Strong alcohol sales, despite the fight over the cost of living

Following a $12 billion Woolworths spin-off in 2021, Dan Murphy’s and its sister brand BWS form the retail arm of Endeavor Group, which includes ALH’s pub business. In the first half of 2023, Endeavor’s retail beverage sales reached $5.4 billion — a slight decline from a year earlier, as COVID restrictions spurred demand. Still, it remains 14 percent higher than three years ago.

The scope and ownership of Dan’s may have changed over the decades, but Pfeiffer-Smith remains focused on building the business’s cornerstones: price, service and a broad product line.

“It’s that breadth, the breadth of discovery of something new, something exciting. It’s been likened to either a library you wander through or an adult lollipop shop,” she said.

As she discusses the future of the brand, it’s clear she sees the company as more than just a beverage company. It’s a data cruncher, an event operator, and a content creator who wants to have insights and conversations with their customers.

Much of this consumer insight comes from the company’s loyalty program, My Dan’s, which has grown to 5 million members in recent years. The draw ticket for these members is the prize.

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Each day, a group of employees logs on to track the cost of hundreds of popular drinks and beat the market.

As its millions of consumers interact with the company, Dan Murphy’s continues to learn more about what pleases them. The anonymized pool of data helps the company understand interests and shopping behavior across a range of demographics. “We can see what premium customers are doing and how that affects different customers and how that affects different customers,” said Pfeiffer-Smith.

It helps shape the group’s content business, including its digital platform Dan’s Daily, which features lists of Margaret River’s best cellar doors alongside tutorials on how to start drinking mezcal.