8 Best Liquor Store POS Systems In 2023

The above plans only include one POS register. Extra POS register software costs $59/register/month.

Many of Lightspeed’s best features, such as Lightspeed Subscriptions and appointment booking, cost an extra monthly fee. Additionally, third-party software integrations cost extra.

Lightspeed Retail’s excellent bottle inventory management features include the ability to:

• Quickly add and edit item catalogs from vendors
• Create master purchase orders to mass-order from different brands all at once
• Set automated reordering points, using inventory reports to create a par level and designate ideal reordering quantities
• Allow customers to backorder items and get alerts when favorited items are back in stock
• Integrate your Lightspeed Retail bottle inventory with a bottle deposit integration to get refunds on empty bottles

High-end liquor stores that sell limited edition bottles, want to sell to B2B customers such as restaurants or event venues or want to get into catering will appreciate Lightspeed’s special ordering and appointment booking features.

You can create B2B catalogs, allow customers to log into accounts to get special bulk pricing, generate quotes that convert to order invoices, and allow customers to book appointments.

Lightspeed Retail wine order quote for B2B restaurant customer.

Appointments can be used to schedule private tastings, discuss catering plans, and even rent out your location as a tasting or party venue. In fact, Lightspeed’s appointment and event management capabilities are what make it one of the best wine POS systems on the market.

Last, we must mention Lightspeed’s online ordering capabilities. You can build custom bottle club subscriptions using Lightspeed Subscriptions, and sell online using Lightspeed eCommerce. Allow people to order for in-store pickup, ship items with custom shipping methods, and integrate your POS system with Drizly, one of the best third-party delivery services, to get more online exposure in your local area.

Lightspeed Retail POS register, Bluetooth barcode scanner, and online storefront.

You can purchase a Lightspeed Payments-compatible WisePOS e-card reader for $299 and an iPad for $329.

Lightspeed offers accessories such as an iPad stand for $199, a cash drawer for $129, a barcode scanner for $199, a label printer for $124, and a receipt printer for $399.

Contact a Lightspeed representative and ask about a discount on a retail POS hardware bundle.

All new and existing merchant have to use Lightspeed’s built-in payment processor, Lightspeed Payments, which charges a flat rate of 2.6% + $0.10 for in-person transactions and 2.9% + $0.30 for online transactions.

Lightspeed offers month-to-month contracts and annual contracts.

We always recommend starting with monthly plans until you decide you’re completely satisfied with your purchase since many POS providers (including Lightspeed) charge an early termination fee if you cancel your plan early. Lightspeed’s early termination fees can get pretty substantial depending on the length of your subscription.

Like many other software providers, Lightspeed will automatically charge you for another subscription term unless you inform a Lightspeed representative within 90 days (for those with a longer contract) or 30 days (for those who signed up for a monthly plan) of your renewal date.

To qualify for Lightspeed’s 30-day hardware warranty (14 days for Apple products), you must verify that you have received your Lightspeed hardware purchase within five business days of receiving it.

Square’s free plan is only available (and only advisable) for retailers with one location. You may use an unlimited number of POS devices in any one location.

Most of the features that high-stock liquor stores need, such as bulk importing items and vendor management, are only available on the Square for Retail Plus plan. On the Plus plan, you get one register per location. Each additional device costs $40/device/month.

Square also offers add-ons such as:

• Square Loyalty: $45+/month; offer a points-based reward program to your repeat customers
• Square Marketing: $15+/month; send automated email and text campaigns about upcoming specials, member opportunities, new releases, and more

Square For Retail’s most unique feature is its completely free online ordering site builder, which allows you to:

• Create your own branded website using an intuitive website builder
• Set up an age verification popup on your website
• Offer online ordering for pickup, local delivery, and shipping
• Place request forms to take catering orders, get details about special events, or order specialty liquor
• Offer wine club memberships with varying tiers and payment terms
• Create events and sell tickets online

Square POS catering request form on liquor store online ordering website.

If you don’t have the staffing to deliver alcohol, Square integrates with DoorDash, so you can always offer delivery on demand.

Prospective customers will be able to find your products when they search for local liquor store listings with the Google Local Product Listings integration, which will drive more traffic to your store without you having to spend any money on advertising.

Square POS register and customer-facing display.

