Smoke shops have experienced remarkable growth and transformation in recent years. Vapes, e-cigarettes, and other tobacco products have seen an increase in sales, allowing smoke shops to bring in over $70 billion!
When it comes to point of sale solutions, not all systems are created equal. This sentiment is true for solutions purpose-built for the tobacco industry. As a leading point of sale provider, we've helped hundreds of tobacco store owners and managers find the very best solution for their growing business. We take the time to get to know you and everything you could want in a POS system.
To aid your search, prioritize vendors that offer these great features because this is where you need to focus when choosing point of sale software for the tobacco industry.
5 Must-Have Tobacco Point of Sale Features
Running a successful tobacco shop comes with some industry-specific challenges. Owning a tobacco store includes adherence to age verification laws as well as many strict legal requirements. Your point of sale solution will also need to have complex inventory management abilities to handle tracking cases, cartons, packs, and individual items, along with the vendors who provide them. There are cases, boxes, and cartons to track in inventory when it comes to vendors and managing them.
You’ll also need a POS system that can help streamline your business with custom label printing, financial reporting, and tracking. A custom label feature will allow you to print labels for items for individual sale automatically. Systems with financial reporting capabilities will aid in that monthly tobacco tax. With all of these challenges, you’ll need a point of sale system built to handle them and work with a POS sales team that understands your industry needs.
1. Mix and Match Pricing
The very best tobacco shops increase sales and move inventory by grouping products into enticing deals. In this way, business owners and managers can identify items that have been within the product catalog for more than a few months and produce attention-getting sales to get that product out the door.
We make it easy to run mix and match promotions without the need to manually change prices at checkout. Discounts can be applied to your entire inventory, single products, or even a few items when they are paired together.
2. Carton-Pack Inventory Tracking
Are you tired of counting individual cigars and cigarette packs? With our POS system, you can automatically record the status of cartons, packs, and cases when you sell individual units. By tracking cartons and packs, you’re keeping your inventory updated and helping to uncover buying trends.
The inventory system will also keep track of what you have on your shelves so you can get up-to-date counts. You can even set your POS to place refill orders automatically when your inventory falls below a certain threshold.
3. Age Verification
Age verification is a serious legal matter if not done following state-mandated guidelines. If an employee makes a mistake and sells to someone that is underage, your business is at risk of fines or even losing your license. With the change in the legal age of tobacco sales and fake IDs being more common, businesses struggle to stay on top of new and evolving rules and regulations.
With POS Nation’s ID scanner, you can verify the age of your customers in record time — avoiding any cashier errors and ensuring you protect your customers and business. The system will immediately recognize when someone is under 21 or using a fake ID.
4. Vendor Management
Managing vendors can be tedious and time-consuming. With POS Nation's built-in sales reporting and analysis, you can track sales to build promo offers and identify which products are selling vs. tying up your cash. You can track every vendor in a single database, set your reorder thresholds, and even send emails directly to your vendors.
5. Cigar Label Printing
Cigars can be a barcoding nightmare. Our cigar label printing creates barcode labels that are customized to fit individual cigars. Labeling allows for better tracking, and with better tracking, you can see which cigars are not selling and taking up space on the sales floor. Moving old merchandise makes room for new – cigars that sell!
Cigar labels also allow for you to break down a box of cigars and sell them individually. Our software will track the package and each cigar in it, saving you precious inventory hours.
Are You Ready to Get Your Tobacco Point of Sale System?
From high-end cigar shops to discount cigarette and vape stores, POS Nation has worked with hundreds of tobacco industry shops and successfully implemented a POS system for them. We consider ourselves to be a great choice for POS systems, but don’t take our word for it...
“They are always ready to assist you whenever you need them. POS tech support team was so helpful and proficient on their work, it took them no time in setting up our new credit/debit card terminal. The technical support team is always responsive and very supportive any time you reach out to them for their help; Overall, POS Nation cash register and equipment are among the best if not the best in the business. We have been receiving compliments on our cash register ever since we opened our store.” - Ansu Sanneh
POS Nation is dedicated to providing you with the best point of sale software specific to your tobacco store. We have an extensive selection of options to cover everything from inventory to theft control. We’ll work with you to put together a system full of all the things you need so you are not paying for stuff you don’t use.
Ready to get started? Check out our free, downloadable Retail POS System Buyers' Guide to receive step-by-step instructions along with must-ask questions that will help you pick a point of sale system for your tobacco business.
