The stage is set for the 2018 Australian Retailers Association (ARA) Australian Retailers Awards. The awards will acknowledge those who have contributed to the retail industry with the key focus of this year’s awards on The Retail Realm: Thinking outside the shop.
The awards have the privilege of sharing the stage with key note guest speaker, Naomi Simson, Founder of experience online retailer RedBalloon.
Prior to her success with RedBalloon and BRG, Naomi worked for large corporations including IBM, Apple, KPMG and Ansett Airlines – all of which influenced her views on workplaces.
Following the announcement of Naomi as this year’s key note speaker, the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) Executive Director, Russell Zimmerman said that tickets to their Retail Awards are practically selling out.
“Having Naomi as our keynote speaker has definitely sparked interest amongst the industry, as tickets to these awards have started selling themselves.”
As a pioneer in the business world, Naomi is an engaging and relatable speaker. By drawing on her own personal experiences, she provides insightful and honest depictions on topics such as Purpose, Leadership, Business Success, The Entrepreneurial Journey and Thriving Workplaces.
Further to having Naomi as the keynote speaker, the ARA are honoured to have such esteemed business leaders across Australia as their panel of judges, who recently completed the first round of reviewing submissions.
The 2018 eftpos ARA Australian Retail Awards judging panel includes Warwick Ponder, Head of Corporate Affairs and Communications at eftpos Australia, Bernie Brookes AM, Adjunct Industry Fellow at Swinburne University of Technology, Camille Reed, Founder of Australian Circular Fashion (ACF), Rupert Deans, Founder of augmented reality platform Plattar, and Radinck van Vollenhoen, Country Manager of Stocard, Australia’s leading mobile wallet app.The ARA’s panel of experts scored each submission based on a criterion out of five.
The submissions have been ranked in accordance to their Awards category and the top three highest-ranking submissions will determine the finalists. A second evaluation conducted by The Realise Group, involved a mystery shop of the top-three highest ranking submissions within each category. Anonymous shoppers conducted a mystery shop and proceeded with a video detailing their thoughts on the retailer.
Each consumer marked their retailer out of 20, which was added to the retailer’s points from the initial round. The final score was used to distinguish the winner between three finalists for the coveted 2018 National Retailer of the Year and the 2018 Excellence in Customer Experience awards, which will be announced at the 2018 eftpos Australian Retail Awards breakfast in October.
In conjunction with this stellar panel, multi-talented journalist and television presenter, Livinia Nixon will be MC at this year’s Awards. Livinia’s outstanding quick wit, intelligence and spontaneity have propelled her into the retail scope as she has also fronted the PR campaign ‘The City of Melbourne’ and has been the face of national retail giant, DFO.
With an impressive calibre of panel judges, Livinia Nixon as MC and inspiring retail leader Naomi Simson taking the stage, this year’s 2018 eftpos ARA Australian Retailers Awards are sure to be memorable.
The 2018 eftpos ARA Australian Retail Awards will be held on Thursday, 18 October from 7:30am at the Myer Mural Hall, Melbourne. Head to the Retail Realm to purchase your tickets today.
