Coles Liquor Group has announced the national conversion of Vintage Cellars and First Choice Liquor Market to the Liquorland brand under three banners following a successful pilot program.
By unifying its stores under three banners – Liquorland, Liquorland Cellars and Liquorland Warehouse – Coles Liquor hopes to deliver a consistent experience and greater value for customers across its entire network, including a more spacious store layout, clearer in-store signage and a tailored range.
For Coles Liquor CEO Michael Courtney the announcement represents a significant milestone for the business by bringing together the best elements of all three brands across value, range and convenience.
“This is the biggest transformation in the history of Coles Liquor Group, and we believe it will have a meaningful impact on how we serve customers the drinks they want, when they want them, and how we partner with suppliers to deliver value,” he stated.
Starting next month, the rollout is designed to simplify the customer offer across 984 stores, with 160 Vintage Cellars and First Choice Liquor Markets expected to be transformed before the end of 2025.
Increasing Liquorland’s footprint by 25 per cent, the program will align product range, promotions, Flybuys loyalty program and omnichannel service across the network, all underpinned by Liquorland’s new Price Match Promise.
“As we move towards a unified promotional strategy, we are strengthening our value proposition for customers with consistent and competitive pricing under one brand and one website. Customers will be able to benefit from the country’s most-loved rewards program – Flybuys, and access our Price Match Promise, which means if you see a better price at another retailer, we’ll match it,” Courtney stated.
“In terms of range, we are bringing a more tailored and relevant drink selection from the three banners under one roof. This means we will be unlocking the best-selling premium drops from Vintage Cellars and great value drinks from First Choice Liquor Market, and making them more accessible to customers through Liquorland across the country.”
The decision follows a successful 16-week pilot program in which select Vintage Cellars and First Choice Liquor Market stores across South Australia, Victoria and Queensland were converted to Liquorland Cellars and Liquorland Warehouse.
“The results of the pilot program exceeded our expectations across all measures. We were pleased to see brand awareness improve by 16 per cent and found customers visited our stores more frequently, and 30 per cent of customers who shopped at our pilot stores said they plan to shop with us more often compared to before the rebrand.
“These results give us full confidence that uniting under the Liquorland brand is the way forward not just for us as a business but for our customers,” Courtney added.
Since November 2024, 14 stores were rebranded in the pilot program, with more than 670 stores converted to Liquorland’s Black & White format over the last five years.