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. 

Most Popular Point of Sale Systems for 2015 (so far)

Thanks to the 200+ businesses and organizations who have contacted me so far in 2015 for free and unbiased point of sale advice and information, I'm able to share what the most popular point of sale solutions are based on what folks have actually been selecting as a point of sale solution for their business or organization.

Most Popular Retail Point of Sale System: Bindo POS (www.bindopos.com). Bindo combines the cost effectiveness of a mobile point of sale system with features and functions normally only found in legacy point of sale systems than run primarily on computers with the Windows operating system.

Update: another point of sale news and information website has also selected Bindo as the best iPad Retail POS System: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/8067-best-ipad-pos-system.html

Most Popular Restaurant Point of Sale System: Sapphire from Khamu Solutions (http://www.khamu.com/). Sapphire from Khamu Solutions has quietly grown to to offer just about everything that MICROS, Digital Dining, Aloha, and Aldelo offer but at a much lower price point. The praise that I hear from Sapphire users related to the support and customer service offered by Khamu Solutions is second to none.

Most Popular Legacy Retail Point of Sale System: Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management Systems (RMS). I'm honestly surprised by how many businesses and organizations have selected RMS so far this year. While RMS is an awesome point of sale solution (I personally know around 700 stores in the US using RMS), RMS can't be sold to new customers starting in July of 2016 and mainstream support also ends in 2016 so it strikes me as odd that folks would invest in a point of sale solution whose life cycle is ending.

Most Popular Company to Use for Merchant Services: Gravity Payments (http://gravitypayments.com/). Honest, ethical and treats their employees well - not words normally associated with merchant services companies that offer credit and debit card processing services.

Retail Point of Sale System with the Most Potential: Retail Management Hero (http://retailpospondering.blogspot.com/2015/06/new-option-for-rmshq-users-retail.html) .  While this point of sale program will likely not be available until late 2015 or early 2016, as a direct replacement for RMS,  Retail Management Hero has huge potential given the 38,000+ retail stores currently using RMS.

Are you  in the US and in need of no cost retail point of sale advice?  I'm happy to help and can be reached on my cell at 208-340-5632 (I am on Mountain Time) or via email at kevinantosh@gmail.com. There is also a contact form to the right that can be used to reach me.