| Type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 1878 (Woolworths in 1998) |
| Headquarters | Alphington, Victoria, Australia |
| Key people | Michael Luscombe, CEO Steve Greentree, General Manager Woolworths Liquor Group |
| 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.
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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 contributed to the formation of an oligopoly in the Australian liquor market, with concerns about the ability of smaller liquor retailers to compete.
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".
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]
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