We are working with stores using our Homewares software to implement smart marketing and management tools to help drive better business performance.

Homewares shops in particular can leverage some specialist tools in our Point of Sale software given the nature of shopper behaviour in engaging with homewares businesses.

Supporting customers in the building of homewares sets is a good example of where our software can help. We have facilities which make providing good service to customers building sets easier than traditional POS software used in some homewares stores today.

Our loyalty marketing facilities, too, are better that homewares stores have found in other software they are using to run their businesses.

The Australian retail homewares channel is strong and Tower Systems is committed to helping to become stronger.

Many of our customers are embracing proprietary gift cards, cards which are branded to their business.  Just like the cards we have made for the Donna Hay General Store - users of our Point of Sale software.

With these business specific gift cards, our customers are able to achieve sales when their customer is unsure.  They are also able to bring forward the cash-flow benefits of the sale.

Using the comprehensive gift card facilities in our software, our customers can manage balances and other administration aspects of their gift cards - easily and from the sales counter.

Thanks to good contacts in China and our in-house design team, we are able to produce cards to a high standard and with appropriate security for the business.

Users of our homewares software are benefiting from excellent business performance improvement tools.  From marketing to customer service to homewares supplier relationships, our POS software for homewares stores is delivering excellent outcomes.

Beyond traditional Point of Sale facilities our software delivers excellent business building tools:

• LayBy management.
• Loyalty marketing.
• Customer special orders.
• Hamper packaging and sales.
• KPI tracking.
• faster seller reporting.
• Supplier electronic invoices.
• Serial number tracking.
• Warranty support.

Through the Tower Systems Homewares software we deliver excellent facilities which enable independent retailers to better compete with the department stores and larger groups.

Tower Systems is proud to be exhibiting at the Sydney Home and Giving Fair in ten days time at two locations within the Sydney Showgrounds venue.

We will have a presence at the GHA partners area of the trade show as well as on our stand on the fair floor.

On show will be the latest version of our Gift Shop software and our homewares software.  We will be showing these products off to retailers as well as suppliers and discussing changes which are adding even more value to the relationships between suppliers and retailers in the gift and homewares channels.

We have been exhibiting at gift related trade shows for several years and have developed a strong new customer base as a result.

If you find yourself at the Home & Giving Fair, be sure to stop by and say hello.

We have discovered that some customers of homewares retailers and gift shops are avid collectors. They like to visit at regular intervals and collect the next items in their goal collection.

Our Point of Sale software can help manage this process, making it easy for the retailer to remind customers that the next item is ready and tracking who has collected and who is yet to collect.

Using facilities originally developed for newsagents, our putaway (collections) software provides a level of management around customer collections which has not been seen before in the homewares marketplace.

We are thrilled to be helping homewares retailers innovate in this area. It’s a tough retail landscape at the moment and facilities like we have identified for them offer a point of difference opportunity – already in our software.

More and more homewares businesses are embracing our technology since we have demonstrated its value over generic products such as MYOB which is widely used.

While MYOB is good software, it does not offer the specialist facilities which homewares retailers need if they want to leverage their specialist offer and grow their business.

Yesterday we released a white paper for gift and homewares suppliers outlining how our software can help improve the supply chain from importers and manufacturers through to gift and homewares retailers.

Our white paper outlines efficiency and other economic benefits to suppliers and to retailers from not only our gift and homewares retail management software but also channel-wide practices which can strengthen business performance for all stakeholders.

This work in bringing greater value to supplier / retailer relationships is a key goal of our new partnership with the national industry association, the Gift and Homewares Association.

Tower Systems is proud to announce that it’s Gift and Homewares Point of Sale software has been announced as the recommended software solution by the Australian Gift and Homewares Association.

GHA members can purchase the Tower software with confidence that their industry association recommends its use.

With software solutions developed for Gift shops and homewares retailers and their suppliers, Tower Systems is thrilled with this new endorsement and that we are the only software company with such a relationship with the GHA.

Tower will work closely with the GHA plus GHA retailer and supplier members on the continued evolution of its software to ensure that it serves the evolving needs of the marketplaces and all of the stakeholders.

Our team is has been busy at the Melbourne Gift Fair over the weekend. As we expected, we have seen plenty of gift and homewares shop owners as well as newsagents.  We have also had a good opportunity to catch up with some existing users.

With another three days to go, we are set to write some excellent business at this trade show.  Our experience reinforces the importance not only of trade shows but of this particular event hosted by the GHA.

Our abilities in the gift and homewares software space are on show in the latest issue of Giftrap magazine published this week by the Australian Gift and Homewares Association.  We were pleased to have an opportunity to contribute quality editorial - a two-page spread - to help gift and homewares retailers in their pursuit of good retail management software.  We are also grateful for an opportunity to support the magazine with advertising.  As members of the AGHA this is important to us.

Since mid 2008 we have been able to provide access to the up-to-date stock file for the respected Maxwell and Williams range of homewares for users of our gift and homewares point of sale software.  This stock file and other electronic data initiatives are helping gift and homewares retailers save real time in the operation of their businesses.

We are grateful to the people behind Maxwell and Williams for helping us help our customers in this way.

We have kept this iniative under wraps for six months because we saw no sense in telegraphing it too early.

As we develop a deeper presence in the gift and homewares retail channels, we are working more with small suppliers who do not follow traditional EDI standards. To help these suppliers transact with retailers, we have developed a new approach to importing stock files which provides tremendous flexibility. Now, small gift and homewares suppliers are able to provide files, usually from existing systems, which help their retail partners build accurate stock files and thereby better enjoy the trading relationship.

We are grateful to our gift and homewares retailers and their suppliers for helping us develop this new approach.

The first two days of the Reed Gift Fair in Sydney have been very busy for us - as was the Melbourne Fair a few weeks back.

We have met plenty of gift and homewares shop owners as well as newsagents.  We also met several newsagents with two shops - a newsagency and a gift shop.

The mood of the fair is upbeat.  Suppliers and attendees are talking about good results being achieved in their businesses.

I am glad we made the decision last year to participate in so many gift fairs this year.  They attract quality attendees from several retail channels.  This makes the event efficient for us.  Unlike other trade shows, attendees at gift fairs tend to stay for two or three days and this helps us close business at the event.

The photo shows Tim Batt adn Nathan Morrison, part of the team we had on hand at Gift Fair to asnwer questions and demonstrate our software.

Our gift shop software is proving popular among homewares businesses. This is thanks in part to the supplier support facilities we have developed which enable easy import of supplier invoices and stock files. Stock management can be the achilles heel of any retial business so we have focused considerable attention on making this as easy as possible for homewares businesses as well as their suppliers.

Homewares suppliers are hearing from us this week about the enhanced facilities we have developed to support their business with retailers.