The only hardware you absolutely need to use Square for Retail is an iPad or iPhone and a $49 Square contactless card reader ($69 for the newly released second-generation card reader.) However, most liquor store businesses will want a countertop setup that includes the $799 Square Register or the $149 Square Stand, plus peripheral equipment such as a barcode scanner and cash register.

Square hardware kits start at $579 for Square Stand kits, which include a Square iPad stand with an integrated card reader, a cash drawer, a receipt printer, and printer paper.

You may also purchase a Square Register kit, which includes Square’s proprietary register device with a second screen that acts as a customer-facing display, cash drawer, receipt printer, and printer paper, for $1,189.

You cannot use an outside payment processor with Square for Retail.

On the free version of Square for Retail, Square Payments charges a flat rate of 2.6% + $0.10 for in-person transactions. On the paid version, Square charges 2.5% + $0.10.

Square charges a payment processing fee of 2.9% + $0.30 for online orders, no matter which subscription plan you enroll in.

Square for Retail contracts are month-to-month, and you can cancel at any time without consequences. The company also has a great hardware warranty.

The only caveat is that since Square is a payment service provider (PSP) rather than a dedicated merchant account provider, the security algorithm is more sensitive; large or suspicious purchases can sometimes trigger a flag on your account (warranted or not). However, most merchants do not experience this problem with Square.

The advertised pricing has a two-terminal minimum, meaning that the lowest you can pay for this system is $198/month. This price is also only available for business owners who agree to Revel’s standard three-year contract and use of Revel’s in-house payment processor.

However, many of Revel’s best features, including its online ordering features and delivery management, require an extra monthly subscription.

There’s also a mandatory one-time $674 implementation fee, which covers your Revel software setup and personalized training.

Revel has a retail and a restaurant POS system rolled into one software package, so you can sell anything from fresh snacks to entire made-to-order meals along with alcohol. Revel also has a built-in online ordering and delivery system, a catering management system, and a strong offline mode, so you can cater events or sell on-location at vendor events.

Revel has made handling inventory at multiple locations as smooth as possible by including stock transfers between locations, price adjustments based on locations, different low-stock alerts for items in different locations, and preferred vendors depending on each store’s location. You can also change the percentage markup for an individual item or a group of items as a simple way to update your profit margins.

Plus, Revel has created a unique establishment hierarchy tree for franchise owners to manage different locations, accept royalty payments from franchisees, and restrict franchise manager settings so that they can manipulate the POS at their individual locations but not on a company-wide level.

Revel Systems multilocation management settings captured on 3/13/2023.

There are great security features available within the Revel ecosystem, including blind stock takes and till counts so that you can see discrepancies, extensive employee permission settings, and even security camera integrations, so you can have an eye on all locations from one centralized area.

Revel Systems POS register, customer-facing display, receipt printer, and card reader.

All prospective Revel users must get a hardware quote from a Revel representative. You may then purchase hardware directly from Revel or get permission from Revel in writing to purchase specific hardware on your own.

All Revel software, including POS systems, self-serve kiosks, and kitchen display systems, run on iPads or proprietary hardware from providers like Epson.

Revel offers its own in-house payment processor, Revel Advantage. Revel will ask for information related to your time in business, average transaction size, and sales volumes and then give you a custom quote on payment processing rates.

You may also work with a third-party payment processor, such as Tyro, Moneris, or Adyen, although Revel may charge an added monthly fee if you do.

An added recurring fee may be worth it if a third-party payment processor can offer a much lower rate than Revel (and Revel doesn’t agree to match a better offer).

Revel’s standard contract length is three years, but we always recommend negotiating a month-to-month contract to start with whenever possible.

This is especially true when it comes to Revel Systems, which has an early termination fee of twice the monthly amount you would have paid over the rest of your contract term, or $15,000, whichever is greater.

Contracts are automatically renewed yearly after your initial contract, but you can cancel it by giving a Revel representative at least a 30-day notice.

Revel is a great POS system, but you should be really sure about this software before committing to it long-term.

KORONA offers two monthly plans as well as the following best retail POS system add-ons:

• Plus: $20/month/terminal; includes advanced inventory management features like order level optimization and the ability to create different product pricing for each location
• Invoicing: $10/terminal/month; includes features like quotes, rentals, and invoicing
• Ticketing: $50/month/gate; includes features like ticket tiers and printing, customer management, and entry gate management
• Franchise: $30/month/franchise; includes features like automated royalty payments and consolidated inventory management
• Integration: $45/month/integration via KORONA’s open API

Other features, such as self-serve kiosk hardware and software, require a custom quote.

