Dan Murphy's

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Dan Murphy's
Type Subsidiary
Founded 1878 (Woolworths in 1998)
Headquarters Bella Vista, New South Wales,
Flag of Australia Australia
Key people Michael Luscombe, CEO
Steve Greentree, General Manager Freestanding Liquor
Industry Retail
Parent Woolworths Limited
Website www.danmurphys.com.au

Dan Murphy's is an Australian big box liquor supermarket chain owned by Woolworths Limited, who also owns BWS, another liquor chain with smaller stores.

Contents

[edit] History

The company has beginnings in 1878 after Daniel Francis Murphy, a winemaker, journalist, and founder of the first wine club in Australia, began wine retailing in Victoria.[1] Woolworths Limited took over the five Victorian retail outlets in 1998 with the intention of national expansion.[2] While a success for Woolworths, the business has caused an oligopoly in the Australian liquor market, competing only with Coles Group's 1st Choice Liquor Superstore[citation needed], size-for-size, with concerns about the ability of smaller liquor retailers to compete.

[edit] Advertising

The business offers a "lowest liquor price guarantee",[1] and a main slogan of the company is that "You would be mad to buy liquor elsewhere".

[edit] Criticism

Dan Murphy's pricing strategy sparked an anti-competition problem in 2003, with industry analysts claiming that Woolworths and Coles were seeking to bankrupt rival liquor retailers, mostly by lowering prices of wine.[3] The business has admitted to selling liquor at times below cost to "aggressively drive sales".[4]

Another major concern amongst rival liquor retailers has been Woolworths' aggressive acquisition strategy, buying-up small independent stores to increase market share against main rival Coles Group,[5][6][7] or opening up new stores, placing pressure on existing retailers by taking away sales.[8] in Woolworths' 2006 Annual Report, the company reported 15 new Dan Murphy's stores had opened in the reported financial year, taking the total to 56, and that the company had the sites and licences to have more than 100 stores open within the next two to three years.[9]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Dan Murphy's - The Dan Murphy Story (HTML). Dan Murphy's. Retrieved on 2007-09-20.
  2. ^ (2000-11-12). "How Woolworths Started & Grew" (PDF). . Woolworths Limited Retrieved on 2007-09-20.
  3. ^ Ashford, Karen. "Wine producers on the rack", The Adelaide Review, 2004-04. Retrieved on 2007-09-20. 
  4. ^ Inside Business. Greg Hoy. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 2003-07-13. Transcript. Retrieved on 2007-09-20.
  5. ^ Business Sunday. Oriel Morrison. Channel Nine. 2005-06-05. Transcript. Retrieved on 2007-09-20.
  6. ^ McMahon, Stephen. "Woolies swallows Taverner hotels whole", Business, The Age, 2005-10-27. Retrieved on 2007-09-20. 
  7. ^ "Woolies beats Coles in big pub race", Business, The Sydney Morning Herald, 2004-10-27. Retrieved on 2007-09-20. 
  8. ^ Stateline (Western Australia). Dianne Bain. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 2006-04-21. Transcript. Retrieved on 2007-09-20.
  9. ^ Woolworths Limited (2006). "Woolworths Limited Annual Report 2006" (PDF). Retrieved on 2007-09-20.

[edit] External links