Add Category“And with the demand for convenience increasing, Dan Picked is another way [for us] to create a convenient customer experience, with our team of wine experts doing all the hard work.”
Dan Murphy’s uses its years of experience selling wine, and access to thousands of local and international wine brands, to expand the palette of its customers: whether they’re green or well-aged.
Dan Picked boxes contain tasting notes for the wine included, allowing customers to read up on where each wine comes from, what it pairs well with, and what flavours they can expect.
“Our wine team [has] an understanding of the Aussie palette, [and] works with both small and large winemakers in Australia and across the world,” Freudmann said.
“The great thing is that Dan Picked is an opportunity for us to showcase boutique producers who are too small to be ranged nationally in our stores, giving customers the opportunity to explore wine varieties they may never have tried before, including many from smaller, more regional wineries.”
And while the business’ focus is initially on wine, Freudmann didn’t rule out the idea of doing similar boxes for other areas of its business, such as craft beer.
The launch of Dan Picked comes as the drinks business celebrates the 70th anniversary of the opening of its first store, Dan Murphy’s Cellar, on Chapel Street in Melbourne in 1952.
As part of the celebration Dan Murphy’s will launch a similar Dan Murphy Cellar in New South Wales, and has launched a campaign to educate its customers about the business’ founder, Daniel Francis Murphy.
“Many people don’t know that Daniel Franchis Murphy, or ‘Uncle Dan’, was a wine-loving entrepreneur who created innovations that have shaped the Australian drinks industry,” said Freudmann.
“A lot has changed since 1952, [but] the essence of what makes the business special really hasn’t changed at all, which is why we want to celebrate the 70 years of drinks knowledge and expertise since that first store opened.”
Additionally, Dan Murphy’s recently launched its first non-alcoholic pop-up bar, Zero%, in Melbourne. The bar will be open until the end of June, and offers 30 non-alcoholic drinks, from beers to cocktails.
While traditionally an alcohol retailer, Dan Murphy’s has tripled its non-alcoholic range and doubled sales in the category in the last year, as more and more Australians look to cut back on their drinking.
At a recent supplier forum, Dan Murphy’s owner Endeavour Group’s managing director and chief executive Steve Donohue said that the business’ customers are increasingly looking for discovery.
“The wine category needs to keep pace with changing customer expectations; lower alcohol, no alcohol, smaller format, easier format, [or] something new and different like I’ve never seen before,” Donohue said.
Donohue encouraged the company’s suppliers to innovate more citing that in the past five years, 85 per cent of sales growth of the company has come from new product development, and that 40 percent of the products Endeavour’s stores sell today didn’t exist eight years ago.