Excitement is building as the Advantage Trade Benchmark Survey results are tallied to determine the winner of Supplier of the Year at the 2021 Australian Drinks Awards.
While plans for the in person celebration have been postponed until November, the Supplier awards will still be announced on Thursday, 5 August to coincide with the release of the Advantage Trade Benchmark Survey results.
Since 2009, the Drinks Association has commissioned Advantage Australia to conduct the annual survey, which provides its members with favourability ratings and qualitative retailer feedback from the off trade, on premise, wholesale and outlets channels.
“Rapid changes in shopper transaction, business models, technology and emerging categories are making the path to high engagement less clear.
“Suppliers who are recognised in these awards are those who have best helped their partners manage the fast-changing expectations of today, as well as helping them get ready for the evolving requirements to be successful tomorrow,” said John McLoughlin, CEO of Advantage Global.
There are four awards in the Supplier category: Supplier of the Year, Most Improved Supplier, Supply Chain Management and Category Management. Like Supplier of the Year, all winners are determined via Advantage Australia's survey of on and off-premise retailers.
"One of the most interesting things we learned while researching supplier feedback for their retailer and wholesaler partners earlier this year, is that trust levels in the industry have improved to the highest levels we have measured yet. It will be fascinating to see which suppliers have engaged with their partners best through these difficult, yet highly collaborative, times," noted Steve Andrews, General Manager at Advantage.
Diageo was awarded Supplier of the Year in 2020 and Lion the year prior. Winners have the highest “Net Favourable” result from the combined, total retail/wholesale network across all the important aspects of business engagement.
A high Net Favourable result means that the supplier has the biggest difference between having “Promoters” in the industry, or those retailers who rate the supplier as best or better than average, less the “Detractors”, those retailers who rate the supplier as worst or worse than average.
The performance areas that make up the rating are: Business Relationship & Support; Personnel; Category Management; Consumer Marketing Support; Customer Marketing / Promotion Practices; Supply Chain Management.
When Diageo won Supplier of the Year Award last year, amidst the first round of COVID lockdowns, Diageo’s Chris Shaw said:
“I’m proud of how suppliers as a group have stepped up to the support the hospitality industry and it was great to see that collective industry response recognised…
"If the detailed survey results are anything like last year, then I think we’ll continue to see the evolving expectations of retailers, wholesalers and the on-premise being met by ever rising standards of service from all suppliers. We’re seeing increased capabilities and greater collaboration between supplier and customer which is fantastic, and bodes well for the future of our industry.”
The Supplier of the Year award will be announced on Thursday, 5 August and the winners will be published on the Drinks Association and Drinks Trade websites on Friday, 6 August.
The Australian Drinks Awards will be held on Tuesday, 23 November at the Ivy Ballroom in Sydney when winners of the Supplier awards will be celebrated in person.