invoices from suppliers.
Link to Shopify for online sales.
Leverage local community groups with club and similar pricing.
Special customer orders are easy with the software letting customers know when your order is in.
Sell by scanning items or using a touchscreen – that you lay out to your needs.
Use TAGS to easily group items by sales season, special interest and other criteria that could be useful to you in managing the business.

This organic business POS software is flexible beyond traditional thanks to the Tower Systems work across a range of specialty retail channels. We leverage knowledge and experience from them to create better software for each.

We are grateful for opportunities to demonstrate our POS software for organic produce retailers, to show as much detail as wanted, to offer the opportunity for retailers to determine for themselves if our software serves their needs.

Tower Systems serves more than 3,000 specialty retailers in Australia and New Zealand. We only sell to independent retailers, maintaining our focus on the small business end of commerce.

We make what we sell. This gives us control over the product and through this we continue to evolve the software and the services that support it.

With organic product businesses growing, Tower Systems is grateful for the opportunity to serve and be part of this growth.

See this software made for toy shops in a live online demo: please call 1300 662 957 or email sales@towersystems.com.au.

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How Tower Systems connected its POS software with Magento to help more than 130 independent retailers to sell Beanie Boos online

September 2, 2020

2 Min read

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Four years ago, Tower Systems developed the Beanie Boos Australia website using the Magento platform, connecting more than 130 retailers using its POS software with online sales of the cute and adorable Beanie Boos.

It was ground breaking, connecting 130+ independently owned shops and their local business POS software with the Magento site, offering the largest collection and range of Beanie Boos in Australia.

The sales have been excellent, hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

The back end of the website, using intellectual property developed by Tower Systems,s, serves customers first, allowing them to purchase what they want. The site tech ology places the order with the closest businesses that can fulfil. This can be one store or many, depending on what has been put into the basket.

The Beanie Boo website serves individual customers as well as community groups, schools and more as people want to connect with cute Beanie Boos and share the joy and happiness that they spread.

Allowing shoppers to shop by product name, product birthday and more, the Beanie Boo website serves up to date information that helps Boo collectors and lovers of cuddly plush to buy for birthdays, graduation and other celebrations.

The Beanie Boo website and its connection with the local store tower Systems POS software is a perfect technology and business marriage, delivering to these independent retail businesses sales they might otherwise not have achieved. Many sales are transacted when stores are closed and more than 75% are to shoppers who live hours and more away from the fulfilling ship location.

Tower Systems pioneered multistage magenta POS software integration and has delivered a wonderful commercial benefit that has been sustained for many years now.

The website continues to evolve as does the Tower Systems POS software. each is competitive in their fields and combined they are formidable force for the software company, the retailers locally and the enbwsXpress marketing group that overall administers the Beanie Boo website.

Magento, now from Adobe, continues to deliver an robust and capable tech. platform. It is one of several web platforms that Tower Systems works with and integrated its specialty retail Point of Sale software with. Our relationship with Magento goes back many years, for which we are grateful.

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POS software alternative to PBSA POS software

September 1, 2020

2 Min read

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Tower Systems is grateful to offer its POS software an an alternative to PBSA POS software.

Serving more than 3,000 small business retailers in a selection of niche retail channels, Tower Systems offers services and facilities compatible with what users of PBSA POS software are used to:

Sale integration for selling by weight.
Selling by fractions.
Selling by scanning and touchscreen buttons.
Woo Commerce integration.
Xero integration.
Tyro integration.

We are grateful to folks experiences in using PBSA POS software for their insights so that we can confirm coverage of these and other retail business management needs.

We have not used or see PBSA POS software ourselves and so cannot speak to its suitability. What we know is our own software and our support infrastructure through which we provide timely and friendly POS software support, training and update help.

PBSA POS software users looking for an alternative are welcome and, indeed, invited to consider the POS software from Tower Systems. We’d be happy to compare function for function, to see if our locally supported and made POS software is an alternative compared to the PBSA POS software.

