Best POS System for Liquor Stores

The best POS system for liquor stores is Square POS, for its fast setup and ease of use, as well as its popular hardware options and competitive pricing, which includes a generous free plan. On top of that, it provides tax reporting, so you can stay on top of your states liquor regulations without concern.

In comparison to other POS systems like Shopify, which has great ecommerce integrations for liquor stores that sell across channels, Square offers more complex analytics to help you understand how your sales are progressing. Shopify is the best POS for liquor stores that need to manage larger inventories, but Square offers automatic restocking — a vital perk that helps make Square a better POS system for liquor stores overall.

Read on to learn more about each brand’s software and hardware offerings, and the pros and cons of each, or get a personalized POS quote from our specialist team.

In this guide:

• Best POS Systems for Liquor Stores
• What Are the Features of Liquor Store POS Software?
• How We Reached Our Verdict
• Verdict: What Is the Best POS for Liquor Stores?
• Frequently Asked Questions

Best POS Systems for Liquor Stores

In order to meet the steady demand of liquor store business, owners need reliable POS systems they can depend on year-round, which is why we tested every suitable POS system for liquor stores and rated them across multiple categories in order to determine how each one compares. Here are our top providers:

• Square – Best overall POS system for liquor stores
• Clover – Best for rapid expansion
• Shopify – Best for extensive, varied inventories
• Lightspeed Retail – Best for improving customer loyalty
• Epos Now – Best for avoiding monthly costs

1. Square – Best POS for Liquor Stores

Square POS is the best POS system for most liquor stores: It’s easy to use, offers a robust feature catalog including excellent employee management tools, and its free plan is one of the most generous in our research. In fact, it’s the only option on this list with a good enough free plan to manage the needs of liquor stores, although if you plan to grow, a paid plan is likely your best bet.

The inventory management system is comprehensive, even for beginners, whether you’re selling liquor or jeans. Source: Tech.co testing

More specifically, Square offers detailed tax reporting, useful for any business that deals with state and federal liquor tax, and automatic restocking, which ensures your store won’t run out of its most popular beers, wines, and liquors. Plus, the software still accepts payment even when not connected to the internet, for those with an unreliable network.

In fact, our research found that Square is our best-rated retail POS in general, suggesting the POS will be up to the task if you’re selling other goods alongside liquor too.

Square POS pricing

Pricing from: Free, but 2.6% + 10¢ per transaction

Since profit margins for liquor stores tend to be on the lower side, finding a cost-effective POS is a huge bonus. Square understands this concern and offers a free POS package that only charges businesses a percentage of each transaction, allowing them to keep overheads as low as possible.

For those after more advanced inventory and business growth functions, Square also offers a Plus package that retails at $60 per month and a Premium package with custom pricing.

Despite Square’s affordability, the POS does have one big downside when it comes to liquor store use: It doesn’t provide built-in age verification. It does offer more than one third-party integration to cover this feature, however, which will cost extra. Since Square aced every other major consideration for a POS, we still gave it first place.

What’s more, while the flat-rate transaction fees help small operations save costs, large companies will have more transactions and more fees — if you’re in charge of a large business, consider Lightspeed POS instead of Square.

Check out our Square pricing guide

2. Clover – Best for Rapid Expansion

If you’re hoping to turn your liquor store into a retail empire, Clover has the tools to help you do it. This POS providers offers an extensive app store to help you facilitate growth, with third party integrations for everything from time clocks and loyalty programs to gift cards and calendar functionality.

I was really impressed with how many integrations Clover offered when I browsed it. Source: Tech.co testing

Beyond that, Clover also boasts some of the best hardware options across our research. The top-quality terminals offer advanced features, like fingerprint scanning for fast staff logins and haptic feedback, so your team is confident that every button press actually works. It also offers its own brand of receipt printers, which no other provider on this list can say.

Even better, if these hardware costs are bit too much from a financial standpoint, you can finance them and pay a smaller monthly fee in addition to the monthly cost of the software.

Clover pricing

Pricing from: $60 per month (Retail Starter Plan)

Unlike Square and Vend POS, Clover’s doesn’t include a free trial. While some customers can get started with Clover for $14.95 per month, liquor stores will need to fork out at least $60 per month for a plan better suited to their needs — the Retail Starter plan. Customers will need to pay 2.6% + 10¢ per transaction too.

While the retail price is costlier than other alternatives, it does include access to Clover Mini – a 8″ touchscreen POS – which helps to justify its larger price tag.

If you’re in need of more advanced hardware and software options, Clover’s Standard plan offers improved inventory and reporting features, plus access to a Station Duo POS system for $130 per month with 2.3% + 10¢ per transaction.

Clover Advanced, on the other hand, includes Clover’s full suite of features and access to a Station Duo and Flex, making it more appropriate for large or chain liquor stores. However, it’s on the higher end of the pricing spectrum, costing $175 per month plus 2.3% + 10¢ per sale.

Read our Clover pricing guide for more information

3. Shopify – Best for Extensive, Varied Inventories

In our research, we found that Shopify actually has the best software offering across all POS providers, offering robust functionality for employee management, customer engagement, analytics, and third-party integrations. Suffice it to say, if you’re looking for a strong backend, Shopify is going to be your top pick.

