The POS Software Blog

The POS Software Blog

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

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POS software integrations from Tower Systems

July 31, 2026
2 Min read
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Our POS software connects with the tools retailers use every day. These integrations are included at no extra cost.

But before we get into the integrations, be sure to check what is current as this list is evolving regular as more opportunities emerge and shits occur within the companies with which we integrate. It’s a dynamic world out there.

We have integrated our POS software with: OpenAI, Google Gemini and Anthropic’s Claude into our software. There are image background removal tools through remove.bg and Removal.AI.

Our barcode lookup facility covers more than 1.5 billion items, with product images and descriptions included. This is a facility that our retailers love. It’s used every day. And we fund this use entirely – it’s a paid-for service funded by Tower Systems for our retailers.

On the e-commerce side, we connect directly with Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce and Magento. Our retailers also get free access to findit.com.au, our own marketplace. Bike shops can use our BikeExchange integration for secondary market bicycle sales.

Xero is integrated directly. MYOB connects via ABCIS. For payments, we work with Tyro, Linkly, Shift4, Humm, Zip, Centerpay, Quest, MX51, Windcave and the major banks. For staff rostering, we link to Tanda and Deputy.

Supplier links matter in specialty retail. Newsagents have EDI links with XchangeIT and GNS. Book retailers connect to Pacstream, Nielsen BookScan and TitlePage. Pet shops have supplier links for Kongs, Premier Pet, Masterpet, Just for Pets, and Air & Tuckers. Garden centres connect with Evergreen Connect. In general retail and homewares, we link with Eastern Distributors, Maxwell & Williams, Trek and Specialized.

We also link to Mailchimp, MessageMedia and Slyp, support POStec Fuel and ePay, and handle local delivery management through Allotrac.

Every integration cuts manual data entry and double handling. That saves time and reduces mistakes. It is one of the reasons retailers switch to us.

We add integrations based on what our customers ask for. If there is a supplier or platform you want connected, tell us. Plenty of the links listed here started as a request from one retailer. That is how software made for specialty retail should work.

Find out more at towersystems.com.au.

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The Real Cost of POS Software in Australia (2026): What You’ll Actually Pay

July 21, 2026
4 Min read
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The advertised monthly price on POS software is rarely the whole story. Two systems can look identical on a comparison table and end up hundreds of dollars a month apart once everything is added up. Here is what to check before you sign, including the costs providers tend not to volunteer.

The headline price is only the start

Most POS software is sold as a monthly subscription. For specialty and independent retail in Australia, ongoing fees usually land somewhere between $40 and $300 a month depending on what is included. That is a wide range, and the gap between two quotes usually hides in the fees underneath the headline number.

The costs that are easy to miss

Start with how the licence is counted. Some systems charge per register, per device or per staff login. Run two counters and a back-office computer and a “low” monthly fee can quietly double. Ask whether the price covers every computer at your location.

Then there is card processing, and this is the big one. Many providers bundle payments and take a cut of every sale, typically 1.1 to 1.9 per cent. On $40,000 a month in card sales, 1.5 per cent is $600 a month. That is more than most retailers pay for the software itself. Check whether you must use the provider’s payments platform, or whether you can shop around with your own bank and keep that margin.

Some platforms also charge a separate fee on each transaction just for using the software. Your bill climbs as your sales do, which is a strange thing to pay for.

Support deserves a close look. Cheap software often means expensive help. Check whether phone and email support is included, what hours it runs and whether the team is local. You find out what support is really worth on the day the system goes down.

Ask what it costs to go live, too. Moving your stock file, customer records and sales history into a new system takes real work. Some providers include setup and training. Others charge thousands for it.

The same goes for integrations. Accounting links, e-commerce sync, supplier ordering and loyalty tools are sometimes included and sometimes sold as add-on modules. A cheap-looking system gets expensive once you switch on the features you actually need.

Lock-in is a cost too

A 24 or 36 month contract puts the risk on you if the software turns out to be a poor fit. Month-to-month terms cost nothing to leave. A provider willing to offer them clearly expects the product to keep you there on its own.

Questions to put to every provider

  • Does the price cover every computer at my location, or is it per terminal or per user?
  • Do you charge a fee on each transaction?
  • Must I use your payments platform, or can I choose my own?
  • Is phone and email support included, and where is your team based?
  • What is the one-off cost to migrate my data, set up and train my staff?
  • Which integrations are included, and which cost extra?
  • Is there a lock-in contract?
  • Who owns my data if I leave?

Cheapest is not the same as best value

The lowest monthly fee often carries the highest total cost once payment margins, add-ons and support charges are counted in. The better question is not “what is the monthly price?” but “what will this cost me over a full year, the way my business actually runs?” A system built for your retail category, with local support and no lock-in, will usually cost less to own even when its sticker price is not the smallest on the list.

Work out the all-in annual cost before you decide. Compare that, not the pricing page.

