Retailers are responding to tough times by extracting more value from their Point of Sale software. 

Gone are the days when a Point of Sale system is seen as a cash register replacement, basic in function and service.  In today’s marketplace, smart retailers are extracting every ounce of value they can from their POS software investment.

While many software companies sell similar software, the majority do not provide the level of assistance and advice necessary for retailers to unlock value from the software beyond basic cash register replacement.

It takes real commitment from a software company to unlock the level of value necessary in today’s tough retail environment.

Software companies which act as software companies will rarely help retailers extract full value from their software.

Tower Systems is committed to helping retailers achieve tangible benefits from full use of its software every day.  This is reflected in the broad range of assistance provided through our Help Desk.  More than half all calls relate to business matters and not the software itself.

Thanks to broad retail expertise, we can go beyond the usual technical support call.  We provide business implementation advice along with business management advice.

Our assistance can also include analysing business reports and showing a retailer the business decisions available to them based on the data in the reports.  This is where real value is unlocked from our retail management software and the Tower Advantage ^TM relationship.

Imagine how a retailer feels when we identify $15,000 worth of stock which ought to be quit because it is not paying even for the floor space it occupies?  Or when we show how to easily lure customers back into the business with little or no cost.  Retailers love having access to this information and the decisions they can make.

We delight in engaging in business discussions which enable us to use the software to show the opportunities for our retail partners.

Tower Systems is more than a software company offering a technical solution. We are a business building company which uses software as one means through which we help independent retailers grow.

Our software for newsagents can be easily configured to suit the needs of many businesses and situations.  One area where adjustment is easy is with the touchsreen layout.  The photo shows a touchscreen layout for newsagents in Western Australia.  It includes local products which you would not see elsewhere.

The screen was designed for a particular newsagent who wanted more products on the touchscreen that we would usually provide.  Our preference is for bigger buttons.  In this situation they wanted smaller buttons and more products to serve their particular need.  Our software easily handled their requirement without the need for a change or a visit.  They could also include product logos to make identifying products easier.

Flexibility in software configuration is important to newsagents and all retailers.  We are proud of the flexibility we have built into the software and that our customers do use this.

Changing a touch button can be done quickly at the store level without risk.  Likewise, securing buttons so that they cannot be changed is also easy.

We are thrilled to be welcoming John Le to a newly created role on our national Point of Sale software help desk today. John brings years of help desk experience to the role and an affinity for small business. Following comprehensive training, John will start taking calls from customers - these will initially be shared with another team member before moving to solo calls.

We have created two new help desk roles over the last month to help us cope with demand from new customers.

If you get to talk with John, please say hello and join us in welcoming him to the Tower community.

We have switched another customer from a competitor of ours by demonstrating that the cost of ownership of our Point of Sale software is considerably less than that for the competitor’s software.

The newsagent purchased the software a few years ago for thousands of dollars but was told a year or so back that they didn’t purchase the software and that a monthly licence fee is now applicable. $250 a month plus GST. It soon adds up.

Their gripe was compounded with the extra items they are told they have to pay for and the apparent high price for these items.

By switching to our Tower Systems Point of Sale software, the newsagent will be better off financially over the medium term. Of course, our view is that they will be significantly better off operationally immediately they move.

Once you have purchased software for your business you should have the option of not having to pay anything extra to make use of this. Mandatory fees should be able to be challenged - that is what we would suggest at least.

Up to date advice on the Blackhawk giftcard range has been published at the eziPass website.  The new Frequently Asked Questions document addresses the most common questions we are asked about the Blackhawk offer before people sign up.  This FAQ document will evolve over time - based on questions from our customers.

With more than 120 of our customers signed up to offer Blackhawk, considerable work is being done to process the paperwork and get display stands out to the stores as quickly as possible.

Next week we will be sharing selling tips with our customers, to help them make the most of the Blackhawk gift card opportunity. These tips will be exclusive to Tower Systems customers.  They will provide another example of the Tower Advantage ^TM in action.

The Blackhawk giftcard range is an excellent opportunity for retailers keen to service the lucrative last minute gift marketplace.

Our homewares retail customers and sales prospects are brimming with optimism on the back of good sales results and strong forecasts leading into Christmas.

The same is true for other retailers with a strong homewares niche in their business.

We are been fortunate to participate in some good discussions over the last couple of weeks about why this particular retail channel is strong.  The Master Chef effect appears to be a key reason.  People are investing more time and money in at-home dining experiences and to do this they need and want better homewares products.

For us, homewares is one of those categories which crosses several retail channels.  There are your traditional homewares stores and then there are gift shops with a homewares range or two and newsagencies, yes newsagencies, with a homewares offer.  We are able to draw in experience from multiple channels and help our customers leverage the optimism around the homewares category.

