Best POS Systems for Wineries: 4 Solutions for a Specialized Industry

Keeping track of winery inventory, sales, and customer data can be a headache, especially when using multiple software solutions that are poorly connected. A streamlined solution tailored to wineries can eliminate these headaches and optimize your operation.

No more struggling to piece together different tools; find the right winery POS system for your winery that integrates seamlessly to simplify your operations. From managing tastings to tracking sales trends, we’ve got you covered. Get ready to uncork success and elevate your winery experience with our list of top-notch POS solutions for winery operations. Let’s dive into the details.

1. KORONA POS: Best All-Purpose Winery Solution

Key Features

• KORONA POS facilitates fast retail checkout in the wine shop with exceptional inventory management.
• The solution can handle sales across multiple channels, including bottle in-case sales, gift shops or other general retail areas, dining and bar operations, and eCommerce integration.
• Wineries are spaces for celebration and energy. KORONA POS offers tiered and time-specific ticketing to customize events exactly how business owners wish.

Pros

• Inventory management

KORONA POS retail inventory management feature makes adding, tracking, and updating your wine and merchandise easy. You can set reorder points to ensure you always have enough stock. Users can set stock notifications, automate ordering and vendor relations, and easily scan inventory.

• Robust reporting

KORONA POS offers dozens of reports providing insights into sales, stock levels, customer behavior, and more. Detailed, personalized performance indicators give you an overall view of your business. They allow you to see indicators such as year-on-year sales, sales rates, average transaction amounts, conversion rates, inventory, turnover, return or refund rates, and much more.

Reporting and analytics such as these provide a complete overview of your winery and offer practical advice on what changes to make. They can also help you manage your employees to keep your sales team in check.

KORONA POS employee reports break down individual sales daily for wineries that pay commission or tips. This is also simple to set up for automatic calculation.

• Wine club and subscription tools

Many wineries have wine clubs or subscriptions and depend on a robust customer relationship management system. KORONA POS helps manage these programs by automatically billing members and offering member-only pricing.

It also helps personalize and ship wine to members. The solution integrates with bLoyal, the market’s most powerful wine club management. Plus, both KORONA POS and bLoyal work with eCommerce, too. Anything you sell online or at the winery will be reflected in the single inventory and sales reporting database. The integration makes running this critical part of your business that much easier.

• Designing and printing labels

The software can customize wine labels so wineries can make unique, personalized labels. Since KORONA POS integrates with label printers, wineries can professionally print customized wine labels in-house.

Cons

• No full-service dining features

KORONA POS is primarily a retail and ticketing solution. While the software offers POS features for QSR businesses, it isn’t a great fit for full restaurants. For instance, there is no ability to assign seat numbers, no KDS integration, and more rudimentary table maps.

• Harder learning curve

KORONA POS might be tricky to learn if this is your first time working with a complex system. This means you must spend extra time and effort getting to know and understand the system well.

Pricing

KORONA POS is a cloud-based POS software that offers three pricing plans: Core, Retail, and Plus.

All plans include unlimited users, unlimited sales, 0% transaction fees, core checkout functionality, a product database, reporting, and a customizable dashboard.

The Core plan costs $59 per month. It includes agnostic processing, unlimited users, customizable dashboards, reporting tools, and more.

The Retail plan costs $69 per month. It includes all of the features of the Core plan plus customer management, advanced inventory, supplier management, real-time tracking, and more.

The Plus plan costs $89. It includes more advanced inventory features such as assortment cleanup, order level optimization, and custom ABC analysis. In addition, this plan includes robust reporting tools like KPI reports, movement reports, slow and top sellers, accounting exports, and more.

2. WineDirect: Best for DTC eCommerce

Key Features

• WineDirect makes it simple for you to reach more customers via its extensive distribution network.
• Setup is a breeze. You can handle all orders using your current eCommerce account.
• WineDirect makes it easy for wineries to manage their online and in-store orders. This includes tracking orders, processing payments, and generating shipping labels.

