Supplier of the Year Awards Get to know the judges

We sat down to discuss what being a judge means to the panel, what inspires them by working with our suppliers, and lastly what style of drink they have been enjoying over the summer.

Kate Beattie Deputy Chief Financial Officer

I was honoured to be a judge for Endeavour’s inaugural SOTYA, and I was incredibly impressed by the quality and diversity of the nominations. It was very exciting to see how engaged our supplier partners were with the Awards, and to learn how much innovation had been happening - even in the face of significant disruptions from the pandemic.

As this is our second year, I anticipate we’ll see a step up again in calibre as there were so many wonderful examples of innovation and collaboration. I’m both inspired and proud that we work in such a supportive ecosystem to deliver stories and products our customers love.

I can’t wait to see what our suppliers share with us about the awesome outcomes they have been achieving. During last year’s event, it was really wonderful to finally get the chance to celebrate the strength of Endeavour’s partnerships with our suppliers in person. We’re all in the business of promoting sociability, so I look forward to the June event and every opportunity we have to do what we do best, in person, together.

Kate’s favourite drink

This summer, my number one ‘go to’ is always bubbles for any gathering with family and friends. But I have also been exploring the fast growing range of Zero%* Alcohol and I am loving it – so many options that don’t compromise on flavour.

Tim Carroll Director, Merchandise and Buying

I was blown away in our inaugural year by the sheer number of nominations in each category. As well as the time taken by our supplier partners to enter, along with such tough competition for each award. I am looking forward to seeing this same high standard from our suppliers amongst the nominees repeated this year.

I’m always excited to review the Product Innovation submissions, as new lines are the lifeline of our continued category growth, and it is amazing to see the sheer number of NPD right across the liquor industry.

Last year’s awards night in May was really the first major industry event since COVID, and it was great that Endeavour could lead the way and bring the industry back together after two very long years. To see so many familiar faces in the flesh was a true highlight, as was seeing our industry so strong and resilient despite the challenges all Australians faced.

Having been in the Liquor industry for over 30 years, I have built up many friendships, with many faces changing roles or companies over that time. But the friendships are still as strong as ever, and I am looking forward to catching up with old friends and making new ones at this year’s awards as we celebrate our respective achievements.

I am continuously inspired by the open communication we have with suppliers as we build strong relationships overtime, leading to partnerships that overcome obstacles and build ideas into success stories. This continues to drive my passion for the industry.

Tim’s favourite drink

Having now been living on the Gold Coast for 12 months and enjoying the wonderful warm weather that QLD has to offer, I must say my love of Chardonnay has only continued to grow along with a refreshing Pale Ale.

Bree Coleman

General Manager - Transformation, Range and Customer Value

Being the first year, I could not believe the amazing level of engagement from our suppliers and team alike. It was clear that there had been so many great products, activations and collaborations, and everyone wanted to recognise them.

However I definitely wasn’t surprised by the high calibre of these achievements, which provided us judges with an envious challenge of finding a winner amongst so many great finalists.

I am so excited to see this year’s nominations, and to read about the work that our suppliers are doing across so many areas such as sustainability, innovation, and how to attract more customers through MixIn, digital channels and brand activations. I am also interested to see how many nominations bridge both on and off premise, now that we are able to include ALH beverage suppliers.

Like last year, I look forward to seeing many of our suppliers celebrated. It was really great to see us all come together in person and reflect on everything we have achieved together.

Bree’s favourite drink

I enjoy trying new cocktails and experimenting with unusual or unlikely combinations to discover new tastes, but I’ll always enjoy a margarita.

Mario Volpe Managing Director, Hotels

I am so excited that we’re able to include ALH drinks suppliers into the awards this year, and with that, being able to be a judge. Last year I got so hear about the nominations and all the great work that was achieved and showcased through the finalists and winners and I am thrilled to be a part of the process.

This year is a great opportunity to highlight and bring to the forefront on-premise suppliers and all the great work that has been achieved together through nominations. I’m also excited to see any nominations that cover both on and off premise channels.

A highlight for me last year was being able to have an in person event and get to meet many people in person, some for the first time and others for the first time in a couple of years. I am really looking forward to having our ALH drinks suppliers included in the night and build on last year’s event.

I continue to get a mass of energy from working with suppliers, due to the way our suppliers continue to find ways to innovate and their drive to work with us to constantly improve our customers’ experiences.

Mario’s favourite drink

Hard to beat a cold crisp beer to enjoy on a hot summer evening.

Jarrod Holt

General Manager, Commercial, Hotels

This is my first year as a judge, so I’m really looking forward to being a part of the judging process. I know last year within the beer team, I loved reflecting on some of the achievements of our suppliers and the sheer number of incredible stories to be told.

