Stroll into any liquor store and you’ll see countless rows of beverages.
You’ll also notice that there’s a unique code stamped on each bottle of rum, gin, and tequila.
That number is a Universal Product Code (UPC), a sort of identity card for each item. Unlike a Stock Keeping Unit (SKU), which is unique to each business, a UPC is the same for a product, no matter where it’s sold.
UPCs don’t just identify products, though. With a robust liquor UPC database tied to your point of sale (POS) system, you can make informed, data-driven decisions that will drive your business to success.
In this blog, we’ll explore how.
So, what is a UPC in the first place?
Think of Universal Product Codes as social security numbers for products. No two items share the same UPC, making it a powerful tool for inventory management, sales tracking, and customer purchasing behavior insights.
Each UPC is composed of a unique set of 12 numerical digits. The first six to nine digits are known as the company prefix, assigned solely to the company by GS1, a nonprofit that standardizes global supply chains. The following digits (except the last one) represent the item number, given by the company to its products. The final digit serves as an error-checking code intended to confirm the barcode validity.
Now that you understand UPCs, let’s dive into what a liquor UPC database is. Simply put, a liquor UPC database is a repository of UPCs for numerous alcoholic beverages to ensure their traceability, manage their inventory, and facilitate their sale — be it by bottle or case.
Each entry in the database contains important product-related data, allowing for quicker access and improved workflow automation. These databases help business owners, managers, and employees to track, manage, and analyze an extensive assortment of alcoholic beverages, from bottles of bourbon to cases of cognac.
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While having a liquor UPC database is beneficial, its full potential can only be realized when combined with modern point of sale software. With a state-of-the-art POS system, you can use a barcode scanner to scan the UPC, making it easy to edit pricing, track inventory, and identify bestselling products.
Imagine a feature that allows you to do bulk edits, so you can change the prices of numerous products at the same time. Or a tool that generates automatic purchase orders based on product minimum or maximum quantity, or SKU MOQ, reducing the likelihood of stocking out or overstocking.
Imagine also being able to create categories for your products and even automatically print labels for new products received. You can even track item availability and movement, stay on top of your inventory, and never lose a sale due to running out of a customer-favorite drink. Plus, UPC information gets logged after every transaction, so you can leverage real-time sales data to analyze and understand business trends.
With dynamic POS systems, you can not only build and manage your liquor UPC database, but take complete control of inventory and sales, ensuring that your operation runs as smoothly as a well-aged bourbon.
Remember: Your POS should allow unlimited UPC codes per item, to further refine product identification and enhance sales tracking.
Every retail store — in any industry — has to deal with UPCs. But for high-volume liquor stores, it’s important to keep track of everything your store has to offer.
To fully take advantage of your liquor UPC database, you need to invest in a high-quality point of sale system designed specifically for businesses like yours.
Luckily, we’ve got you covered.
Learn more about our liquor POS system and schedule a demo with one of our Bottle POS specialists today!
