“Buy cheap, buy twice.”
Unfortunately, this piece of advice is as true as it is popular — especially when it comes to point of sale (POS) solutions.
Whether you’re opening a brand-new liquor store or looking for a new POS provider, it might be tempting to choose the cheapest option, but finding a reliable solution with the right features, reliable support, and an affordable price point should be your priority.
But you don’t have to take it from us. One of our customers learned the hard way that while some providers promise a top-notch solution at a too-good-to-be-true price, they often underdeliver.
Here’s the inside scoop on National Retail Solutions (NRS) and why this liquor store owner is no longer their customer.
Starting With NRS: Buying the System
National Retail Solutions provides small businesses, including liquor stores, with point of sale hardware and software. While the POS system is their flagship product, you can also purchase payroll, e-commerce, and payment processing add-ons.
Kevin (not his real name), one of our valued customers, used to run his liquor store with a cash register, spreadsheets, and manual reports. He knew he needed a change — late nights managing inventory, vendors, customers, and staff were becoming a chore.
He kept getting mailers for NRS, and at such a low price point (just $19.95/month), he thought it was worth a shot.
The Sales Process
Kevin submitted his information and waited for a call — someone reached out within 30 minutes. An account executive (AE) handled the process directly. We asked Kevin how the sales call went:
“It was OK. The guy didn’t ask many questions about what I needed. He just jumped straight into a demo. It was high-level stuff. It was a straightforward process, but I never felt like he cared about my concerns — he just wanted to bombard me with features. Overall, the demo was OK and I asked for a few days to think about it.”
Following the demo, Kevin received further emails, calls, and texts. He decided to go ahead with NRS — the low price was a major factor in his decision.
Setting Up the System
After choosing NRS, Kevin was looking forward to getting started. He didn’t have to wait long, either. The system was approved and delivered to his store in just under a week.
There are various pricing options, but Kevin opted for the NRS POS and NRS PAY package (hardware $699 plus tax) with the basic software plan. It comes with a one-year warranty.
Once his system arrived, setting it up was easy — almost plug and play — and ready to go in 15 minutes. You have to watch videos to set up the hardware. Assistance was available over the phone, but he didn’t need it.
Exploring the Features: The Good and Bad
Kevin knew what he was signing up for — the basic plan. At $19.95, he thought it was a steal. According to the NRS pricing page, you get what you need to run your store. From a high level:
- Three users
- Inventory management
- Customized user permissions
- Vendor management
- Daily sales summary emails
One of the features Kevin liked was the BOSS Club Coupon Rewards Program. It lets you offer discounts on major brands without eating into your profits. It’s a unique program that consolidates customers’ profiles across all NRS merchants and sends coupons that can be used at any NRS-affiliated store.
Once Kevin started using the system, he noticed a few things about some of the other features. They weren’t as easy to use as he first thought, especially coming out of a fairly smooth onboarding experience. For example, searching for items is cumbersome — you can only scan the barcode or type in the PLU. What else?
“Inventory management felt a bit basic, but it did the job. The mobile app worked well, and it was easy to pay vendors. However, the more I used it, the more I realized that the $19.95 price was too good to be true.”
What brought Kevin to this realization?
The first stumbling block was the lack of advanced inventory management features.
“I could track my products, but when I wanted to generate purchase orders, analyze my profit margins, and track turnover, I discovered I’d have to pay extra. Apparently these were advanced features not included in my plan.”
Something else that started to wear on Kevin was the constant large and dynamic NRS ads on the customer-facing display.
“The NRS ads are unattractive and distracting. Customers kept asking about them and why I was advertising NRS and NRS job openings. It was really unsightly. I asked support about taking them off and was told I’d have to pay a monthly fee of $44.95 to remove them.”
When he contacted customer support to raise these issues, he was met with a helpful and courteous technician, and didn’t have to wait on hold for long. Kevin did say that support is readily available from 7 a.m. to midnight EST — which was helpful.
However, that conversation did make Kevin realize that to get the features he needed, he was going to have to pay a lot more than he initially budgeted for.
Why Kevin Switched From NRS
According to Kevin, “Although basic features were helpful, I felt I could only run my store well with the advanced features — and every time I needed a feature, it cost more.”
What features is Kevin referencing?
- Gross profit and sales by item reports are extra.
- The employee time clock is extra.
- ID scanning is extra.
- Customer loyalty (outside of the BOSS program) is only available on a more advanced plan.
- Adding more users is extra.
Many missing features are available on an a la carte basis, meaning costs quickly add up and it can get confusing.
But what really made Kevin want to switch providers was when he got his monthly credit card statement.
“The final straw was when I received my first monthly statement. The processing fees alone drove my expenses through the roof. Each transaction was supposed to cost 2.49% plus 10 cents, with a monthly statement fee of $10. Our average ticket size is about $35, which turned out to be a 2.8% effective rate.”
Let’s do the math. Kevin’s liquor store turns over about $100,000 each month, so he was paying around $2,800 in processing fees alone.
“When I was first quoted the rate, it seemed reasonable, but once I shopped around, I realized how much money I was wasting.”
Other reputable liquor store POS providers offer a variety of payment processing options to fit different budgets. For example, Bottle POS offers an interchange plus pricing model of .10% and $.05 per transaction, which usually equals an overall effective rate of under 2%. In Kevin's case, switching to Bottle POS for payment processing would save him $1,000 per month.
Note: Bottle POS also offers a dual pricing option that allows the merchant to effectively pay no processing fees by passing that 3.5% price increase to the customer for non-cash transactions.
This was the straw that broke the camel’s back. For Kevin, it didn’t make much sense to save $10 or $20 on his monthly software expense only to pay out $1,000 extra each month in processing fees.
“Ultimately, I couldn’t run my store effectively without advanced features. Add to that the fact that my credit card statement was so high — I just had to look elsewhere.”
That's when he found Bottle POS.
Switching Your Liquor Store to Bottle POS Is Easy
As POS and liquor industry experts, Bottle POS is easily our top choice for liquor store owners like you and Kevin. Here are just a few reasons why:
- Unlike NRS, Bottle POS is uniquely designed with liquor stores in mind. This means you'll have access to the industry-specific tools and support you need to manage and grow your business.
- Bottle POS offers three straightforward pricing tiers. NRS does, too, but their a la carte feature model makes pricing confusing, leading liquor store owners to pay much more than they expected.
- Importing your inventory records is one of the toughest parts of adopting a new POS system. Kevin was caught off guard by NRS' $249.95 fee for inventory importing, but Bottle POS offers this service for free as part of the onboarding process.
- Bottle POS offers 24/7 support, which means you can get immediate help whenever you need it.
- Bottle POS' inventory management features are built for liquor stores, so you'll have access to helpful tools like case breaking and automated purchase order creation.
- Bottle POS includes powerful sales reporting and analytics — from profit margin reporting to automated ranking — to make growing your liquor store a breeze.
While NRS might be a good option for beginner business owners with basic POS needs, Bottle POS is the clear choice for liquor retailers who want transparent pricing, industry-specific features, and a solution that will grow with their stores.
Start your Bottle POS journey today by scheduling your personalized demo with one of our liquor industry experts.
