If you’ve run your liquor store for years using old-school cash registers and the same software, are the bells and whistles in new software worth the investment?
The short answer: yes!
Adopting industry-specific liquor shop software makes your day-to-day processes less complicated and can help you significantly increase sales and customer satisfaction.
In this article, we’ll cover the benefits of adopting liquor store software and point you toward four top providers.
1. Leads to Repeat Sales
Did you know customers who are members of a loyalty program can generate 15-25% more revenue per year than those who aren’t? That can add up to thousands or tens of thousands of dollars per year!
That’s because customers love free bonuses! Why would they shop at a random liquor store for that six-pack when buying it at your liquor store might earn them free stuff?
Today’s liquor store software makes configuring and managing a customer loyalty program easy. Simply collect a customer’s information, set up how they can earn points, and how to redeem them.
More importantly, you can use the contact information of those loyal customers to send tailored discounts and promotions directly to their email or phone.
Related Read: How Much Does a Liquor Store Owner Make?
2. Improves Your Marketing
Speaking of marketing, liquor store software has many handy tools that help you measure and improve your customer outreach and promotions.
How many times have you had a creative idea for a promotion only to give it up because executing would be more trouble than it’s worth? Liquor store software unlocks your creativity by doing the hard work for you.
A liquor store point of sale (POS) system can handle anything from basic to the most complex promotions, such as:
- 15% off of any non-sale gin
- Mix and match any three specified wines
- Exclusive seasonal discounts for loyalty members
- Bottle of the Month clubs
- 30% off a cocktail shaker set with any purchase of liquor over $100
With a mix of custom SKUs, automated discounts, and other flexible backend options, your creativity is the only limit on your promotions.
Every time you run a new sale or promotion, use the reports on your POS system to measure how effective they are. Doing this regularly will help improve your return on investment (ROI) of future marketing efforts.
3. Helps Optimize Inventory
Keeping track of inventory is one of the hardest challenges in retail, especially for liquor store owners carrying various brands of wine, beer, and liquor.
How liquor store software can streamline inventory processes, reduce theft, and reduce overhead can be transformative for small business owners.
Here’s some more detail on what the inventory management tools on a liquor store POS system can do:
- Case break inventory: Scan in a case of wine or a box of beer, then track the individual bottles, six-packs, or cans. This will give you a more accurate view of inventory levels without manual data entry or end-of-day reconciliation.
- Auto receiving: Automatically update inventory based on a purchase order by scanning it when it arrives. If there are any discrepancies, they can be quickly updated in the system.
- Mobile scanning: Instead of updating inventory by hand when counting or receiving, simply scan items into the system to speed up the process.
- Low stock alerts: With real-time inventory tracking, you can set low stock alerts that trigger when an item runs low to avoid stockouts.
- Reports: Inventory reports on your inventory system give you an easy way to understand inventory turnover, shrinkage sources, profit margins by supplier, and more.
The bottom line: Liquor store software gives store owners cost-effective ways to visualize inventory, reduce costs, and keep customers happy.
4. Increases Visibility
It’s hard to pinpoint dead stock, identify bestsellers, or see what types of products are trending through intuition alone.
Daily sales numbers show you the broad strokes of your store’s health, but it’s not particularly useful for deciding what to stock or what kinds of promotions to run.
Liquor store software supports smarter decision-making by providing visibility into overall store performance, seasonal trends, product preferences, and more.
Here are a few examples:
- Auto ranking: Some systems, including Bottle POS, support auto ranking, which uses AI and sales data to rank products from A to D, giving you a holistic view of your bestselling items and those that are less popular.
- Peak hours: Discover when your peak sales hours by time of the week, season, and more to make more strategic staffing decisions.
- Demand forecasting: Combine sales reports, peak hours, and additional information (e.g., upcoming holidays, events, etc.) for demand forecasting, helping you predict sudden fluctuations in demand.
- Profit margins: Instead of blanket price raises, analyze the profit margins of individual items to make more strategic pricing decisions.
These are just some insights you can gain through liquor store software. The best part? You don’t need to be a data whiz to do it. Many liquor store POS systems include pre-built reports that do the calculations for you.
4 Best Liquor Shop Software Providers (2024)
Updating from old-school cash registers, spreadsheets, and dated software can be intimidating, but trust us — the benefits of adopting a full-featured liquor store system far outweigh any temporary discomfort.
To help you with your search, here are four top providers to consider.
1. Bottle POS
Bottle POS was created by a liquor store owner for liquor store owners, with features specifically designed to address the unique challenges of liquor retail. Our top-rated solution strives to give small to medium-sized liquor stores a competitive edge.
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Pricing
We love working with small businesses and offer flexible pricing plans based on your unique needs. Use our pricing configurator tool to get a custom quote today.
2. KORONA POS
KORONA POS is a highly customizable POS solution with multi-location support and robust marketing features, making it a great fit for growing liquor businesses with several locations.
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Pricing
KORONA POS’ Retail plan starts at $69/month with optional add-on modules for integrations and franchise management ranging from an additional $10 to $50/month.
3. POS Nation
POS Nation is a popular solution serving over 10,000 retailers, with specific functions for liquor stores. Listed as Nerdwallet’s top overall pick for liquor store POS systems in 2024, POS Nation is another solid option for small and mid-sized businesses.
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Pricing
POS Nation has multiple pricing plans based on your needs. Their software starts at $49/month.
4. Lightspeed POS
If you are an established business with multiple locations or locations across states, Lightspeed POS might be the best fit for you, thanks to their enterprise-level store management features and a highly configurable backend.
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Pricing
Lightspeed POS’ Core plan starts at $149/month if paid annually.
Boost Sales With a Leading Liquor Store Software Solution
If you’ve made it this far and are still unsure if investing in liquor store software is worth it, the next best step is to see it in action.
Schedule a demo with multiple providers and have specific questions ready. If you find that the person showing you the software can’t tell you how to solve a particular problem or do a certain task, that’s a good indication of how their tech support will handle issues in the future.
Also, take your time and find a system that feels right. Every system is built a little differently, and even systems with similar features on paper might feel very different. You’ll be using liquor store software every day, so the more comfortable you are, the better.
If you’re interested in seeing our top-rated solution, we’d love to hear from you. Bottle POS is designed to give small, independent liquor stores a leg up against the competition by offering state-of-the-art tools at a reasonable price.
Schedule a custom demo today to see how Bottle POS can boost your sales and keep customers happy.
