Inactive stock can be problematic for retailers in their Point of Sale software.  There are reasons for keeping a record of the items but often they can clog systems.  We make managing inaactive items easy by enabling them to be tagged as inactive.  By doing this, the inactive items do not come up in searches for current items.  We have just published a new advice sheet (G41) at our website to guide the proper may to manage inactive stock items in our Point of Sale software.

The next release of our software delivers a simple yet effective tool which will help tobacco retailers fulfill their obligations in retailing tobacco products. The software enhancements provide structure around the checking processes which are essential with new rules governing the retail of tobacco. We are not applying the enhancements as mandatory, that is up to our customers to decide. They can set the rules to apply to every tobacco sale and thereby give ,as business owners, a barrier at the sales counter to selling tobacco to underage customers.

For years now, we have offered a free business analysis service.  Retailers using our Point of Sale software send us a current backup of their system and we thoroughly analyse the data.  We look at how the system is being used as well as how the business is performing.  The result is a frank report for the business owner(s) to consider.  We often discuss this further with them and use data as a guide to talk through changes which could be considered.

At our end, a review of a business can take up to four hours of working through data and reports.  It often involves two of us comparing what we have found and challenging our views of what steps the business could take.  We take the opportunity very seriously because we understand the value for us of helping our retailers achieve more from their Tower Systems software.

The free business analysis is part of the Tower Advantage ^TM suite of services which help our retail partners get more from our Point of Sale software.

Any customer can request this by sending a current backup with a note seeking a Business Review to our Head Office: Suite 10, 22 Horne Street, Elsternwick VIC 3185.

One of the less obvious ways our Point of Sale software helps retailers is in cutting mistakes. There are many ways that our software does this and they all add up to delivering a measureable financial benefit

In an average retail business, we estimate that the value of mistakes eliminated in a year of use of our software is at least .5% of retail sales. That’s a minimum $2,000 net benefit in a year for using the software properly

Here are some the simple ways we reduce mistakes

• Accurate selling. By not manually entering prices for each item sold you eliminate keystroke mistakes. Also, not manually processing credit card and eftpos payments. We link directly with the baking terminal
• Accurate pricing. By regulating discounting and catalogues, the software ensures that products are accurately priced. We have seen many mistakes with manual operation. Also, by applyingmarkups automaticallyh, we ensure the margin achieved by the business.
• Sales tracking. Whether it is lay-bys, putaways, special orders or other points of customer interaction, our Point of Sale software tracks the activity and helps the business fulfil its obligations on time, accurately and professionally
• Eliminating manual processes. Back office manual processes can be problematic in retail businesses. With the sale counter always demanding attention, back office work is often left mid-stream. By replacing manual back office processes with faster electronic processes we help the business focus more on where it makes its money and to do the office work faster and with fewer mistakes.
• By regulating who can access what. Sometimes people with time on their hands like to play. Using the advanced security features in our software, retailers can stock people playing where they should not.

There are plenty of other ways we help cut mistakes for our retail partners outside of the five listed here. The $2,000 a year saving (for each $500,000 in revenue) is real. We have seen it (and more) many times over. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to help our customers achieve these benefits.

Point of Sale software, like any business investment, has an obligation to deliver a return on the investment.

We regularly assess the return that an investment in Tower Systems Point of Sale can achieve.  Most recently, we have been looking at the benefit of a more efficient stock investment.

Our research shows that a retail business turning over $500,000 a year implementing our Point of Sale software and managing stock using the principles we suggest can reduce their stock investment by at least $4,000 in the first year.  Our software identifies under-performing stock using a range of metrics appropriate to the business.  These include, return on investment, return on floor space, stock turn and return on shelf space.

Using our software, retailers can identify under performing stock, devise a plan and unlock this cash, and space, for use elsewhere.

This is genuine value derived from good Point of Sale software - unlocking cash from inefficiencies in your retail business so that you can spend it where you are more likely to achieve a better return.

While the saving is often more than $4,000, we prefer to publicly state the level of benefit we expect based on years of experience.

Tracking debtors is a key function in software for any business.  In our Point of Sale software we make it easy for retailers to track customer debt and chase payment.  In addition to invoice and statement facilities (print and email) we also provide reports which track debtor status.

