As your winery shops for the right point of sale (POS) system, it's important to consider the challenges unique to your team and your business. Whether your priority is capturing customer data or upselling members when they visit, WineDirect is the most flexible DTC partner available. That's why we've been listed as the most-used wine POS software in the market in Wine Business Monthly's August 2019 issue.
Pam Strayer's article, "From Cash Register to Competitive Advantage: The POS as MVP," highlights the importance of prioritizing an all-in-one system that integrates well with other platforms.
Your winery team is constantly juggling changing priorities, and every staff member wears multiple hats. That's why you need your POS to talk to your other systems in a way that makes data transfer seamless, placing everything you need to know about your customers right at your fingertips.
Our POS is one of numerous aspects of WineDirect's integrated system that allows you to offer more personalized, high-touch service, and helps you save time — meaning increased resources can be put toward big picture strategy and growing your business. To Strayer's point, "If wineries get the software decision right, the world of interconnected data that has long been a source of competitive advantage in the greater world of e-commerce can open the gates to growth."
Our long term commitment to empowering wineries to meet and exceed their goals makes us a trusted partner for businesses of all sizes. Across the globe, 16,000 employees at 1,800 wineries are using WineDirect's software. In 2018 alone, our platform enabled $1.3 billion in DTC winery revenue, and since 2013, annual DTC revenue enabled by our platform has grown by 600%.
In Wine Business Monthly, trusted industry expert and WISE Academy instructor Liz Mercer emphasizes the importance of choosing a POS software partner with longevity and a proven track record of helping wineries succeed.
Strayer writes, "Mercer cautions against being swayed by cool new features at the expense of overall objectives: 'We tend to see the new shiny thing without really ensuring that we’re able to do our core functionality. Take the time to really think: Does this meet my needs? Is it solving a problem I don’t necessarily have? Make sure that you solve your core functionality first and then see the shiny new things as bonuses on top.'”
Your POS solution should offer a flexible feature set that supports your winery as it grows. Take Brooks Winery in the Willamette Valley, for example. Back in 2005 when this Pinot Noir and Riesling producer chose WineDirect as its fulfillment partner, the winery was producing around 2,500 cases. Managing Director Janie Brooks Heuck says they now produce about 23,000 cases including 50 SKUs, and a two-thirds majority of sales are DTC.
As Brooks Winery has grown, WineDirect's POS restaurant management tools have supported its DTC success. "Brooks Heuck said WineDirect is a good fit for her winery because it has some very specific capabilities she needs," says Wine Business Monthly. Her favorite feature is restaurant ordering: "Since all our service at Brooks is tableside service, this is the one thing we absolutely need and could not find from other vendors."
For the above reasons and more, WineDirect remains the top POS system and integrated DTC software partner for wineries. The POS system that best addresses your needs won't just offer transactional capabilities — it will propel your DTC business forward. Learn more in the August 2019 issue of Wine Business Monthly.
