Retail Drinks Australia Summit & Awards

On Wednesday 30 November, Retail Drinks Australia held the 2022 Retail Drinks Industry Summit and Industry Awards at the Sofitel Sydney Wentworth. Over 500 Members and industry stakeholders from across the country were in attendance across the Summit and Awards marking the first time since 2019 that these events were able to be held in an in-person format.

Summit

The hundreds of delegates in attendance at the Summit heard from some of the industry’s top business experts and leaders who shared key insights, expertise, and strategies on how to succeed in liquor retailing. This included advice on how to help to grow liquor retailing businesses and profits responsibly and sustainably.

The Summit was formally opened with an address from the NSW Minister for Hospitality and Racing, Kevin Anderson and followed by 12 presentations and panel discussions from over 20 speakers on key topics, including Regulation, Responsibility & Sustainability; Cultural Change & Moderation; People & Culture (Workplace Relations; Talent Attraction & Retention; Mental Health & Wellbeing); Retail Liquor Market, Category, Shopper & Consumer Insights; Australian eCommerce Insights; Online Alcohol Sale & Delivery; the future of liquor retailing and how to increase our capacity to adapt in a world of accelerated change.

Awards

Once the Summit program had concluded, attention turned to the highly anticipated Industry Awards, where the winners from across both the retailer and supplier categories were announced. Retail Drinks saw a 20 per cent increase in nominations this year to over 400 in total. This followed on from a 250 per cent increase in the number of nominations from the 2021 Retail Drinks Industry Awards.

BWS Windradyne in Bathurst was named Liquor Store of the Year and Dan Murphy's West End Sunshine in Victoria was named Large Format Liquor Store of the Year. Independents were also recognised with Good Pair Days taking out the Online Liquor Retailer of the Year Award and Josh Towers of Red Bottle Group, NSW awarded Young Retailer of the Year in a tie with Oliver Francis from Vintage Cellars in Brighton, Victoria.

On the Supplier side:

• Alistair Harris of Pernod Ricard was named Sales Representative of the Year
• Beer Supplier of the Year: Lion
• Wine Supplier of the Year: Treasury Wine Estates
• Supplier of the Year and Spirits Supplier of the Year: Diageo
• Services Partner of the Year: Australia Post

As part of the Awards Program, all nominated stores were independently ‘mystery shopped’ and assessed against more than 20 key criteria, including arrival experience & first impressions, store layout & appearance, product ranging and diversification, staff presentation, customer service, product knowledge, sales skills and the sales transaction, responsible service & compliance and the overall customer experience. The average mystery shop score was 79.8 per cent, a 4 per cent overall improvement on last year and the Top 50 Finalists in the Liquor Store of the Year category achieved an average mystery shop score of 91.2 per cent. A full list of Awards winners is available on the Retail Drinks website here.

The success of both events showed exactly why the Industry Summit and Awards are one of the highlights of the year on the Retail Drinks calendar. With 2022 now almost in the rear-vision mirror, Retail Drinks looks forward to being able to host events of a similar calibre in the future, bringing together different stakeholders from all categories of the Australian retail liquor industry.

Michael Waters is the Chief Executive Officer of Retail Drinks Australia