Note: You get a discount if you pay for a year in advance.

KORONA is a versatile POS system with excellent retail features. It’s best for businesses that may experience an excess of theft and businesses that are interested in franchising since KORONA has franchising capabilities on its higher-tier plans.

Register features include ID scanner prompts, an integrated ID scanner, the ability to pause transactions, transaction monitoring, and detailed cashier reports. It’s possible to integrate KORONA with a liquor store-specific loyalty program, and customers can redeem them at checkout.

You can reduce theft at the register with loss prevention measures, such as forced drawer closing, price change restrictions, blind till counts, manager override requirements, and easy inventory audits.

KORONA POS liquor store register manager functions.

KORONA offers a smartphone-based inventory scanner app to perform physical inventory counts without purchasing additional hardware. You’ll get overstock, low-stock, and slow-moving stock alerts so that you can optimize your ordering practices. You can set ideal stock levels for automated reordering and even monitor where shipments are in the delivery process. Employees can receive orders in the back office dashboard, at the register, or on the smartphone-based app.

An eCommerce store builder is available on all KORONA plans. Your website includes an online age verification function, preordering capabilities, custom shipping settings, and multistore support.

KORONA POS register, barcode scanner, and receipt printer.

KORONA doesn’t list hardware pricing on its website but mentions that its software works on most desktops and tablets.

You can integrate your POS with card readers from Verifone, PAX, Genius, and Econduit. Epson and ESC/POS are common receipt printers that integrate with KORONA. You can add just about any cash drawer or barcode scanner to your setup.

KORONA states that it offers hardware leases and financing, but you can choose your own setup if it costs less.

KORONA doesn’t include in-house processing, but it integrates with several processors, including Merchant Warehouse and Merchant Payment Systems, as well as various others using Genius and PAX payment terminals.

KORONA contracts are month-to-month, with the option to pay for a year in advance for a discount. However, if you agree to a hardware lease through KORONA, make sure you read the fine print, since leases can cost you a lot of money over the years (and we generally don’t recommend equipment leases.)

Shopify’s eCommerce pricing plans range from $39/month to $399/month. You get 25% off if you pay for an entire year upfront. Each eCommerce plan (that comes with a full store) offers the “Shopify POS Lite” app for free.

For more retail features, such as store pickup and unlimited staff accounts, you’ll need the $89/month/location Shopify Pro subscription, which you can add to an eCommerce plan.

Alternatively, Shopify now offers its POS Lite app and POS Pro apps as separate products. This means that you don’t need a Shopify eCommerce subscription to sell in person and with a simple online store (not a full custom Shopify online store).

The POS Lite app without an eCommerce subscription costs $5/month, but Shopify charges such a high transaction fee for sales that signing up for an eCommerce plan (all eCommerce plans come with the POS Lite app) is a better solution for everyone except very small retailers. The POS Pro app without the eCommerce plan is good if your sales are mostly in-person.

Your payment processing rate decreases on higher-level plans. Businesses with larger transaction volumes should strongly consider upgrading to save money in the long run.

Additionally, while there are many free Shopify apps on the company’s app market, some require you to sign up for a paid subscription.

Though Shopify is primarily known for its stellar eCommerce sales software, it has built an in-person sales app into its core product offering. Businesses that are interested in starting a nationwide wine and spirits club, selling specialty items around the country, distributing alcohol online to restaurants and bars, or performing any other online sales (where legal) can benefit from Shopify’s multichannel selling features.

Shopify’s online selling features start with a great website builder that offers themes for small catalogs, large catalogs, and wholesale, plus an age verification popup, customer accounts, and promotions. Shopify’s admin dashboard includes a shipping suite full of tools to make shipping locally and nationwide (where legal) simple, automatically synced inventory, so you never sell what you don’t have, the ability to print shipping labels, and shipping discounts with major postal carriers.

Shopify online liquor store template.

Offline sales features include several ID verification scanner apps, employee permissions, a mobile smartphone-enabled POS app, and the ability to build custom inventory management flows. Local shoppers can buy online and pick up in-store or buy in-store for local delivery.