From a support perspective, Tower Systems POS software users have access to:

Timely help desk support.
Unlimited free one on one training.
600+ knowledge base articles – searchable documentation.
User training videos.
Business advice insights.
Theft check services.
Cloud based backup.
Cloud hosting for those keen for off site hosting.
Customer service escalation, to ensure that outside of the help desk an escalation point provides management access.

Tower Systems is focussed on customer service as we know that this matters to local retailers. Our processes are comprehensive and our contact points are accessible. Our motto is we’re here to help and we try and deliver this through every interaction.

Our customers play an important role in the evolution of our POS software. We offer a transparent process through which they can suggest POS software enhancements. These are considered by other customers and voted on. The majority of each POS software update developed and released by us is from these customer suggestions.

If you are a PBSA POS software user and are considering an alternative, we would welcome an opportunity to speak with you, to understand your needs and to see if Tower Systems can serve you.

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Camping and outdoors retailer POS software helps local businesses

September 1, 2020

2 Min read

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The Camping and Outdoors retail business POS software from Tower Systems is another example of locally made POS software serving specialty local retail needs.

Camping and outdoors businesses have unique needs in their service of folks who enjoy camping and the outdoors life. Our POS software is fine tuned to help these businesses serve local needs and add value to the shopping experience by consistently sharing local knowledge.

Using this POS software, camping and outdoors businesses are able to track sales, reward regular shoppers, encourage one time only shoppers and connect with suppliers in ways that benefit the local campaign and outdoors business.

Let’s look at how we help in the one time only shopper situation. Thanks to smart and differentiating loyalty tools, using our software you are more likely to encourage / guide / reward these shoppers to spend more in their one time only visit with the camping and outdoors business.

We have seen this plenty fo times in retail. A one time only shopper visiting for a specific need and walking out buying 2, 3 and 4 times more than they intended … because the smart loyalty tools open them to that opportunity.

From a customer service perspective, this smart POS software offers campaign and outdoors businesses opportunities to share product care and product use information that isn unique to those businesses. This is an opportunity for the business to differentiate and that equates to commercially valuable branding. This is about leveraging intellectual property for the value of the business and in service of customers.

Tracking sales by time, day, employee, supplier and more, camping and outdoors businesses can better understand what is working in the business and where there are opportunities for improvement. This can be great news, especially in a seasonal business that relies on excellent customer service to maximise each customer visit opportunity.

Tower Systems interest the camping and outdoors business opportunity having served in the fishing bait and tackle marketplace. It was a natural progression for us to serve campaign and outdoors businesses. We are grateful for the lead in and the experience it provided.

We are a specialist POS software company making, selling and supporting POS software for specialty retailers in Australia and New Zealand. We serve thousands of small business retailers with more join ing our community each week.

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POS software for cleaning supplies businesses

August 31, 2020

3 Min read

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We have discovered that our POS software is ideal for cleaning supplies businesses. Hmm, that’s not completely accurate. We did not discover this, some of our customers discovered it … for which we are sincerely grateful.

It turns out that some specialty facilities in our POS software serve unique needs of cleaning supply businesses, meaning that we now have POS software for cleaning supply businesses. Tada!

We are grateful for the cleaning supplies businesses using our POS software already. Their insights are helpful as we grow into this niche business channel.

Using our POS software, cleaning supply businesses are able to take care of key needs in their businesses, including but not limited to:

Product use information, to ensure customers have correct use information for cleaning products as and when required.
Serial number tracking. Tracking large items by serial number from dat of arrival through to sale.
Quote and invoice management. Creating quotes for customers, invoicing these and managing the data and associated processes.
Producing picking slips.
Handling multiple shipping locations per customer.
Special orders. Managing orders of items for specific customers.
Product storage information to ensure safe storage of cleaning products.
Bundling products together for easy purchase – this is especially useful for infrequent shoppers.
Age check for items that need to be sold with this description.
Customer billing including the billing of services where appropriate.
Tracking repairs is a cleaning business offers repairs of cleaning equipment./
Customer marketing follow up through email and similar campaigns.
Advice to customers by text message of special order arrival.
Click and collect.
Buy now pay later integrations.

