Best Point of Sale Systems for Wineries

Even though I live in a desert like area of Idaho, I'm actually only about 15 miles away from two areas of Idaho that have multiple vineyards and wineries and felt that it may be helpful to pass along my experience working with wineries to provide them with cash registers or complete point of sale systems.

Wineries have some unique needs depending on size, customer base, online sales, distribution, and on site events.  Many wineries have tasting rooms, offer tours, have on-site sales, a restaurant, a loyalty program, and distribute their products and/or sell their products online. There is also a seasonal factor depending on the location of the winery.

Smaller wineries whose annual retail sales are under $150,000 would find that a basic cash register or a simple cloud based point of sale system will automate some aspects of the business and provide basic sales and inventory reports.

Wineries generating $150,000 to $400,000 in annual gross retail sales will find cash registers to be too basic so cloud based mobile point of sale solutions are a good match.

For wineries exceeding the $400,000 mark, you are at the point that a true point of sale system is the route to take as you likely want some or all of the following:

• Custom products labels with extended descriptions
• Ability to sell products by single item or case
• Mix and match promotions (special price when 6 different type of wine is purchased)
• Promotional packages like selling the wine along with an opener and decanter
• Wine Club loyalty program
• Email marketing
• Ticketing/Admissions for events and tours
• Sample event tickets
• Food sales
• Wholesale product sales/distribution sales

This is not a complete list but these are some of the more common requests that wineries have shared with me.  I know that Microsoft RMS/Retail Management Hero, NCR CounterPoint, Cloud Retailer and Retail Realm Essentials/Microsoft Dynamics AX are systems that are in use at wineries and market their solutions specifically to wineries. 

As these systems have significant cost differences, you'll want to speak with someone directly who can help you decide which systems are best for your winery. If you are not already working with a company that sells the above systems (or are not happy with their level of service & support) , and are in the US, please contact me on my cell at 208-340-5632 (mountain time) or via email at kevinantosh@gmail.com and I'd happy to provide some no cost advice.