Our Bad Debts Report, for example, makes it easy for a retailer to focus on outstanding debts.  The report includes key details to enable easy contact with the customers listed.

In addition to reporting, our POS software has other facilities used by retailers to better manage debtors and the amount they owe the business.

While a basic and somewhat unattractive facility in Point of Sale software, we see debtor management as a core function and vital to the health of retail businesses which partner with us.

With hundreds of users of our Point of Sale software now processing eftpos transactions through the Tyro broadband eftpos interface, we are building excellent data on the business benefits.

Tyro is saving our retail users, including our own retail businesses, time and money with a faster and mroe secure solution.  Since our software communicates directly with the EFTPOS terminal, we reduce internal fraud and errors.

Here are the key benefits our customers tell us about:

• Speed and efficiency (transaction time less than 4 seconds)
• Lower costs (no phone line, no admin fees, free paper rolls)
• Low integration set up costs
• Low merchant service fees negotiated by Tower Systems
• Reduced internal and shop front fraud
• Secure, real-time online reporting

The Tower Systems / Tyro integration offers improved efficiency and accuracy - as we are seeing ourselves in our own retail businesses.  Yes, we used this ourselves to prove its worth first.

Retailers get swamped this time of the year with people returning gifts and pre Christmas purchases. We help our retail partners cope with the challenge of checking returns thanks to some cool facilities in our software.

It is easy to find a sale based on the item – this can be useful if the customer does not have the receipt.

We can also provide a fence around refunds – enabling retail employees to say that they do not have the authority to process the refund.

Our software can create a credit to be held in the system for future use – rather than giving a cash refund.

Our retailers can also very quickly find the sale by scanning the receipt – this immediately takes them to the sale and from there they have a range of options.

While it is up to retailers to decide how they want to handle refund requests, our point of sale software stands ready to help through the process and to provide certainty for front line retail staff.

One the first tasks for any retailer on an anniversary like the start of a new year ought to be to compare the year just ended to the year before.

This is easy with Tower Systems Point of sale software.  Our Monthly Sales Comparison report can compare any period with any period.  It compares unit sales, discount and revenue by department and category.  It also compared GST collected, items per sale, average sale value, average item value and other key metrics.

The report can be viewed on the screen or printed or saved an d emailed to someone else for analysis.

Doing this for a year provides an excellent health check for the business for the year just ended.  It is also useful for comparing quarters and even months.

Retailers who aggressively compete against their track record find themselves enjoying more success against other competitors.  We’re happy to help any retailer with accessing or analysing this report.

This time of year, retailers are busy with sales, moving old stock to make way for new lines.  Plenty of product is heavily discounted.  Our Point of Sale software carefully tracks the real margin achieved from each sale.  This is crucial in measuring margin contribution by item and supplier.  We see gross margin is the most crucial metric in retail.

While many retailers can rely on markup formulas to manage margin, it can become compromised by sales and other strategies.  Gross margin is vitally important and needs to be tracked.  It flows directly from sales, it’s the best indicator of profitability and cash flow, it’s the dollars from which a business covers expenses, and it is the best measure of productive or valuable inventory investment is.

We understand this and track margin accordingly.  It is reported in many of our reports - to help guide better business decisions.  We back access to the information with training on how to use this to improve the business.

So, in the current sale mode, while volume is good, keeping a watchful eye on margin is mor important.

I have been working several retailers with challenges in their businesses and through this have noticed a change in shopper buying this year.  While the first reason to consider could be the lack of the federal government’s stimulus package this year, I suspect it is more to do with the day Christmas falls.

This year, with Christmas Day on a Friday, sales data suggest that shoppers used the ‘extra’ day in the week for good last minute shopping.  In two stores I have already seen data for, that ‘extra’ day was key in driving a better Christmas than last year - if only by a whisker.

While more data will be available over the next few days, it is fascinating to see what an ‘extra’ day can mean leading up to Christmas Day.

We have been helping our retail customers this week to prepare their businesses for their Boxing Day Sales.  We took calls yesterday on how to use the catalogue facilities in our software to manage the discounting.  We make it easy with discounting across a date range.  This can be done by product, department or category.  It can be set to end on a certain date.  Our advice went beyond traditional software support for a couple of customers.  As new retailers, they wanted advice on what to discount and the level to offer.  We were able to tell them about what we have found works in our own retail businesses.  We define rules and timelines and stick with this.  And, as I bang on here plenty of times, we measure and adjust the business accordingly.