Pros

• Inventory management

WineDirect allows wineries to track their inventory in real-time, including wine levels, lot numbers, and expiration dates. This helps wineries ensure they have the right amount of wine on hand to meet demand and avoid stockouts.

• Tasting room feature

The tasting room feature allows winery owners to make sales anywhere thanks to a fully mobile POS system. This lets you turn your entire cellar into a tasting room by simplifying the checkout process.

• Customer relationship management (CRM)

WineDirect includes a CRM system that helps wineries track their customers and purchase history. This information can be used to target marketing campaigns and provide personalized customer service.

• Reporting

WineDirect provides a variety of reports that can help wineries to track their sales, inventory, and customer data. This information can be used to make more informed business decisions.

Cons

• Poor customer service

Some wineries have complained about the quality of WineDirect’s customer service. They have said that it can be difficult to contact customer service representatives and that they have yet to be responsive to complaints.

• High prices

Besides transaction fees based on pricing plans, WineDirect charges a one-time onboarding fee of $399, $999, and $2,500 for DTC Starter, DTC Pro, and DTC Advanced plans, respectively.

• Lack of integrations

WineDirect has limited integrations. Unlike other POS software solutions, it doesn’t offer integrated eCommerce sites and third-party services. In addition, WineDirect does not support credit card pre-authorizations for in-store sales.

Pricing

WineDirect has three pricing plans: DTC Starter, DTC Pro, and DTC Advanced. All plans include a one-time onboarding fee.

Their plans include the following: CRM platform, email marketing tools, reporting, eCommerce shopping cart, loyalty programs, and more.

The DTC Starter plan costs $79/month with a one-time onboarding fee of $399. This plan is for wineries with up to $200,000 in annual sales.

The DTC Pro plan costs $199/month with a one-time onboarding fee of $999. It is for wineries with annual sales between $200,000 and $4 million.

The DTC Advanced plan is custom-priced with a one-time onboarding fee starting at $2,500. This plan is for wineries with over $4 million in annual sales.

3. Lightspeed Restaurant POS: Best for Hospitality-Focused Wineries

Key Features

• The software can be customized to meet the unique needs of a winery dinner options like pairing with specific wines, setting up event packages, or managing dietary restrictions.
• Lightspeed Restaurant POS partners with Como, a loyalty application that allows customers to collect and redeem loyalty points during meals, and features a wine club subscription function.
• It also integrates with OpenTable, a solution that helps restaurants and tasting rooms manage waiting lists, table status, and more.

Pros

• Sales tracking

Lightspeed Restaurant provides detailed sales reports that allow wineries to track their sales performance. These reports can identify popular wines, track sales trends, and identify areas where sales can be improved.

• Online ordering

It also offers an online ordering system that allows wineries to sell their wine online. This is a great way to reach new customers and increase sales. Lightspeed provides wineries with BevSpot, an inventory management application that minimizes profit loss and optimizes ordering practices.

• Mobile POS

Lightspeed Restaurant POS offers a mobile app allowing wineries to take orders and payments from anywhere. This is a great option for wineries with a tasting room or selling wine at events.

Cons

• Lack of inventory management features

One of the most common complaints about Lightspeed Restaurant is its lack of inventory management features. The system cannot automatically track inventory levels or generate reorder reports. This can be a major pain point for wineries with large product inventories or multiple product variations.

• Expensive monthly subscriptions

Lightspeed is a relatively expensive POS system. The monthly software fees are higher than some of the industry’s competition, and there is an upfront hardware cost. This can be a barrier for small businesses with limited budgets.

Pricing

Lightspeed Restaurant POS offers three software plans: Starter, Essential, and Premium.

The Starter plan is the most affordable, at $69 per month. The Starter plan includes menu management, floor plans, basic reporting, and CRM and loyalty.

The Essential plan costs $189 per month. It includes all of the features of the Starter plan plus online ordering, table-side ordering, multi-location, and advanced inventory management.

The Premium plan costs $399 monthly. It includes all of the features from the Starter and Essential plans plus the ability to set custom rates, more advanced API access, and the inclusion of multiple types of POS vertical touchpoints within a single venue.

