Last Thursday night we saw the best of the best of Australia and New Zealand’s retailers attend the Online Retailer Industry Awards (ORIA’s) for the eighth year running. As always the line-up of finalists was filled with an impressive selection of new innovators and well-known industry giants.
Milk It Academy’s Alita Harvey-Rodriguez was there to judge and present the award for Best Independent Retailer Award. She was accompanied on the judging panel by:
- 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
This year’s judges had the difficult job of picking the winners from a selection of retailers who are currently kicking butt in the online retailing industry.
The proof really is in the pudding when it comes to personalised products in 2017, with two of Australia’s leaders in personalised apparel, Mon Purse and Tinyme, taking home three awards each.
Monogrammed accessory retailer Mon Purse took home awards for Best In-Store Initiative, Best International Conqueror and the Oscar of the night – Online Retailer of the Year.
Tinyme, who specialises in personalised children’s products was also a big winner on the night taking home the awards for Best Pureplay Online Retailer, as well as Best Omnichannel Customer Service and Best M-commerce Site/App.
Furthermore, inducted into the ORIA’s Hall of Fame was everybody’s favourite booze supplier Dan Murphy’s. With another well-known brand, Kogan, being named as StarTrack’s People’s Choice retailer of the year.
Alita was lucky enough to be there for the award ceremony, here’s what she had to say:
“It’s an exciting time for Australian retail and the ORIA’s showcase that! The tech and innovation game is strong. This year ORIA entries were the best yet! I encourage traditional and emerging retailers to get behind this and stand behind successful ahead of the game retail,” said Alita.
Milk It Academy would like to congratulate all the winners on the night:
Best Multichannel Retailer: Supercheap Auto
Best In-Store Initiative: Mon Purse
Best Pop-Up Experience: Grace Loves Lace
Best Online Retail Marketing: birdsnest
Best Site Optimisation & Design: Showpo
Mobile Commerce Site/Application: Tinyme
Best Social Commerce Initiative: Showpo
Best Omnichannel Customer Service: Tinyme
Best International Conqueror: Mon Purse
Best Bootstrapped Growth Initiative: MyDeal.com.au
Online Retailer of the Year: Mon Purse
Hall of Fame: Dan Murphy’s
Industry Recognition: Kate Morris, Adore Beauty
People’s Choice – Small Retailer: Beserk
StarTrack People’s Choice: Kogan.com
Best Pureplay Online Retailer: Tinyme
Best New Online Retailer: FitMyCar
Best Small Independent Retailer: Hunting for George
Didn’t make the ORIA’s finalists list this year? Don’t be disheartened it took Leonardo Dicaprio twenty-two years and six nominations to win his Oscar. We have some insider knowledge from an official ORIA’s judge to help you ace your submission next year. Click to download our 5 tips and go into the running to win 1 of 5 $500 training vouchers.
