NRS vs. Bottle POS: Which is best for your liquor store?

A POS system with built-in age verification protects your community from underage alcohol sales and your store from legal issues.

NRS prompts you to ask for customers’ IDs and enter their birthdates during the checkout process after scanning an age-restricted item like alcohol or tobacco.

Bottle POS lets you verify customers’ ages through manual entry, or you can speed up the checkout process by using a handheld age verification scanner.

Managing the hundreds — if not thousands — of bottles in your store can be tricky. That’s why you need a POS system specifically designed for the challenges of liquor inventory management.

While NRS offers basic inventory tracking and organization, they don’t offer any liquor store-specific features to help you keep the right bottles in stock. Without these tools, we can’t give NRS a point in this category.

Liquor inventory management is one of Bottle POS’ strongest features. With our software, you’ll benefit from case breaking, automated purchase orders, and streamlined receiving. 

Do you live in a state that requires bottle deposits? Then you need a POS system designed to make this process easy. 

NRS lets you set up bottle deposits to make charging and refunding them easy. 

Bottle POS’ bottle deposit feature makes charging and refunding them a breeze. 

In the small business world, knowledge is power — which is why you need a POS system with in-depth reporting capabilities. 

If powerful reporting is a POS priority for you, NRS might not be the right fit. To unlock your profit margin data, customer purchase history, and product performance information, you’ll have to pay additional fees. This extra hurdle is why we can’t give NRS a point in this category. 

With Bottle POS, you’ll get access to a comprehensive reporting suite at no additional cost. You can dig into your sales reports to learn about your overall sales, customers’ shopping habits, best and worst-performing products, and more. The system also assigns a grade of A, B, C, or D to each product to indicate a fast sale vs. dead stock. 

Looking to future-proof your small business? Then consider selling liquor online. All you need is a POS system with e-commerce integration. 

NRS offers an integrated e-commerce platform to help you launch your online store. 

Bottle POS seamlessly integrates with BottleZoo, an e-commerce platform specifically designed for online liquor sales. 

One of the most time-consuming tasks you’ll face as a liquor store owner is adding new items to your inventory records. Fortunately, a pre-built database of common liquor products can help. 

NRS does not offer a centralized liquor product database, which is why we can’t give them a point in this category. 

Bottle POS includes a centralized liquor SKU database that includes hundreds of products, making it a breeze to expand your offerings.

Your checkout counter’s customer-facing display should be a final opportunity to connect with your customers and improve their shopping experience. 

NRS’ customer-facing display includes large, dynamic NRS ads that aren’t tailored to your customers. To turn them off, you’ll have to pay a monthly fee of $44.95 — even if you subscribe to NRS’ most expensive pricing plan. 

Bottle POS offers the flexibility to configure your customer-facing display to your preferences. You can use it to display your upcoming promotions, bestselling spirits, Google reviews, and more at no additional cost. 

Basic hardware for your liquor store checkout counter should include a touchscreen PC, receipt printer, handheld barcode scanner, cash drawer, and payment device. 

NRS’ standard hardware bundle costs $999 and includes all the basics and a customer-facing display screen. They also offer discounts if you sign up for their payment processing service. 

Bottle POS’ basic hardware bundle costs $999, with opportunities to save if you sign up for our payment processing. 

POS software providers usually offer a tiered pricing structure, which means you can pay more for more features, or save money by opting for a plan that includes fewer features.  

NRS’ offers three pricing options, ranging from $24.95 to $69.95 per month. It’s also important to note that NRS offers additional features on an a la carte basis, which can make pricing comparisons confusing. For example, if you need features like advanced reporting or age verification scanning, you could end up paying over $100 per month — or more.

Bottle POS offers three, straightforward pricing options ranging from $69 to $149. Each tier comes with an included list of capabilities, which means there’s no reason to pay for a la carte features. 

Credit card processing fees can be a major line item in your liquor store operating expenses, so choosing a plan that fits your budget is crucial.

NRS offers one standard option for payment processing — which is a 2.49% plus a flat 10-cent fee per transaction. For merchants with an average sale of $20 to 40, this is an effective rate of approximately 2.75 to 3.0%.

Bottle POS offers a variety of payment processing options to fit your budget. While we do offer a flat rate, you can save by opting for our interchange plus pricing model of .10% and $.05 cent per transaction, which usually equals an overall effective rate of less than 2%. We also offer a convenient dual pricing option, which lets you pass the cost of processing onto your card-paying customers while rewarding your cash customers with a discount. 

A stress-free setup and onboarding process is essential for getting your new liquor store POS up and running with minimal snags. 

NRS’ system can be set up in minutes, and afterward, you’ll have access to a member of NRS’ team who can answer your questions about the software and walk you through the features.  

Bottle POS’ setup and onboarding process is quick and easy. After taking a few minutes to set up your system, you’ll have a live training session with a liquor industry expert who can show you the software’s features and answer any of your questions. 

With hundreds — if not thousands — of bottles on your shelves, migrating your inventory records to a new POS system can be a challenge. 

NRS will help you import your inventory records, but only if you pay a fee of $249.95. 

Bottle POS includes free inventory import as part of the onboarding process, which is why we’re a great choice if you’re looking for a speedy, smooth transition. 

A trustworthy team of experts can keep your liquor store up and running, even when you run into technical issues.

NRS employs knowledgeable support professionals and offers minimal wait times. 

Bottle POS has an industry-leading support team that’s easy to contact, available 24/7, and has experience supporting liquor store owners just like you.

When you have an issue with your POS system, you need immediate help you get back to making sales. 

NRS’ support team is available from 7 a.m. to midnight EST. This limited availability is why we’ve given Bottle POS the win in this category. 

Bottle POS’ support team is available 24/7, which means you can get answers to your POS questions any time you want. 

Checking reviews is a great way to see how happy other liquor store owners are with their POS system. 

As of September 2024, NRS has earned a Trustpilot rating of 4.6, with 71% of reviewers giving it 5 stars and 21% giving it 1 star as of August 2024. These frequent 1-star reviews are why we didn’t name NRS the winner in this category.

As of September 2024, Bottle POS has earned a Trustpilot rating of 4.8, with 97% of reviewers giving it 5 stars.