As long as age restrictions for the consumption of alcohol have been in place, underage people have attempted to find ways to get around the restriction. Luckily for liquor store owners looking to avoid lawsuits, technology has advanced to a point that it’s becoming much more difficult to do so. Now in many cases you can even get a 2D barcode scanner for ID’s built right into your POS system.
Age verification capabilities are built right into the liquor store POS with the use of a specialized barcode scanner integration. As soon as the item is scanned, the system will prompt the cashier to scan the customer’s ID, after which, the POS system will verify whether or not the customer is old enough to purchase the product.
Security and Reliability
This system is much more reliable than relying on a cashier to spot a fake ID when they are prone to human error and fake ID’s are getting ever more sophisticated.
The Importance of Staying Compliant
Scanning ID’s has not only become commonplace throughout the US, some states actually require it by law. Utah for examples requires any merchants selling alcohol run an electronic scan on the ID of anyone who looks 35 years old or younger and the penalty for failing to electronically verify the ID is equal to selling alcohol to a minor.
Source: army.mil
With that in mind it’s vital for liquor store owners to use a POS system that includes age verification, unless they want to be subject to at least $1,158 in fines and court costs like Peggy Bowen a bar owner in Utah who failed to electronically verify three customer’s ID’s. Other states such as Connecticut have taken to sending undercover minors into liquor stores to see if they will be sold alcohol. Now undercover minors are not allowed to lie about their ages and they can only present their real ID’s, but many are still walking out with alcohol due to negligence or simple human error. Connecticut officials say that they’ve noticed stores that use scanners are “less likely to sell” to minors.
Clearly with many states looking to crack down on underage drinking and fake ID’s becoming more and more authentic looking it is in all liquor store owners best interests to invest in an age verification integrated POS system.
ID Scanning for Enhanced Customer Experience
In addition to fake ID detection, collecting customer information this way can prove invaluable to your business. For example, scanning ID’s can allow you to collect customer sales information (CRM Data) and give you more insight into customer behavior.
Source: smallbusiness.chron.com
How Valuable is CRM Data?
In addition to verifying age your POS age verification software can be activated to collect the consumer ID info (with customer approval, of course) and create quick customer profiles.
Each customer profile created gives you greater insight into how a customer spends their money and time in their store. Did a promotion appeal to them? What coupons did they respond to? Are they a recurring shopper or one-time shopper. This allows you to greater tailor your services and promotions to create a customer experience that speaks to your customers. A better customer experience = more frequent purchases.
In addition, when this information is coupled with the time of the purchase, the product(s) purchased, whether that product(s) was on sale or not will help you not only serve your customers better, but allow you to see which products are the most popular and which of your promotions generate the most business.
Loyalty Programs Tailored to Customer Behavior
The information acquired is also ideally to suited to enroll your customers in a loyalty program this tailored to their specific behavior. Say a customers comes in to buy a couple bottles of wine every week, you can save that data along with his or her name and information to offer them a free bottle for every 10 they purchase. Or if a customer comes in every time a particular sale is going on you can cater to that customer by ensuring the sale takes place at least once a month. The possibilities are endless with the information you have at your disposal thanks to age verification software.
Detailed Reports
With the help of age verification software you can compile detailed reports that will help you not only better understand your customers, but how to take this information and improve your business. With the software providing insightful information about your customers it’s easier than ever before to find out their demographics, where they came from, whether or not they are a repeat visitor, and how many men versus women are coming to your store. Making sound business decisions requires sound information about your customer base and the best way to get that is with age verification software.