Many important inventory management features for liquor store owners are not built into the Shopify platform. However, you can get almost any specific feature you need in the form of an app from the Shopify app store. There are apps for purchase ordering, B2B sales, managing alcohol taxes, and building retail catalogs (including a wine-specific catalog-building app), among the thousands of apps available for all sorts of functions.

Shopify POS register stand with card reader.

The Shopify app itself runs on most phones and tablets.

The Shopify Chip & Swipe Reader, which is the bare minimum requirement for taking card and mobile phone payments, starts at $29. The most expensive hardware is the $639 Shopify Star® mPOP™ With Scanner, an all-in-one customizable retail hardware package that’s recommended for liquor stores.

Not sure what equipment your retail POS system needs? Read our post on Shopify hardware choices, which includes pricing and where to source your hardware.

Shopify payment processing ranges from 2.4% to 2.7% for in-person transactions, depending on which monthly plan you subscribe to. Online payments range from 2.4% to 2.9% (plus a $0.30 flat fee) per transaction.

You can also integrate an outside payment processor, though Shopify will charge a transaction fee ranging from 0.5% to 2%. That extra transaction fee may be worth it if you can get a good payment processing rate with a merchant services provider.

Shopify plans are month-to-month, with no hidden fees or obligations. However, Shopify does offer a 25% discount on annual plans.

One thing to be aware of is that, like Square, Shopify Payments (powered by Stripe) is a payment service provider, not a merchant services provider, so you won’t get a dedicated merchant account. This type of payment processing model can lead to account stability problems for some merchants.

IT Retail has a “build and price” page that allows you to get a free quote on a hardware/software plan (for one market) based on the number of lanes you want to put in your store and the kind of hardware you want to add onto your basic IT Retail proprietary hardware setup. You don’t have to contact anyone for a quote — quotes are automatically generated and emailed to you.

The company also offers the following prebuilt packages (only available for businesses with one location):

• Flex Monthly: $199/month/terminal (pay monthly for your POS software and hardware)
• Freedom Standard: $1,499/terminal (one-time hardware fee) plus $99/month (software fees)
• Freedom Premium: $1,999/terminal (one-time hardware fee) plus monthly software fee

The above packages require you to use IT Retail’s in-house payment processor.

IT Retail is one of the best grocery store POS systems that has also been adapted for general retail and foodservice establishments. This is why, in addition to liquor sales, you can sell EBT/WIC-eligible items, weighted items such as produce or fresh salad from a salad bar, and made-to-order meals.

IT Retail grocery and liquor store cash register user interface.

IT Retail requires ID verification when scanning an age-restricted item such as a bottle of wine or a six-pack of beer, which allows them to scan a mix of products in one order while maintaining ID verification laws. If a customer doesn’t have their ID on them, cashiers can suspend orders and take other patrons while waiting on the ID.

There are thorough inventory management features, including case breakdowns, automated purchase ordering, expected versus actually received stock, and blind stock counts. It’s easy to create preplanned price changes, use one-click percentage markup adjustments, make pricing adjustments by vendors (handy for when vendors change prices on multiple items), and use shrinkage management features. Stores that offer multiple types of items can specify which items require an ID when creating or updating an item.

This system also has great security features. The POS itself scans through every transaction and flags any suspicious activity. There’s also an electronic diary of all customer transactions, so it’s easy to monitor employee and customer activity. Plus, IT Retail integrates with Remote Eyes, a security system that can monitor the register, receiving areas, and more.

IT Retail POS register with integrated weight scale, receipt printer, and card reader.

You may pay for your hardware on a monthly basis or all at once. You can use IT Retail’s build and price tool to get a fast, no-contact quote on how much you can expect to pay for your exact system setup.

IT Retail’s base hardware offering includes a touch PC, barcode scanner, receipt printer, cash drawer, pin pad, and customer display. You may add additional barcode scanners or register scales to your hardware package.

IT Retail offers its own in-house payment processor with flat-rate and interchange-plus pricing. You must get a quote from IT Retail for your specific payment processing rate.

IT Retail is a highly customizable system, so you must read your contract thoroughly to make sure you’re getting the best terms.

There are no returns on hardware, so make sure IT Retail is the right POS for you before buying your hardware upfront.

