When it comes to successfully managing your liquor store, a lot of it comes down to one part of the process: inventory management. If your inventory is out of whack, then everything’s out of whack!
Having a POS inventory management system that automatically updates your inventory and syncs with all of your other internal systems? Now that’s the secret to running a successful liquor store.
Within our all-in-one Cheers POS system, POS inventory management and distributor integrations can work with you rather than against you. All of these systems are intermingled and rely on each other to work productively.
So, how do they all work together and how does this affect you as a liquor store owner? We’re going to tell you.
Inventory management
We can all agree on one of the most time-consuming parts of running a liquor store—inventory management.
Back in the day, we had to manually count and keep track of inventory, and let’s just say it was not the most fun.
Now, a well-run POS inventory management system automatically updates your inventory directly from your POS. Every purchase, return, and reported damage will all stay up-to-date in the system.
Electronic inventory management allows you to:
- Find and track theft
- Feel in total control of your store even when you aren’t physically there
- Keep track of profits
- Confidently know your shelves are appropriately stocked
- Save time otherwise spent managing your store
- Ensure consistent reporting across the whole team, minimizing risk of discrepancies
Distributor integrations with Cheers POS
When you integrate the Cheers point-of-sale into your liquor store, the distributor integrations—just like every other system—will already be in there waiting for you.
We’ve built relationships with only the best distributors to be able to provide you with quality service and all the tools you need. Within the system, you have access to direct pricing, communications, purchase order options, inventory management and more.
How are you handling distributor relationships now? Perhaps a lot of phone tag? Papers you just had yesterday disappearing? An all-around jumbled mess that takes you double or triple the time it realistically should take?
You aren’t alone—this is why we’ve created our all-in-one POS. Our early days of time-consuming liquor store management weighed on us enough that we decided to build a POS that does all the heavy lifting.
Direct pricing
Direct pricing within the distributor integration system allows you to see exact pricing for all the products you’re looking for. Costs of stocking your liquor store will never be a mystery. The ability to send a purchase order via the POS eliminates the back-and-forth that ordering once was.
Gone are the days of phone tag with your distributors to see what’s in stock and what kind of deals you can strike! The system is automatically updated based on your inventory and the distributor’s inventory.
These are just some of the distributors we have integrated into our system:
- Southern Glazer’s
- Standard Beverage
- Worldwide Wine & Spirits
- LDF
- Speakeasy
- Coors
- Budweiser
- Plus more!
Purchase order automation
Our purchase order automation feature allows you to make informed, quicker purchasing decisions through your distributors. All direct pricing and past sales data is right in front of you!
Let’s say you’re gearing up for Memorial Day and want to know how many seltzers to order. All you have to do is check your reports from last year to get an idea of how many cases to order this year. Depending on how long you’ve had the Cheers POS system, you can take a look at other years prior, too.
In addition to being able to view how well a product has sold in the past, you can view any promotion history and track whether or not you have already-promised bottles to a customer. All of this data is kept track of in one accessible place.
Not only does the purchase order update your inventory, it moves directly into your invoicing and reporting system (also integrated in the POS), where you can reconcile and adjust it from there if needed.
Purchase order automation allows you to:
- Create itemized purchase orders while viewing sales data
- A constantly improving platform based on your feedback
- Automatically imports purchase orders into the invoicing system
- Manage and reconcile
Seriously, with automatic POS inventory management and purchase order automation, you’re going to have so much extra time back to continue to improve your business.
Invoicing and reporting
As we mentioned, our integrated invoicing and reporting system automatically runs data you need to take hold of reorder management. Reports you’ll have access to include sales reports, employee logs reports, and detailed register logs. There will be no more guessing games—all the data you need to make informed future purchases is right here! Your distributors can thank us for this simplification later.
Invoicing and reporting allows you to view:
- Time-stamped employee log reports
- Built-in category sales reports and on-premise sales reports
- Detailed register logs
- Inventory reports
- Item movement reports
- Automatic integration of purchase orders
Wholesale management
Another integration we have in our system is wholesale management. We’ve had our fair share of wholesale relationships when running our liquor stores, so we knew that wholesale is a lucrative additional revenue stream.
Bars, restaurants, and clubs in your area need a reliable source for their liquor—that reliable source is you! It’s important to recognize that each of your wholesale customers have different needs. We’ve made that known in our system by allowing you to easily personalize each account.
Once you get to know the needs of your customers, you’ll have the ability to decide your sale price for all the products and get an order schedule started. Then, you can easily submit these orders to your distributors.
Wholesale management allows you to:
- Instantly upload invoices to Fintech to get paid
- Create a pre-filled on-premise sales report for the state
- View built-in wholesale sales reports
Get the most out of your liquor store with wholesale management made easy!
Tips for working with distributors
As liquor store people ourselves, we’ve had the opportunity to work with distributors over the years and figure out the best way to maintain and grow these relationships. Having a POS system that simplifies ordering and communication processes is a big part of it, but it’s not the whole pie.
We’ve compiled a few tips for you to follow to make the most out of your distributor relationships.
1. Communicate clearly
This may seem like a no brainer, but clear communication is integral to growing your distributor relationships. Use your POS inventory management system to help you communicate your needs and make informed decisions on new purchases. Keep your distributors up-to-date on your promotions, marketing initiatives, and sales.
2. Be open to receiving and giving feedback
It’s also important to have honest conversations with your distributors about the progression of your partnership. What could be improved? Is there something you as a store owner or your distributor could do to make any processes smoother? There is always room for improvement in this industry! This is exactly why Cheers POS accepts feedback about our system and consistently works to improve it with new features that our customers want to see.
3. Keep your store organized
Organization is for the benefit of both you and your distributor. Having a clean, organized store that your team can easily make your way around allows you to better see what product needs to be ordered.
4. Get to know your team
If possible, seeing the same faces builds the rapport you need to be able to have clear communication and provide and receive helpful feedback. These conversations with your distributors are bound to lead to smoother processes, better business decisions, and therefore more revenue.
5. Schedule regular meetings
Having regular meetings with your distributor/sales representative helps the whole team stay on track. During these meetings, you can discuss any promotions, sales increases/decreases, and what is and isn’t working.
Let your POS work for you
Running a liquor store doesn’t have to be rocket science. If you have a POS with features that automatically update and work seamlessly together, you can focus on putting your efforts into giving your customers the best experience possible.
At Cheers POS, we value getting to know our customers so we decide how to best customize their POS solution to their unique business.
Request a free demo
Try a free demo of the system in all its POS inventory management and distributor integrations glory today. Or, if you’re still deciding, get a free quote for your liquor store.
Contact us
Our customer service team is always here to answer your questions no matter where you’re at in your POS system journey. Call us, email us, or chat with us on our website.