Online Retail Industry Awards: The Countdown Begins!

It’s that time of the year again! We are only days away from Australia’s largest and most established exhibition and conference for retailers. Of course, I’m talking about Online Retailer. But let’s talk about the real reason people fly out to Sydney, shall we? To attend the Retailers night of nights the Online Retail Industry Awards (ORIA’s)!

The ORIA’s recognise and celebrate the hard work and industry achievements of retailers across Australasia. Milk It Academy is pretty chuffed to announce our very own Alita Harvey-Rodriguez will be part of the judging panel for the third year in a row!! In the words of the team at Online Retailer, “Alita specialises in transforming companies into highly innovative, customer-centric organisations by adopting world-class, best practice digital marketing & innovation methodologies for retailers across Australia & New Zealand.”

Judging alongside Alita this year is: 

    • Grant Arnott, Publisher of Power Retail and Co-Founder of Click Frenzy
    • Robin Li, Vice President at GGV Capital
    • James Webber, Chairman at NEO Products Group Pty Ltd
    • Jonathan Reeve, e-commerce fulfilment consultant, speaker and author of Retail’s Last Mile
    • Peter Knock, Omnichannel Retail Specialist
    • Bernadette Schwerdt, Podcaster, Speaker and author of Secrets of Aussie Online Entrepreneurs
  • Sean Sands, researcher, trend forecaster and Associate Professor at Monash University
  • Richard Lieu, E-commerce and Senior Data Analyst at Australia Post

The 2017 judging panel had the rather difficult job of picking the winning retailers from an impressive lineup of finalists across multiple categories. This year’s finalists include many great homegrown retailers, some who are new to the industry and others are repeat-finalists. As always all eyes will be on who wins the most talked about the category of the night, the honourable Online Retailer of the Year, last year won by appliancesonline.com.au.

Winning Criteria

The judging criteria for each category differs, below are examples of focal points the judges will be examining:

  • Online Store History
  • Technologies Used
  • Site Usability
  • Business Performance
  • Customer Experience
  • Site Design
  • Integration
  • Multichannel strategies
  • Execution

Want to Attend?

Event Details

  • Thursday, July 27
  • 6.30 – 11.30pm (followed by the after party at the Marquee)
  • Grand Ballroom, International Convention Centre Sydney
  • Dress Code: Black Tie
  • There are limited seats still available for the event so get in quick!! Contact David Batty on 02 9422 2021 or Michael Berdon on 02 9422 2941 

It’s not all about the glitz and glam of the awards night and after party. In the lead-up to the awards (26-27th), the Online Retailer conference and expo will be held. The expo is designed to immerse retailers in the latest digital retail strategies and technologies to help them innovate and grow their online businesses. To check out the conference agenda, scheduled speakers and to buy tickets head over to the official Online Retailer website. 

Once again Alita will be hosting the Kickstarter Workshop – From Zero to Hero in 8 Hours, which offers retailers the opportunity to hear from industry experts and build essential skills needed to lead the disruptive innovation charge and see sustainable business growth in 2017 and beyond. Check out our blog all about the Kickstarter Workshop to learn more and buy tickets.

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