Our garden centre software is growing in popularity among pure garden centres as well as hybrid businesses which incorporate a gift, cafe and even newsagency component.

Garden centres love many of our facilities including:

• Tracking when a product is to come off sale.
• Bulk buy discounts.
• Including instructions with an item for sale.
• Customer loyalty rewards.
• Delivery requirements.
• Warranty processing.

We fell into serving garden centres some time ago, led by customers expanding into the area.  We soon discovered that we met most of the needs of garden centre businesses.  We enhanced our offer with some changes in the software and support for weather-proof barcode labels.

While not a large part of our business, garden centres are growing, especially as some existing customers step into the space when evolving their businesses.

Yesterday, Tower Systems released Retailer 2.2.3C, the latest version of our Point of Sale software.  This release have successfully passed through our comprehensive in-house quality assurance process as well as extensive live use in our helpful beta test sites.

In communicating the details of the update with our customers yesterday, we listed details of the enhancements, many of which were suggested by our customers.

The update is now available for free download by our Tower Advantage ^TM customers.

Tower Systems is helping retailers to use their POS Software to find spare cash in their businesses.  This is a smarter move than the more traditional approach taken by retailers of heavy discounting without proper planning.

• Dead stock.  By easily identifying stock which has been sitting on the shelves for too long, we help retailers be more certain about what needs to be discounted. the data provided also helps guide decisions as to the discount to be offered.
• Using just in time stocking principles.  Too often retailers carry too much stock in their back rooms.  By implementing our just in time focused recording facilities, retailers are able to  carry less stock and free capital for other uses in their businesses.
• Driving basket efficiency.  Getting Each customer to spend more in the business improves profitability per employee contact. The comprehensive basket penetration tools in the Tower Systems Point of Sale software drive this.
• Better roster management.  With employee costs usually accounting for between 8% and 15% of retail costs, we help retailers review revenue by time and by employee to enable appropriate cost saving decisions to be made.
• Rent review.  We have found that by providing a landlord with accurate performance data about the business, retailers can negotiate revised lease terms.  We help our retail customers extract appropriate data and pack this in a form which is useful to landlords.

There are many ways retailers can unlock spare cash in their businesses.  Tower Systems is grateful for the opportunities of working with our customers to help them unlock this cash.

We have started showing off the new customer display we will soon formally launch. This display lists items in the sale on one half of the screen and displays relevant ads on the other half. The ads are selected based on items purchased. We are using similar technology to that which we use for placing ads / coupons on receipts. This is integrated within our Point of Sale software. Our goal here is to help our customers drive basket efficiency.

Thanks to terrific customer feedback we have developed some helpful enhancements to the Ezidebit customer payments facility in our software. Using Ezidebit, our Point of Sale software customers in Australia and New Zealand can more easily process customer payments. The latest enhancements are being delivered in version 2.2.3C of our software which moves into wide release in a few days.

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.

Selling Phonecards, calling cards, mobile phone recharges, Citylink passes, tourist tickets and Blackhawk gift cards got easier for retailers this week thanks to the new eziPass website quietly launched.

eziPass is the preferred vending platform for well over 1,000 retailers now. It is also the preferred platform for many suppliers.

Through the new eziPass website, vendors and retailers can more easily read about and access the benefits of eziPass.

It represents further evidence of our pursuing of change for our own growth as well as the growth of the retail businesses with which we work.

eziPass is available as a standalone product working on any computer with a broadband connection as well as in an integrated form within our own Point of Sale software.  eziPass is free software for any retailer.

The latest version of our Point of Sale software will deliver enhanced debtor management facilities.  With the economy tight, retail customers find many reasons to delay paying bills.  Our goal is to help our customers more efficiently address and deal with their debtor book.  This is the motivator for the latest changes in our software.

Tower Advantage ^TM customers will receive information about availability of the latest update shortly.

Using our latest Tower Systems Point of Sale software, retailers are able to compare the performance of key suppliers across trading periods.

This comparison will empower retailers to more easily identify suppliers who are delivering less value to their business today than for the same period a year ago - a likewise, the suppliers delivering greater value.

The comparison will also help in understanding the value of the supplier compared to other suppliers in the product category or segment.

The latest reporting enhancements evolved out of customer consultation where we sought to understand how we could improve our reporting to deliver better business outcomes for our customers.

Constant enhancement of our software is a key point of difference offered by Tower Systems to our Tower Advantage ^TM customers.

Our latest Point of Sale software update moved to beta release last week with the new version made available to our beta test sites.  This is the second round of live testing for this update.  New software has to pass through rigorous in-house as well as life testing before we consider wide release.

