Dan Murphy’s has taken out top honours in the prestigious BRW & AMP Capital Shopping Centres 2012 Retailer of the Year awards at a sell-out gala event at the Hilton Hotel in Sydney last week.

The liquor retailer took out the ‘Outstanding Retailer of the Year Award’, ahead of other finalists in the category including Australian Geographic, Crust Gourmet Pizza Bars, Grill’d Healthy Burgers, Oroton Group, Salvos Stores and Telstra.

Announcing the award winners with MC Sonia Kruger, BRW Editor Kate Mills said, “It was exciting to see the calibre of entries this year.  It is a tough time in retailing yet our award recipients have flourished and found new and innovative ways of doing business.  Innovation is the name of the game as a technological revolution enables new ways of reaching out to ever-more dollar conscious consumers.  Dan Murphy’s achieved outstanding results and were the unanimous choice to take out the top gong.  We’re thrilled to be able to recognise and celebrate the achievements of all our winners and finalists through these awards.”

Now in its second year, the Retailer of the Year awards reward and recognise the best of Australian retail across seven categories.
The award categories and winners were:

OUTSTANDING RETAILER OF THE YEAR – Dan Murphy’s

NEW RETAILER OF THE YEAR – Sneaking Duck

MULTI-CHANNEL RETAILER OF THE YEAR – The Body Shop Australia

SUSTAINABLE RETAILING – Woolworths

INNOVATION IN RETAIL – Sneaking Duck

SUCCESSFUL RETAIL MARKETING CAMPAIGN OF THE YEAR – Bankwest

BEST CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE OF THE YEAR – Aussie Farmers Direct

Of Dan Murphy’s unanimous win, retail consultant and one of this year’s judges Stephen Kulmar, says “It (Dan Murphy’s) is best in class worldwide for what it does.  It takes advantage of a growth category and delivers the most dominant and well-considered product offering on the market. It compromises on nothing, whether it’s an $8 bottle of wine or a $1000 bottle of wine.”

Although Woolworths-owned, Dan Murphy’s general manager Martin Smith said it has always been run as a separate business and attributes its success to the culture the founder built. “Murphy, by himself, fostered a focus on wine and wine education with a lowest price guarantee,” Smith says. “That combination of a great product range with staff who know their stuff and a determination to make it available to the general public not just the affluent is something we’ve worked to maintain as we’ve expanded.”

Dual winner Sneaking Duck also rates a special mention with judges – taking out two of the seven retail awards.  The online prescription glass retailer only entered the ‘new retailer’ award category but blew the judges away, leading them to give Sneaking Duck the award for ‘innovation’ as well.  In the innovation category Sneaking Duck was up against some big name competitors including Gloria Jean’s Coffees and Sportsgirl.

The 2012 Retailer of the Year awards were sponsored by AMP Capital Shopping Centres which operates 36 sites across Australia and New Zealand. The centres house 3,000 retailers and include Warringah Mall (NSW), Knox Shopping Centre.

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