Liquor Legends celebrates 30 years with unprecedented promotion

“We are going to mark the occasion with our biggest promotion ever,” says Managing Director John Carmody as the business he started in 1992 hits the milestone of its 30th birthday.

Liquor Legends will be activating its biggest promotion to date. Customers can win a share of $30,000, there are five chances to win a 30 year old spirit or wine, thirty of the most exclusive thirty packs of beer, and the retailer will be running a massive six-hour online sale. The business says that there are plenty more promotions to be announced.

Four hundred suppliers and members gathered at the Sheraton Mirage on the Gold Coast late last month to celebrate the anniversary and learn of the group's substantial retail-level birthday promotions.

Some suppliers and members described the Liquor Legends 2022 National Conference as its best yet.

“Over the two-day conference, we took the members on a journey of data, insights, marketing and e-commerce and saw the largest supplier trade stand engagement with plenty of deals taken up by members on the first day,” said Mr Carmody.

The conference delivered valuable intel and speakers from within Liquor Legends, as well as keynote presentations from Jaime Nosworth, CEO of The Pistol and Dan Slade, Senior Category Manager from Carlton & United Breweries.

Both days culminated with a celebration: first the Legendary Awards Dinner and then a 1990s themed pool party.

Mr Carmody told Drinks Trade, "The kit was exceptional, the drinks were flowing, Hard Fizz DJs were spinning decks, and Balter kept delegate energy high with Tins of Glory."

“The National Conference was ‘legendary’ and an amazing two days of member and supplier engagement. We truly are lucky to have the greatest members in the industry,” he said.

Liquor Legends started in 1992 when John Carmody created a data-driven retail model (before data was even a thing). Today, there are 358 Liquor Legends sites around the country under banners, including Liquor Legends, Urban Cellars and Clubslink.

Mr Carmody's right-hand man, Marketing Manager, Bradley McClelland says, “John is a leader and an inspirer. He was so forward-thinking in 1992, very few others were thinking about data like he was back then,” said Mr McClelland.

“I am honoured to work alongside John and continue to fly the Liquor Legends flag. The transparency of our operating model has led to best-in-class supplier relationships and allowed us to make informed decisions. It is what we have built our success on.”

A central data-driven model services all Liquor Legends banner members, whereby the central support office manages their tills. Mr Carmody says that it means members can focus on what matters while Support handles all their pricing and promotions loading. This data feeds through to Liquor Legends' e-commerce platform and provides data visibility to its supplier partners.

"It also means that when we speak to suppliers, we can have informed discussions and talk through solutions when a product or a promotion is not working. It enables us to have transparent interactions made visible through the tools we have developed,” he said.

All POS is produced and dispatched from head office to ensure consistency of presence and messaging and this also frees retailers to focus on store presence and customer service.

“It is our ambition to be the best imaginable partner for our members and teams,” he said.

In 2021, Liquor Legends was ranked Best in Class by the Advantage Mirror Report, and the business emerged from lockdown with a solid omnichannel presence and strategy to support its members.

Sales for Liquor Legends Group increased by 9 per cent for FY22 compared to the year prior, and e-commerce grew by 220 per cent last year.

Today, the business is seeing online loyalty and return visits from customers, demonstrating that Liquor Legends Group online experience is becoming part of consumers' online shopping repertoire.

“Online visibility supports in-store performance and growth on the ground in bringing new retailers on board,” said Mr Carmody.

As for 2023, Liquor Legends is working on the exciting stages of refreshing its complete website to its next iteration. The group’s fundamental goal is to improve the overall user experience and drive new products to excite its customers.

“User experience is everything to us, and we want to deliver our customers a ‘Legendary’ experience online. Our website has been great so far, but we know there is a lot of headroom for growth, and we are close to realising the absolute opportunity,” said Mr Carmody.