In addition to tracking the performance of floor space in retail, our Point of sale software also tracks performance by shelf space.  Our retail partners can easily allocate shelf space by product categories and rely on the software to report on sales and gross margin contribution by shelf space.

We have seen the shelf space metric change the view of the performance of categories within a business.  A product category which may perform well in terms of floor space could be overtaken by a product category which uses shelf space efficiency and achieves good sales from this space allocation.

The key to shelf space efficiency is the fixturing used.  It must drive a rewarding density without sacrificing visual appeal.  We work with retail designers to navigate this fine balance and to track performance.

Beyond traditional Point of Sale facilities, our retail management software works deep within retail businesses to help the owners and employees drive greater success. We play in the space, helping our retail partners to understand the reports in our software and through them to unlock a better return.

The Tower Advantage ^TM delivers many benefits long after the software is installed.

Further to my December 12 blog post, smart retailers use their receipts as effective markerting tools.  We do in our own retail stores.  We print messages based on the contents of the sale.  The image to the left, for example, is placed automatically on receipts which include a diary item.

Our Point of sale technology allows us to include these marketing messages which reflect the contents of the sale.  Smart POS software for smart retailers!

Floor space efficiency is the best measure a retailer can have in judging the performance of any part of the business.

Retailers pay rent per square metre of floor space yet few measure the performance of their business based on space allocated by department or category.

By ignoring this metric in favour of overall product category performance can hide performance problems within a business.  By focusing only on margin and not floor space efficiency can also hide business growth opportunities.

Consider, for example, a product category which generates exceptional sales, uses little floor space but which delivers only a slim margin.  A total margin contribution report will show the product as inefficient.  However, a margin per square metre of floor space will most likely show the category as a hero of the business.

Smart retailers need to look at the performance of their business from multiple views, including return on floor space.  Tower Systems retail management software provides tools which enable such multiple views.  In addition to floor space performance reporting, we also offer shelf space reporting - taking the analysis of the performance of the business to an even deeper level.

By using our software to undertake such deep analysis, smart retailers unlock greater value from their technology investment.

We will gladly help any of our retailer partners to create and assess these and other reports in our software.

Theft in retail businesses often relies on regular work and operational patterns being followed: the banking being done at the same time, the refund policy being lax when managed by some staff, checking the cash banked back to takings being lax, the bins always being empties by the same person and so on.

By regularly changing processes, a business can make theft harder to perpetrate.

I know of a retail business which uncovered employee theft by changing the bin emptying process.  I know another business which uncovered theft by changing the people who balanced the cash at the end of the day.  I know of another retail business which cut theft by requiring the owner to approve all refund requests.

Theft in retail, customer theft and employee theft, can be cut by setting policies, adhering to them and ensuring that all employees adhere to them.

Our Point of sale software can also help retailers cut theft thanks to a range of public and not so public facilities which protect the interests of the business owners.  These facilities, like business policies, require setting.  Once done, the Tower Systems software monitors activity and can warn you of potential misbehaviour.

Theft kills retail businesses.  It is easier to stop than many think.

Goal setting a tracking is vital in retail.  It keeps everyone in the business focused on what is important and what the business is aiming to achieve.

We have found that the success to goal setting in retail, where you have a diverse team, is to set goals which are understood and achievable.  Sure make the goal above average for the business, but make it within reach. Be sure to have a customer offer to help drive sales around achieving the goal.  Also, set an end date.

In retail, we have seen the best goals are those which are tied to individual products or at least a category of products.

Be sure to provide a motivator for achieving the goal, a reward.  This could be as simple as a small cash price or a movie pass or bigger depending on the value of the goal to the business.

Once the end date is reached, collate the results and meet with the team to review success.  Ask for feedback.  Learn from the experience.

We have see retailers achieve 200% on the set goal with everyone in the retail business on board.  This led to success elsewhere in the business.  Everyone wins.

Using Tower Systems Point of Sale software, you can easily set goals and track progress toward achieving them.  We have retailers using our software to track sales of a selection of magazine titles over a thirteen week period.  They enter their goal for each title and the date range and our software does the rest.  the result is a scorecard which can be printed and put on the wall for all employees to see.

