Editor’s note: Australia’s biggest bottleshop owner Endeavour Group has announced the launch of a retail media arm which it says will allow suppliers to promote their products throughout its store and hotels networks.

Endeavour Group has a huge market share in terms of alcohol retail as the owner of both BWS and Dan murphy’s bottleshops across the country.

This has led to questions about the impact on competition in beer and other alcohol beverages sectors, given that Endeavour’s private label arm, Pinnacle Drinks, has ramped up supply of imitation brands.

Update: Endeavour has responded to Brews News’ requests for further information. A spokesperson for the company said that MixIn sits within the Merchandise Transformation function, as part of the broader merchandising team.

They confirmed that they will only work with current ranged brands within the Endeavour Group.

“Our initial focus is to work with products that are currently ranged across our network, either in-store or on one of our online platforms,” they said.

“We have partnered with a number of suppliers in the ideation phase to ensure we are delivering advertising solutions that deliver value across the spectrum of our supplier community, agnostic of the supplier size. Many elements of our digital media assets will be self-service too, as MixIn aims to be accessible for all suppliers, large and small.

“All suppliers will have equal access to inventory either in-store or online.The digital media elements available for launch are auction-based ad spots paid for on a cost-per-click basis, not entirely different from Google Adwords. It’s a level field on which brands will bid to have products elevated within search results pages and product listing pages.”

Content published under the media release byline is promotional content produced by the business(es) named in the media release and remains unedited by Brews News

Endeavour Group has today launched its retail media arm MixIn by Endeavour, offering suppliers the opportunity to promote their products through its extensive store and hotels network as well as its digital assets.

“We offer Australia’s largest connected drinks ecosystem, which means we can leverage customer insights to deliver great campaigns for our suppliers and help them reach customers in meaningful ways in their most sociable of moments,“ said Endeavour Group General Manager of Merchandise Transformation Bree Coleman.

“Over 97 percent of our store visitors walk out of a BWS or Dan Murphy’s with a purchase, so it’s an incredible opportunity for our partners to reach drinks lovers all over Australia, and for customers to access more relevant offers and taste and sample new products,” she added.

MixIn by Endeavour is run by experienced advertising executive Lachlan Brahe, who was appointed Head of Retail Media in May. He is joined by Sales Manager Steve Jones and Operations Manager Rhiannon Hart and a team of sales specialists and media strategists – all powered by the company’s digital arm endeavourX.

“MixIn encapsulates what we can create together with our insights, capabilities and our connected ecosystem of social moments – and we are now bringing our supplier partners into the mix by offering media solutions and measurement tools that drive customer understanding and engagement across our omni-channel network,” Lachlan said.

“We work with thousands of suppliers, and the most common question we get asked by them is ‘how can we grow our business with you?’ MixIn will offer solutions to all of our suppliers – no matter their size – and we have worked hard to make it as easy as possible for them to partner with us,” he added.

The in-house capability – which sits within Merchandising – has been 12 months in the works, and advertising opportunities include tasting programs, in-store digital screens and radio, as well as sponsored product listings and display advertising placements across the different brands’ websites and apps.

Suppliers also have access to a self-service platform, where they can easily set up digital campaigns that will run on a variety of advertising placements with just a few clicks.

“Good advertising complements a purchase, it doesn’t complicate it. Our model is built around respect for the customer, value for the advertiser and utility for our retail brands, and we will continue to innovate and assess our retail media offering to ensure we meet the needs of our customers and supply partners,” Lachlan said.

Retail media and the customer journey are so closely aligned that the capacity to track advertising impact on sales, intent and awareness is as good as it can be,” he added.

Endeavour Group operates an omnichannel network comprising more than 1,675 stores, 344 hotels and scalable digital platforms, with more than 10 million average monthly website and app visits.