A retailer recently shared a competitor pitch with us that included seven thousand dollars of free point of sale hardware. On a social media ad, it looked spectacular.
The questions started once the retailer sat with the paperwork. How long is the contract? That had not been asked. What does the software cost each month? Not much, apparently. Is there a per-transaction fee? A small one. When the retailer added it all up, the three year total cost of ownership came out at around double what they would pay with Tower Systems.
The hardware was not free. It was funded by a per-transaction percentage that grew as the business grew. The better the retailer traded, the more they paid for hardware they thought was a gift.
We see this often. The giveaway is big and visible. The lock-in and the rising recurring cost sit in the fine print, and by the time a retailer finds them, the ink is dry.
Our advice is to slow down. Read the contract, all of it, before signing anything. If you are weighing up two or three vendors, gather every contract and ask ChatGPT, Claude or Google Gemini to compare them clause by clause. Ask for the total cost across three and five years, at today’s turnover and at a realistic growth rate. This used to take an accountant and a spare afternoon. Now any retailer can do it before their coffee goes cold.
We do it differently at Tower Systems, and happily so. Our pricing and our contract are transparent. There is no bundled free hardware and no percentage taken from your turnover. You pay a straightforward rental fee for the software and that is where our revenue ends. Easy to understand, and easy to compare with anything else in the market.
This post is for Australian independent retailers looking at POS software right now. Compare, review and decide with clear numbers in front of you.
Tower Systems develops and supports POS software for local specialty retailers, including bookshops, jewellers, garden centres, bike shops, toy shops, stockfeed and farm supply businesses, saddleries, computer shops, fishing shops, pet shops, charity businesses, landscape gardening businesses, antique shops, sewing and haberdashery shops, newsagents and more.
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