Our Australian developed and supported POS software is rich in functionality and is regularly updated to take the software even deeper into specialty needs. This is what niche businesses look for in software, something that can evolve further to serve their needs. It’s why we call our business a vertical market POS software co – be cause vertical represents specialisation and that’s what cleaning supply businesses are, niche and specialty.

Using our POS software, cleaning supply businesses are able to manage their business and the products they sell in ways that are useful operationally and beneficial to the planning for the future. Our installation and training folk can help bring business goals to life through training in specialty parts of the software that serve cleaning supply businesses.

From stock control to insights reporting to accounting integration to website integration, what we offer is comprehensive. But, don’t take our word for it. See the software live in an online demonstration that is one on one, where your needs are explored and your questions are answered. It starts with a reach out to our sales team: sales@towersystems.com.au.

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We are proud to support shop local

August 30, 2020

1 Min read

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Portable sell anywhere POS software

August 29, 2020

1 Min read

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Portable POS software

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Specialty retailers look for specialty facilities in POS software

August 28, 2020

2 Min read

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What makes the Tower Systems POS software specialty POS software in service of specialty retailers. While the answer to that varies by retail channel, here are some of the specialty facilities in our POS software that play to our service of specialty retailers:

Age check – helping to systemise your approach to ensuring that you sell age restricted product to eligible customers.
Chemical notification. When you sell some items for which you are required to include a care notice based on chemical make-up.
Scale integration. We have the government credentials.
Supplier electronic invoice integration.
Loyalty platform integration influencing FlyBys in New Zealand.
Greeting card company systemised product categories and codes to facilitate deeper reporting.
Gem and other jeweller specific gemstone data point recording and tracking.
Outdoor product labels that are weatherproof.
Secondhand goods customer tracking.
Firearms customer detail tracking.
Shopper postcode tracking.
Pet care follow up date information so you can remind customers.
Pet microchip details.
Quote from POS – the ability to scan items on the POS and turn these easily into a quote for formal submission.
Tracking delivery details separate from customer details.
Text message to advise a customer their special order is in.
One-off product make management tools tracking deposit, customer details, labour and materials.
Special customer orders tracking orders places for customers.
Product label personalisation so you can reflect your business style and approach on product labels.
Smart receipts that include information you deem vital to share with customers about your business and products purchased.
Birthday and anniversary reminders for customers.
Bundling where people can purchase complete packages while you continue to track individual item sales.
Serial number tracking.
Colour / size / style product sales tracking.
Direct Xero cloud based accounting integration.
Direct Shopify integration.
Direct Magento integration.
Direct WooCommerce (WordPress) integration.
Direct Tyro broadband EFTPOS integration.

This list is by no means complete. It is a glimpse into what specialty POS software looks like for specialty retailers. It shows the depth of specialisation in our POS software, built in to serve the needs of retailers keen to run software that serves their needs today and into the future in their specialty retail businesses.

Tower Systems is grateful to its customers for their service and insights that guide what we do every day here to gulp small business retailers do well.

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Helping small business retailers pivot online

August 28, 2020

1 Min read

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All through Corona we have been helping retailers pivot online thanks to our fixed price Shopify website development. We continue to run open, transparent and interactive online workshops for retailers, where we answer questions and provide plenty of examples. Here is a video of one of our recent sessions.

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Shopify website development in Australia

August 27, 2020

2 Min read

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Tower Systems continues to develop beautiful Shopify websites for small business retailers in Australia.

Our Shopify development work is 100% done in Australia, by developers who work for our company, in Australia. This matters because our team members understand Australian retail. They also understand how to connect the Shopify websites to POS software, like our own POS software.

Our Shopify website development is done on a fixed price basis. We do this in service our our retail business customers, specialty retailers with specialty needs. We provide a comprehensive plan as well as a terrific hand over document that outlines how any retailer can get the most from the Shopify site.

