Excitement is building as the Advantage Trade Benchmark Survey results are tallied to determine the winner of Supplier of the Year at the 2019 Australian Drinks Awards.
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.
“As each year progresses, we are encouraged by the increased levels of engagement received for the program and the quality of feedback provided from both retailers and suppliers, highlighting collective opportunities to drive greater collaboration and business alignment,” said John McLoughlin, Group Managing Director, Asia Pacific, of Advantage Australia.
Winning Supplier of the Year at The Australian Drinks Awards has always been a huge accolade. Last year, two additional supplier awards were added to the ceremony: Most Improved Supplier and Supply Chain Partnership. Like Supplier of the Year, the winners are determined via Advantage Australia's survey of on and off-premise retailers.
"It’s exciting to see which supplier has out-performed their peers across the industry, and which is the most improved," noted Steve Andrews, Advantage General Manager VIC/QLD/SA.
Last year, Diageo celebrated taking out its second Supplier of the Year trophy in three years. The company won Supplier of the Year for having 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.
"Our commercial and supply teams supported by marketing, innovation, customer marketing and indeed all the functions in the business are focused on creating value for our customers by growing our categories and brands," said David Smith, MD Diageo Australia, following the win.
"There are many ingredients that go in as we strive to get this right and I’d particularly like to recognise the talent and dedication of the Diageo team as well as the willingness and capability of our customers to create strong partnerships that lead to great consumer offers and experiences.”
Diageo also won Most Improved Supplier, a new award 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.
"Retailers recognised Diageo's year-on-year success in driving improvements in their engagement through focused planning and action,” noted Andrews.
“We know that good business relationships are at the heart of good business.These awards recognise those suppliers with best-in-class business relationships, who are notable for their collaborative planning, consistency of delivering on commitments and proactivity in looking for ways to support their retail partners’ strategies."
The Australian Drinks Awards will be held in Sydney, on August 22, 2019.