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Payment choice: why the freedom to choose your processor can save you thousands

July 10, 2026
3 Min read
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When you choose POS software, you are often also choosing who processes your payments. With some systems, that choice is made for you. The software and the payment processor are bundled together, and the rate is set by the vendor. At Tower Systems, you keep the freedom to choose your own provider and negotiate your own rate.

That freedom has a real dollar value.

One retailer switched from software that locked them in on a payment platform and is not saving thousands of dollars a year.

Many international POS platforms tie their software to their own payment processing. To use the software, you use their payments, at their rate. It is easy to set up, and that is partly the appeal. Easy can be expensive.

This is like a tax on every sale.

When your sales grow, the money the software company makes from you grows. What are they selling: software, or a taxation system on your success?

When one vendor controls both the software and the payments, there is no pressure on the rate. You cannot shop around and you cannot negotiate, because the processor is built into the system you depend on. A small margin on every transaction across a year’s trading adds up.

A worked example

A specialty retailer turning over $1.5 million a year in card payments, on a bundled platform-tied processor, might pay an embedded margin of around 0.7% above the underlying cost of acceptance:

  • $1,500,000 in card turnover
  • 0.7% embedded margin
  • Around $10,500 a year

If that same retailer can choose their processor and negotiate directly, moving to a competitively priced provider could save more than $10,000 a year. That stays in the business.

The exact figure depends on turnover, card mix and the deal negotiated. The basic calculation is the same for any retailer: when you can shop and negotiate, you can lower the cost. When that option is gone, you pay what you are charged.

Why we leave the choice with you

We could bundle payments into our software. We chose not to.

You know your turnover, your margins and your existing banking relationships better than any software vendor. Keeping that choice with you means you can shop the market, compare providers on rate and service, negotiate using your own volume as leverage, and change processors later without changing your POS software. When payments are locked to the software, switching processor can mean switching systems entirely. When they are separate, your options stay open.

A locked-in processor takes a quiet margin on every sale. Over a year, for a busy specialty retailer, that can be more than ten thousand dollars. The freedom to choose and negotiate puts that decision back where it belongs.

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Small business retailers in control: Software Ideas: how our customers help shape what we build

July 9, 2026
2 Min read
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Most software companies decide what to build behind closed doors. A roadmap is set somewhere, customers find out when a feature appears or does not, and the cycle continues without them. At Tower Systems, our customers help decide what we build next, openly and on the record.

We call it Software Ideas.

Transparent and democratic software enhancement discussion.

Software Ideas is many years old and remains a key tool that Tower Systems customers love.

How it works

Any customer can submit a suggestion — large or small, anything that would genuinely help their business. Before it goes anywhere, our team checks that it can realistically be built. Once it passes that check, it opens for all customers to vote on.

The ideas with the most support move up the list. That list shapes what we develop next.

Why we built it this way

We could have kept our roadmap private. Most companies do.

We did not, for a straightforward reason: customers deserve to see what has been suggested, what others are supporting, and where the software is heading. We also check viability before a suggestion goes to a vote, so we are not raising expectations for things we cannot deliver. What goes to a vote is something we can actually build.

Priorities are not set by the loudest voice or the largest account. Every customer gets a vote.

What it means in practice

The people who understand a trade best are the ones working in it every day. They see the small frictions and missed opportunities long before any vendor would. Software Ideas gives that knowledge a direct path into the product, rather than leaving it in a support ticket or a conversation at a trade event.

Why it fits how we work

We build, sell, train and support our software ourselves, here in Australia, because we want a direct relationship with the retailers we serve. A system that lets customers suggest, check viability, and vote on what gets built next is a natural part of that.

If you want a software partner that builds with you rather than at you, Software Ideas is worth a look.

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What makes Tower Systems different: our positioning, in plain terms

July 8, 2026
2 Min read
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Every software company says it is different. Few say clearly how. This post sets out what Tower Systems stands for and why it matters to the specialty retailers we serve.

First up though, here at Tower Systems we’re not about cliche-heavy corporate speak. Our customers are local small business retailers, independent retailers. They like direct talk.

Our positioning, in one sentence

Tower Systems is specialty retail POS software, built, sold, trained and supported in Australia, that helps independent retailers turn their specialist knowledge into a stronger business.

That’s it. Plain and simple. That’s us.

The one thing to remember

We go deep, not wide.

We do not try to be POS software for every business. We build for specific specialty retail trades, and we own the whole relationship with our customers: the software, the training, the support. That focus is what holds everything else together.

The four pillars

Deep niche specialisation. We build for defined specialty retail channels, not retail in general. The workflows, language and reports are shaped around how each trade actually operates. The retailer works the way they already think, rather than bending their business to fit generic software.

Full local stack control. We build our software, sell it, train on it and support it — ourselves, in Australia. There is no offshore call centre and no third party between us and the retailer. When you need help, you reach the people who made the product.

Freedom of payment choice. We do not lock retailers into a platform-tied payment processor. You choose your provider and negotiate your own rates. Many international platforms tie the software to their own payments. We do not.