As a partner of Shopify, we bring the latest insights and tools to life in each website that we develop for our our customers. As Shopify evolves, so do we. we participate in Shopify conferences, face to face in Las Vegas and Toronto as well as online, to ensure we are up to date and reflecting the opportunities of their platforms.

Our POS software connected Shopify websites that we develop offer easy access to AfterPay, ZipPay, Humm, PayPal, click and collect, Sendle and more in terms of seamless integrations. These, plus social media integrations, offer true connectivity between our Shopify websites and the retail businesses they bring to life online.

Designed to serve your needs, the Shopify websites we develop are done in collaboration, with regular communication, offering our customers opportunities to learn with us so as to make using and adjusting the site in the future easy and smart of the retail business.

Tower Systems undertakes Shopify website development primarily for small and independent retail businesses. These customers are at the core of our business. The work is done 100% in our website development team, which is based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. We have a separate development team for our POS software. But … both teams work together to deliver seamless connectivity from which our small business retail customers can benefit.

Our fixed price approach to Shopify website development is clear, transparent and thorough. we have a wonderful portfolio of sites delivered already. we’d be glad to share details with anyone interested in Shopify website development for their retail business.

To find our more, please reach out to our sales team at sales@towersystems.com.au.

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Our POS software doesn’t care about your feelings, it cares about the facts and what they can mean for you and your retail business

August 27, 2020

2 Min read

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No, our POS software does not care abut your feelings.

Not now, not ever.

Feelings in business can divert your attention from important decisions, decisions that matter, decisions based in facts.

Our software cares about the facts.

Facts matter.

Data matter.

Our POS software collects and cultivates data on which you can make business decisions. Fact based business decisions are more likely to better serve your needs and the needs of your family and those who rely on your business for food and shelter.

No, our POS software does not care about your feelings.

If a supplier is under performing, our software will reveal this.
If a certain hour of the day is dead, we will show you.
If a product is not working, not selling, our software will show you.
If a customer is not valuable, we will show it.
If a staff member is stealing, our software has the tools to reveal this.
If one customer is worth more to you than another, we will show it.
If your GP% from one supplier is less than a competitor, we will show it.
If stock turn for products from one supplier is less than from another supplier, we will show it.

These data points and more are revealed by our software as it works through your data, looking at the performance of your business, offering up access to the results in a way on which you can bank the results, for the benefit of the business and those it serves.

This is why we say that our software does not care about your feelings. No, it reports on the facts because the facts are supported by the evidence and it is evidence that matters tremendously as you work through the decisions that are necessary in your business.

Good data = good decisions. That is how it should flow. It is how we focus on business needs, work on what we can top for businesses to improve their situations.

Here at Tower Systems we help you cultivate good data in your busies through our POS software, training, support and business advice to any who seek it. We will work with you through opportunities, every day, in pursuit of emotion-free business decisions.

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Why we recommend against having your retail business website developed offshore

August 26, 2020

2 Min read

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Offshore web development is cheap, that is for sure.

Buyer beware, though. You get what you pay for in this world. That is especially true when it comes to website development.

Offshore website development is cheap because people are paid little. A web developer in some overseas countries get in a month what some web developers get in a day in Australia.

Money is not always the best guide as to who is best. No, there are other reasons to NOT have your retail; business website developed offshore.

The understanding of local business is not as good.
Terminology is different.
Social mores are not the same.
Support access is not in your time zone – if it is they are working overnight and may not be on their game.
Access is not the same.
Money sent offshore is not supporting the local community on which local retailers rely.
Pursuing an offshore business in the event of a dispute is much harder.

If you want a website for your retail business, especially if you want your POS software connected to the website for your retail business, go local, go expert, go with the tech business that itself is supporting the local community in which you live and operate.

We are grateful for the business we have won replacing an offshore developed website with a website we have created ourselves. This is good business, which is helpful for local retailers.

