The World Retail Awards in Paris are coming up, and Australian retailers are up for awards in various categories.
The Winning Group of companies is in the running for three awards. They are being considered for Best New Store Design over 1200 square metres for its Winning Appliances showroom located just outside the Sydney CBD in the Redfern suburb. The appliances division is up for two awards: Best Pure Play Online Retailer and Best Customer Experience of the Year.
The Winning Group is in direct competition with another Australian nominee is the Pure Play category, that being Catch of the Day.
There is certainly no shortage of awards for just about everything imaginable when it comes to retailers, but this is one of the more significant ceremonies because it involves retailers from all over the world, so the competition is both broad and fierce.
These awards are also considered significant because they pay homage to retailers who have not abandoned physical locations in order to remain relevant in the online age, but have excelled at offering the choice of both physical and online shopping options to customers.
Another Australian company, Dick Smith, is considered a front runner for the Best New Retail Concept Award. They were nominated in recognition of their Move concept, an innovative combination of fashion and technology that had its beginning in the Sydney suburb of Bondi. There are now a total of four Move concept stores, including Melbourne and Brisbane.
Representatives of both the Winning Group and Dick Smith intend to attend the ceremony. Winning Group CEO John Winning has been quoted as saying that he considered it an honour to be recognized for having both an online and a physical presence. A representative of Dick Smith considers the company’s chances good as the first to successfully integrate fashion and technology.