Are you doing what you need to do to outsell the competition?
There are many ways to stand out, from hosting live events like tastings to partnering with local breweries and offering unique products. But before you think of weird and wonderful ways to market your liquor store, you need to lock down your processes.
Inventory is like the nuts and bolts of your store, and if you’re part of the 43 percent of small business owners who are still tracking inventory manually, it may be time for a wake-up call.
Tracking inventory, managing checkout processes smoothly, tracking employee hours, and minimizing shrinkage are all critical processes for your liquor store. The good news is, you can optimize all these processes at once with one simple step: implementing the right liquor point of sale (POS) software for your store.
If you're in the market for a new liquor POS software, you're in luck. In this blog post, we'll share some of the best options on the market. Whether you're a small independent liquor store or a larger retailer, these systems can help you take your business to the next level.
What Do You Need from Liquor POS Software?
You know you need POS software… but how can you find the right solution for liquor stores? After all, liquor store ownership comes with unique challenges — especially when it comes to inventory management.
Liquor stores are subject to strict regulations and laws around the sale and storage of alcohol. Your store also likely carries a wide variety of products, including rare seasonal specialties and expensive, fragile items. These factors can make inventory management a complex and vital task, but the right liquor POS software can help.
What features do liquor stores need from POS software?
First and foremost, you'll want a system with robust and flexible inventory management. This should include features like automated reordering, real-time inventory tracking, and the ability to track case break inventory. You'll also want a system that can generate detailed sales reports, so you can make informed decisions about what products to stock and when.
Related Read: Free POS Software for Liquor Stores: Pros and Cons
Customer management is another important feature to look for in liquor POS software. A good system should allow you to track customer purchases and manage loyalty programs.
Finally, liquor stores need to be especially cognizant of security features in their point of sale solutions. Look for a system with age verification, employee permissions, and fraud detection features. Choosing a system with robust security features protects your business from theft, fraud, and other types of loss.
Epos Now
Epos Now is a multi-channel-ready POS system that provides customized solutions to its clients. Although the company specializes in retail solutions, it also caters to customers in the hospitality industry, such as bakeries, bars, hotels, and other related businesses.
For liquor store owners, Epos Now offers several essential inventory and point of sale features. Users can easily import and edit new products, generate automated purchase orders, and identify underperforming stock using the platform's user-friendly features.
Pricing: Starting at $99.
Review:
“I love the statistics on it, the graphs, all the financial information that you can gain, and the simplicity of it all. The amount of information you can extract about your business is colossal.” -Epos Now Customer
POS Nation
POS Nation is a point of sale provider offering an excellent solution for liquor stores, complete with hardware and software equipped with advanced features to streamline liquor inventory. Clients who partner with POS Nation receive a custom solution tailored to their store's specific needs.
POS Nation offers various features, including integrated payment processing, 24/7 technical support, loss prevention, and real-time reporting. With flexible payment processing and case break inventory features, there is a lot to like about POS Nation for liquor stores.
Pricing:
Receive a custom price based on your store’s needs using their custom pricing tool.
Review:
“I have enjoyed using POS Nation. With each fix or call to the tech team, I learn the system more and more. The POS Nation employees have been wonderful, and the hardware has held up well for the time we have had it.”
Windward System Five
Windward offers a broad range of ERP software solutions, including point of sale, inventory management, e-commerce solutions, and more. Windward specializes in home goods, rental businesses, and automotive parts. However, they also offer a solution that works for liquor stores.
Some of the features liquor store owners may appreciate in Windward include their robust barcoding features and multi-store POS integrations. Additionally, Windward offers a signature capture tool, allowing you to capture and store signatures for large purchases electronically rather than dealing with paper receipts.
Pricing:
Windward’s pricing is available only by custom quote.
Review:
“Very thorough software with lots of room/areas to store Information and very easy to use. The point and click ability of the software makes it easier to train new staff.”
-Windward System Five Customer
Bottle POS
Bottle POS is a point of sale and inventory management system designed specifically for liquor stores. With our all-in-one POS and inventory management system, you can streamline your inventory processes and grow your business.
Our inventory management suite helps you accurately count cases, kegs, and individual bottles. We offer several features to our clients, including crucial liquor inventory functionality such as auto invoicing, stock management, e-commerce through BottleZoo, age verification, an extensive product catalog, and inventory, product, and sales reports.
We also have a unique automated ranking process combining artificial intelligence (AI) and sales data to rank and color code your top-selling products. This data empowers you to make business and ordering decisions effortlessly.
Pricing:
You can build and price your perfect system using our build and price calculator.
Review:
“Having a POS system that’s specific to liquor stores is unbelievably helpful. Bottle POS helps eliminate challenges on the inventory side. It saves me a ton of time having to fix invoices… The benefit of being able to provide dual pricing has saved us 4-5 thousand dollars a month on credit card fees.” - Dave Crisafulli, Bottle POS Customer
Comcash
Comcash offers a point of sale software solution designed specifically for retail stores. Their solution works with mobile and e-commerce solutions in addition to in-store sales and inventory management processes.
Some of Comcash’s features that benefit liquor stores include quick and simple checkout processes, customer loyalty features, mobile inventory scanning capabilities, and a simple touchscreen interface that allows for easy reference of non-barcoded items.
Pricing:
You can get a custom quote for your solution using Comcash’s pricing tool.
Review:
“I’ve used this program for about 2 and a half years now on both Apple devices and Microsoft touch POS systems and I am very satisfied with it. Especially when compared to some of the other more expensive products out there today.”
Choosing the Best Liquor POS Software For Your Store
Running a liquor store is no walk in the park, but with the right liquor POS software, you can manage your business, delight your customers, and handle inventory without breaking a sweat.
Every solution listed in this post has benefits and drawbacks for stores like yours. However, if you want to partner with a software provider that understands the ins and outs of the liquor store industry, there is only one choice: Bottle POS.
We designed Bottle POS with liquor store owners like you in mind, crafting a solution with exactly the features and functionality every liquor store needs to run smoothly.
You don’t have to take our word for it, though! See if Bottle POS is the right solution for your store by requesting a demo of our software today!