IT Retail advertises that it provides the lowest payment processing rates, so shop around with other payment processors for a lower rate, then approach IT Retail and ask them to match the lowest rate.

POS Nation has a “build and price” page that you can use to get an idea of how much you may pay per month for POS hardware and software.

The company also advertises the following prebuilt packages:

• Flex Monthly: $149/terminal/month (pay monthly for your hardware and software)
• Freedom: $999/terminal (one-time hardware fee) plus monthly software fee

Like IT Retail, POS Nation is a POS system meant for businesses selling various everyday items. However, POS Nation puts a strong focus on lottery, cigarette/cigar, and vape sales in addition to retail food and drink sales.

POS Nation has an age verification prompt at the register, an integrated ID scanner, case breaking for liquor and tobacco products, and state-specific sales reporting to comply with your state’s liquor/tobacco laws. You can also start a cash discount program at the register to avoid payment processing fees.

The system includes automated purchase ordering, label printing, and the ability to group related items in an inventory matrix for easy reordering and price adjustments. You can easily set up mix-and-match bottle sales, food and drink specials, and scheduled discounts.

POS Nation liquor inventory.

POS Nation combines POS transaction and order-receiving monitoring, employee permissions, blind and forced till counts, and integrated in-store security footage to help minimize shrinkage, which is a huge problem in the convenience store industry.

There’s also a limited eCommerce sales functionality built into POS Nation, with local pickup and delivery options available.

POS Nation register, card reader, receipt printer, barcode scanner, and customer-facing order display pole.

Your entire hardware package, including an ID scanner, will come with custom pricing. You’ll have to contact POS Nation to get detailed hardware pricing.

POS Nation has partnered with merchant service providers, such as Worldpay, Heartland, and North American Bancard, to offer payment processing services. POS Nation advertises that it will provide a payment processing rate comparison among its processor partners and help you fill out your own merchant account application.

However, do your own independent research (i.e., get quotes from merchant services providers) to ensure you get the best payment processing rates possible for your business.

You can’t return your upfront hardware purchases, so make sure POS Nation is right for you before sinking money into proprietary hardware investments.

You can cancel a monthly plan with no early termination fees, so consider signing up for a plan that allows you to pay for the hardware and software on a monthly basis before committing to a long-term subscription.

mPower Beverage requires a $1,000 upfront investment in a single register and costs $120/month. Each additional register has an upfront fee of $250 and an added $120/month.

mPower’s best POS features for liquor distributors are 1) the ability to pull up customer orders and payment information at the POS so that established customers can pick up their orders and you can offer layaway at the register, and 2) the ability to apply promotions to different customer groups.

The best back office features include:

• Detailed Store Reports: You can generate 70+ reports on anything from customer activity to employee sales to product movement for any custom date range you choose. This will inform your future business decisions such as targeted promotions for your most valued customers.
• Security Features: Business owners can choose who gets to see reports, order merchandise, set par levels, and authorize sales. While mPower Beverage is a locally-installed system, you can also set up remote admin management with the same security feature settings.
• Purchase Ordering/Receiving: It’s easy to set minimum/maximum item levels, get low-stock notifications at any location, and get suggestions on purchase order/inventory transfer actions. You can easily create a list of need-to-order items by vendor and the software will automatically generate purchase orders for you, automatically populating vendor information. Then you send orders off via email, fax, or print and receive full/partial orders as they come.
• Inventory Entry/Monitoring: mPower Beverage provides several inventory entry detail options such as age, country of origin, supplier information, and even options such as organic and kosher. You can choose whether items can be used to build kits, whether they may be transferred to another location, and vary prices by location/customer type. You can monitor any inventory movement of any product, as the software automatically records any action a user performs related to that product (e.g. a sale, transfer between locations, stock update, advance orders, etc.)

mPower Beverage Back Office store reports.

mPower Beverage works with Windows devices, and the company will remotely install the software on Windows 10 or 11 devices. You must pay per POS software license, but you may install mPower Back Office on any number of devices.

The company states that you may purchase hardware such as cash registers, ID scanners, receipt printers, and barcode scanners from a third-party source or from mPower Beverage.

mPower Beverage offers in-house payment processing and states that the software integrates with third-party payment processing, but does not share any information on integration partners with merchant services providers.

mPower Beverage provides custom contracts for users. Be on the lookout for any early termination fees.