01_QHA_July_Online

OLGR SHOWCASE with Liquor Mike Sarquis Marketing Group (LMG)
Welcome drinks - poolside at the Riley Crystalbrook
LMG MEMBERS RECONNECT
AT CAIRNS’ CONFERENCE
QHA REVIEW | 58
Liquor Marketing Group (LMG) welcomed 150
delegates to its 2021 Queensland Member Conference
at the Riley Crystalbrook, Cairns on 18-21 May.
LMG members from all over Queensland came
together to reconnect after an extraordinary year.
LMG’s Queensland State Manager Shaun Landy said:
“We were thrilled to host our Queensland hotelier
members and supplier partners at an event that
celebrated our collective achievements throughout
an unprecedented and challenging 12 months, while
discussing new opportunities for future growth.”
“We felt that Cairns was the perfect location to host
the conference. Both the Queensland LMG team and
the Queensland Bottlemart Members’ Committee
agreed that it was important to support one of the
tourist towns that had been hardest hit due to Covid.
Over 150 delegates attended our 4-day conference
in the luxurious and sustainable setting offered at
Crystalbrook’s Riley Hotel.”
LMG CEO, Gavin Saunders, presented a Business
Review to the conference attendees where
he showcased LMG’s strong performance for
Queensland, with like-for-like sales growth up +19.9%
for the 12 months ending April 2021 driven by
Paul and Erica Comiskey
consistent uplifts in customer count and basket size
across all categories during this period. Strong growth
was also consistent across all key liquor categories in
Queensland.
“The structure of LMG, being a membership-owned
and governed group, is a strength which allowed
us to make decisions and invest for member benefit
during the uncertainties over the past year. Examples
included paying member rebates six weeks early in
March 2020 to support members’ cash flow and
investing in additional marketing when other retailers
pulled back,” said Saunders.