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It's no secret that the Liquor Retail category is doing it tough right now, but for both suppliers and retailers it's business as usual in maximising their opportunities despite the changing conditions and underlying consumer demand.
Through 2025, the industry watched closely as Coles Liquor consolidated its three retail brands into one. During May this year, we saw Liquorland briefly overtake Endeavour Group's Dan Murphy's for market share, a feat not previously achieved since Fonto began measurement of the category in 2022.
Importantly, the growth in market share has not been simply due to the consolidation of stores. As First Choice and Vintage Cellars disappeared from our members' transaction data, they lost 4.8 percentage points of market share. Since the brand consolidation process, Liquorland has gained 7.8 share points. The net effect therefore has been a gain of almost 3% share since the consolidation began.
Despite this, liquor retail customers still prefer the Dan Murphy's customer experience, with 47% of all customers stating that it is their preferred store in the category, due largely to price and loyalty benefits. By comparison, only 21% of Liquorland customers stated that they would much prefer shopping at Liquorland, indicating a gap in customer experience between the two major retailers.
BWS meanwhile, continue to lead the category in market share, consistently taking more than 30 to 34% share over an extended period, driven largely by their extensive store network.
A brief note on our methodology - Fonto's market share does not yet capture liquor retail sales at some independant retailers such as Aldi and IGA, where liquor is purchased at the same checkout as groceries.
