Ritchies Liquor ranked first in the Advantage Engagement Report again this year; an achievement reflective of the relationship that our team has built with our supplier partners over the years.
We have made it a part of our day to day practice to listen and act on feedback given to us by our suppliers so we may continuously improve the ways in which we work together. While there’s always room to improve, we’re extremely proud of what we have achieved over the years to achieve these rankings. Over the last eight years, we have placed first six times and come second twice.
From the beginning, the Advantage Report has always been a real and honest vehicle for Suppliers to give us valuable feedback on how we were performing, but more importantly, it has provided us with the opportunity to consider what we can do to create the ‘best in class’ business partnership. We simply took notice and built a plan to get better.
From this feedback and great discussions with Advantage's General Manager, Steve Andrews and the team over the last few years, we’ve made changes to our business that have proved crucial to become a best practice retailer:
• Joint business plans
• Clear sales targets
• Quarterly updates to keep connected
• Share business strategies
• Pre plan activity and NPD launches
• Frequent meetings between leaders to ensure the relationship is strong
• Calling out any ‘areas for improvement’ within the Advantage report, acting on it, and telling everyone.
So much solid business practice has eventuated from good conversations with our Suppliers and creating an honest platform to improve sales for both parties. Our strategy is simple: If Ritchies is successful, then the Supplier is successful. There must be mutual benefit in all that we do.
Last year is a good example of a successful year with sound planning, information sharing and clear targeting Overall, our Liquor business grew 2 per cent on the previous year. Coming on the back of a year when it grow by 18 per cent growth, that was quite an achievement.
Although Beer declined by 3 per cent, Spirits continued to grow at 3 per cent, bottled wine at 4 per cent, Sparkling was up 7 per cent and RTD was up by 12 per cent on the previous year. We feel effective NPD launches and exciting new drinks in the RTD space along with the customer’s need for convenience has made RTD’s the easy ‘go-to’ refreshment of the moment.
In the same 12 months, we opened a new store in Singleton, NSW and continued to reinvest in our store network. A good addition to the Supermarket business, Singleton has jumped to a great start in sales with solid range and convenient layout.
Ritchies Taren Point was renovated and reopened as a Fine Food and Wine outlet in March which brought about another lift in sales with extended ranging, increased premium lines, and improved layout. Shopping here is a real experience and it is a jewel in the crown of our New South Wales properties.
Robinvale in the Mildura region of Victoria was also renovated has we continued our rollout of the new Ritchies Drive In Format
Ausmart have been a great partner in assisting us with a rebranding program that has seen more than 20 stores undergo a facelift over the last 4 years.
FY23 looks to be more challenging as we face tough comparison figures from last year. With beer sales still continuing to decline and tobacco sales falling, the start to this financial year has been tough. New South Wales is outperforming the Victoria Liquor business to date. In September we celebrated our Birthday Sale as we do every year: our 152nd year as the oldest Supermarket and Liquor chain in the country.
As we approach the second half of FY23, we are looking to expand the business further. In August we took on the Cohuna IGA Plus Liquor store in Victoria and in September, we picked up NSW’s Deniliquin Central Cellarbrations as we focus on growing Ritchies' business in the Murray River region and North East Victoria. Also in Victoria, Tatura is undergoing renovations and will open a new Drive In Bottle shop early next year.
There is plenty going on in the Ritchies space to improve the shopping experience and build our revenue, but we remain ever-mindful that our success will only continue if we have sound business partnerships with our key suppliers. And the Advantage Report, is a true, clear and accurate way of measuring those relationships year in and year out.
Karl Loh is the General Manager of Ritchies Liquor Stores.
Advantage Australia is a Corporate Partner of the Drinks Association.