Should we raise a toast to Coles’ latest liquor rebrand?

Do you have that déjà vu feeling? You can put that down to Coles, which is yet again rebadging its liquor stores as it attempts to boost sales and earnings.

Coles has previously undertaken major reviews in 2005 and 2015, leading to a series of turnaround or revitalisation plans, including brand tweaks, over the past 20 years. They’ve had limited success.

Refreshing stores and restructuring product ranges, along with setting up pricing and marketing initiatives, were all part of transformation stories for Coles’ liquor division in those reviews. So were assurances to shareholders through the release of financial results that efforts were under way to improve the trading performance.

Now, Coles Liquor Group is rebadging its Vintage Cellars and First Choice Liquor Market as Liquorland Cellars and Liquorland Warehouse, extending the Liquorland branding used since 1971.

Coles Liquor CEO Michael Courtney called the rebranding of three different store formats under the Liquorland umbrella the biggest transformation in the history of the business, leveraging the best elements of all three existing brands across value, range and convenience.

The rebadging should increase brand awareness, creating a unified promotional strategy, a stronger value proposition with consistent and competitive pricing under one brand, and one website.

The transformation seems likely to result in some store closures where there is a duplication of the brand, and a rationalisation of product ranges, given that the three formats have attempted to cater to different market segments up until now.

Indeed, in 2015, a key element of the strategy to lift Liquorland results was to cut 20 per cent of the product range, reducing the cost of doing business and improving store productivity.  Deja vu?

The rebadging should certainly improve earnings, which were A$133 million before interest and tax on sales of close to A$3.7 billion in the 2024 financial year.

Courtney seems confident it will drive sales growth, noting a 16-week trial of the rebadging of 14 Vintage Cellars and First Choice stores in South Australia, Victoria and Queensland enhanced customer engagement and brand awareness.

He said the trial recorded increased repeat visits, with 30 per cent of shoppers suggesting they would shop the stores more often, but didn’t detail whether those responses were from new or existing customers.

You certainly can’t take the 30 per cent to the bank as the novelty factor of the refresh wears off, the product range rationalises brands and other changes take effect. 

Nevertheless, there should be an uptick in sales and customer traffic levels, some of which will no doubt be driven by online customer communication and recruitment.

A crowded and changing market

The rollout of the new branding over 984 stores will not be completed before the end of the year.

Coles Liquor Group’s brand alignment under the Liquorland banner will increase the chain’s footprint by about 25 per cent, but in the next 12 months it is unlikely to boost Coles Liquor Group’s market share of about 20 per cent, less than half the current market share of Endeavour Drinks.

Coles has suffered a two-decade hangover after being outmanoeuvred by Woolworths in the A$45 million acquisition of the then-five-store Dan Murphy’s liquor chain in 1998, which became the platform for a national rollout for the big-box format.

After missing the opportunity offered first to them, Coles launched its own First Choice big-box format in 2005, by which time Woolworths had 45 Dan Murphy’s stores open.

There are now more than 270 Dan Murphy’s stores trading under Endeavour Drinks, which was divested by Woolworths and listed on the Australian Securities Exchange in April 2023.

Endeavour Drinks has a market share of around 43 per cent in retail liquor sales, with sales in the last financial year of more than A$10 billion and earnings before interest and tax of A$717 million.

Whether or not Coles’ latest strategy and rebranding will prove more effective than previous attempts to strengthen its liquor business remains to be seen, but the company certainly had to do something.

Liquor retailing has become more competitive in recent years and but for a bump in sales courtesy of the Covid-19 lockdowns, growth for the sector has been weak.

Over the past five years, growth has, on average, been about 0.4 per cent a year and up until late 2023, quite a slice of that growth was generated by boutique breweries and distilleries.

Flat consumer spending resulting from cost-of-living pressures, along with changing consumer tastes and more moderate consumption by younger demographics, have all slowed sales growth, while higher input costs have affected producers, importers, wholesalers and retailers.

Tax increases and state licence fees are also crippling hotels, retailers, boutique producers and other businesses in the liquor supply chain to consumers.

There has also been increased competition for Endeavour Drinks and Coles Liquor from the Metcash’s liquor division’s channels: Australian Liquor Marketers has 12,000 customers, including the Independent Brands Australia network, with 1800 stores in the IGA Liquor, Cellarbrations, Bottle-O and Porters Liquor banner groups.

While margins and earnings were under pressure for the Metcash liquor division, sales and margins have increased and tempered growth for the two major chains.

Endeavour Group and Coles Liquor are also encountering more competition from online vendors, as well as winery cellar doors and boutique distillers and breweries.

Perhaps more problematic for the two dominant market players, though, are the ambitions of Aldi and Costco, which have both developed aggressive liquor growth plans that are reportedly outpacing the market across the segments they have targeted.

While Endeavour Drinks has not been without its share of internal wrangles, the company grew its retail sales by a healthy 3.4 per cent, to A$10.2 billion, in financial year 2024, although its third-quarter sales for financial year 2025 were down by 3.1 per cent.

Endeavour Drinks has appointed a new MD and CEO, Jayne Hrdlicka, who has extensive industry knowledge, including consulting work with the business when it was in Woolworths ownership.

With further experience as CEO of Jetstar, Hrdlicka will start her new role with Endeavour Drinks in January 2026.

No doubt she will come with a game plan to counter the latest Coles Liquor strategy, which seems like a short-term ‘fix’ that runs the risk of dumbing down or simplifying its liquor offer in a market that industry experts have called increasingly complex, discerning and competitive.

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