Tools built for the owner. Beyond the sale, we build tools that help owners run a better business: an insights dashboard that surfaces the numbers that matter, stock and replenishment tools that save time, and reporting tuned to your trade. The software has to earn its place every day, not just at the counter.

Why this matters to specialty retailers

Specialty retailers do not win by being everything to everyone. They win on product knowledge, specialist services, supplier relationships and the way they deal with customers.

That is the kind of retailer we build for. Software that understands your trade. Support from the people who built it. No lock-in to payment platforms you did not choose.

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Why deep niche specialisation matters in retail POS software

July 7, 2026
3 Min read
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Most point of sale software is built to handle everything for everyone.

Generic is good if you run a generic business.

The same system serves a cafe, a clothing boutique and a hardware store from the same generic template. That works fine — until a retailer needs their software to actually understand how their business runs.

At Tower Systems, we build POS software for specific specialty retail channels. Newsagencies, jewellers, bike shops, garden centres, pet stores, toy shops, gift shops, produce and farm supply. Each operates differently. We build for each one specifically.

Generic software solves generic problems

A generic POS system handles the basics. It processes a sale, takes a payment, records the transaction. For a simple business, that is often enough.

Specialty retail is not simple. A newsagency manages put-away and returns for hundreds of magazine titles on different supply cycles. A jeweller handles repairs, quotes, laybys and special orders, each with its own workflow. A garden centre sells by weight, by season and by plant variety, with stock that lives and dies. A bike shop books workshop jobs and tracks serial numbers for warranty claims.

None of these needs is unusual within its trade. Generic software treats them as edge cases anyway. The retailer ends up working around the software rather than the other way around.

Specialisation is built in, not bolted on

There is a real difference between software configured to approximate a specialty workflow and software built for it from the start.

Configuration asks the retailer to bend a general tool toward their needs — custom fields, manual workarounds, compromises on how things are named. Purpose-built means the workflow is already there, designed around how that trade operates, tested by retailers in that field, refined over years of real use.

When the software is built for a specific trade, the language matches. The reports answer the questions that trade actually asks. The daily tasks follow the rhythm of the business. Less time adapting.

Specialisation compounds

Deep specialisation is not something you add once. Every year spent serving a particular trade teaches more about how it works, what is changing, and where retailers need support next.

That shows up in practical ways. A supplier integration that cuts hours of manual entry. A stock tool tuned to seasonal buying. A report that flags slow lines before they tie up cash. Each is modest on its own. Together they produce software that genuinely fits the business — and that is hard to replicate by configuring a general platform.

What this means for specialty retailers

The retailers who do well in specialty channels are not competing on price with the chains. They compete on what the chains cannot easily copy: product knowledge, specialist services, supplier relationships, the way they deal with customers.

Good specialty software should support those strengths. Software that does not understand your trade asks you to do the opposite.

The Tower Systems approach

We go deep rather than wide. We serve a defined set of specialty retail channels, and we build, sell, train and support our software in Australia. That focus is deliberate.

If you run a specialty retail business, ask any POS system this: does it understand my trade, or am I expected to adapt to it? The answer usually becomes clear quickly.

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Retail Data is More Valuable Than Most Small Business Retailers Think

June 2, 2026
2 Min read
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Most independent retailers, small business retailers,  think of their point of sale software as a tool for processing sales and printing receipts. That view is increasingly out of date.

The way consumers discover and buy products is changing faster than most small business owners realise. AI-powered search, conversational commerce tools, and new technical standards like the Universal Commerce Protocol are reshaping how product data flows between retailers, platforms, and customers. In this environment, the quality of your retail data is a direct competitive advantage.

Start with your stock file. If your inventory data is inaccurate — wrong quantities, missing descriptions, outdated pricing — that problem does not stay contained to your stockroom. It flows through to your e-commerce platform, your AI search visibility, and ultimately the decisions you make about what to buy and what to drop. An accurate stocktake before 30 June is not just a compliance task. It is the foundation everything else depends on.

Your e-commerce presence matters more than ever. Shopify and similar platforms are actively adapting to emerging AI commerce standards. But a Shopify store only performs well when it is fed clean, structured data from a POS system that integrates properly. A patched-together connection between your in-store and online operations creates gaps — gaps where sales fall through and where your products fail to surface in the channels your customers are now using.

The Universal Commerce Protocol formalises this further. UCP is designed to create a common language between platforms, AI agents, and retailers. It sounds technical, and it is. But the practical implication for independent retailers is simple: the businesses with well-structured product data, connected systems, and accurate inventory will be discoverable. Those with messy data, siloed platforms, and outdated stock files will not.

None of this requires a large budget or a technology team. It requires a POS system built for independent retail, a genuine Shopify integration, and the discipline to keep your data clean.

Tower Systems has been building point of sale software for independent Australian retailers for over 40 years. The tools are there. The question is whether your data is ready to do the work you need it to do.

If you want to understand where your technology stack stands, call us on 1300 662 957 or email sales@towersystems.com.au.

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