We are grateful for the plenty of views of this video we published last month in which we discuss some of the enhancements to our small business POS software in recent years. The feedback from the video has been terrific. We are grateful to have welcomed new customers for our POS software as a result.
Thanks to smart hooks in the Tower Systems small business POS software, we are able to help local small business indie retailers and their suppliers work more closely and efficiently together.
The hooks include easy and accurately two-way flow of data, thereby enabling more timely and accurate supply of inventory to retailers and through this a strengthening of the supplier relationships.
Delivering this through a seamless, data-driven, relationship is key to both the retailer and wholesaler businesses. This is where good POS software shines, helping both sides of the commercial relationship to benefit. It sits at the heart of a good commercial relationship and feeds mutual respect.
Our POS software is a beautiful glue for retailers and wholesalers who appreciate working together.
The connections we offer have been built into our POS software to worldwide data sharing EDI standards. This ensures that they will serve the needs of larger businesses with more rigid IT infrastructure. This is important where small business retailers need to connect with IT systems in large business suppliers. The Tower systems approach means that small business retailers are not disadvantaged.
Through or work in this area of seamless two-way data flow, we are able to help smaller wholesalers walk the path of better IT connection with small business retailers. There are many case studies we can share showing the success of this work. regardless of internal systems in use in wholesale businesses, we are usually able to help them take the steps necessary to achieve a beneficial connection.
Our work in the area of EDI for retailers in channels such as fishing and tackle stores, produce businesses, bike shops, garden centres, jewellers and newsagencies is well established and consistent.
Tower Systems is committed to helping independent small business retailers to compete effectively and successfully in a rapidly changing retail landscape in-store and online. We do this by providing best practice software backed by friendly, human and local support, helping retailers to compete and to enjoy their businesses.
EDI is key in retail today for retailers and wholesalers who want an efficient apply chain. Tower Systems is ready to help both sides of the EDI relationship.
Local gift shops are vital for local communities, offering access to gifts that are thoughtfully selected and displayed. These small business retail shops are in a competitive space both in-store and online.
Tower Systems, through its gift shop software, helps these local small businesses compete … through guiding efficiency, reducing mistakes, helping to reach out to past customers and with a loyalty solution that can be tailored to the needs of the business.
This gift shop software has evolved over the years to serve the evolving needs of local gift shops. More recently, the focus has been on webstore integration. the gift shop software integration with Shopify is especially sweet and seamless, helping local gift shops to sell online, anywhere and easily.
Tower Systems has developed plenty of Shopify websites connected to the POS software from the company, including these websites connected to the gift shop software:
www.prezziesgifts.com.au
www.highlandsgiftsandplush.com.au
www.peppercorngifts.com.au
www.beerlessbar.com.au
www.brenita.com.au
There are plenty more than these, developed in-house by Tower Systems to the requirements and specifications provided by the retailers themselves.
If you run a local gift shop and being local matters to you, our locally made and locally supported gift shop software may be of interest. We are grateful that hundreds of gift retailers use our software already, and help it continuously evolve.
Find out more at www.towersystems.com.au/gift.
Take a quick look at: https://vimeo.com/455694613
Watch a one-hour demonstration: https://vimeo.com/571958406
From sales to special orders to pre-orders, from Xero integration to Shopify integration, from loyalty that works to easy shopper postcode tracking, from smart ways to pitch shop local to featuring locally made products … our gift shop software is made for gift retailers, made to help you enjoy your business more.
See it for yourself. Talk to one of our gift shop software specialists by calling 1300 662 957 or emailing sales@towersystems.com.au.
Local gift shops serve local communities with what they expect local will love and want to give to others. This is what Tower systems does, too – developing POS software for gift shops they will love and want to use locally in their shop.
The best solution for a local business will be the one from a local business that itself gets being local.
With retail back around the counter, Boxing Day 2021 is set to be the big. here at Tower systems, we are helping retailers who use our POS software to prep fort an awesome Boxing Day Sale.
Using our PSO software, retailers can manage offers and deals designed to maximise the value of a Boxing Day Sale. We help local small business retailers compete in a busy and noisy retail space.
https://possoftwarenews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Tower-christmas2021.mp4
We made a video recently in which we looked at what we think stands out in our POS software. here it is …
Local small business retailers are asked to support local schools, community groups and charities on an almost daily basis. While community groups and charitable organisations beat a path to the doors of local businesses, so do individuals engaged on personal fundraising of their own for a cause or for an other individual.
It is tough making the call about which organisation to support or not for there is a real fear that declining will hurt the business. Often, small business retailers do not look for an uptick in business from a charity support decision but they do worry about a decline.
So how do you choose which local business you support?
Requests from schools, charities and other community for donations can be a challenge for any size business. If you do not take a structured approach to this you will find yourself giving away plenty for little or no return.