We have an advice sheet for using this part of our software and it is available free to tower Advantage ^TM customers.

Our Tyro broadband eftpos integration is helping hundreds of our retailers process sales faster this Christmas.  Thanks to eliminated keystrokes, faster approvals and single point record keeping, we are helping our retailers process Christmas sales faster and more accurately.

We received a call yesterday from one customer which was simple and to the point: this Tyro is a bloody ripper!  They went on to say that it’s streamlined their counter, saving on wages.  While reducing labour costs is an important benefit, it is the elimination of duplicated processes which I like in my own retail businesses.

We help our customers connect with Tyro through a simple to follow advice sheet, free interface software and over the phone help and training.

Retail experts agree that good retail success is dependent on three key strategies which, when combined, can deliver above average business growth.

• Increased traffic.  The two most successful ways of attracting new traffic into any retail business is to have a visually compelling offer on shop from the shop front and to proactively promote the business outside its four walls. While one could argue that word of mouth drives traffic, this takes more time than a great window display or professional out of store marketing can do.  Our software can help by helping you identify stock items which could work well in such a campaign.  Remember, success is easier with successful products.
• Increased shopper efficiency.  This is about getting more from each shopper visit.  This is achieved with compelling counter offers, good offers located near your most popular products and using your software to promote efficiently to existing customers: ads on receipts, ads on customer statements, email marketing, mobile phone marketing, customer loyalty program … there are many ways our Point of sale software can help retailers gain increased shopper efficiency.  Getting existing customers to buy more is easier than winning new customers.
• Increased margin. Retailers often apply a standard margin which they set by department or category.  Some items successfully carry an above average margin. Using our software you can easily adjust margin and experiment, finding the sweet spot for you which does not slow sales of an item.  The key to achieving better margin is to leverage your point of difference.  If your customers shop with you for convenience, you can charge more. Retailers train their customers what to expect to pay through brand focus, range, visual merchandising and employee training.  By reporting on margin, we help you identify opportunities.

Improve each of these by small steps and you are building sustainable growth for the business.

If you are a retailer, ask yourself what you want from your business.  If it is growth, as it should be, each of the three steps need to be followed to leverage current traffic and build success for the future.

Tower Systems’ Point of Sale software can help in each area.  Further, as a company we can help develop business growth strategies built around a series of small steps.  We have done this for many retailers.

Answering a customer query right the first time saves time and money in retail. This is where good Point of Sale (POS) software plays an important role in improving retail efficiency.

Our Tower Systems Point of Sale software makes answering questions at the counter easy. Thanks to appropriate security, employees can access parts of the software appropriate to the need of their role.

Using our POS software, retail employees can quickly answer many different questions and queries:

• Check prices. This can also include a margin check if appropriate security is available.
• Check location. In multi store situations we can easily identify where stock is located so it could be moved for a customer request.
• Find stock availability. This includes a smart advanced stock search facility.
• Record orders.
• Check account status.
• Process LayBys.
• Process account payments.
• Advise when an item (including a magazine) is due in.
• When an item was purchased. This can be helpful if verifying a sale when a receipt is not available.
• Reprinting a receipt.

Helping retailers improve customer service at the counter can improve customer throughput, perceived customer service and time efficiency. The business benefits, employees are happier and customers are happier.

Implementing a rule of NO RECEIPT = NO REFUND, retailers can find that their bottom line improves.  Refund fraud is common, especially where rules for handling refunds are obviously lax.

Retailers using our Point of Sale software can easily produce a receipt for every sale or, if more appropriate, for every sale above a certain value or some other criteria.  There are many reasons for producing receipts:

• Receipts document the sale including confirming the price.
• Receipts clarify terms of the sale.
• Receipts can contain a smart marketing message to lure customers back.
• Receipts make it easy to find the sale in the event of a query - just scan the barcode.
• Receipts cost little to produce.
• Receipts are produced quickly.
• Most of all, receipts cut fraud.

Imposing rules on when receipts are produced makes it easier to impose rules on the handling of a refund request. Certainty about your processes at the counter make it easier for staff handling any refund request.

While we offer multiple ways in our POS software of finding a previous sale without a receipt, the most effective way of stopping a fraudulent credit claim is by requiring a receipt before you begin.

