By Amy Looker – editor National Liquor News
The 2013 Australian Liquor Stores Association (ALSA) conference wrapped up in Hobart last week, with a record number of delegates attending ALSA’s first Tasmanian conference.
Delegates from across Australia came together to educate themselves on how best to run their retail outlets and were not disappointed, with a solid line-up of speakers and presentations covering a host of industry-related issues.
The conference was officially opened by Lara Giddings MP, Premier of Tasmania, which ALSA president Giuseppe Minissale described as a fantastic start to the week.
”I thought her passion about her State, the way she talked about her State and the way she spoke about the wines, the distilleries, the beer, the cider, and the fact that she made me feel positive about our industry, was a real highlight for me,” he said.
”The fact that she was proud of the State; she was proud of our industry and she was proud of what Tasmania delivered in that respect.”
Other highlights included an address by Woolworths Liquor Group director, Brad Banducci, and Nielsen’s Michael Walton.
“There’s no doubt Michael Walton can take a dry subject and make it into something interesting, and then stimulate your mind and stimulate your thoughts,” said Minissale.
“When we as an industry try and discount right across the range, and yet Walton is saying, ‘select your items, go deep on selected items, go soft on the rest, refresh about every 18 months’… and his point about consumers saying that low prices rate 26/26 is quite fascinating.”
The week also saw ALSA launch ALSA Train, its new online training solution developed under the Retail Liquor Development Foundation (RLDF) and also the launch of ALSA Retail Insights, a professional development resource for retailers.
A full wrap up of the 2013 ALSA conference in Hobart will be published in the October edition of National Liquor News