We are receiving kudos for the real-time reporting in our jeweller Point of Sale software as it is helping jewellers make business decisions on up to the minute sales and other data. Jewellers love the immediacy of the data access as well as the breadth of data coverage in our reporting.

Just yesterday we received a call from a jeweller who was thrilled with these reporting tools compared to the system they had been running. They encouraged us to pitch our real time reporting as a point of difference. So, here we are.

Our jeweller software has more than eighty management reports with a range of facilities and options – thus providing comprehensive reporting tools. Good reporting is crucial to good business decisions.

A Sydney jeweller is using Tower Systems Point of Sale software for jewellers to control his retail business from an overseas base. Thanks to remote link facilities, excellent reporting and integrated theft management tools, such remote management of the business is easy.

Fast and secure, the remote link facilities are ideal for jewellers who work away from a retail business of travel extensively. Key decisions can be actioned quickly, as if you are still in the business back home.

Data integrity is not compromised by the overseas link. Further, local staff don’t have to know the extent to which the owner is watching over the business.

The same facilities helping this jeweller control his software are also helping Australian based jewellers to manage more than one retail outlet from a central location. The ability to monitor performance is exceptional, almost as good as if you are in the business at the time.

More than 300 jewellers use the current version of Tower Systems Point of Sale software.

Tower Systems is proactively helping jewellers using its jewellery business Point of Sale software to easily handle the significant change Pandora is introducing to their stock file.  The Tower Systems facility will make the change easier.  It will also cut mistakes a more manual process would cause.  This is being delivered free to Tower Advantage ^TM customers.

We are communicating with our Tower Advantage ^TM jeweller customer base on how to access our utility as well as advice for undertaking the change.

This is a significant one-off change for jewellers and if not done right the disruption to the business could be considerable.  We are pleased to be in a position to help.

Jewellers in our beta release program tell us they love our new software.  They are especially happy with our completely new repairs facilities as well as the new software look introduced with the latest update.  We are slowly rolling the latest jeweller software out to our marketplace.

We spent most of 2009 developing new facilities for jewellers based on excellent feedback from our customers.

We currently serve in excess of 300 jewellers nationally.

We have launched new software for jewellers and along with that new marketing collateral based around the theme of A fresh approach.

Developed by our marketing team in-house, this new collateral will start to roll out to jewellers across Australia from next week in several diffdrent forms.  The marketing reflects the considerable changes delivered in the new software and the fresh approach we take to helping jewellers get the most from their software investment.

The new collateral is part of a bigger story which will unfold in the coming weeks across all Tower Systems marketplaces.

We are taking the opportunity to refresh our collateral to reflect the development of the business in 2010.

Jewellers are set to benefit from the new software for Jewellers being released by Tower Systems in a few weeks.  The enhanced software delivers to jewellers new facilities and improvements to existing stock management, point of sale and repairs facilities.

Our development team has been in close consultation with jewellers to ensure that the new software meets their needs.  The next few weeks are about in-field testing of the new software prior to wide release.

The release of the new software will coincide with the release of a special package deal for jewellers to encourage them to join the Tower Systems jeweller community.

Tower Systems is a member of the JAA, the association representing the interests of jewellers.

We have mailed our final promotion in the countdown to the end of the federal government’s 50% tax bonus opportunity for small businesses.

The glossy postcards target bike shops, jewellers and gift shops with our software for each.  We have sent separate marketing collateral to newsagents with the offer.

On the back of each postcard is a photo of hardware items included as well as a list of software, training and other services included in the offer.

Postcards are an efficient marketing medium, the strike rate is good for us.  Sales prospects like they because they don’t need to open an envelope.

Like all of our marketing collateral, this latest campaign was developed in-house in our marketing department.

The tax bonus has been useful but could have been better had software been an allowable expense.

We have released a Jeweller software and hardware package deal considering installing a system for Christmas.  This offer taps into the 50% tax rebate on offer from the Federal Government which ends on December 31, 2009.

Included in the package, in addition to excellent hardware, is jeweller software covering: point of sale, warranty tracking, repairs, stock control, jeweller specific labels, customer lay-by, loyalty management / marketing, theft management, business reporting, eftpos integration, customer accounting, sales tracking and serial tracking … plus more.

This current offer is available until December 31, 2009 - coinciding with the end of the 50% tax rebate.

Tower Systems New Zealand will have our software for jewellers on show at the New Zealand Jewellery Fair this weekend.  we will be demonstrating our latest software including repairs, manufactured goods, point of sale and jeweller specific reporting.

Jewllers in New Zealand  have made an excellent contribution to the enhancements we have included in our software this year.  Some of their suggestions will be on show in Auckland this weekend.

Our new repairs facilities are helping jewellers (and other businesses undertaking repairs) profit more from repairs.  We are cutting management time, reducing mistakes and making it easier to bill for each task in a repair job and thereby more completely cover the business costs with appropriate margin.

Here are some of the features our development team has built into the facilities:

• Scan receipts or job card to find a repair in the system.  Alternatively, quickly find repairs based on customer details.
• Track repairs by customer.
• Support multiple repairs per customer.
• Accommodate multiple repairers per job.
• Easily schedule in-house or outsource repairs.
• Store quotes for later reference when it converts to a job.
• Manage partial payments of an account.
• Track repairs by repairer.
• Track repairs by courier.
• Automate pricing for popular repair jobs.
• Allocate staff and repair instructions.
• Allocate existing stock used for a repair job.
• Print barcoded job cards and receipts automatically.

