How many hours a week do you spend managing inventory?
If you answered, “too many,” you’re not alone. What about all the other parts of your store you need to manage? From age verification to custom loyalty programs to sales, your glass is full.
Staying on top of it all with manual counts and spreadsheets doesn’t cut it anymore — but a liquor retail point of sale (POS) system does. Now you’ve just got to make the right choice for your store.
And we’re here to help you do just that. This article highlights the features you should look out for and the top liquor retail POS providers on the market today. Let’s help you make the best choice for your store.
As a liquor store owner, you face unique challenges.
Between keeping track of stock levels across hundreds of SKUs, dealing with varying bottle sizes, juggling promotion pricing, and the big one — scanning IDs and staying compliant with state alcohol regulations — it’s a lot to manage.
You could use a generic retail POS system, but the problem is, they lack the key features you need to manage your liquor store.
Sure, they can ring up sales – that’s POS 101 — but do they have advanced inventory features like case break tracking? Built-in age verification software and hardware that flags underage sales? Dual pricing? Loss prevention features? You’d be lucky to find these features in a generic POS system.
The right software, tailored for liquor retail, can manage your business from top to bottom. From barcode scanning to built-in customer loyalty, a specialty liquor retail POS gives you control and saves a lot of time.
But how do you choose the right liquor retail POS? Start with the features you absolutely need.
Related Read: 8 Liquor Store POS System Benefits You Can't Afford To Miss
Here are some features that make up a solid liquor-specific POS system:
Other features to look out for include robust security, shrinkage prevention, and marketing. Let’s dive into the best liquor retail POS providers.
Best for: Liquor-specific features
Features: Bottle POS is designed specifically for liquor store owners, focusing on key features that truly matter to make operations easier and increase customer satisfaction. Standout features include:
Other features include:
If you want a truly liquor-specific POS system, Bottle POS ticks all the boxes.
Pricing: Your store is unique, so build a custom system and pay only for what you need.
Customer Review: “Fast response during the setup process. The best customer service of any POS company. Great help as always.”
Best for: Multi-location liquor stores
Features: mPower highlights its inventory software that gives you actionable, real-time data. Made for beer, wine, and liquor stores, mPower can help run your business smoothly — especially if you have more than one location. Features include:
Pricing: The ongoing monthly subscription starts at $1,000 for one register per location and $120/month.
Customer review: “The software offers pretty much everything you need, reports & operationally, to operate a liquor store. The scanner works well.”
Best for: Small and mid-sized liquor stores
Features: POS Nation provides the hardware, software features, support, and payment processing your liquor store needs to grow. Trusted by more than 10,000 customers, POS Nation has liquor-specific features such as:
Pricing: The Flex Monthly option is $149/month. Or, use their build and price tool to custom-build your own system.
Customer review: “The software is incredibly easy to use. Our Customer Success Manager helped us with onboarding and training, and we were up and running in a matter of days.”
Best for: Online liquor sales
Features: Geared towards omnichannel selling, Shopify POS offers the software, hardware, payment processing, and staff management you need to run a successful online and in-person liquor store. Key features include:
Shopify isn’t liquor-specific software, but for small stores that want to sell online, too, it’s a great option.
Pricing: Various pricing structures. For a small team, the monthly fee for one store starts at $105.
Customer review: “We really enjoy using the Shopify POS system. It makes our in-store experience easy and keeps our inventory accurate. We have had great experiences with customer service and have seen our store flourish after switching to Shopify.”
The right liquor retail POS system can give you the time and cost savings you need to run a successful liquor store. Providers like POS Nation, Shopify, mPower Beverage, and Bottle POS offer many of the features that help run your business.
We might be a little biased, but at Bottle POS, all we do is consistently iterate and improve our liquor store POS system. We don’t serve other industries — we’re all in. With features like automated inventory management, ID scanning, and built-in customer loyalty programs, we can help your store thrive.
But don’t take our word for it. Instead, schedule a demo with our liquor experts and see our POS system in action.