Dan Murphy's

Dan Murphy's
Subsidiary
Industry Retail
Founded 1878 (Woolworths in 1998)
Headquarters Alphington, Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria,
Australia
Key people
 Grant O'Brien, CEO
Brad Banducci, Director Woolworths Liquor Group. Martin Smith General Manager Dan Murphy's
Revenue Store numbers 174
Number of employees
 4000 approx
Parent Woolworths Limited
Website www.danmurphys.com.au

Dan Murphy's is an Australian liquor supermarket chain owned by Woolworths Limited, which also owns BWS, another liquor chain with smaller stores. Dan Murphy's competes principally with 1st Choice Liquor Superstore.

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 contributed to the formation of an oligopoly in the Australian liquor market, with concerns about the ability of smaller liquor retailers to compete.

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".

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]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Dan Murphy's - The Dan Murphy Story". Dan Murphy's. Retrieved 2007-09-20.
  2. ↑ "How Woolworths Started & Grew" (PDF). Woolworths Limited. 2000-11-12. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-09-25. Retrieved 2007-09-20.
  3. ↑ Ashford, Karen (April 2004). "Wine producers on the rack". The Adelaide Review. Retrieved 2007-09-20.
  4. ↑ Greg Hoy (2003-07-13). "Inside Business". Inside Businesshttp://www.abc.net.au/insidebusiness/content/2003/s900980.htm |transcripturl= missing title (help). Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 2007-09-20.
  5. ↑ Oriel Morrison (2005-06-05). "Business Sunday". http://businesssunday.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=51887. Channel Nine. Retrieved 2007-09-20. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  6. ↑ McMahon, Stephen (2005-10-27). "Woolies swallows Taverner hotels whole". Business (The Age). Retrieved 2007-09-20.
  7. ↑ James Chessell, Justin Norrie (2004-10-27). "Woolies beats Coles in big pub race". Business (The Sydney Morning Herald). Retrieved 2007-09-20.
  8. ↑ Dianne Bain (2006-04-21). "Stateline (Western Australia)". http://www.abc.net.au/stateline/wa/content/2006/s1622565.htm. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 2007-09-20. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  9. ↑ Woolworths Limited (2006). "Woolworths Limited Annual Report 2006" (PDF). Retrieved 2007-09-20.

External links