The Most Improved Supplier of the Year award has been awarded to Accolade Wines. It's an award that bodes particularly well for Accolade Wines with Regional Managing Director, ANZ, Andrew Clarke, commencing his role just 18 months ago.
Of the win, Mr Clarke said: “This year, the Accolade team set out to greatly improve our partner experience and add tangible value to their businesses. We have focused on the core imperative to be customer-centric: to put the customer at the heart of what we do, be first-class in how we show up, and create value in the way we partner.”
Advantage Australia’s Client Director, David McLoughlin said, “A standout in Most Improved Supplier, Accolade’s performance has been driven by a strong focus on resolution of Supply Chain issues, a more proactive approach to collaboration and establishing a strategic orientation to retailer engagement which has driven a NF33 improvement in overall performance.”
Mr Clarke explained that the Supply team has made significant inroads over the past 12 to 18 months, by putting customer service and proactive customer communication as the priority and being agile to the changing consumer-demand of this most challenging year.
“We are delighted to receive the recognition from our customers and appreciate the support and feedback we’ve received. I believe we are doing something special here at Accolade Wines and we get to represent some of the best wines and wine brands in the world, which makes our jobs even easier!
“I am very proud of my team who are grateful for the recognition from our customers and the industry. This really is a significant achievement, but we won’t rest here! We will continue to drive our Customer Engagement agenda, and as their needs and demands evolve and change, so too will our approach and focus,”he said.
In early 2020, there was significant change in leadership at Accolade Wines with Andrew Clarke joining in February 2020, just after Joe Russo took the role as General Manager of Supply Chain and Operations, ANZ in January.
Robert Foye was appointed Global CEO in March 2020 and finally, Derek Nicol joined the business, relocating to Australia in December last year as Global Chief Supply Chain Officer to complete the global Executive Leadership Team.
MR Foye said: “As an executive team, we have focused on strengthening our senior teams and empowering our people. I believe the bench strength we have in our leadership team in Australia and globally is now second to none in the drinks industry. Andrew Clarke has led the ANZ business to significant success and we are determined to continue this journey of improvement. We are committed to the sustainable growth of our business, our people and the industry, and we look forward to more success in the future.”
The Most Improved Supplier award was introduced in 2018 to celebrate suppliers who have successfully set and executed a plan of improvement and been acknowledged by retailers for improving their professionalism and delivery across the entirety of their commercial relationship. The awards have been sponsored by ALM since it began.
ALM’s General Manager Retail & Wholesale Operations, John Barakat said, "Every organisation strives for improvement in performance, so it is a real honour to be recognised among your peers as having made the greatest gains. Congratulations to Accolade Wines.”
Shelly Horton was MC again this year, this time presenting from her new home on the Gold Coast. Hundreds of people watched as four awards were handed out for Supplier of the Year, Most Improved Supplier, Category Management and Supply Chain Management.
Advantage Australia is a Corporate Partner of the Drinks Association.