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Retail Drinks Australia
ENHANCING THE FREEDOM TO RETAIL RESPONSIBLY
INTRODUCING RETAIL DRINKS AUSTRALIA
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The launch of Retail Drinks Australia is big news for the liquor retail industry. Previously the Australian Liquor Stores Association (ALSA), the rebirth, in the form of Retail Drinks Australia (RDA), has a clear strategy for the support of liquor retailers across Australia. Drinks Trade spoke with Chief Executive Officer, Julie Ryan, about the recent launch.
Drinks Trade: What was the impetus to evolve ALSA into Retail Drinks Australia?
Julie Ryan: ALSA had a long and proud history representing the interests of Australia’s packaged retail liquor stores for over 30 years, providing unwavering leadership, advocacy and support for its members. It did so as a national body, with state liquor store associations as its members.
However, in those 30 years both the regulatory and industry environment has changed.
In the advocacy space, credible threats to the sustainability of liquor retailing are now made by various policy groups that lobby against liquor retailers in a way that is unified and organized at both a national and state level. The concept of “my state is different” just no longer applies; the same threats are being deployed in every state and a lack of consistency in defending against them was a problem.
In the services market, ALSA had a long history providing relevant services and intelligence through a national conference and international study tours, but many other bodies now provide those services and forums, and retailers have less and less time to elect to attend multiple forums.
As industry shifted and changed, and there were a range of bodies providing similar services, the ALSA Board recognized it needed to undertake a strategic review to determine its core vision and reason for existing.
The strategic review encompassed a wide variety of stakeholders with every state liquor store association participating, as well as corporate suppliers and industry associations. The results were clear - ALSA was the only body that could genuinely state that it represented all packaged liquor retailers in Australia - from chains, to individual liquor stores, to online retailers. This representation across all retail segments could be powerful if structured and deployed correctly.
The ALSA Board therefore came up with a clear vision for the future; enhancing the freedom to retail responsibly. These words were chosen carefully and intentionally, to underpin a move away from the siloed advocacy of the past that was so focused on internal issues between different types of retailers that industry was no longer as effective on both a national and state platform.
ALSA also needed to accept it could not and would not advocate on the basis of every liquor retail issue; there are sufficient and well-resourced bodies already in existence to represent individual segments of liquor retailing. The core purpose of ALSA going forward needed to be identifying and advocating where the consensus view of all of those individual segments lay – and then leveraging the relevance and power that comes from being able to authoritatively and credibly say it was the consensus view of industry. This meant letting siloed issues drop away for those other bodies to advocate.
However, ALSA then had to face the real challenges of being able to do so under its existing name and structure.
In a regulatory environment, dissention or division within industry is the easiest argument that can be used to discredit the industry voice as a whole. ALSA, by its relationship with state members who had similar acronyms to their name and with the mandate to represent the voice of the members of that state, can and did sometimes advocate on a different policy agenda to ALSA. Whilst this is the legitimate right of those states, it created an issue for ALSA in terms of its credibility as a unified national body. It was natural for there
to be confusion between the states and ALSA, when they substantially shared a name.
ALSA needed both a new name, and a new structure, that could more effectively deliver on the vision clearly requested by industry - to enhance the freedom to retail responsibly.
DT: Explain the structure.
JR: The structure is corporate and this is intentional. With my background in corporate law and seven years participating in the executive of a global wine company, I hold firmly to the view that the disciplines of strong corporate structure can give real value to not for profit representative bodies. Essentially, applying the principles of lean efficiency allows for the maximum return to members: put simply, greater value being delivered back to members in services.
The structure collapses the concept of state based liquor store associations and consolidates, where those state associations agree, their membership into a direct relationship with Retail Drinks Australia. Many states have already taken that step. Incremental members who were never part of state liquor store associations before have also already started to join Retail Drinks, with the strength of its vision and purpose being a real driver for new membership.
It was recognized, though, that state based activities, communications and relationships are critical. Accordingly, state based councils will be formed (likely largely from the existing state liquor store association boards) but without the administrative burden of incorporation at that level.
The consolidation creates a single national body with recognized categories of membership associated with the different segments of liquor retail.
Representative directors for each category of membership, who can only nominate for directorship if they are at CEO or equivalent level within a business, allow the decision making body of Retail Drinks to be clearly identified as representing the consensus view of industry.
The membership and board structure is best represented by this diagram below.
Sitting underneath this board structure are key bodies that develop the strategic plan of Retail Drinks. These are: -State/Territory based member councils, which propose or request policy, services or events; and -Working groups, which develop proposals from the state/territory councils for incorporation (with the guidance of the CEO and COO), into the strategic plan to be debated and agreed by the board.
A continuous cycle both up from the state council through the working groups to the board, and then back down to the state councils for feedback, ensures that each level of participating in Retail Drinks feels engaged and integrated into its outcomes.
Some core principles of the structure are to ensure equality of rights between categories of membership so that no individual category dominates Retail Drinks’ agenda, decisions or strategy. This is best explained as follows:
THE BOARD
To ensure equality across representative categories of membership, the board members will have one vote each. Resolutions must be passed on simple majority.
The Board will review and sign off the financial accounts and strategic plan, and determine the consensus view on the advocacy position/ policy umbrella under which the executive team will execute.
GENERAL MEMBERSHIP
Overall decision making of the body will be delegated to the board, meaning that those matters going to general membership will be limited to those required under the Corporations Act which are limited; the most relevant being removal of directors, and constitutional change (since the constitution enshrines the rights of members).
