THE 5 BEST POS SYSTEMS FOR WINERIES
By Sam Nguyen
This article will dive into the world of wineries and discover the five best POS systems that are tailored to streamline operations of wine businesses.
Key Takeaways
- When selecting a POS system for a winery, it’s vital to consider unique characteristics that are relevant to the wine major, mass-produced commodity such as an extensive inventory management, great compliance support.
- Shopify POS’s outstanding features including app integration, flexibility, and multi-location inventory management make it a good choice for winery businesses, especially for SMEs.
What are the features of a winery POS?
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Customizable purchasing formats Since a winery is likely to sell its product through wholesale and retail channels, any POS used for recording sales needs to be flexible enough to handle both, enabling them to sell wine in various quantities such as gallons, liters, or bottles based on their specific customer segments, from restaurants to bars or testing rooms.
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Wine subscription programs By using a POS system with robust membership and loyalty programs, wineries can track customer preferences, streamline billing cycles, and track inventory to ensure that the right wines are available for subscribers. Moreover, wine subscription programs within the POS can provide wineries with valuable data on customer buying habits and preferences, which can be leveraged for marketing and enhancing customer experiences.
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Multiple pricing lists When wineries sell their products to different customer segments, the purchase volume often dictates the level of discounts offered. In such scenarios, a POS system with the capability to effortlessly switch between different price lists and, in some instances, automatically based on specific criteria is an invaluable feature. This ensures that wineries can always get the right price for the right customer.
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Inventory tracking A POS with ingredient-level inventory tracking is a helpful tool for wineries to manage their business. The POS system should be able to keep track of wine bottles in each case and how much wine you pour each day in your tasting room with real-time updates across selling channels so that wineries can have an overall picture of the business and get notified when the stock runs low.
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Table and reservation management With a user-friendly interface, a POS system provides customers with the status of each table at the tasting room, including occupancy and reservation details. This real-time information allows them to make informed decisions and then book immediately through platforms. Additionally, the system can provide visual cues to identify table availability at a glance, ensuring a smooth and organized dining experience.
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Omnichannel experience With a POS system, customers can place online orders and choose to pick up their shopping carts at any physical store. The system manages the order fulfillment process, ensuring the reserved wines are ready for collection when the customer arrives. Otherwise, they can choose a door-to-door shipping service.
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Customer relationship management POS systems often include customer relationship management (CRM) capabilities. Wineries can capture customer data, track purchase history, and store contact information to personalize customer experience, send targeted promotions or event invitations, and build customer relationships, ultimately fostering customer loyalty, especially for wine connoisseurs.
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Extensive reports Users can utilize POS’s reporting and analytics capabilities to gain insights into your product sales. Wineries can generate sales volumes, track key performance indicators (KPIs), and analyze trends in customer behavior. These judgments assist wineries in making data-driven decisions, optimizing pricing strategies, and identifying areas for improvement.
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Mobile Point-of-sale For wineries seeking to enhance their operations and elevate the customer experience, a mobility POS solution is a must-have. It enables winery staff to promptly process orders, apply discounts, and accept payments from customers in real time.
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Tax rates The wine business has to stick to certain rules, like reporting sales and tax details with government agencies. Taxes on wine sales can be complex, with varying rates based on factors such as location, volume, products and/or services. Therefore, POS should help calculate complex taxes, apply the appropriate tax rates, and ensure precise tax collection and reporting.
Top 5 POS for wineries
Shopify POS
Shopify POS, a leading point-of-sale system, is the first name on the list due to its robust features and integrated options for managing its inventory, online presence, customer relationships, and sales operations. It revolutionizes the way wineries control their businesses and interact with customers.
Pricing
- Software fees: Start at $0/month
- Hardware fees: From $39 to $399
- Processing fees: Start at 2.4% + 0¢
Stand-out features
- Unified Inventory Management: Effective Shopify’s management of inventory across various sales channels guarantees seamless real-time updates of wine stock levels, eliminating any disparities between online and offline inventories. This approach offers a consolidated perspective of your wine inventory, minimizing the risk of running out of stock or having excessive inventory.
- Extensive App Ecosystem: Shopify has a vast ecosystem of apps and integrations that can further enhance the functionality of the POS system. Wineries can explore and leverage specific apps for wine-related features, such as wine club management, vineyard analytics, or compliance tools.
- Mobile Flexibility and Portability: Shopify POS empowers wineries with mobile flexibility, allowing them to make sales on the go with POS Go. With this solution, winery staff can complete transactions on the spot everywhere. Armed with a smartphone or tablet, they have the freedom to move around, providing efficient service and reducing waiting times.
Pros and cons
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Who is this POS best for?
- Small to medium-sized wineries
- Direct-to-consumer sales
- Boutique Wineries
- Wine tastings and events
- Wineries with online presence
Lightspeed Retail POS
Lightspeed Retail POS is a powerful solution that caters specifically to the wine industry. With its comprehensive set of features, this innovative point-of-sale system offers wine retailers the tools they need to streamline sales processing, optimize inventory management, provide personalized customer experiences, and gain valuable insights through analytics.
Pricing
- Software fees: Start at $69/month (billed annually)
- Hardware fees: From $99 to $429
- Processing fees: Start at 2.6% + 10¢
Stand-out features
- Comprehensive Inventory Management: Lightspeed Retail provides robust inventory management capabilities tailored for the wine industry, which allow wineries to track every aspect of each bottle, including vineyard, varietal, vintage, and quantity.
- Wine Club Management: Many wineries have wine club memberships as a significant part of their business. Lightspeed Retail offers tools to manage wine club subscriptions, track member information, and automate recurring orders. Wineries can easily process wine club shipments, manage member preferences, and offer exclusive benefits to their loyal customers.
