6 Best Liquor Store POS POS Systems in 2023

The BottlePOS dashboard shows your sales, voids and top sellers at a glance.
(Source: BottlePOS)

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The BottlePOS customer rewards screen prompts customers to enter their phone number to track and redeem rewards. (Source: BottlePOS)

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Built-in inventory management is one of BottlePOS’s strong suits. (Source: BottlePOS)

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In the BottlePOS inventory module, you can add detailed product and pricing information, including case break details. (Source: BottlePOS)

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Your BottlePOS comes with easy timekeeping to speed payroll processing.
(Source: BottlePOS)

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BottlePOS tracks your cash counts directly in the POS so you can track the movement of all bills and pull cash management reports to identify suspicious transaction patterns. (Source: BottlePOS)

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Automated inventory

The easy, automated inventory management is the first feature a BottlePOS representative will share with you. This feature is the most user-friendly inventory system on this list and includes vendor and purchase order management, low stock alerts and auto-generated suggested orders. Inventory tracking is included in the baseline POS, but adding invoice management comes with a $40 per month charge.

Included customer loyalty

BottlePOS front loads customer loyalty and rewards. If you use a touch-screen customer-facing display (available for purchase from BottlePOS), customers can enter their phone number to enroll, track, and redeem rewards while your cashiers ring in the sale.

Built-in ecommerce site

BottlePOS comes with a built-in ecommerce site to drive online orders. Others on this list (Square, KORONA), also include this feature, but BottlePOS will build your site for you. Their site builder also includes thousands of high-quality product images so your website will look as sharp and professional as the major chain stores.

Smartphone functionality

You can access all of BottlePOS’s back-office functions on a smartphone. So you can place orders, view reports, and edit time cards when you are away from your store.

Cash discounting

You can configure your BottlePOS liquor store point of sale with dual prices: one for cash sales and the other for credit card sales to legally pass credit card processing fees on to customers.

Custom quotes for hardware, software, and installation are available. Hardware is optional; BottlePOS can operate on multiple types of compatible liquor point-of-sale hardware.

You can access inventory and other KORONA reports from a smartphone.
(Source: KORONA)

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KORONA’s reporting dashboard shows key performance metrics at a glance.
(Source: KORONA)

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Flexible Payments

KORONA does not include built-in payment processing, instead opting to integrate with all major payment processors. So you can shop for the lowest processing rates and be sure you are getting the absolute best terms.

Robust liquor inventory tools

KORONA tracks inventory as you sell it, updating on-hand stock in real time. When it’s time to resupply, you can create purchase orders (POs) directly in your KORONA dashboard. KORONA speeds physical inventory counts with an integrated scan-to-count smartphone app.

Antitheft features

KORONA supports unlimited users and customized permissions, so you can control exactly what information each employee can access. It tracks voids and refunds by employees and supports blind cash drops so you can easily spot cash overages or shortages in cashier tills.

Age verification

You can set the system to prompt cashiers to enter a date of birth before processing a transaction or attach ID scanners to your POS and swipe IDs for age verification. Age verification prompts are added by product sector, so you don’t need to assign age restrictions to individual products manually.

Liquor industry integrations

Integrations with bLoyal and BottlecApps allow you to extend your loyalty features, create a customer-facing app, add shipping and an integrated ecommerce site, or offer local delivery (where local law permits).

Lightspeed Retail supports an optional, integrated ecommerce site for online sales. (Source: Lightspeed)

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You can scan customer IDs to verify age. (Source: Lightspeed)

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The second step of the age verification process prompts cashiers to check that the information on the screen matches the information on the customer ID.
(Source: Lightspeed)

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Lightspeed Retail supports detailed inventory tracking with purchase order management. (Source: Lightspeed)

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Multistep age verification

Your Lightspeed POS prompts your cashiers to scan customer IDs and then check that the scanned information matches the front of the ID. This two-step process can be a game changer for liquor stores in college towns or areas with a high incidence of fake IDs.

Shop by appointment

Lightspeed Retail includes appointment booking tools that allow you to create in-store shopping appointments. This is a great tool to offer VIPs or wine clubs or to use when you receive shipments of allocated bottles.

Email and short message service (SMS) marketing tools

Lightspeed Retail includes direct email and SMS marketing tools. Users can add Lightspeed’s built-in tools at the Advanced subscription tier ($199 per month) or rely on integrations with Ikeono for targeted text promotions and Mailchimp for targeted emails.

Built-in ecommerce tools

Lightspeed Retail users that subscribe at the Standard ($119 per month) or Advanced ($199 per month) level can add an integrated ecommerce site to the Lightspeed Retail POS. Integrations with BlueCheck and AdVision Age Verification support age verification in your online store.

Drizly integration

Like mPower Beverage, Lightspeed Retail integrates with Drizly, the ecommerce and local delivery app designed specifically for liquor stores.