Requests are often loaded with guilt. People can be passive aggressive in their approach. Often, people requesting help leverage pester power. It can be hard to say no. There are too many stories of retailers giving a gift as a prize, receiving the Thank You poster and achieving no benefit for the business.
Our advice is to manage your philanthropy as you would any business activity.
THE PRIZE / GIFT
Decide the amount in cash or product value or both that you are prepared to donate in a full year, calendar year or financial year.
Our recommendation is you give away cash, but in the form of a voucher to spend in your business. This ensures that value of the gift or prize is greater than the cost of it to your business.
The best mechanism for giving away cash or an amount to spend in-store is to do it by way of a gift voucher. Use your software to manage this as any manual approach is dangerous and time-consuming.
YOUR PITCH, NOT THEIRS
Get on the front foot and write to local community groups outlining that you budget a year in advance. Seek their submissions. With this advice sheet we have included the text of a suggested letter. Please read the letter as it outlines the approach we suggest and why. It is important you communicate this with all community groups.
On the page after the letter is a suggested notice for use in-store when you are asked for donations.
HOW TO PICK GROUPS TO SUPPORT
Focus on community groups that support you. That is, groups with members who support you. The more they support you the better you are able to support the community.
Be prepared to ask where people shop for the items you sell in your business. Ask if they will change in return for your support.
Asking these questions underscores to you the importance of approaching the decision as a business decision.
Be thoughtful and deliberate. Support the groups that support you. This is important as it helps you stay within a budget.
LET YOUR SHOPPERS CHOOSE
If you run discount vouchers and if customers say they don’t want the voucher, invite them to contribute the voucher to a local group – one of three you setup for in the business. Every month, two months or three months, tote up the vouchers and give the group a parentage of the total voucher value ‘voted’ for them.
This idea could be in addition to any giving program you run in the business. It offers a daily reminder of your commitment to local giving.
Grill’d burgers run a program kind of like this where each shopper is given a bottle cap, which they place in a tub to vote on a group to receive a cash donation for the month. The process of groups submitting to be considered is onerous. You can find out more about that program with this link – it is a good place to research what others do: https://www.grilld.com.au/localmatters/
In addition to any direct gift, consider an offer whereby anyone who is a member of the group who shops with you accrues an amount you donate to the group. You could manage this through your software. It could be you offer a discount to the shopper as well as accruing a value for the group.
This type of program could also be in addition to your core giving program as the value here is driven by sales – hopefully, incremental sales.
EDUCATE GROUPS ABOUT GOOD ENGAGEMENT
Here are things groups you support can do to help your business. You should ask them to do these things:
Tell members to buy from you.
Write about your business on their Facebook page.
Distribute flyers of your offers.
Have you speak at a meeting.
WRITE ABOUT YOUR ENGAGEMENT
Once you have a decision on which groups you will support, write about this in your newsletter and on Facebook. Not just once but multiple times. Invite them to provide you with content to publish too. Talk about their good works.
Ask them to write about you too.
Your giving has to serve your heart and serve your business. Going about it in a structured way will ensure you meet your objectives.
In the Tower Systems POS software, small business retailers can tap into terrific holiday season help. This can be in the form of inventory buying guidance, marketing help, co-location assistance and shopper nudging support … plus more.
Helping small business retailers with holiday season facilities is an important role for any POS software. It is something Tower Systems has offered it’s thousands of small business retailer POS software customers for decades. Over time, the holiday season advice and tips have evolved, as have economic and consumer needs.
Leveraging holiday season inventory guidance, for example, retailers can make more informed purchase decisions that better serve the needs of the business based on prior holiday season experience and taking into account trends from this year.
Oh, and when we are talking here about the holiday season in retail, we are talking about holiday seasons like Christmas, Easter, Black Friday, Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, Christmas in July, back to School. You see, a holiday season in retail is any season that a retail business can respond to in any to leverage the business opportunity and serve niche customer need.
Holiday seasons in retail do not necessarily have to be the holiday season you think of in a traditional sense.
Using our POS software, beyond knowing what to stock for a holiday season, our retail business partners are able to make shop floor decisions that guide shopper engagement with the holiday season product opportunity ties. These could be loyalty, price, packaging, bundling or post purchase re-visit invitation. these and more can be leveraged thorough the Tower Systems specialty retail POS software.
Leveraging the surge in traffic that a retail business sees from the holiday season can be key to through the year growth, benefiting the business between holiday season shopper traffic peaks. This is key to any retail business achieving a smoother sales flow. While a spike in shopper traffic and revenue are good, less of a spike makes management of a retail business easier and more cost friendly.
Tower Systems, using its considerable retail experience, can help small business retailers cross the divide between tech and real world to offer a better and more beneficial holiday season experience. That is our goal in the software we develop and the advice we provide through our customer help desk.
