Liquor Barons Hits 5th Gear

January 10, 2024
By Ashley Pini

The Liquor Barons group are flying, Chris O’Brien, General Manager, wraps up another successful year.

In 2023 Liquor Barons has hit fifth gear and there’s no stopping us now. Our sales figures are continuing to rise despite challenging market conditions, our store count continues to grow, and most importantly, we are driving profitability for our members.

It’s an incredibly exciting time to be part of the Liquor Barons group as we celebrate a successful 2023 and confidently march on through to 2024.

The beginning of the year was a turbulent time for all retailers, seeing the largest CPI increase since the 80’s threatening our economy. We managed to tackle this challenge head-first, with the outcome exceeding last year’s sales figures. With sales above last year, our margin has also grown both in value and percentage points, increasing profitability for our cooperative members. These numbers reflect our customers are remaining loyal in this difficult economic environment.

We’ve seen our store count increase year on year, with this year alone having 8 new stores join our group so far. We warmly welcome Liquor Barons Odin, Liquor Barons Kinross, Liquor Barons Alkimos, Liquor Barons Wattle Grove, Liquor Barons Riverton, Liquor Barons Derby, Liquor Barons Boyup Brook and Liquor Barons South Yunderup. Our focus is not only on increasing our footprint but on recruiting members who are the right fit for our co-operative. The collaboration and support our members offer each other is a unique asset that the Liquor Barons group has within the WA market.

Having seen a spike in younger members joining the group, the cooperative was met with a hard decision to restructure the head office team to meet the needs of the growing group. Liquor Barons underwent the restructure in the last quarter of 2022 and were successful in recruiting an entrepreneurial and energetic head office team to complement our established and experienced employees. Combined, they are kicking goals for the cooperative’s new and existing members. We are investing in training and other initiatives to develop their skill sets to ensure we continue to be ahead of the game and best-in-class in the industry.

With the marketing team continuously monitoring consumer sentiment and market trends, our 2023-24 summer brand campaign sees another evolution of our successful Legit Locals campaign. The new brand campaign, Legit Value, resonates with our consumers across multiple levels, communicating that we are more than just great prices. In various executions, the campaign highlights our unique offerings; personal service, in-depth knowledge, a tailored range, convenience, and support for the local communities that we as Legit Locals are part of. These are our unique selling propositions against the big chains and their cookie-cutter offering. The result is a brand campaign that not only resonates with our customers but our store owners too. The brand campaign is already showing positive uplift for the Liquor Barons group and beyond this we will be overinvesting in our digital and traditional marketing capabilities to drive even more consumers into stores.

With a thriving entrepreneurial team leading the cooperative through a successful 2023, watch this space to see the further impact we will have on the industry in the future.

“The banner is flying. Liquor Barons have nailed the promotional program with the right brands and the right pricing, supported by good in store activations and the over and above marketing support from your team.” Key account manager, major national brewer.

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