We found it easy to add products in Shopify with basic categorization features. Source: Tech.co testing

Another spot where Shopify shines is the help and support options. You can reach them in all the standard ways, like phone, email, live chat, and even social media. On top of that, Shopify offered the most functionality knowledge center across our research, providing necessary information with comprehensive search functionality.

It’s worth noting that Shopify is an ecommerce website builder first that offers a POS system along with it, similar to Square, although Shopify’s ecommerce platform is far more advanced. As a liquor store, you might not necessarily need online store functionality at the present time, but it never hurts to have the option.

Shopify pricing

Pricing from: $89 per month

The Shopify POS Pro plan starts at a pricey $89 per month, but a more limited Shopify Lite plan is only $5 per month (with per-transaction fees that start at 1.5%). Add in the fact that the service is compatible with most POS hardware, and it’s a great way for a small business to save on costs.

The Shopify website builder supports liquor sales as well: Liquor store managers will be able to set up shipping restrictions in their Shopify admin panel to meet state regulations and can include an age verification pop-up window on their website.

4. Lightspeed Retail – Best for Improving Customer Loyalty

Success is driven by retention, which is why Lightspeed Retail makes such an effort to provide loyalty program functionality across its plans. This built-in loyalty system will award customers with points automatically, encouraging them to return to earn more as they shop. In fact, the loyalty system from Lightspeed offers the most features of any loyalty program in our research, including automated campaigns and personalized messaging that are not found on Square or Clover.

Even better, if you’re willing to pay a bit more, you can automate these features in tandem with your marketing system to see some serious growth.

We found the ordering system on Lightspeed Retail clear and concise, for sunglasses as well as liquor. Source: Tech.co testing

Lightspeed’s integrated customer rewards system and omnichannel loyalty tools as well as its affordable terminal hardware make it a good pick for a large operation. The service’s range of features covers all the core areas a liquor store needs, from business development tools and management abilities to till features like barcode setup and product variants.

Since handling large, varied stockpiles is one of the biggest burdens liquor stores face, Lightspeed’s granular inventory features solidify its position as a top POS for liquor stores.

Read our Lightspeed POS review for more information

Lightspeed pricing

Pricing from: $89 per month

Lightspeed costs $89 per terminal, per month under the Basic plan, although more features are available with the other two plans, Core at $149 per month, and Plus at $239 per month. All plans include the same transaction fees: 2.6% + 10¢ with card and 2.6% + 30¢ without a card present.

Inventory management tools allow users to buy by the case and sell by the bottle, and low stock alerts can be triggered to let managers know when a big seller needs to be restocked. Staffers can be prompted to request an ID check with every liquor purchase. Lightspeed has several useful liquor-store-specific integrations as well, from ID verification for age-restricted sales to a delivery, shipping and in-store pickup functionality.

There’s no training mode available, but the POS is otherwise easy to figure out, with a good customer satisfaction score and support options.

5. Epos Now – Best for Avoiding Monthly Costs

Simply put, Epos Now is a rock-solid POS option. Compared to other options on the list, it doesn’t outperform anyone in any particular category, but provides an all-around good solution with plenty of hardware solutions, intuitive software, and respectable help and support options.

We were able to easily track sales with Epos Now reporting tools. Source: Tech.co testing

One area that Epos really excels at, though, is inventory management, a vital functionality for liquor stores given the wealth and variety of stock. Epos Now offers built-in features for inventory management that can provide no and low stock alerts, bulk inventory functionality, and cost/profit management tools to keep track of your sales.

Where Epos set itself apart, though, is the price…

Epos Now pricing

Pricing from: $449 (one-time)

The biggest difference between Epos Now and the other POS solutions on this list is that Epos Now offers its hardware and software solution without a monthly charge. That’s right, if you can afford the one-time fee for the complete Epos Now solution, you’ll incur no monthly costs whatsoever. Of course, there are still transaction fees, which come out to 2.6% + 10¢ in the US, but in the long run, the lack of a monthly charge can be a great value proposition.

Yes, the hardware solution from Epos Now is quite expensive. At $449 for one device, you’ll have to shell out the big bucks, particularly if you’re looking at more than one terminal. Still, the company offers financing that can keep the cost low on a monthly basis, particularly considering there’s no monthly software charge to go along with it.

What Are the Features of Liquor Store POS Software?

The biggest POS software feature a liquor store needs is age verification. The business could be fined or lose its license if it sells alcohol to any underage customer, so the cashier must be able to quickly and easily verify IDs. A simple pop-up can work, but a POS that integrates with ID scanner hardware is the easiest.

You’ll also want complex stock management tools that account for discounts, two-for-one deals, and liquor taxes, which vary by state. These tools should also be able to track case breaks — when the store buys a case of wine or beer, but sells it by the bottle.

Finally, you’ll want a POS system that tracks all the data you need in order to ensure you remain compliant with local and federal laws covering liquor licenses. The legality of on-demand alcohol delivery varies by state, too.

How We Reached Our Verdict

For liquor store POS systems, we gave extra weight to the most industry-relevant features, like age verification and stock management. Overall quality across all categories remained the key factor.

Frequently Asked Questions