Hardware & Software

5 Vital Liquor Store POS Software Features

Mar 07, 2024 • 4 min read

Would you rather have a point of sale (POS) system that bleeds money or pours profits?

The answer is obvious. But without a liquor-specific POS system, you’re leaving a lot to chance. From fines for underage selling to basic inventory management, using a generic POS system doesn’t give you the comfort and confidence you need to run your liquor store.

Finding a POS system built specifically for the challenges of alcohol retail is essential. What liquor store POS software features do you really need? You’ll find out in this article. Read on to find out how to easily manage compliance, inventory, reporting, and more.

Liquor Store POS Software Features: What Do You Need?

There might be various POS providers to choose from when purchasing your point of sale system. When you do choose a provider, you have to consider:

If they provide great customer service (preferably 24/7)
Whether they fit your budget and needs
If you have to pay more for advanced features
Whether they lock you into long-term contracts

But most importantly, do they have the liquor store POS software features you need? Off-the-shelf POS software might not be able to manage age verification well. It may struggle to handle complex inventory and detailed reporting. What else?

Let’s look at the five must-have features you need to run your liquor store successfully.

Feature #1: Age Verification

Because of the dire consequences of selling alcohol to minors, robust age verification software is a must-have feature. Verifying IDs is a challenge, and if you get it wrong, you face significant fines, license suspensions, and even criminal charges.

The best liquor store POS systems integrate scanning technology, making verifying drivers’ licenses, passports, military IDs, and other government-issued identification easy. Cashiers can scan IDs to confirm that the customer is of legal drinking age. You can also set restrictions and program pop-up alerts that prevent sales outside approved hours.

Advanced systems can calculate a customer's age on the spot and cross-check the ID against known fakes or duplicates. Your age verification software should also maintain records of verifications for compliance purposes.

Bottom line: Don’t invest in a liquor store POS system if it doesn’t have robust age verification software.

Feature #2: Inventory Management

You want a liquor store POS system that makes liquor inventory management a breeze. You might get five or ten deliveries a week, and if you don’t have software that handles receiving, organizing, and tracking your inventory, you’re in trouble.

Inventory management software helps you manage:

Inventory in real time: Say goodbye to manual stock checks. With built-in inventory management, liquor POS software tracks inventory as it moves. Every time a sale occurs, your inventory is automatically updated.
Reordering: Modern POS software can automatically reorder inventory when it hits a specific threshold. You’ll never run out of your top sellers again!
Reporting: If you want to know your top sellers and which bottles are collecting dust, look for a POS system with detailed inventory and sales reports. These reports can help you make data-driven decisions.

Solutions like Bottle POS grade your inventory on a scale from A to D. It also color codes them based on sales patterns to make your life even easier.

Feature #3: Regulatory Adherence

Every jurisdiction has its own rules and regulations for selling and marketing alcohol. Some are stricter than others, but as a general rule, you’ll need to follow the laws set out by your state. For example, when it comes to marketing:

You can’t produce marketing materials with models or actors who appear to be under 25 or use cartoon characters that appeal to minors.
Your advertising shouldn’t encourage excessive drinking. Focus on consuming responsibly. Things like pairing wine with dinner or experimenting with flavors.
You must comply with social media guidelines to avoid advertising to minors.

Consider your liquor store POS software as an undercover bouncer. As well as robust age verification features, some alcohol-specific POS systems come with integrated marketing to help you reach your target audience safely.

Customer loyalty programs use purchase history to ensure you’re selling to customers who have already verified their age and to prevent overselling. You can directly market to them, perhaps suggesting wine pairings or alerting them when new flavors come in.

Feature #4: Employee Management

Employees interact with your POS system daily. From processing transactions to managing inventory, they can access anything — unless you set permissions.

Start with giving each employee unique passcodes to restrict your system to current staff. You can then manage what your employees have access to. For example, cashiers can process sales but not issue refunds. Or, managers can override prices, but the system tracks their changes.

Modern POS systems can directly link employee logins to specific cash drawers. The POS tallies the difference between expected and actual cash at sign-out and flags unusual trends.

Training your employees to use your POS system is crucial. You could let them practice transactions and test them on local compliance regulations, responsible sales practices, proper ID verification, and more.

Feature #5: Reporting and Analytics

You can’t manage what you don’t measure. Comprehensive reporting and analytics should be on the must-have feature list for liquor store owners. Reports to look out for include:

Inventory: Granular inventory reports help regulate stock levels and identify fast and slow-moving items.

Sales: Daily, weekly, and monthly sales reports give you an overview of what’s working in your store. You can track revenue and sales by product type to ensure you’re serving your customers what they want.

Employee: Performance reports help you identify who your top employees are. You can quantify sales per team member and see where you have gaps. For example, maybe sales are slow on a Monday because you have someone different working the register.

Other reports include profit and loss statements, merchandising reports, and shrinkage. Using data, you can spot sales trends, prevent stockouts, and better plan everything from inventory to loss prevention.

How To Win Using These 5 Liquor Store POS Software Features

You already know that running a liquor store comes with unique challenges. You might not know that instead of relying on generic POS systems, you can have a liquor-specific POS solution!

Managing compliance, security, inventory, and sales is easier with a liquor store POS system built by liquor store owners. The liquor store POS software features we’ve highlighted barely touch the surface.

Bottle POS has these features baked in, as well as:

Integrated customer loyalty
A centralized database
Automated receiving and invoicing
An e-commerce integration, BottleZoo

…and more.

It’s hard to fit all of our features into this article, but if you want to see it for yourself and ask any questions you might have, schedule a demo with our liquor store experts today!

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