4. VinNow: Best for Shared Production Wineries

Key Features

• VinNow offers the most comprehensive bulk wine tracking capabilities among its competitors.
• Designed with precision, VinNow’s tools excel in tracking intricate details of individual wine vats, including blending, chemical additions, and alcohol volume.
• It’s particularly suited for wineries producing wine for other wineries under bespoke labels.

Pros

• Credit card processing

Instead of managing payments through an isolated system, VinNOW integrates this process within its user interface, automating every step. Additionally, it maintains a detailed record of each customer’s credit card payment history, all accessible from the VinNOW platform.

• Gift cards

VinNOW POS offers a gift card program for wine, merchandise, or other products or services. VinNOW’s gift cards are designed for use exclusively within the VinNOW system.

• Wine club

Easily manage your wine club members and track their orders. VinNOW addresses all these issues with its advanced wine club automation tools.

• Compliance

VinNOW offers compliance solutions for winery owners to streamline their operations. Its partnership with Avalara, a renowned authority in the beverage alcohol industry, ensures wineries have access to accurate state and local sales tax rates.

Cons

• Customer service

According to many reviews, VinNow has a less-than-stellar customer service reputation. For this reason, we recommend you contact other winemakers who have already used the service to get their feedback on VinNow’s customer support.

• Lack of integrations

VinNow does not include an integrated eCommerce site. The software also does not feature on-site upselling tools.

• Expensive subscriptions

VinNow has many fees that can quickly add up. In addition to the monthly subscription fee, users must pay for add-ons such as a shopping basket, VinTracker service, and one-time data conversion fees.

Pricing

For users who prefer a web-based subscription, the solution starts at $129 per month for up to 150 club members and scales up to $299, $449, and $589 per month for membership bases of 500, 1000, and 1001+, respectively.

VinNow also offers add-ons like a web shopping cart and VinTracker Bulk Wine Module. The shopping cart costs an extra $50 per month, while the VinTracker service is available for an additional $69 monthly. VinNow also charges a one-time data conversion fee of $600.

How To Choose the Best POS for Your Winery?

• Look for vertical specialization

Look for a POS system designed specifically for wineries, offering features tailored to your industry, such as vineyard management, vintage tracking, and allocation management.

• Ensure flexible selling options

Evaluate the system’s ability to handle wine sales, including bottle sales, case sales, split-case purchases, and options for wine flights and tastings.

• Seek out wine-friendly loyalty and rewards

Wineries often prioritize loyalty programs and wine club platforms integrated into their POS systems to offer their loyal patrons exclusive perks, discounts, and personalized experiences while efficiently managing subscriptions, shipments, and member communications.

• Demand strong sales analytics and reporting

Insights into sales trends, inventory performance, and customer preferences empower wineries to make data-driven decisions, optimize marketing strategies and merchandising, and enhance overall operational efficiency for sustained growth and profitability.

• Assess integrations options

Consider integration capabilities with other software systems such as wine production software, accounting software, and customer relationship management (CRM) platforms.

• Consider scalability and flexibility

Ensure that the chosen POS system can accommodate your winery’s growth and adapt to changing needs, such as expanding tasting room hours or launching new wine offerings.

• Make sure there is solid customer service

Prioritize customer support and technical assistance by selecting a POS provider known for responsive customer service, training resources, and ongoing software updates. This will keep your winery running smoothly.

Conclusion

Choosing the best POS for your winery entails considering specialized features tailored to the industry. These may include vineyard management and vintage tracking, ensuring the system can handle various selling options from bottle sales to tastings, and prioritizing loyalty and wine club integration for better customer engagement.

Robust sales analytics and reporting capabilities provide invaluable insights for informed decision-making while assessing integration options and scalability ensures adaptability to evolving business needs. Lastly, dependable customer service is crucial for ongoing support and maintenance of your POS system, contributing to a more seamless experience for both employees and clients.

Decide what functions you need to optimize your performance. KORONA POS is the platform you need for an all-in-one solution that will help optimize everything from wine shop and event ticketing management to quick-service food kiosks and tasting room service.