The POS Software Blog

The POS Software Blog

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

Tagfirearms dealer software

Tower Systems and Gun Traders: supporting responsible firearms retail

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For a firearms dealer, accurate information belongs at the centre of the business. Product listings, individual firearm records and customer details need careful attention, with clear processes for checking information before a transaction proceeds.

Tower Systems’ integration with Gun Traders Australia connects dealer POS information with the online classifieds platform, automatically publishing updated listings and reducing double handling, as outlined in the integration announcement. The practical benefit is a more connected administration process, rather than another separate set of listings for staff to maintain.

Maintaining the same product information in separate places creates another task to remember. A change made in the shop should prompt attention to the information prospective customers can see online.

Automatic publication of updated listings is a documented part of the Gun Traders integration. Dealers should still understand how their setup works and how to check that published information reflects the intended stock details.

That’s an important distinction we think. Less double handling should mean more time for checking exceptions and helping customers, not less care with the underlying records.

Our firearms software includes serial number management for new and second-hand goods, together with customer name and address recording and information accessible for reporting requirements, as detailed on its firearms software page. These functions address the dealer’s business records, rather than simply the presentation of an online listing.

For a dealer assessing software, the useful questions are practical. Can staff identify the individual item, locate the relevant customer information and retrieve the records needed for their reporting process?

Those questions should be tested against the business’s actual requirements. A general demonstration is less useful than working through the records and tasks staff handle every day.

An online listing is not an authorisation to complete a sale. Dealers should continue to apply the licensing, identity, permit and transfer checks relevant to their jurisdiction and transaction, with qualified advice where needed.

The integration should therefore be considered part of a responsible dealer workflow, not a guarantee of safety or compliance. Accurate information, trained staff and appropriate checks need to work together.

Dealers interested in the connection can ask Tower for a demonstration covering Gun Traders alongside serial number management and customer records. This is a practical way to assess the software against the business’s record-keeping needs as well as its online presence.

Free AI POS software support at 11pm: the Tower Systems chatbot

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Questions do not keep business hours. A retailer reconciling at the end of a long day, or setting up a new supplier at ten o’clock at night, needs an answer then. Not the following morning.

The AI chatbot on the Tower Systems website sits in the bottom left hand corner of every page. Clicking the box opens it. From there, it is a conversation.

What separates it from general purpose AI tools is what it has been trained on. The chatbot is trained only on Tower Systems software and the company’s own documentation. It does not roam the internet and it does not invent answers. When it does not know something it says so, and it makes clear how to reach a human. That constraint is deliberate, and it is the reason the answers can be relied on.

The usage patterns have been telling. People are asking questions at nine, ten and eleven o’clock at night. One user worked through seven or eight questions in a single session, building on each answer as they went.

The scope is broader than software mechanics. Rather than only explaining which button to press, the chatbot offers context and helps with the decision sitting behind the question. One retailer described a tough trading period and received useful business advice in response.

It is also not generic. It was built for the channels Tower Systems serves: jewellers, garden centres, bike shops, newsagents, bookshops, pet shops, toy shops, music shops, camping and outdoors businesses, fishing businesses and firearms dealers. The advice reflects those specific trading realities.

More than forty languages are supported, which matters in Australian and New Zealand retail. The chatbot is available twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, at no cost, to anyone who visits the site.

It sits alongside the Retailer AI tools inside the software itself, where retailers report saving between five and ten hours a week on supplier invoices, insights, product descriptions and reordering. What those hours are worth in dollars is a story for its own post.

Human support has not gone anywhere. The chatbot simply means the wait is optional.

Tower Systems builds POS software for specialty retailers across Australia and New Zealand. Locally made. Locally supported.

Innovation for firearms dealers in Australia

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We are grateful to work with Gun Traders Australia to offer an integration between our firearms dealers software and their marketplace platform to help Aussie firearms dealers reach more customers online.

We recorded a podcast episode yesterday with Gun News Australia in which we talk about the link between our firearms dealer software and Gun Traders Australia.

POS software for firearms dealers: compliance first, then everything else

Running a gun shop is not like running any other retail business. Every firearm you buy, sell or take on consignment has a serial number that has to be recorded properly, and the regulator expects your records to be right every time. Get that wrong and nothing else in the business matters much.

That is where we started when we built our firearms dealer software, and it is still the first thing dealers ask us about in demos.

Serial numbers, tracked properly

Our software tracks every serialised item from the day it arrives to the day it leaves, including second-hand stock. When you need to report, the records are there and they are accurate. The age-check prompt at the counter is mandatory for age-restricted items, so the check happens on every sale rather than relying on whoever is serving that day.

The rest of the shop

Most gun shops sell far more than firearms. Ammunition and bulk supplies can be sold by weight or measure, in whole numbers or fractions. Apparel is handled by colour, size and style. It is one system across the whole shop, which matters when you are trying to see what is actually making you money.

Gunsmith and workshop work

If you do repairs or custom work, the workshop tools are included at no extra cost. A job is tracked from check-in to collection, you can schedule technician time, and customers can be kept up to date without anyone chasing paperwork.

Recurring billing is built in too. Plenty of dealers charge for locker space or storage, and the software handles those charges automatically each cycle. It is a small thing that adds up to reliable revenue and less admin.

AI in the software

The software connects directly to ChatGPT, Google Gemini and Anthropic. The most popular use by far is invoice import: a supplier invoice that used to take an hour to key in arrives as stock records in minutes. Dealers also use the AI tools to write product descriptions for their website and to interrogate their own sales data in plain language.

Club pricing

The best gun shops we know are close to their local clubs. Club pricing profiles let you set pricing by customer type, so members get their pricing automatically at the counter. Bundle packs, like a starter kit sold at one package price, lift the average sale and are harder for customers to price-compare item by item online.

Selling beyond the counter

The Retailer Roam app runs sales at trade shows and club events with stock kept in sync with the shop. Shopify, Magento and WooCommerce connections keep a web store on the same data as the counter. Xero covers the accounting link, and Tanda and Deputy cover rosters.

The Gun Traders Australia link makes it easy for your products to be found online.

On payments: you choose your own EFTPOS provider. We do not clip your sales and we do not charge per transaction. We think that is how it should work.

Have a look

The best way to judge POS software is to see it answering your questions, in your context. Book a demo and we will show you the software live, no obligation.

Call 1300 662 957 (AU) or 0800 444 367 (NZ), or email sales@towersystems.com.au.

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