This advice is for anyone who is selling, or considering selling your business, or you have purchased a business using the Retailer software.

If you're the current owner and have signed a contract to sell the business, please advise Tower Systems by email at accounts@towersystems.com.au. In this email include the full details of the purchaser of the business: business name, contact name and email address. You will need to advise us of the settlement date and keep us informed if this date changes.

Please be aware that if you are not currently renting the software, the incoming owner will need to sign up for rental in order to continue accessing the software. Any pre-paid legacy support fees will be applied to the incoming owner's rental account on a pro-rata basis.

Change of Ownership form

Please download the Change of Ownership Form (attached at the bottom of this article) and have the new owner of the business complete this and provide it to us. Ideally, this is done prior to the change of ownership.

The change of ownership form is required to enable us to update our software licence records. It provides us with consistent information about the new owners (names, email addresses, phone numbers, etc.). Completed forms should be emailed to accounts@towersystems.com.au  

Business data and POS software

One question we are asked by people selling their business about data on the computer. What you do with the data on the computer will depend on what is in your contract. Business data are an asset of a business. It could be reasonable for a buyer to think they get your data with the purchase of the business.

It is important to discuss with any prospective purchaser, training in the use of the software, for the better they know the software the smoother the purchase will be. Help them learn the operations of the software prior to settlement.

Checklist

There are often different aspects of the business change that should be discussed/considered between the owners, and our checklist below describes them. Some important things may include the integrations in Retailer, which may need new accounts signed up to ensure continuity of service. Retailer has integrations for different things like EFTPOS, Accounting programs like Xero, Webstores such as Shopify, phone vouchers (Epay) and magazine invoices (xChangeIT).

Click HERE for our Change of Ownership Checklist

Considering selling business

1. Make it look and feel appealing. While there are people who will look for a challenge, a fixer-upper, most buyers of small retail businesses will want to see a business they understand and feel they can run. It needs to look easy for them. They need to be able to imagine themselves as the owners.
2. Eliminate dead stock. Dead stock looks bad on the shelves and looks bad on the books. Purchasers should not pay full wholesale for inventory more than six months old as your poor buying or management is not their obligation. Our view is that anything older than six months is dead.
3. Streamline operations. Make the business look easy to run by ensuring it's easy to run for you.  This means:
1. The best opening hours.
2. An efficient roster.
3. A structured goods-inwards operation.
4. A streamlined sales counter.
5. Tight back-office management.
6. Job descriptions so everyone knows their responsibilities.
7. Good internal communications.
4. Maximise profit. What anyone will pay will depend on actual profitability of the business.
5. Be happy. Owners who talk their business down will find it harder to sell the business. Be happy and make the business look happier.
6. Keep your social media presence up to date. Today, many people check out a business online prior to looking at it in-store. Maintain up-to-date information on Facebook, Instagram and elsewhere.
7. Get your paperwork in order. Early on, get business documents together:
1. Premises lease.
2. Equipment lease.
3. Employee records.
4. Product forward orders.
5. Franchise documents.
6. Supplier agreements.
7. Details of all forward orders.
8. Any other documents relating to the operation of the business including manuals for any equipment items.