With SOYTA recognising ALH suppliers this year, I am excited to see the on/off premise submissions and how the supplier community nominates across both channels. My highlight for last year’s Awards night was the atmosphere. Having everyone together, mingling and talking with a drink in hand and a smile on their face was an awesome buzz. After being apart for so long, it just felt like a cracking place to be.

These awards give an opportunity to take a moment to reflect and celebrate many areas that we work together with, but for me it’s the supplier’s stories of innovation and their willingness to partner that really inspires me.

Jarrod’s favourite drink

I’m a beer man, but an ageing one, so I have been really loving easy drinking style craft beers that are super refreshing and maybe this is a callout to Melbourne summer this year but I found myself enjoying lighter style reds right the way through.

What customers want

Personalisation, or “perso” as it has become affectionately known, launched in email to our My Dan’s loyalty members in early 2021. Here, Helen Birch - Group Product Manager, Personalisation - updates us on the progress and what suppliers can expect to see this year.

Since the launch of personalisation, our teams from endeavourX, Marketing and Merchandise have been focused on delivering the most relevant products and campaigns to our customers.

For over six million of our members, we have curated a list of more than 500 products, which are unique to each of those individuals. We use these to serve great recommendations and offers on drinks we know they will love.

Our personalisation engine harnesses the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning; utilising a combination of customer and product data to match each member with the most relevant products and marketing communications each week.

Each month we talk to over 3.2 million members through email, and are now expanding our reach through personalised recommendations on the Dan Murphy’s website and mobile app.

How does it work?

Our personalisation engine uses billions of data points such as a member’s purchase history, product category preferences, location e.g. favourite store; combined with rich product data to ensure we can predict the most relevant products for each member and connect the breadth of Dan Murphy’s range to our member base.

Since we launched ‘perso’ in the email channel, we have sent over 653 million personalised emails featuring over 15,000 products. In order for a product to be eligible to appear in email it must fulfil two key criteria; firstly the product must be live on the Dan Murphy’s website and secondly, the product must have stock available. The engine does the rest; matching the product using a relevance calculation to present to the customers who are most likely to engage and buy it. Sounds simple right? (Hint: it’s not!)

Customer engagement

Already this year, we’ve had 53 million customer engagements (opens and clicks) with personalised recommendations from 194 million personalised impressions delivered across multiple channels.

Members who engage with our personalised communications spend on average 1.2 times more than non-members.

Personalisation helps Dan’s deliver on two important strategic focuses; Delivering drinks discovery and communicating value. We’ve found that discovery products (those a member hasn’t bought before) that are ‘on member offer’ perform strongly across generations, with higher click rates than other campaigns (in particular Gen X and Millennials are twice as likely to engage with these vs other emails).

We have sent over 653 million personalised emails featuring over 15,000 products.

Gen X and Millennials are twice as likely to engage with these vs other emails.

Members who engage with our personalised communications spend on average 1.2x times more than nonmembers.

Already this year, we’ve had 53 million customer engagements.

Creating cut through

In FY23 we have focused on extending our personalisation capabilities to our digital channels, rolling out product recommendations across Dan Murphy’s website and app to allow us to talk to our members where they are most active. Email as a marketing channel continues to see overall engagement declining as the number of digital touchpoints increases.

Using the power of our engine we are able to provide relevant recommendations to be shown in key placements such as the homepage, personalise the sort order of products shown on pages such as category and catalogues, or curate the member offers displayed in the My Dan’s dashboard. We currently have 922 placements live across the site powered by perso, and like email, the engine selects the most relevant products for each member.

Delivering discovery

Another exciting feature has been recommending products that are new to Dan Murphy’s. As there was no sales data on a product when it lands in-store, our engine was not able to match it to a customer right away. Our new product-to-product model (P2P), has solved this customer problem. P2P uses data science and engineering models to compare a product to another product via the attributes that are stored in the system - the attributes that you, our suppliers, enter into digital enrichment platform - SKUvantage.”

In addition we’ve also been working with the ecommerce team to deliver the Under Wraps proposition to customers via the perso engine. This is a Dan’s Online Only campaign seeking to deliver renowned, high quality wines at amazing member-exclusive prices, direct to our Customer’s door.

These offers appeal to highly engaged customers who are wine enthusiasts and connoisseurs and delight in taking the plunge to “unwrap a mystery”. Since launching via email, we find that members are likely to buy multiple products in the same transaction and have a high basket order value. Already, we have seen personalisation driving an increase in member traffic to the Under Wraps landing page, an increase in overall order revenue and average order value.

The wines are handpicked by Dan’s expert tasting panel to represent value and quality - all wines are also supported by external Expert Reviews. Most importantly, they sell at a price that Dan’s Members cannot fail to be excited by. To get involved in Under Wraps, contact: stephen.marrs@edg.com.au

QAre your products eligible?

1. Are they live on the Dan Murphy’s website?

2. Is there stock available?