Representative directors are voted from within the relevant class of membership only, and any director removed in general meeting can only
be replaced by a vote from the category of membership they were representing
Constitutional change protection embedded that any change to voting rights or constitution must be approved by special resolution that is not only 75 per cent of all votes, but also requires that it be passed by a majority of members in a majority of classes of membership.
DT: What are Retail Drinks’ main objectives?
JR: The objectives for Retail Drinks are clearly set out in its vision and objectives, embedded in the constitution. This vision is equally weighted between three core pillars: 1. achieving a more unified and consistent voice in advocacy for liquor retailers in Australia; 2. improving pan-industry coordination on agreed issues to give maximum leverage to all of industry where alignment can be found; and 3. improving the level of services made available to liquor retailers Australia wide.
This addresses a key issue in the past as state-based resourcing was directly linked to the number of members in the state; now all of industry can work together to be stronger together.
The three pillars together are also clearly linked backed to the core philosophy of the vision; enhancing rights, which is about leaving behind the siloed behavior of the past and working together to ensure a strong, stable retailing environment.
One important part of the vision not to be forgotten is that Retail Drinks will enhance the freedom to retail responsibly. This vision relies on Retail Drinks acting as a leader and educator to the sector on the principles of responsible retailing, and continuing to develop and promote thought leadership in the area of responsibility. This will be achieved by Retail Drinks’ membership of bodies such as Drinkwise and Alcohol Beverages Australia, and in the development of new initiatives to further promote the responsible behavior of its members.
OBJECTS SET TO CLEARLY BOTH DEFEND AND ADVANCE:
Objects clearly specify how Retails Drinks Australia will address the current threat the sector is faced with: • Vision/Purpose: Enhancing freedom to retail responsibly • Nurture a stable political, social and commercial environment in which the retail liquor industry may grow sustainably. • Act as a single unified forum on agreed retail liquor issues in Australia and communicate the collective views of members.
Contribute to an informed debate by; • coordinating industry position and response on agreed retail liquor issues; drinks trade|31
• analysing, summarising and disseminating research, data and practice on retail liquor issues to members and external stakeholders; and • ensuring the views of those who sell alcohol responsibly are represented.
DT: What are the requirements for membership of Retail Drinks?
JR: Eligibility: membership will be open to any organisation, company or individual who satisfies the eligibility criteria (see below), and who supports the objects and vision. • Chain Store Member: A party that owns at least 100 liquor stores in total across three or more Australian States and Territories. • Multi-State Banner Member: A party who acts as a buying group for liquor stores that are located in more than one Australian
State and Territory, by providing services that include bulk purchasing, promotional programs and/or advertising collateral. • Single-State Banner Member: A person who acts as a buying group for liquor stores located in only one Australian state or territory, by providing services that include bulk purchasing, promotional programs and/or advertising collateral. • Liquor Store Member: A party that owns at least one liquor store, but does satisfy the definition of a Chain Store Member. • Digital and Online Member: A party that supplies liquor via: delivery services; and/or online sales,and not via liquor stores. • Corporate Member: A party that supplies beverages (alcoholic or non-alcoholic) to liquor stores but do not fall within any other membership category.
There will also be a non-voting “affiliate” membership open to supplier partners on partnership agreements, and industry associations.
All membership applications must be ratified by the Board.
The requirement to support the Objects is an important part of this body, as there are clear provisions in the Constitution relating to compliance with a Code of Conduct. This is to ensure all members are reminded of the importance of Retail Drinks being a body that pro-actively advocates for the benefit of all liquor retailers, and that it will not advocate against the rights of any liquor retailer.
DT: What do you deem is the most important priority for Retail Drinks?
JR: Retail Drinks must rapidly develop its credentials as the national voice for liquor retailers in Australia, and develop an understanding amongst government, community and industry that it represents an advocacy platform of sustainable growth for responsible retailers.
One of the clear issues that will need to be addressed in the coming 12-18 months are current reviews by WA, Vic and NSW governments of the adequacy of online delivery of liquor regulation. This is a clear opportunity for Retail Drinks to develop a national consensus view of what would be an appropriately responsible framework for regulation and then pro-actively work with government to lead the dialogue. The objective will be to ensure consistency of regulation in each state of what is largely a national business, and to pro-actively lead the development of policy rather than seeking to influence it once already made.
There are many other similar issues in matters such as minimum unit pricing, alcohol advertising and licence conditions relating to density.
DT: What does Retail Drinks hope to achieve in the first twelve months?
JR: The first 12 months are very much about building the foundations of the structure and getting the processes in place to ensure they are operating successfully and within the vision.
This will include: • recruitment of key staff; • forming membership and meeting regularity of working groups and state councils; • formation of working groups; • creating first three year strategic plan (which identified both the policy advocacy agenda, as well as state based services and events; and • agreeing, documenting and communicating the initial policy positions of Retail Drinks.
DT: You are currently in the process of building the Foundation Members Board. What are you looking for in terms of board representation?
JR: To be eligible for board election persons must be the CEO/Chair/Owner (or equivalent) or a senior executive of the Member who has authority to make decisions on behalf of that Member.
The Foundation Board will only sit until the first AGM, at which time there will be open election of directors into each membership category, and the directors will then vote in their Chair.
One of the really exciting things about the board is there will be an Observer (non voting) seat for the annual winner of the National Young Liquor Retailer of the Year. This reinforces the investment in identifying young talent in retail and providing them with a meaningful experience that will grow their knowledge and network in liquor retail.
Much of the Foundation Board will have been announced by the time this edition of Drinks Trade goes to press.