With so many retailers and other businesses relying on us we are cautious and thorough in scheduling the release of any software update.

This is an exciting update with some excellent new facilities … but more on that once we release the update more widely.

We have started playing with some new and interesting hardware which could add value to the Point of Sale systems we have installed.

In ‘playing’ we have assessed the hardware from a hardware perspective - installation, setup and support.  It passed.  Now we are looking at it from a software perspective.  This is involving four key people in our company, looking at the opportunity from the perspective of our user community as well as ourselves.

The whole process is time consuming - as it should be as we are always careful about introducing new hardware to our customers.

If all goes well, we may be in a position to make an announcement sometime next month.

In addition to sending text messages to retailers with key business performance data at the end of each shift, the latest release of our software offers enhanced email support for the same data.  This provides retailers using our Point of Sale software with greater flexibility as to where and how they collect sales and other data for the day when away from the business.

The enhanced support for automated communication of daily business numbers to the business owner is another was we are helping absentee business owners keep track of their businesses.  We also email them if there are dubious transactions being performed in their business.

Point of Sale software is a perfect partner for any retail business in tough economic times without spending thousands of dollars on advertising. Leveraging your existing customers you may find more gold in your own backyard that you imagined.

Using good POS software you can expect to:

1. Cut costs. Thanks to electronic invoicing, the cost of processing new stock is lower than with manual processes. This can help cut your labour bill.
2. Increase sales #1: reward customers. A good loyalty program works. Not like FlyBys which is of dubious financial value to customers. No, a serious loyalty program which guides your customers to spend more money with you. I have see stores grow sales by 10% on the back of a well constructed loyalty program, a good POS software package will run this for you, points and all.
3. Increase sales: easy lay-by. Lay-by run properly and using technology can be highly profitable. The software can manage the rules and ensure that your shop operates as professionally as a national retailer. You set your own rules and the software manages the paperwork.
4. Increase sales: market to your customers. A coupon on your receipts, an email newsletter, a printed newsletter or up-sell script at the sales counter for staff - these are all ways you can use your point of sale system to help guide your existing customers to spend more money with you.
5. Increase sales: Connect with a local charity. Use your software to make it easy for a local charity to promote your shop and raise money for themselves at the same time. Each sale earned for you by the charity can be tracked so that you are able to reward them with an accurate donation at the end of the campaign.
6. Make better business decisions. By buying only stock which works for you or seeing exactly what customers buy with what you are able to make business decisions which are more likely to drive better business results.
7. Sell your own gift cards. If a customer cannot find what they want in your shop you could sell them a professional looking gift card with a unique barcode allocated to that card. This way they money they put on the card is used in your business.
8. Cut mistakes. Mistakes in retail can be expensive. By using POS software you can expect to cut mistakes. This is because it takes fewer keystrokes per sale. This reduces the opportunity for mistakes.
9. Cut theft. The last time I checked, theft in retail in Australia was running at between 3% and 5% of turnover. Thanks to tight controls around employees and better tracking of stock theft, you can expect to cut the cost of theft. Every $1 cut in theft is a $1 on your bottom line.
10. Handle special orders. Using software you can place orders for specific customers. The software can even sent a text message to the customer’s mobile phone when their special order comes if. Talk about customer service!

The most important way you can grow your business in a tough marketplace is doing what you probably do best - providing cheerful and knowledgeable customer service. You can do this and your employees can do this if you hand over some of your administrative tasks to retail store software. As a successful retailer told me about her interaction with her business: floor time = profit.

The Apple iPad is a feature of our trade shows this year as we show our customers as well as prospects how the iPad can be used with our Point of Sale software. Getting a second iPad for this purpose has made a lot of sense given the use we have been able to make of it already.

We are also planning on producing a demonstration / training video to show off the iPad to those who cannot make one of our trade shows this year.

Retail employees considering stealing from their employer weigh up the prospects of getting caught. If they see the business using theft management tools and other facilities in their Point of Sale software to track and cut theft then they are less likely to take the risk.

Unfortunately, for many retailers, the use of theft management tools in our retail management software only seriously starts once the business has experienced major theft.

This is why offer regular training in theft management, cover it in our newsletters and speak about it at our user meetings around the country. It is frustrating to know that retailers have access to tools which could add between 2% and 5% to their bottom line and that they will not use these tools until they suffer a considerable financial loss.

By professional and committed use of our theft management tools, retailers will cut theft – without a doubt. The theft reduction benefits alone will generate sufficient benefit in the first year of installing our system to entirely pay for it.

To protect our customers, however, we don’t talk too publicly about the specifics of theft management. Training in the tools is undertaken with confidentiality – so that the business owner has the upper hand.

