AI is software you talk to in plain English. Type what you need and it types back – or tell it what you want through voice input. Most of the tools run in a browser, many cost nothing, and you do not need to be technical to use any of them. Here is how to put it to work in your shop this week.
Start with what is already in your POS software
The easiest AI to use is the AI with nothing to set up. For Tower Systems customers, the Retailer AI tools are built into the software, with no prompts to learn and no extra subscription. Because they were built for local retail, they already understand shop data.
They cover the jobs that quietly eat a retailer’s week. Product descriptions get drafted from basic item details, ready for your website. Supplier invoices arrive as PDFs and import automatically, with stock codes, costs and quantities filled in. Reorders can be generated on rules you set, for your review before anything is sent. An end of shift email summarises the day’s trading. Pricing can be checked against other retailers without you giving up an afternoon.
If you do nothing else from this guide, turn those on.
Three rules before you go further
Outside your POS software, the rules are short. Never paste customer names, emails, phone numbers or addresses into an external tool. Treat everything AI writes as a draft and edit it before anyone else sees it. And start with one task rather than ten: test it, judge the result, then add the next.
Which external tool
Start free. Free plans are enough for most retailers, and within a month you will know if you are hitting their limits.
Claude (claude.ai) is the strongest writer of the group and suits customer emails and planning. ChatGPT (chat.openai.com) is the general all-rounder for ideas and quick answers. Gemini (gemini.google.com) makes sense if your shop already lives in Google Workspace. Canva (canva.com) handles social media graphics, posters and shelf signage. Perplexity (perplexity.ai) answers research questions with sources you can check.
Paid plans run roughly $20 to $28 a month. Consider one only when you hit daily message limits or find yourself uploading documents regularly. One chat tool and one design tool is plenty.
Six things to try
Hand over the basic writing first. Social posts, promotion copy, signage. A prompt as plain as “Write a friendly Instagram post about our weekend candle sale at a small Melbourne gift shop, under 60 words” comes back usable in seconds.
Paste messy notes from a supplier call into a chat tool and ask for an action list for your team.
Let it draft replies to routine emails, the late order and the event invitation, then read and adjust before sending. The reading part is not optional.
Use it to brainstorm when the calendar looks quiet. Ask for ten Father’s Day ideas for your kind of shop and expect two or three good ones, which is a fair return on two minutes.
If your staff will use AI, write a one page policy. Say what is allowed, such as drafting and task lists, and what is banned, which is customer data and passwords. Anything public-facing gets a human read before it goes out.
Then, after thirty days, take stock. Did it save time? Did the emails get better? If something worked, add one more use. If something did not, drop it without guilt.
What to watch
AI states wrong things with complete confidence, so check prices, supplier terms and dates before they go anywhere near a customer. Make sure the words still sound like your shop and not a corporate template, and edit until they do. Keep passwords, financials and customer records out of public tools, always.
None of this is complicated. The retailers getting value from AI are not the technical ones. They are the ones who started.