IT Retail prompts your cashiers to apply customer rewards points when available. (Source: IT Retail)

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IT Retail’s inventory module tracks complex product mixes with case-break abilities. (Source: IT Retail)

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Theft protection

Your IT Retail POS analyzes every transaction for suspicious activity. It will flag transactions that managers should review for possible theft. The electronic journal feature saves a record of transactions so that you can see customers’ and cashiers’ actions at the till. The system also integrates with Remote Eyes, a video surveillance system that coordinates suspicious POS transactions with video clips.

Rewards prompt

Your IT Retail POS will alert cashiers when customers have unused rewards or loyalty points. The system scans itself based on the customer’s payment information and prompts cashiers to apply rewards before finalizing payment.

Mobile reporting app

IT Retail’s mobile reporting app allows you to see your store’s performance metrics from your phone, tablet, or off-site computer.

Robust reporting and analytics

IT Retail’s reports include robust sales and inventory reports. You can see the value of your current inventory at a glance and set low stock alerts to prompt new orders. You can segment reports to get a clear view of what stock is not selling. The system also includes detailed employee performance tracking to identify training opportunities or reward high performers.

mPower POS operates on Windows devices that run Windows 10 or later. You can use hardware you already own, purchase from a third-party supplier, or purchase hardware from mPower for custom-quoted prices.

The mPower POS inventory dashboard tracks a wealth of product information. (Source: mPower POS)

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You can track multiple sizes of the same product easily with the mPower POS. (Source: mPower)

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With mPower POS, you can accept multiple payment types, including payments from popular third-party platforms like Drizly and Minibar. (Source: mPower)

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Robust reporting, including state-specific reports

mPower includes a wealth of sales and inventory reports to help you track your stock by the case or bottle and generate new orders. You can drill down into your sales and cost data and convert any report into a chart. Like POS Nation, mPower also supports some state-specific reports, like the TABC reports for Texas shops.

10 ecommerce integrations

mPower integrates with a whopping 10 different liquor-industry-specific ecommerce tools. Popular tools like BottlecApps and Drync give you a branded mobile app. Drizly and Minibar support local delivery where local laws permit. CityHive, Sellr, and WineFetch help users create high-functioning ecommerce websites. The BottleRoom 3 platform expands your store’s reach by connecting you with rebates, coupons, and promotions from major brands. If you need a branded ecommerce website that integrates with your POS, the Thirstie integration has you covered.

Reserve function

Your mPower Beverage POS includes a reserve function so customers can order special bottles ahead of a specific date. If your store rents kegs for private events, you can reserve kegs for a specific date and quickly recall the reserved order at a later date to process the payment.

Square for Retail’s inventory function can track multiple sizes of the same item. (Source: Square)

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You can sell your products online via a free, fully integrated Square Online Store. (Source: Square)

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You can easily accept orders for shipping (where legally permitted) and pickup directly from your free Square Online Store. (Source: Square)

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Free POS

The baseline Square for Retail POS is free to use for unlimited terminals. The Free POS only comes with a single set of user permissions, but this may be enough for small liquor stores or those just starting out. You can easily upgrade to a higher subscription tier as your business grows.

Free online store

All Square accounts come with a free Square Online Store. The online inventory syncs with your in-store inventory, so you can easily sell online for pickup or—where legally permitted—delivery. The Online Store includes pop-up tools for age verification to ensure your online orders comply with age requirements.

Square business ecosystem

Square POS communicates seamlessly with the full suite of Square small business tools. You can add loyalty, email and text message marketing, team management, payroll, and more to run your business. Nearly every Square tool offers a free subscription, free trial, or pay-as-you-go plan, so you only pay for what you use.

Vincipia integration

Square for Retail integrates with the beer, wine, and spirits ecommerce platform Vincipia. Vincipia includes compliance tools to ensure your online sales comply with local liquor laws. Vincipia also includes club management and batch processing tools for subscriptions and wine clubs.

This liquor store POS ranking features the expertise of three POS experts—Mary King, Anna Lynn Dizon, and Meaghan Brophy. Combined, they share more than 15 years of retail and POS experience.

	Mary King has more than 14 years of experience using POS systems in real-world small businesses and more than three years evaluating small business retail and restaurant software.
	Anna Dizon is a retail expert writer with more than five years of experience evaluating POS and payments tools for small businesses. She holds degrees in accountancy and financial management.
	Meaghan Brophy has 10-plus years of retail experience, during which she has operated a variety of cash registers and POS systems in different settings and applications. Since working in retail, Meaghan has more than seven years of experience writing for retailers and four years of experience evaluating POS systems.

In our research, we found that BottlePOS was the best liquor store POS for most liquor stores. Individual needs may vary (a small store that only needs a single POS station can save money by using Lightspeed or Square), but overall, BottlePOS is an excellent place to start your search for a liquor point of sale.

Liquor store POS costs run the gamut from $0 to $900+ for hardware and from $0 to $150 per month for software and customer support. Payment processing fees are an additional cost per transaction. But increasingly liquor stores are offsetting processing costs by using cash discount settings that enable them to pass the cost of processing on to customers.