Employee theft is a risk in every retail business. By treating it seriously and using the facilities like those in our Point of Sale software, retailers can expect to cut the cost of theft and achieve a healthier bottom line for the business.

If theft is discovered, we also have tools which help gather evidence for the police – we’ve done this plenty of times and will gladly help any of our customers in this situation. However, being forewarned and forearmed could avoid the need to react after the event.

Our Point of Sale software for bike shops is to feature at the Ausbike Expo which is being held in Melbourne - August 23 & 23.

Costing less than $10 a day for hardware and software, our bike shop management system helps bike retailers in many practical ways:

• Cut theft.  By understanding what is being stolen you can take action to cut this.
• Save time.  Eliminate manual processes and replace these with computer based processes.
• Reduce mistakes.  By replacing manual processes - lay-bys, sales, warranty claims, repairs - with computer processes you benefit from better structure.
• Sell more.  This is a bold claim.  It is 100% achievable by using the marketing tools in the bike shop software.  Sell more to existing customers through marketing to them.
• Relax.  Better decisions can be achieved faster thanks to good management reports which are at your fingertips.  From stock turn to stock reordering to trading period comparisons, professional and flexible management reports can drive your business beyond your current goals.

All of this will be on show at the Ausbike Expo in Melbourne next month.

If you own a bike shop, drop by and see the Tower Systems Advantage ^TM for bike stores in action.

We have been helping a start up retail software company entering a market far removed from us.  In this process we have been looking at core principles which have helped us get to our position today.

Here are the key principles in which our company was founded and which hold true today.

Have the right sales team. Good IT companies try and counter retailer ignorance by using technically skilled sales people who focus on genuine business outcomes for the retailer.

Technically skilled sales people can show how the POS software genuinely helps the retail business for the long term. They will also counsel against a business purchasing the software if it is not the right fit for the business.

A sales person who knows how to sell but does not truly understand the technology chases the sale without consequences. While this may deliver good revenue to the software business in the short term, sales will fall in the long term.

Make better software. Retail businesses have very specific needs. IT companies need to understand and serve these needs, needs which go beyond traditional cash register facilities.

Smart IT companies thoroughly learn the needs of retailers in their niche, they embrace opportunities to develop specialist facilities in their products. They look for ways to help their retail customers with enhancements long after the software has been sold to the customer.

An IT company which does not care about the long term relationship with their customers will usually sell old and out of date software, not offer regular updates and not seek to engage with all of their customers, seeking our enhancement requests.

Back your software with excellent support. Get to calls in a reasonable time. Make sure advice is professional. Have a peer review process in place to ensure that the help desk team keeps each other honest and focused. You are only as good as your last support call.

Educate. Good IT companies offer education about how to use their software, long after the software has been sold. This education could be in the form of group training opportunities, online training, training videos and the more traditional printed documentation.

Regularly enhancing the training opportunities can extend the connection between retailer and POS software vendor. This can lead to good word of mouth, driving further sales. It can also lead to upgrade business.

There is a feeling of a job well done within software companies when they hear of retailers making good use of the software and achieving an outcome which, without the software, might not have been achieved.

Poor software companies tend to offer less education. Once they have the sale they don’t see much value in spending money on their customers unless they expect to make considerably more money.

The relationship between POS software vendor and retailer needs to be long term and not just about the detail done today to purchase the software. It must be a mutually beneficial relationship, one which respects the needs of both businesses.

Smart software will do considerably more than any software user ever dreamed. The key to unlocking this is the professionalism and dedication of the software vendor. The approach of a retailer is as key to driving this outcome as is the commitment of the vendor.

We are reviewing the video training resources we have developed for our Point of Sale software and the download data from the last year.

The review of our POS software video training aims to fill gaps in creating a training curriculum on key topics. While some topics can be covered in one training video, others are best handled by breaking them down into several sessions.

The feedback from our customers on the video training is proving to be most helpful, they love the content and that it can be done anywhere and anytime.

Now that we are settled in our new office and have better recording facilities, we will be taping additional training in the next few weeks.

Around ten years ago we lost some sales because we would not help retailers avoid tax by maintaining two sets of financial records - one for the business and one for the tax man.

We reported the situation to the ATO and they brought in the Federal Police and several federal and state government agencies. We told them everything we had been told by others.  Whoever was doing this to win business must have stopped because we stopped being asked to provide software which facilitates tax fraud.

Over the last few weeks, however, we have been asked again.

Given the benchmarking project by the ATO, any business would be foolish to hide income because it will soon be discovered.

Our Point of Sale software does not offer two sets of accounting records and we will never develop such software.