The POS software from Tower Systems offers serial number tracking of products sold. This is a powerful point of difference for the POS software as serial number tracking is not common in POS software solutions.
Developed originally for jewellers, the serial num her tracking facilities have been found to be useful for bike retailers, farm supply businesses, firearms dealers and selected other specialty retail settings.
Using the Tower Systems POS software, retailers can record the serial numbers of all items arriving in-store that have unique serial numbers. These can be tracked at the point of sale. They can also be tracked for warranty, servicing, valuation and insurance purposes. Stores can also record serial numbers only when they sell – when they record, at arrival or sale, is up to them.
The serial number tracking facilities in the POS software become valuable in almost any retail situation in which they are used.
Thera are some retail sectors where suppliers require the tracking of product serial numbers at the point of sale. There are some regulatory situations where tracking serial numbers is key. Doing this through the POS software brings certainty and consistency to retail businesses.
Tower Systems is proud to offer serial number tracking in its POS software. We are grateful to the many suppliers and retailers who have guided us on this over the years, keeping us on top of the needs of all stakeholders in this serial number tracking space.
Serial number tracking in our POS software has been available for many years. Sure, it has been enhanced over time as needs have evolved, but we first started offering it in software we sold close to 20 years ago. Of course, the software we sell today is completely different, made for today, for today’s needs.
Using the serial number tracking tools in our POS software, retailers can also maintain good records that are useful for themselves in their own management of their businesses.
From the moment stock arrives in the business we manage serial numbers, recording each serial number. alternatively, you can enter the serial number of the item when it is sold – the retail business decides on the appropriate time for them to manage the recording of a serial number. This is a local management decision they can make.
Tower Systems is grateful to serve more than 3,500 small business retailers across several niche retail channels – with specialty POS software offering facilities like serial number tracking covered here.
The area of quote and invoice management varies between types of retail businesses.
Through its work with garden centres, jewellers, farm supply businesses, landscape supply businesses and pool maintenance businesses POS software company Tower Systems has found some similarities. It has developed software to serve these common needs.
While not the deepest and most sp[ecialist solution, it is cost-effective and useful ion a variety of situations, as our customers how us.
here is a recent video from us in which some of our team discuss and show quote and invoice management facilities in our Tower Systems POS software:
Whether your shop is big or small and your quote and invoice management needs are complex or simple, these tools from Tower Systems are part of the software for a range of specialty retail marketplace versions of our POS software. The key is to see if they fit your needs. The Tower team would be grateful to personally demonstrate them to you.
We are grateful to have shared a very special Christmas POS software offer with a range of marketplaces through beautiful Aussie designed and made postcards.
Here is another in our series of retail management advice based on our decades of service to local small business retailers using our Tower Systems POS software:
How to calculate gross profit by floorspace and how to use this information
With retail space usually costing between 11% and 15% of (non agency) revenue, it is usually the next highest cost outside of the cost of stock itself.
Use your computer system to report on gross profit dollars earned by each department over the last year.
Calculate the percentage of total gross profit contribution earned by each department and list this next to the floor space allocated to each department – on the floor plan map you have done.
For example, in one business we saw pens taking 7% of stationery space while they contributed more than 40% of gross profit earned from all stationery.
Stamping a loyalty card in a coffee shop, gift shop, pet shop, toy shop and other settings can be a thing of the past thanks to terrific tools in the smart POS software from Tower Systems.
Here is a new video we shot a few days ago explaining how to set this up in our software and how to drive sales through it…
What Tower Systems offers in terms of nurturing shopper loyalty is not new. It is something the POS software company has done for many years. And, it is something the company continues to evolve in service of better solutions for POS software retailers.
For years, retailers, especially independent and small business retailers, have been told to follow retail giants and reward loyal shoppers with points that can be redeemed for gifts and discounts.
Dutifully, many small business retailers acted on this – but without a thought-through strategy to achieve the best outcome for the business.
Without a financially rewarding outcome for a business, a loyalty program is worthless.
This is why retailers, in any retail channel and in any retail situation – high street, shopping mall, rural and or regional – need options in terms of shopper loyalty rewards.
While a points based program is useful, it could be that the business will benefit from a different approach.
Good POS software will offer flexibility. This flexibility can add thousands of dollars to the bottom line performance of a retail business each year.
The Tower Systems Point of Sale software supports multiple loyalty options that include: a traditional points based approach, interfacing to the respected Vii Accumulate loyalty platform, interfacing to the equally respected Transactor loyalty platform, interfacing to Flybys NZ and offering a unique and flexible front end loyalty solution.
Having so many options available provides Tower Systems retail partners with commercially valuable flexibility.
The loyalty platform selected by a business depends on the needs of that business. A business that chooses POS software without broad flexibility will be limited in what they can achieve for their business with their software.
Offering flexibility as well as certainty provides loyalty solutions that local small business retailers can embrace and love, and their customers can love.