Confessions of a spirits retailer: Dan Murphy’s

Adam Jenkins, head of spirits for Australian drinks retailer Dan Murphy’s, reveals what it takes to succeed in such a fast-moving industry.

Adam Jenkins is head of spirits at Australian retailer Dan Murphy’s

At Dan Murphy’s we are always striving to identify new trends and bring them to our customers. When looking for products we are seeking something that is fresh, high quality in both flavour and presentation, and eye-catching for customers.

It is always great to see our customers branching out to try new products. As a result, we are seeing lots of exciting developments in whisky, gin and apéritifs. We know our customers are trying new cocktails and apéritifs in bars locally or overseas, and visiting our stores to purchase products to make them at home.

Recently, our apéritif range and whisky ranges have been performing particularly well.

I have been working for Dan Murphy’s for many years and moving into spirits was an exciting next step. For those interested in joining the industry, I think it goes without saying they need to have an appreciation of the products they are responsible for and not be swayed by personal taste or bias.

It’s incredibly important to listen to customers and understand what they are looking for, as well as their likes and dislikes. A passion for the industry and an understanding of local and international trends are also very helpful.

Dan Murphy’s has an extensive and continually growing spirits range, with quality products from Australia and abroad. We offer the lowest price guarantee, which means our customers are certain to pick up a great quality product at the lowest price. We also have a fantastic team of knowledgeable, passionate staff members who make it a priority to assist our customers and give them the very best shopping experience.

We don’t have a typical customer – Dan Murphy’s is committed to ensuring all our customers have the best experience both in store and online.

One of the main challenges we face is that there are so many great products out there, produced in Australia and overseas, and we would love to be able to stock them all but physically we can’t.

This is why our Dan Murphy’s Connection programme is important. Connections is available on the Dan Murphy’s website and is home to rare, boutique and limited edition products, including spirits, which are sent directly to our customers’ doors from importers or distilleries. There is an added benefit too – our Connections range offers free delivery for customers.

I love seeing a product or promotion I’ve been involved in capture the interest of our customers and team members.

I think cocktails will continue to grow in popularity in 2016. Dan Murphy’s has launched a new cocktail guide and dedicated cocktail bays in-store to assist customers with their shopping experience.

We’ve also bolstered our online offer with customers able to purchase accessories like cocktail shakers, bitters, dropper bottles and rimming sugar or salt on our website to assist with at home mixing and serving.