- Tasting Room Management: Wineries with tasting rooms can benefit from Lightspeed Retail’s features for managing tasting experiences. The system allows wineries to create custom tasting menus, track tasting fees, and process sales transactions on-site.
Pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
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Who is this POS best for?
- Wine bars and tasting rooms
- Wineries with large inventory
- Wineries with multiple locations
- Online wine retail
Revel
Revel is a versatile and comprehensive platform that offers solutions tailored to the needs of wineries, including POS capabilities, inventory management, CRM tools, reporting and analytics, marketing tools, mobility, and scalability.
Pricing
- Software costs: Start at $99/month
- Implementation at $674.00
Stand-out features
- Membership Management: Revel allows wineries to easily create and manage wine club memberships. It provides tools to track member details, membership levels, and preferences. Wineries can set up customized membership tiers, offer different benefits, and easily enroll new members or renew existing ones.
- Automatic Club Shipments: The platform automates the wine club shipment process, from order creation to fulfillment. Wineries can schedule recurring shipments, specify quantities and wine selections for each shipment, and generate packing slips and shipping labels. This streamlines the logistics of club shipments and ensures timely deliveries to members.
- Member Communication and Marketing: Effective communication is crucial to nurturing a strong wine club community. Revel’s wine club management feature provides tools for sending personalized communications, newsletters, and promotions to club members.
Pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
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Who is this POS best for?
- Tasting rooms and wine retailers
- Wineries offer subscription services
- Multiple location businesses
Lavu
Lavu is a leading software solution designed for the food and beverage industry, including the winery field. Specifically, it caters to wineries, vineyards, and wine retailers. The system offers a comprehensive suite of tools and features to streamline and enhance various aspects of wine production, inventory management, sales, and customer engagement.
Pricing
- Software fees: Start at $59/month
- Hardware fees: From $69
Stand-out features
- Vineyard Management: Lavu provides tools for vineyard mapping, crop monitoring, and harvest planning. It allows winemakers to efficiently track and manage their grape production, ensuring optimal vineyard management and improved wine quality.
- Cellar Management: The software assists in cellar management, including fermentation tracking, barrel aging, and inventory management of wine batches. It helps wineries maintain detailed records and ensure quality control throughout the winemaking process.
- Compliance and Regulatory Support: Lavu helps wineries stay compliant with industry regulations and certifications. It provides features for tracking and reporting on compliance requirements, ensuring adherence to legal obligations.
Pros and cons
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Who is this POS best for?
- Vineyards
- Wine Retailers
- Wine producers
- Estate wineries
Korona POS
Korona POS offers wine businesses a comprehensive solution to manage their sales processes efficiently, improve customer service, and gain valuable insights into their operations. Like other POS systems, it helps streamline day-to-day operations, enhances inventory management, and contributes to the growth and success of wine businesses in the industry.
Pricing
- Software fees: Start at $59/month (1 free month if biled annually)
Stand-out features
- Vintage and Batch Management: Korona POS allows businesses to manage multiple wine vintages and batches effectively. It enables the tracking of production dates, vineyard sources, and specific characteristics associated with each batch, ensuring accurate traceability.
- Wine Club and Subscription Management: Many wineries operate wine clubs or subscription programs. Korona POS offers functionality to manage these memberships, including automatic billing, personalized shipments, and member-specific pricing.
- Label Customization and Printing: The software may include features for label customization, enabling wineries to create unique and personalized labels for their wines. Korona POS’s integration with label printing systems allows businesses to generate professional-quality labels in-house.
- Compliance and Age Verification: Korona POS understands the importance of compliance in the wine industry. It includes built-in age verification tools to ensure legal requirements are met when selling alcoholic beverages.
Pros and cons
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Who is this POS best for?
- Franchise wineries
- Tasting rooms and wine bars:
- Wine clubs and subscription services
- Multi-location wine retailers
FAQs
- Revenue Stability: Wine subscriptions provide a recurring revenue stream, typically through monthly or quarterly shipments. This helps stabilize cash flow and provides a predictable income source for the business.
- Customer Retention: Wine subscriptions encourage customer loyalty and retention. Subscribers often commit to a certain period or number of shipments, which increases the likelihood of repeat purchases.
- Inventory Management: With wine subscriptions, wineries can better manage their inventory. This minimizes the risk of excess inventory or stockouts, optimizing inventory turnover and reducing holding costs.
- Upselling and Cross-Selling Opportunities: Wine subscriptions provide opportunities for upselling and cross-selling. Businesses can offer different subscription tiers with premium or exclusive wines, allowing subscribers to upgrade their packages for a higher price.
- Assess Your Needs: Identify the key functionalities you need in a POS system, such as inventory management, wine club management,...
- Set a Budget: Consider both the upfront costs and ongoing costs. Evaluate the return on investment (ROI) potential and weigh it against the expenses to determine a realistic budget.
- Research Available Options: Consider factors like reputation, customer reviews, vendor track record, and the system's scalability to ensure it can grow with your winery.
- Compare Features: Create a list of the key features you require and compare them across different POS systems.
- Request Demos and Trials: Reach out to POS system providers and request demos or trials to get hands-on experience with the software, understand its user interface, etc.
- Seek References and Recommendations: Reach out to other industry peers who have experience with POS systems to seek their feedback. Their insights can provide valuable perspectives for your decision-making process.
- Subscription-Based Pricing: The cost can range from around $50 to $300 or more per month, depending on the features, number of users, and additional services included.
- Tiered Pricing: They may have different packages with varying levels of features and support, with prices ranging from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars per year.
- Licensing or One-Time Fee: The cost can range from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars, depending on the complexity and capabilities of the software.