Retailers wanting to cut the cost of theft in their businesses will implement a NO RECEIPT = NO REFUND policy if they do not have one already. Think about your receipt printer as a key tool in managing theft.  Receipts are your key to achieving this.

We can help with the technology back end and make the process easy for all to follow.

We can also help with the business processes for implementing this and other theft reduction strategies.  The stronger we make our retail partners, the more our business benefits.

Our new LayBy software is in beta test in a selection of retailers using our software.  This new software extends the facilities we offer in the LayBy area, strengthens processes and improves the customer experience.  Much of the work has been guided by a group of retailers making considerable use of LayBy in their businesses.  Their insights have helped propel our offer to a new level.

We are taking our time in the beta test process to esnure that we have got this new LayBy offer right.  If further enhancement opportunities are uncovered we would rather implement these now and not after the new facilities are released.

For a year now Tower Systems users have been able to get their customers paying bills sooner thanks to an exclusive relationship with Ezidebit™, the brilliant direct debit payment solution integrated within our Point of Sale software.

Using Ezidebit™, retailers increase cashflow and revenue recovery whilst saving time and money.The automated facilities will drive a reduction in mistakes too.

Setup takes a few minutes - we have an advice sheet which guides this process.  The hard work is done for you to make collecting payment easy, fast and accurate.

The Ezidebit™ facility integrated with our software and provided with an update a few months ago (for no extra cost) is another part of the Tower Advantage™ package - a suite of facilities and services which add dollars to the bottom line of participating retailers every year.

The photo shows two sheets of shelf labels printed directly from within our software.  These are printed on a laser printer on quality card stock made for the purpose and pre-perforated to make separation easy.

The labels are designed to slip into professional shelf stripping in-store.   Typically, our customers print shelf labels when arriving new stock or when processing bulk price changes.  They can also print new labels at any time.

While our users can also print one-up labels (as other systems do), most prefer these more professional labels as they reflect well on their business.  It is detail in areas like this which can separate one retail business from another.

using the setup screen for printing labels, customers can modify the look of labels printed to suit the needs of their business.

Using our smart Layby facilities, retailers using our Point of Sale software are able to easily handle part prepayment for items being ordered in especially for a customer. This helps the retailer lock in the sale even though they may not have the stock available at that time.

While our Layby software does considerably more than this, it is our handling of prepayment which is popular among our retail customers.  We have continued to finesse this facility over time, based on customer feedback.

Laybys are useful in retail because of the structure they offer and the easy management from good back office software to document and manage the relationship.  In today’s environment, Laybys are an important tool.

Below is some of the advice we provide in our Layby Advice sheet. I am including it here to show the detail provide in our documentation and the ease of use of our software. The figures referred to are on the actual advice sheet:

It is possible to create a prepayment for a layby for a stock item that is not yet in Retailer. This is  particularly useful for manufactured items and items not currently in stock.

1. From the Retailer Point Of Sale screen, click on the ‘Customer Payment’ button or ‘F11’. The Find Customer screen opens. Select an existing customer or click ‘+Add’ to add a new customer.
2. Click on ‘Pay Laybys’ from the Pay Menu screen.
3. A Confirm screen appears. Click on ‘Yes’ to make a Prepayment.
4. A Layby Prepayment screen opens (fig 1.4.) Enter the stock description in the Prepay Stock Description Field. This description should be detailed for future reference. Enter the prepayment amount and end the sale.
5. To do a second Layby Prepayment, complete steps 1 to 3, then the Make Layby Prepayment screen opens (fig 1.5.) At the bottom of this screen you can select either ’+ Add To An Existing Prepayment’ to make another payment against your existing layby prepayment, or ’+Add A New Prepayment’ if you want multiple prepaid laybys for the one customer.
6. When you are ready to create the Layby that was being prepaid, create a Layby and find the customer as per steps 1 and 2 in the ‘Creating a customer layby’ instructions above. The Select Layby Prepayments screen opens. Select the prepayment and click ‘OK’.
7. The Layby Details screen comes up. Select and complete the details for this Layby.
8. End the sale as usual.

Our Layby software offers excellent flexibility for this popular credit service offered by retailers. It brings structure and consistency to the processing and record keeping of Layby transactions.