On Wednesday, liquor retailers, banner groups, wholesalers and suppliers came together for the Retail Drinks Industry Summit, held at Doltone House Darling Point in Sydney.
Each year, the Summit invites business experts and industry leaders to share the latest trends, information and ideas to inform business decisions, help businesses grow and ensure the success of the liquor retail industry.
Retail Drinks Australia CEO Michael Waters opened the Summit with an industry regulatory update, providing an overview of the federal, state and territory landscape for liquor retailers, and sharing insight into Retail Drinks’ recent and upcoming policy and advocacy activity.
Emphasising the diversity of the industry, Waters spoke about the importance of a united response to regulatory challenges, highlighting emerging issues and state-specific regulatory priorities.
He also shared some of Retail Drinks’ achievements over the last 12 months, including the return of normalised trading hours in Darwin, presenting at the 2024 Australasian Liquor Licensing Authorities Forum, saving NSW liquor retailers over $1.3m in proposed annual liquor license fee increases, securing a pre-election commitment from the NT government for ongoing police funding, and more.
Speaking about three research pieces commissioned by Retail Drinks Australia in the last two years, with more in the pipeline, Waters said: “Having worked for this association in various capacities for the past 15 years, we’ve never, ever been in a position where we’ve been able to plan, develop and publish our own research like we are today.
“This is a testament to our vision and strength of unity since becoming one national industry body, and to the ongoing support of our growing membership, to which we are extremely grateful, as you should be.”
Category performance trends
The Retail Drinks Industry Summit AGM highlighted the organisation’s strong financial position and gave further insight into FY24 activities and achievements, before Jarna McLean, Director of Health & Lifestyle at Circana, shared a presentation about the state of Australia’s retail liquor market.
McLean spoke about declining alcohol consumption, with moderation reflected in declining retail liquor volumes and abstinence increasing across all ages.
Although data shows household incomes are improving, the cost-of-living crisis is still the main challenge for consumers, making price an important consideration and impacting sales in the premium segment.
This is especially prominent in the craft beer category, which is in decline if you remove ginger beer from the segment. Single malt whisky is also in decline as consumers favour more affordable alternatives such as American whiskies, and Prosecco is now outperforming Champagne, becoming one of the top three retail liquor growth categories.
While consumers are still focused on value, falling interest rates are expected to have a positive impact on consumer spending in 2025. Through challenging economic times, innovation and NPD have remained key drivers of category growth.
Across all categories, lemon and citrus flavours have been the main growth driver over the last 12 months, and strong demand for refreshing beverages has expanded from the RTD category into the likes of wine with lemon Spritzes entering the market.
Looking at category performance, McLean explained that significant growth is coming from RTD, particularly vodka-based RTD. Interestingly, cider is also in growth with plenty of innovation coming from this segment, and wine is beginning to rebound from a decline.
While growth can be seen in most categories, McLean outlined the challenges of glass spirits, with tequila currently the only segment commanding a premium price.
Combating retail crime
In an insightful session about retail liquor crime, safety and security, Retail Drinks Australia’s Head of Policy & Advocacy, Kary Petersen, gave an update on the Safe to Serve initiative, before facilitating a panel discussion with Neil Redfern (Redfern Retail Risk), Andrew Sayers (Coles Liquor), Andrew McKay (Red Bottle) and Damen Jones (NSW Police).
Launched last year as a direct response to the rise in retail crime, Retail Drinks’ Safe to Serve initiative aims to enhance store safety through education, community awareness and advocacy, including a Safe to Serve Toolkit which covers essential security topics and a store self-assessment guide.
Petersen also shared findings of the Retail Liquor Safety and Security Survey, which investigates safety and security in bottle shops and home delivery, and how different measures improve perceptions about safety and security.
The survey found a disconnect between what security features customers notice and the security features that are actually in store, sparking conversation about the balance between wanting customers to notice where security measures are in action and feel safe, and not wanting to negatively impact the retailing experience.
The panelists discussed various incidents, emphasising the importance of training staff in verbal communication and de-escalation techniques, also highlighting the need for staff to prioritise their own safety.
They also spoke about the importance of using the Safe to Serve Toolkit and working closely with local police to address retail crime, and agreed on the need for stores to maintain a clean, well-lit environment with visible CCTV surveillance to try and deter opportunist shoplifters.
Finally, Australian actor, writer and director Rob Carlton told cautionary tales of leadership and loneliness, speaking about the value of culture to an organisation and its significance in liquor retail, closing the Retail Drinks Industry Summit ahead of the Retail Drinks Industry Awards.