The sophistication we have developed in our repairs facilities plays out in other parts of our software.  It’s like the NASA mission to the moon - there are many side benefits along the way for all of our customers.

We are working with some of our users on new barcode label options for high ticket price items.  The label jewellers was to use for a $15,000 diamond ring is different to that they would use for a $50.00 bracelet.

While we offer many label options today, new software and hardware technology is allowing us to develop more options to better serve the high end jeweller marketplace.

Like most of our development in the point of sale area, our innovation in labels will be accessible to all marketplaces.

Our own experience with gift cards is helping us provide deeper assistance to our retailers using our POS software.

From the production of the quality gift cards to the in-store display to the use of our point of sale software to manage each gift card sold, Tower Systems is offering retailers a comprehensive gift card solution.

The photo shows the gift card display we have in each of our own Sophie Randall card and gift businesses. On display is the nine different gift cards we designed and had produced.

Each giftcard in the stand reflects a different gift giving occasion. We settled on the nine based on an analysis of the greeting cards we sell. While we could have easily started with a generic gift card, we wanted to test the appeal of occasion specific cards.

One of the reasons we have our gift shops is to play with ideas like this, so that we can better inform Tower customers of options in areas they may have not tried yet.

While we continue to support gift vouchers – printed directly from within our software – we have felt for some time that a more professional physical card, with a processional backing card, will drive even better sales for our retailers.

Tower Systems is proud to be leading in each of our marketplaces in the gift card area.

We are putting the final touches to our preparations for the International Jewellery Fair in Sydney this weekend.  At our stand we will be showing our new repairs management software, our latest jewellery business management software, a range of gift cards and smart customer management tools.  Plus we will have some surprises to share.

We are on stand N39 at the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre.

As with other Jewellery Fairs, we expect to see gift shops and other retailers as well at jewellers at this trade show.

We are experiencing excellent sales growth of our jewellery software here in Australia.  July was another excellent month.  The latest software enhancements as well as jeweller specific training services are proving to be the keys in driving this growth.  We are also helping jewellers access the 50% tax bonus on offer from the government for purchase arrangements made prior to the end of this year.

We will have the latest version of our software for jewellers on show at the JAA International Jewellery Fair. August 30 - September 1.

Some of our competitors try and deter jewellers from doing business with us by saying we are focused on newsagents.  As anyone who visits our offices will see, we balance our business across several marketplaces.  This provides us with commercial balance as well as learnings which benefit other markets.

The new product labels for jewellers using our jewellery software (and gift shops) which we have sourced are saving a considerable amount for our customers.  Thanks to tough negotiating by our buyer and committing to a considerable volume, we have been able to cut the price by 70%.  This price reduction is for a better quality product. The label is, in fact, a multi-label - meaning that each label has five components, separate labels if you will, which can be used in different ways for a product.  jewellers tell us that tthis configuration is ideal  for their needs.

While supplying stationery is not core to our business, helping our customers save money from their IT investment is.  A 70% reduction in a business expense  is a proud achievement for us.

The work we have done on these jeweller labels applies to our gift shop, homewares and even high end newsagent customers - any retailer wanting attractive labels for high-end product.

Tower Systems has experienced excellent growth in jewellery software sales in the six months to June 30.  Jewellers in Australia have backed our jewellers software by installing our software and underaking our training.  Customer feedback is that jewellers like our on site one-on-one training.  This personal approach allows us to tailor our training to the needs of the business.  No two jewellery businesses are the same.

Rather than drowing through the end of the financial year, hundreds of Australian jewellers have prepared end of financial year reports, completed a stock take and set themselves up for greater success in 2010 thanks to Tower Systems’ jeweller software.  Used by large jewellers and small, those handing heirloom product to fashion jewellery, the Tower Systems jeweller management software has made the end of the 2008/09 financial year go as easy as a leisurely swim.

Our next software for jewellers update is close to release - the final round of acceptance testing is under way.  This jeweller software includes several enhancements which improve the value of the software:

• Repairs.  Our new facilities are more comprehensive and robust.  In short, more valuable.
• Second hand goods.  We are delivering a complete software for second hand good solution - to police standards.
• Labels.  More label options to make any business look good.
• Lay-by.  An excellent extension to our lay-by facilities.

These enhancements and more to be announced next month add tremendous value to our jeweller management software.  They will ship shortly.

Our jewellery business management software is selling very well this year as a result of excellent word of mouth from our existing jeweller customer community.  We are grateful for their kind words to colleagues about our software.  They encourage us to work harder at enhancing the software.  The next evidence of this will be in the jeweller software update we are putting the final touches to right now.

Sales of our software for jewellers were strong before the small business Tax Break kicked in and have grown further since.

The jeweller marketplace fits well with the other marketplaces which we serve by driving better reporting and management facilities.  Jewellers benefit from the throughput focus and flexibility required for our other markets.

Our jeweller software installation and support teams help separate our offer and ensure that we reamin focused on this important marketplace to the Tower Systems business.