The Winning Group, Dick Smith and Catch of the Day have all been honoured this morning with nominations in the 2014 World Retail Awards, an annual celebration of physical, online and omnichannel retailing held in Paris, France.
Across its several retail brands, the Winning Group has been nominated for three Awards: Best New Store Design over 1,200 square metres for its Winning Appliances flagship showroom in Redfern, Best Pure Play Online Retailer for Appliances Online, and Best Customer Experience of the Year for Appliances Online.
In the Pure Play category, Appliances Online will take on fellow Australian site Catch of the Day. Winning Group CEO John Winning said he was proud to achieve recognition for both online and physical retail.
“We’re delighted to have been selected as finalists against major global competitors and counterparts,” Winning said. “It’s proof that Australian companies can excel at retail and hold their own on the world stage. We’re particularly excited that our flagship Redfern showroom has been recognised as we opened it at a time when other retailers were closing down or reducing their number of stores.
“The Awards emphasise the ongoing importance of maintaining a physical retail presence and offering customers choice.
“It’s also great to be recognised for Customer Experience as exceptional customer service is the lifeblood of our business.
“For Appliances Online to be selected alongside international giants such as Carrefour, Harvey Nichols and Lidl is amazing. We’re the only Australian pure play online retailer with a 24/7 locally based customer support team and this nomination vindicates our investment in customer experience and relations.”
Dick Smith has been shortlisted for one award, Best New Retail Concept, for its Move concept, which blends fashion and technology in a trend it calls ‘fashtronics’. Move has grown from one store, in Bondi in Sydney, to four outlets, with new openings in Highpoint and in Melbourne’s CBD (The Emporium) and in Indooroopilly in Brisbane.
UPDATE: Michael Dykes, director of IT strategy for Move stores at Dick Smith, said the company was happy to be nominated and would be attending the awards.
“We are delighted to be short listed and recognize that we are up against some fantastic retail concepts,” Dykes said. “We do intend to attend the awards as we are very proud of what we have achieved with Move and do believe we have developed the world’s first retail fusion of technology and fashion.”
Outside of Australia, Appliance Retailer is pleased to report that John Lewis has been nominated for Best Retail Advertising Campaign for its 2013 Christmas commercial, titled The Bear & the Hare. We have previously noted that this is one of the best ads you will see and that it would be good for local retailers to adopt this approach to their marketing.
2014 World Retail Awards Finalists (Australian focus)
Pure Play Online Retailer
Appliances Online
vente-privee.com
Catchoftheday.com.au
Dafiti
navabi
AO.com
Made.com
Best New Retail Concept
Alexander Dr Fleming
Eataly Smeraldo
Level Shoe District (Chalhoub Group)
Metro (“Casa dell’Horeca”)
Move
navabi
Verizon (Destination Store)
Store Design > 1,200 Square Metres
Breuninger Ko-Bogen, Düsseldorf (HMKM)
Galeries Lafayette Beijing (HMKM)
The Galleria Department Store, Seoul (Burdifilek)
Garhammer Fashion House, Waldkirchen (Blocher Blocher Partners)
New Look Retailers, Beijing Glory Mall
Winning Appliances Flagship Redfern Showroom, Sydney
Customer Experience of the Year
Appliances Online
Carrefour (Villeneuve la Garenne Store)
Harris+Hoole
Harvey Nichols and Ampersand (Harveynichols.com)
Lidl (Dill Restaurant)
Macrocenter (“The Land of More”)
Sonae (Continente App)
The 2014 World Retail Awards will be presented in Paris on 30 September 2014.