With the privatization of a once government-run domain, Canada is seeing more and more private wine and liquor stores open. In fact, it is one of biggest growing retail businesses in the country.
It is also a difficult business to run, and comes with numerous challenges including the quantities of categories, brands, flavours, price points and size variations of product available.
That’s where an integrated retail management software package can help you run your wine and liquor store as smoothly as a perfectly blended cocktail or classic Bordeaux.
Here’s how:
1. Straight, no chaser
If you are working on the floor or at the register, point of sale software is integral to having information at your fingertips. With the help of a barcode scanner that plugs right into your retail POS system, you can improve the speed of checking items out and checking on received shipments for that customer looking for a specific brand of Proseco.
2. Shaken, not stirred
A multi-functional POS screen, in either touch or click format, can also give you and your customers easier and more open transactions.
A mobile POS system allows you to meet your customers away from the register. With this wireless system, which can be used on handheld devices such as a tablet or other portable computer, you can:
- Answer customer questions
- Check stock
- Finalize sales
- Reduce labour costs
- Boost productivity
3. A wee tipple
Credit card processing is another part of a retail management system that is vital to help your business accept a full range of credit, debit, and gift cards. As no phone lines are used, your customers will have faster transactions with almost instant authorization, and you will receive immediate transaction reports just in case that bottle of wine was double processed.
4. Aged to perfection
If you are operating a small business, such as a boutique wine and spirits store, you are not only dealing with your customers, but you also have to manage all the back-room requirements such as ordering, keeping track of stock, and accounting. You need retail management software that can help with all those needs.
Having computer inventory software control, along with point of sale and accounting, is integral to running your small business.
Inventory control can help you search for:
- What’s in stock
- What’s on sale
- Layaways
It also allow you enter alternate supplier information, including costs, which helps when you make comparisons and gather information on high-selling products, including wine varietals and liquor brands from numerous suppliers.
To see how retail management software can better help your small business, read our article on How POS Software Impacts All Aspects of Your Business.
Windward’s retail management software offers flexible point of sale, accounting and inventory for your wine and liquor business. We will help you run your store more efficiently so you can get back to educating your customers on the finer points of wine tannins.
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