Santé vs. Bottle POS: Which Is Best for Your Liquor Store?

Struggling to choose which point of sale (POS) system is right for your liquor store?

Santé and Bottle POS are probably near the top of your shortlist — but with so many similarities between the two systems, it can be tough to determine which is best for your business’ unique needs.

We’re here to make your decision easier. In this blog, we’ll explore everything you need to know about Santé and Bottle POS — including a detailed overview of their features, support, pricing, and reviews — to help you make the smartest investment.

Let’s dive in!

Santé vs. Bottle POS: The Bottom Line

Let’s start with the basics. Santé and Bottle POS are both specialty POS solutions designed for liquor stores, but there are a few key differences you need to know:

Santé is a new POS provider promising innovative, AI-powered features. Santé’s software includes advanced tools designed to help you save time, market your store, and build an online presence.

Bottle POS is a trusted POS solution designed by and for liquor store owners. It includes all the features you actually need to keep your shelves stocked with the right bottles, stay compliant with your state’s liquor laws, and grow your business.

Let’s take a closer look at what each of these providers has to offer.

Features

Santé and Bottle POS both offer the basic functionality you’d expect: a user-friendly touchscreen interface, built-in age verification, real-time inventory tracking, and simple bottle deposits — but let’s dig a little deeper into their shared and standout features.

Shared Features

Cloud-based software: Check stock levels, monitor sales, and adjust prices from any internet-connected device — no need to be in the store.

Integrated purchase orders: Create new purchase orders within your POS software to save time and prevent stockouts. Bottle POS even automates this process, generating POs to replace your low-stock bestsellers.

Delivery app integration: Integrate with apps like DoorDash to reach new customers and offer convenient pickup and delivery options.

Customer loyalty program: Encourage repeat purchases by rewarding customers every time they shop with you, and keep detailed records of their favorite bottles and shopping habits.

Santé’s Standout Features

AI-powered invoicing: Scan an invoice using your camera, and Santé will automatically update your inventory records.

SEO-optimized website builder: Create a custom website for your liquor store, and use AI-powered tools to write product and meta descriptions for better online visibility.

AI-powered email and SMS marketing: Use AI to write marketing texts and emails, and send them to your full customer base or segmented groups of shoppers.

Note: While these AI-driven tools can save you time, they also introduce new risks. For example, the optical character recognition (OCR) technology behind their AI-powered invoicing is prone to error, which could cause ordering and reporting mistakes that affect your bottom line.

Bottle POS’ Standout Features

Automated ranking: Discover which bottles are flying off the shelves and which are collecting dust with our AI-powered inventory ranking system.

Prebuilt inventory database: Save time and simplify onboarding by taking advantage of our prebuilt inventory database of over 20,000 liquor, beer, and wine SKUs.

Case-break inventory tracking: Eliminate inventory confusion and track inventory by the case and bottle.

BottleZoo integration: Enjoy seamless integration with our liquor-specific e-commerce platform, BottleZoo.

Support

A liquor POS system is only as good as its support team, so let’s break down what Santé and Bottle POS offer customers:

Santé offers limited support hours (8 a.m. to 11 p.m. EST). This covers most business hours for stores across the country, but late-night or early-morning issues will need to wait. It’s also important to note that Santé was only founded in 2023, so they’re relatively new to supporting liquor stores and understanding industry-specific challenges.

Bottle POS offers 24/7 support from a team of liquor industry experts. Our system was designed by a tech expert with 20+ years of liquor store management experience, and we’ve been supporting businesses like yours for nearly a decade.

Both providers offer this service at no additional cost, so there’s no need to worry about hidden fees for setup or technical support.

Pricing

So, which solution best fits your liquor store’s budget?

Both Bottle POS and Santé have “bring your own” hardware policies and offer similar hardware starter packs, so we’ll focus mainly on their software subscription and payment processing costs.

Software Pricing

Santé charges $99/month for access to their POS software. They charge additional fees for their e-commerce tools, so you’ll pay an extra $49/month for delivery app integration and another $49/month for their website builder.

Bottle POS’ options are more flexible. We offer a tiered pricing structure, where smaller stores can pay a lower subscription fee for basic liquor retail tools, and larger multilocation businesses can upgrade for advanced functionality.

Most owners opt for our most popular plan, which costs $79/month and includes our auto ranking feature, built-in customer loyalty program, automated purchase orders, and DoorDash integration.

Payment Processing Costs

Bottle POS and Santé both offer an interchange plus pricing model, a popular pick for small businesses.

Bottle POS offers another unique option: dual pricing. Dual pricing allows you to pass along the costs of payment processing to your customers by charging different prices for cash versus card transactions.

Our software handles the price changes automatically — resulting in less math and fewer mistakes at the checkout counter.

Reviews

Wondering how liquor store owners actually feel about these two POS solutions? Let’s look at their reviews.

Since Santé is such a new provider, they don’t have public reviews on sites like Trustpilot, Software Advice, or Google Reviews. Instead, they’ve published testimonials from current customers on their website.

These testimonials frequently mention how Santé saves time and simplifies processes, but try to connect with other liquor store owners in your area for a more unbiased review.

Bottle POS has a 4.8-star rating on Google, a 4.8-star rating on Trustpilot, and a 4.3-star rating on Software Advice. Reviewers rave about our top-shelf customer service and onboarding experience — here are a few examples:

Pretty impressed with their POS, and customer support is top-notch when you need to make any changes, learn anything, or get things imported.

I've been using this system for a few years now, and I hands down recommend them because of their tech support team. They are very proficient and helpful.

We started with one store, and now have all 3 of our stores with Bottle POS. We have been with them 3+ years now.

How To Choose Between Santé and Bottle POS for Your Liquor Store

We’ve covered everything you need to know about Santé and Bottle POS — now it’s time to decide which one is right for your liquor store. This is a tough decision, so we’ve come up with a few questions to guide you:

How comfortable are you with new technology? If you’re excited about AI and willing to embrace the challenges of brand-new technology, Santé might be a fit. If you’re more interested in a tried-and-true solution, Bottle POS is probably the better choice.
How much experience do you have in the liquor industry? If you’re a liquor store expert and feel confident running your business without industry-specific support, Santé could work for you. If you’re new to running a liquor store and want to learn best practices from trusted experts, go with Bottle POS.
Which is your priority: inventory management or marketing? If you’re struggling to keep your shelves perfectly stocked, you’ll love Bottle POS’ powerful inventory management features. If you’re focused on e-commerce and SMS/email marketing, you’ll appreciate Santé’s AI-powered marketing features.

Answering these questions should put you on the right track to the right POS system for your liquor store.

Get Started With Bottle POS

Ready to take the next step in your search for the perfect liquor store POS? It’s time to schedule your live, personalized demo.

During your demo, a liquor industry expert will walk you through the Bottle POS software, showing you features in action and answering your questions.

Put yours on the calendar today!