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This week has been particularly challenging in this 2020 time of COVID-19, especially in small business retail where impacts have been considerable. From the challenges of masks in some locations to supply chain issues elsewhere, COVID-19 is imp-acting everyday retail.

We have shared with our customers some thoughts, revisiting past comments and advice…

With the second wave in Victoria now 3 weeks old and problematic infections in NSW and SE Queensland, and with restrictions being tightened as a result, retailers are noticing a fall in foot traffic, with Tasmania, Western Australia and the Northern Territory the exceptions.

With foot traffic down, it can be disheartening. You can push back on this by having projects in the business on the go, working on the business. We are reminded on earlier advice on day to day operations:

1. For inventory purchase decisions, be safe and frugal, stick to winners.
2. Be aware of changes in what will sell now compared to what might be usual for this time of the year.
3. Look at your data and focus on moving stock that’s not been selling.
4. Reset the look and feel of the business from existing products and resources.
5. Be positive on social media.
6. Tap into any state government grants that may be available.
7. Keep the business clean and safe, and your employees safe.

In our own business, our approach is to look at corona being with us for the long term. The moves we made re working from home, remote training, remote installs were all for the long term. In our own retail shops our focus has very much been about being online with a terrific surge in sales being experienced.

2020 is a tough year, on the back of plenty of tough years for small business retailers.

Drought, bushfires, corona, these and other factors have been impacting communities and small businesses serving those communities.

Small business retailers, their employees and their customers are on the front line, impacted often all to regularly by the mental health challenge.

We think it is timely to pause for a moment in any business and consider how it approaches the issue of mental health, to ensure it has up to date information and leverages the appropriate practices in the business and with all team members.

Australian Bureau of Statistics figures reinforce why mental health is a 365 day a year challenge:

The stat for suicide among young people is horrifying.

While we are not mental health professionals, we have been in the software and retail businesses for many years and have had experiences working with and supporting people.

We share here today a revised version of information we have shared here before on this.

There are wonderful resources from government departments available. For example, The Victorian Government has a page online on this topic, which includes good practical advice, advice we remind our own team members of regularly:

1. Make time to exercise each day: For example, a simple daily lunch time walk can help maintain a positive outlook.
2. Practice mindfulness: Mindfulness means being aware of your reactions/feelings/thoughts as you have them. This helps you choose how to manage matters as they arise. Mindfulness is a great tool to help lower stress and anxiety levels.
3. Adopt work/life boundaries: Don’t let work overtake your life. Set some boundaries to ensure you have time for both work and a social life. You might decide not to discuss work from 5pm Friday night to 8am Monday morning because weekends are for family time only.
4. Connect with others: Find someone worthy of your stories – a confidant or mentor you can talk to about your business experiences. Make sure this person is supportive, a good listener and someone whose opinion you value.

This government website also lists indicators that are helpful for business owners and managers to be across:

1. Physical signs: For example, a constant knot in your stomach, tense neck and shoulders, feeling nauseous, heart palpitations or chest pains.
2. Changes in behaviour: For example, being unable to sleep, crying regularly, feeling moody or often irritable, increase or loss of appetite.
3. Unclear thinking: For example, not being able to make decisions, not understanding directions, not being able to focus, being inattentive.
4. Feeling sad or anxious regularly: We all have bad days – they’re a normal part of life. This flag needs attention if you begin to notice feeling like this regularly.
5. Disconnecting from others: This may include not joining in social activities, choosing to spend time away from family and friends or stopping hobbies/sporting activities.
6. Feeling overwhelmed: It is difficult to find solutions to problems, and in some instances it feels like they are insurmountable. Problem solving becomes difficult

There are links to some excellent resources too:

1. Business In Mind: An online resource specifically designed to support business owners who may be experiencing mental health challenges.
2. Beyond Blue:  beyondblue provides information and support to help everyone in Australia achieve their best possible mental health, whatever their age and wherever they live.
3. The Ripple Effect: A resource for rural communities that addresses suicide in rural areas.(Ph: 03 5551 8587)
4. Sane provides online information, support and connection for every Australian affected by complex mental illness through its website, peer-to-peer forums and helpline. SANE also has a range of factsheets on managing mental health in the workplace. (Ph: 1800 18 7263)

Our approach to mental health as business owners has to be continuous, on-going. It can’t be a one day of the year focus or a stunt. It has to be part of how we run our businesses, everyday.

In our experience, talking is key – offering an environment where people can talk, where they know it is safe to talk, where they are encouraged to talk and where active listening happens. While it is not always perfect and does not always achieve what is hoped for, it is documented as being valuable.

Retailers are loving that they can record customer mobile phone numbers in our POS software at the sales counter as well as easily track shopper postcodes in the POS screen.

With the obligation for accurate tracking of critical data that can help with contact tracing, having these and other tools in our POS software is good for business’s good for the community and good for suppression.

We are grateful to have these tools in our POS software for years and for them to now have a public health benefit in this ear of corona.

This is engaging and smart POS software serving community health needs, doing good for the community and those who shop in each shop using our software.

In Victoria recently we have seen the value of the data capture and tracking tools, to enable easier management for the retailers needing to control those who are shop[ping in the shops where our POS software is in use.

Recording a mobile phone number at the time of sale is easy. recording shopper postcode is easy too. This can be particularly helpful is law enforcement are tasked with checking the data, that it is available, accurate and able to show if there is an issue with people accessing a business who should not because of corona lockdown restrictions.

Outside of the corona need / benefit, these tracking tools provide wonderful business insights for small business retailers using our POS software. They can demonstrate the reach of the business as well as provide post-visit marketing opportunities based on purchase items and more. This is clever and valuable all in one.

The postcode data has helped retailers realise that their shopper base is less immediately local than they imagined and through this they have re-cast their inventory mix to help even further broaden the appeal of the business. This is what happens once you know how far someone will travel for what you sell. Data is gold, as they say.

Tower Systems is proud to serve local small business retailers with locally made and supported POS software,. helping these businesses compete with online, get online themselves and compete with big businesses.