Why Vinoshipper outperforms Square for wineries: A comprehensive comparison
As a winery or beverage alcohol business owner, selecting the right Point of Sale (POS) system is essential for your success. Vinoshipper offers an exceptional, industry-specific POS solution tailored to meet the unique needs of wineries, meaderies, cideries, and distilleries. This powerful system streamlines operations, enhances customer experiences, and drives growth in ways that general-purpose POS solutions like Square simply can't match.
Vinoshipper's POS is designed from the ground up with the intricacies of the wine and beverage alcohol industry in mind. It seamlessly integrates tasting room management, inventory control, and compliance features, all while providing a user-friendly interface that your staff will love. From effortlessly managing wine club memberships to handling complex shipping regulations, Vinoshipper's POS is the comprehensive solution your business needs to thrive.
In this article, we'll explore the key features that make Vinoshipper the superior choice for beverage alcohol businesses, and how it outperforms general POS systems like Square in meeting your industry-specific requirements.
Industry-specific POS: The Vinoshipper advantage
The Vinoshipper POS was built from the ground up with wineries and beverage alcohol producers in mind. Unlike Square's one-size-fits-all approach, Vinoshipper understands the unique challenges and requirements of the wine industry. This specialized focus translates into numerous benefits:
Tasting room POS: Tailored for your needs
Vinoshipper’s POS system is built with you in mind.
Speed: Designed for the busy tasting room, checking out new and pre-existing customers is quick and easy.
Hardware: Seamless integration with Star Micronics hardware, including thermal printers (mC-Print3 and TSP100 series), the mPOP® Multifunction System, and select legacy printers and cash drawers.
Payments: Support for all payment types: cash, stored club member cards, Tap to Pay on iPhone, and all physical and contactless card payments via the Stripe M2 reader.
Data: Synchronization with Vinoshipper's ecosystem of services, including wine club, e-commerce, and wholesale operations.
Mobility: Designed for use in tasting rooms, events, farmers markets, and more.
Square’s generic POS would require significant customization and expensive add-ons to match these wine-specific capabilities.
Wine club management: A core feature, not an afterthought
Vinoshipper offers fully integrated club features in our POS, including:
Club member recognition and automatically applied discounts
Ability to charge club member cards for on-site orders
Easy to sign-up or move customers into a club
Curated order pick lists for pickup orders
Real-time inventory depletion and tracking
Square's limited club functionality often requires add-ons or workarounds, making it less efficient for managing this crucial aspect of your business.
Direct to Consumer (DTC) shipping: Reach more customers with ease
Vinoshipper's integration for expanding your brand allows you to reach 98% of the US population, from the tap of a screen. Square does not have any built-in shipping, meaning that you could be spending weeks or months getting in touch with shipping providers and setting up accounts. With Vinoshipper it’s as easy as creating an account and you can be shipping, worry free, in a matter of days, directly from your POS.
Compliance made easy
One of the biggest headaches for wineries is navigating the complex web of compliance regulations. Vinoshipper takes the stress out of compliance with:
Built-in compliance for beverage alcohol regulations across all 50 states
Automatic calculation and reporting of unique alcohol related taxes and fees
Integrated tools for managing interstate shipping compliance
Square, on the other hand, requires additional setup and third-party solutions to handle alcohol tax and shipping, adding complexity or worse, complete lack of compliance.
Detailed reporting and analytics
Vinoshipper provides in-depth insights crucial for wineries:
Abandoned cart and abandoned club sign up reports
State sales tax, excise tax, facilitated tax, and miscellaneous tax reports
Top customers, top products, and top discounts reports.
Tasting room employee tips report.
Vinoshipper’s reports puts the exact information you need for reporting and analysis at your fingertips. The tax reports provide the value, gallonage, and units that many the states ask for when reporting. We understand the information that you’re looking for, so we make it easy to find.
Financial considerations: Pricing and payment processing
Competitive pricing for wineries
Vinoshipper’s POS has no fixed monthly fees. We charge 1.85% + $0.15 for onsite pickup or 1.85% + $0.75 for delivery.
Payment processing rates
Vinoshipper’s credit cards fees are a fixed rate of 2.9%. While Square's base rates (2.6% + $0.10 for in-person, 2.9% + $0.30 for online) may seem competitive, they are just the tip of the iceberg, as they don't account for the additional costs and time consumption of integrating and managing add-on features and compliance tools.
Conclusion: Vinoshipper POS is the clear choice for wineries
While Square is a capable general POS system, it simply wasn't designed with the specific needs of wineries in mind. Vinoshipper offers a comprehensive, industry-specific solution that addresses the unique challenges faced by wineries:
Tasting room specific POS system
Integrated wine club features
Specialized reporting and analysis tools
Competitive pricing for the wine industry
By choosing Vinoshipper, you're not just getting a POS system – you're gaining a partner that understands and supports your winery's growth.
Ready to elevate your winery's operations?
View our POS resources or contact Vinoshipper for a demo and see firsthand how our tailored solutions can streamline your business and boost your bottom line.