By Amy Looker
Porter’s Liquor will join the ILG portfolio of brands alongside Little Bottler following an announcement made at the ILG head office in Erskine Park yesterday (Aug 20).
The new partnership will see the Porter’s group backed by ILG as they make a move to push Porter’s as a premium liquor retailer in the market and attract new members to the Porter’s group.
Porter’s Liquor general manager, Giuseppe Minissale, said that a partnership with ILG will allow Porter’s to retain their independence while giving them the support they need to drive the brand forward.
“Porter’s needs the backing of a great wholesaler. We need someone that’s going to work with us as we drive our business from the ground up. We don’t allow our wholesalers or suppliers to direct us to where they want us to go. We make the decisions, and that’s why this partnership with ILG is so good. If retailers cannot control their own destiny then we are all in trouble,” said Minissale.
According to ILG’s chief executive officer, Doug Evans, the partnership between the two groups is a natural fit.
“We’re certainly very happy to announce this partnership between ILG and the Porter’s Group," he said. "It’s a very good fit of philosophy, it’s a very good fit of a strategic and commercial nature and we see it as having tremendous synergy going forward.”
Evans also said that the alliance between ILG and Porter’s was a triumph for the independent retailer in the face of competition from the chains.
“This industry is all about people and relationships and it seems to be a little bit under siege. We would not like to see this into turn into a grocery dominated channel. The chains are eroding that special nature of the liquor industry. It’s about brands, it’s about people, it’s about relationships. Porter’s is one of those brands that does a very good job and they’ve built that brand over the years. They fit very nicely into our stable of brands at ILG and we’re happy to have them.”