Beverage Dynamics is the largest national business magazine devoted exclusively to the needs of off-premise beverage alcohol retailers, from single liquor stores to big box chains, through coverage of the latest trends in wine, beer and spirits.
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/41523
2011 POS AND COMPUTER SYSTEMS BUYERS' GUIDE WINDWARD SOFTWARE, INC. of experience, helping retailers run their business efficiently and profitably while conforming to liquor laws imposed by the state in which they reside. Call 800-257-2734 or visit www.retailanywhere.com for further information. RETAIL PRO Retail Pro International is a global leader in point of sale, store opera- tions, merchandising, planning, business intelligence, and payment processing software applications for the specialty retail industry with over 20 years of experience. Retail Pro is used by more than 52,000 retail stores globally in markets such as fashion, luggage, footwear, col- lectibles, gifts, home furnishings, sporting goods, and accessories. The solution is delivered through a global network of business partners to over 63 countries, translated in 18 languages. For more information, please visit www.retailpro.com. RITE (Retail Information Technology Enterprises) This company is an award-winning provider of Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System (RMS) and works with some of the largest liquor retailers in the country, with clients in over 40 states. RITE has molded the Microsoft RMS product to meet the special needs of beer/wine/liquor retailers, including the ability to integrate with their suppliers (invoicing and pricing /EDI), integrated age verification via drivers licenses, profit- margin monitoring, advanced purchasing tools and web site integration. For information, visit http://www.rite.us or call 888-267-RITE. SAGE NORTH AMERICA Sage North America specializes in business-management software and services for small- and mid-sized businesses. Its latest release, Sage Peachtree 2012, for small businesses, has new features including a customized vendor management center, a new system check, Sage Peachtree Business Intelligence for customizable reporting, and the Sage Advisor, to help retailers maximize their software investment. For more information, call 800-228-0068 or visit www.peachtree2012.com. SHOPKEEP.COM Developed by a wine retailer, ShopKeep.com is a web-based point-of- sale system designed for independent retailers. Subscription prices start at $49 per month for a basic system with one register. For more information, visit www.shopkeep.com. WASP BARCODE TECHNOLOGIES Wasp Barcode Technologies provides data-capture and tracking solu- tions designed for small businesses. Products include QuickStore Point- of-Sale, inventory software, asset software, barcode scanners, barcode printers and barcode software. Wasp solutions give small business owners the tools to operate more efficiently and profitably. Learn more at www.waspbarcode.com or call 866-547-WASP (9277). feels he has a solid grasp for what his customers are buying and what they are looking for. "Now, instead of salespeople walking in here, trying to sell me on something," he said, "we go to them. We say, 'We need a $10 dry chardonnay." Scalise admits that entering "look-up words" for all his products has been a lot of work – "an insane amount," he says, "but it is totally worth it." He has done all his wines and plans to tackle beer and spirits next. LiquorStorePOS comes in three versions. The "starter" version, which includes POS, back office accounting and a simple-to-use touchscreen, starts at $985 for a one-register system. Windward System Five is meant to be a complete management system for a liquor retailer and includes back-office accounting, a fully integrated e-commerce module and customer-management and email-marketing capabilities. Its pric- ing starts at $3,600 and can support multi-store operations. The sys- tem's Enterprise version includes additional capabilities, such as han- dling a retailer's private-label business or franchise requirements, and starts in price at $10,000. For more information, call 800-663-5750 or visit http://windwardsoftware.com. WINE MARKET ASSISTANT, LLC Wine Market Assistant, LLC, a NCR and IBM Partner, offers specialized Enterprise Class customer kiosks, called Wine Market Assistant. The in- store kiosk allows customers to search for a wine, spirit, or beer in various ways, from a simple "red wine under $10" to more complex information searches for wine collectors. It also offers food pairings, information on over 400 cheeses and thousands of recipes. Wine Market Assistant offers the retailer options to integrate into their POS for nightly updates to pricing and products, loyalty program, in-store promotions and the store map. The content includes independent wine reviews as well as winemaker notes. Lease prices for a kiosk start at $10 per day. In addi- tion, a retailer website extension and mobile application is available for private branding. For more information, call 888-450-4529 or email Marketing@WineMarketAssistant.com. WOLF TRACK SOFTWARE Wolf Track's Liquor POS Software is available as software-as-a-service (SAAS). Though the system runs entirely on a store's computers, the software can be downloaded from Wolf Track's website. The software, which can run a touchscreen system, costs $30 per month per register. Updates to the software and support are free. Automatic database back-up is available for an additional fee. For more information, call 800-908-7654 or visit wolftrack.com. XSILVA SYSTEMS Xsilva's Lightspeed is a Mac-based POS system for small to medium retailers. The total cost of a starter system, including a two-user license, one for a regular POS terminal and one for a mobile terminal, either an IPod or an IPhone, including all hardware and one year of technical support, is about $5,000. A new e-commerce module is also available. The company recently began offering an open application program interface (API) to allow end-users to build their own custom add-ons to the system. For more information, call 866-932-1801 or visit www.lightspeedretail.com. "It has literally changed my work," he said, includ- ing the number of hours he puts in. He used to work 70 to 80 hours a week, including late nights, after the store closed at 9 pm, running his financials. "I see the day coming where I am spending a day or a day and a half doing all my financials, all my purchasing, all my inven- tory analysis, then spending the rest of my time on the sales floor, where I should be," he said. Beverage Dynamics • www.beveragedynamics.com • September/October 2011 • 53