A blog on issues affecting Australia's newsagents, media and small business generally. More ...

Tower Systems announces new free online marketplace for local independent retailers including newsagents

Tower Systems is launching www.findit.com.au, a free marketplace for local indie retailers like you. Listing products on FindIt will be free for Tower Systems customers.
 
Our goal for FindIt is to help customers looking online for items you sell, to drive traffic to your shop.
 
All Tower Systems POS software customers have access to FindIt for free.
 
We have built FindIt because of the growing importance of being online to in-store retail, and because some retailers are challenged with creating and running their own website. This is a no cost / low cost solution to help you be found online.
 
If you do have your own website, you will still be able to list on FindIt if you wish.
 
Retailers can choose to sell through FindIt, or just list what they have available in-store. If they do sell through FindIt, there is a fee of 10%. This covers Tower for credit card fees and Afterpay fees once that is live. It also covers us for credit card fraud claims. Retailers choose whether to sell through FindIt or not. Again, to list products and have your shop found is free.
 
We are hosting the website on a large secure and fast server in a remote data centre. We are also doing the backend SEO work to raise the Google profile.
 
Customers will land on the website from Google. As the ranking of the site increases, products on FindIt will list in Google results. Customers will be able to add items from multiple retailers to a FindIt basket in a transaction.
 
The FindIt website confirms the order to the customer and provides the retailer with a recipient created tax invoice. Retailers will be able to go to their FindIt vendor panel to download a picking slip.
 
 
 
  

 

Retailers choose the price of what they sell – it can be their web price or their retail price. In the Tower Systems POS software, retailers choose whether a product is listed online.
 
The image for a product will be the first image loaded for a product. If a retailer has a better image than the first one loaded by another retailer, it would take a manual process to change it, a process not currently in place. The same applies to descriptions. 
 
We connect products by barcode. If a retailer generates their own barcode for an item already on FindIt, it will treat that product as a new item.
 
The price will be the retailer’s price – yes, multiple retailers on FindIt could result in different prices for the same item.
The product description is the key. Our advice on this is to try and think about what someone is likely to type into Google.
 
Retailers will have the option to be either freight free or charge. If a retailer has product dimensions and have selected to charge freight, the Australia Post plug-in we have will calculate a freight charge. Retailers will also have an option, on their vendor page in FindIt to set a flat freight charge if you wish.
 
We currently serve over 3,000 local small business independent retailers. Across that eco system there are more than 100,000 unique products. FindIt has the potential to be an important marketplace. 
 
We are around 3 weeks away from launch. 
 
In terms of the launch tho, it will be soft, no major fanfare. We’re taking a Field of Dreams approach … building it in the hope they do come.
 
This is a new space for us and for our customers. There will be missteps along the way for sure. We will evolve the site based on what we learn from these and from your feedback. 
 
We are excited to help local indie retailers find new shoppers for your business.
Find out more about our Tower Systems POS software at our website, www.towersystems.com.au, where you can also easily watch demonstrations of our software. We only supply independent retailers. Plus, our software is Aussie made and supported.
 
For a personal demonstration or to discuss your POS software needs:
  • sales@towersystems.com.au
  • 1300 662 957.
15 likes
Newsagency management

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Reload Image