The stock-take is done and the numbers don't agree again. A case of lager shows as full in the book but has four bottles missing. Two bottles of a premium whisky have no sale against them. One cashier has been selling a wine at last month's price and the other hasn't. Nobody did anything dramatic. It just adds up.
A liquor or wine shop packs a lot of value into a small room, sells it fast and changes prices often. That's exactly where a notebook gives up.
First, a note on who this is for. Alcohol is banned in some of the countries we serve and tightly licensed in others. EliteTeQ is for licensed businesses in places where local law permits alcohol sales, and keeping your licence and following local rules is your responsibility as the owner.
The short answer: a POS for a licensed liquor or wine shop should sell singles, six-packs, crates and cases from one stock record, track premium bottles one by one, write breakages off properly, keep bars, restaurants and corporate clients on account, and show sales and margin by brand, size and branch. EliteTeQ does this from USD 499 per year and keeps selling when the network drops.
Where the money leaks
The losses are usually small and steady:
- Pack confusion. You buy by the case and sell singles. Without a system, a broken case quietly drifts out of the count.
- Unrecorded breakages. A dropped bottle gets swept up and forgotten, and the stock book still thinks it's on the shelf.
- Price drift. Suppliers change rates, duties move, you run a bundle for the weekend, and not every till keeps up.
- Expensive bottles with no trail. A missing high-value bottle hurts far more than a missing can.
- Trade customers on credit. The bar down the road "will settle on Friday", and the amount lives in someone's memory.
What EliteTeQ does about each one
Singles, packs and cases from one record
Set a price for a single, a six-pack, a crate and a case, and sell any of them from the same stock record with the right quantity deducted. Barcode scanning and quantity keys for packs keep the counter moving, and every payment type sits on one screen.
Premium bottles, tracked one by one
High-value bottles are tracked individually from delivery to sale. The product movement report shows every move with a name and a time, so when a bottle is missing you can see where the trail stops.
Breakages and supplier returns
A dropped bottle or a cracked case is written off as damage with a reason, so the count stays true and you can see what breakage really costs. Faulty stock goes back to the supplier against their balance instead of being forgotten in a corner.
Bars, restaurants and event clients on account
Give each trade customer an account with a credit limit. Invoice their orders, track balances and due dates, and send statements on WhatsApp. Friday's "I'll settle later" becomes a balance you can both see.
A name on every sale
Every cashier has their own login, so each sale, discount and void has a name on it. You decide who can change prices or give discounts.
Age-check prompts
You can flag restricted items so that the till asks the cashier to confirm the customer's ID before the sale continues. To be clear, that's a prompt at the till. It doesn't check IDs itself and it isn't a compliance system; the cashier still has to look at the ID.
If you're mainly a wine shop
Wine brings its own complications. The same label comes in several vintages and bottle sizes, and each needs its own price and count. In EliteTeQ each vintage and size is a variant of the label, with region and grape recorded, counted bottle by bottle.
Mixed cases and gift boxes can be built from bottles already on the shelf. You set the price once, and each bottle comes off stock as it sells. At year-end, company gifting orders go on an account with invoices and balances tracked until paid.
Wine also ties up cash for longer. Sales by label and the product movement report show what has sat longest, so a slow wine can be promoted or marked down before you buy more of it.
Side by side
| Notebook | EliteTeQ | |
|---|---|---|
| Packs and cases | Broken cases drift out of the count | Any pack size from one stock record |
| Breakages | Swept up and forgotten | Written off with a reason |
| Premium bottles | Counted occasionally | Tracked one by one |
| Prices | Different on each till | Changed once, by the roles you choose |
| Trade customers | Memory and IOUs | Accounts with limits and statements |
| Branches | Separate guesses | Sales and margin by brand and branch, on your phone |
Practical points
- Offline: when the network drops on a busy evening, the till keeps selling and syncs later.
- Payments: EliteTeQ records Octopus, card and cash against each sale, and keeps sales records ready for IRD. In Kenya, M-Pesa is integrated directly.
- Setup: setup and product import are free, so your price list, pack sizes and opening stock are in before you go live.
There's more detail on the [liquor stores page](/industries/liquor-stores/) and the [wine and spirit stores page](/industries/wine-spirit-stores/).
Next step
If your stock-takes keep coming up short, book a free demo and we'll walk through it with your own brands and pack sizes. Or talk to a real person on WhatsApp through the [contact page](/contact/).
Let's discuss how EliteTeQ POS can help you achieve the results you just read about.