While we understand the importance of offshore revenue for some countries, the revenue has to be for good products and services that are genuinely useful for businesses. This is problematic in the website space given that a website is a deep reflection of a local business and getting this, encoding this and reflecting this is a website is a challenge, something that is best done through local and genuine understanding of the business.

We develop websites for local retail businesses in Australia and New Zealand, websites that are usually connected to our POS software, websites that help local businesses serve local communities and folks further afield. Our portfolio is strong and growing. We are grateful for terrific support from local retailers.

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No free POS software here at Tower Systems

August 25, 2020

2 Min read

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There is no such thing as a free lunch, there is always a catch, always a way you pay.

Businesses that offer free POS software are paid in other ways, they have to be – otherwise, how do they pay their software designers, software developers, support people, sales people and more?

People like to be paid. It puts food on their table. A business offering you free POS software has to find another way to pay for its people because free POS software has a cost to develop, maintain and support, making free POS software not free once you work out who is actually paying.

Software development is expensive, this is especially true for good POS software. It requires specialist services, experts, working hard to make beautiful, fast, secure and stable software. This software, this specialist software is not something you want to be free.

So, when you see free POS software promoted, think carefully about value because it would be hard to find value in something that cost nothing to make and nothing to support.

It’s not free. Follow the money because it will be there. Someone, at some point, will be paying so that those developing, selling, supporting and promoting the software get paid so they can eat and have a roof over their heads. Yes, follow the money and see why free POS software is not really free. Once you follow the money, you can make an informed decision.

Tower Systems does not offer free POS software. We make and sell awesome specialty POS software for a range of retail niches. We are good at what we do and have a long track record of success in service of independent retail business channels.

Our focus is on delivering commercially valuable software to businesses that understand business and the importance of being paid for good business services. We pay our people well because they are good what what they do. We expect people to pay for our software so we can do this. This is at the core of all businesses that respect themselves and their people.

We get that free POS software is desired. However, as we said at the beginning, there is no such thing as a free lunch.

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Small business retailers benefit from POS software tools made for them

August 24, 2020

2 Min read

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Details matter when it comes to specialty POS software for speciality retailers. Here are some highlights of detailed facilities in our specialty retail POS software:

This software doesn’t care about your feelings. It cares about facts and report those facts to you, so you can make decisions based on them.
It comes with a free therapist. If our software does hurt your feelings or does something unexpected, we have real Aussies & New Zealanders ready to make you (and the software) feel better.
It won’t forget your mates birthdays (or any birthday). Excellent marketing tools allow you to keep in touch with customers based on previous purchases, special events, and yes… birthdays.
This software does not play favourites. If a staffer is stealing from you or misbehaving using the software, it will out them, without emotion.
You can your experts. Take product care and use knowledge from your best people and share it with customers on receipts, easily.
Stick it to big business. They can’t compete with our awesome loyalty tools.
Sell anywhere, any time. Retailer Roam is awesome.
The online pivot. We develop websites and awesome POS software.
Click and collect. It’s easy, safe and managed.
Seasonal reordering. Based on evidence.
Pitch local. Consistently, through your software.
Age check. Offering compliance check for age restricted products.
Getting rid of customer order books. Paperless is faster, safer.
Postcode capture. Knowing your reach can amaze you.
Product care advice. Selling you and your knowledge can drive sales.
Product warning notice. Ensure they understand care of what you sell.
Bundling for safer shopping. Bundles / hampers that make shopping easier.
Contactless EFTPOS. Integrated. No keystrokes. Great rates.
Job service management. Track repairs and jobs from the quote on.
Reducing rep contact. Order on evidence and not on their social skills.
Serial number tracking. When it matters, it matters.

Tower Systems developed and supports POS software made for specialty retailers in Australia and New Zealand. Our focus is only on local, indie, small business retailers, specialty retailers who differentiate by being specialist at what they do, like us.

We are grateful to our more than 3,000 customers who have faith us us every day.

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