The National Retail Association (NRA) today revealed the names of the 2019 Finalists for the prestigious National Retail Awards.
For the first year ever, and following a trend established in the 2018 round, entries for the Store Manager of the Year have exceeded entries for the coveted Young Retailer of the Year Award.
CEO, Dominique Lamb, said the spike in Store Manager entries shows how invested retailers are in their staff and the encouragement of innovation and growth in Australia’s retail industry.
“Retailers are starting to take note of how important a strong leader is, and investing in their team to ensure that the needs of the customer are being met at the highest level,” Ms Lamb said.
The Store Manager of the Year awards just edged out the Young Retailer of the Year Award, which is the most anticipated award with 20 finalists proceeding to next round of judging. The winner will be flown to New York to visit one of the world’s biggest retail expos, the National Retail Federation Big Show.
Young Retailer of the Year prize sponsor, National Online Retail Association Executive Director Paul Greenberg, hopes that retailers nationwide will take note of the opportunities available.
“We are deeply supportive of retail being chosen as a career. Our best and brightest young retailers are the key to harnessing technology-led, customer-centric, global retail opportunities.”
Across the board over 40 finalists have been shortlisted including:
Social Responsibility Champion
Customer Experience Champion
Innovation Champion
HR Professional of the Year
Lifetime Achievement Award
Training Retail Executive Award
Franchisee of the Year
Store Manager of the Year
Small Retailer of the Year
Medium Retailer of the Year
Large Retailer of the Year
Online Retailer of the Year
This year the Training Retail Executive Award was established as an extra category to recognise the efforts of trainers.
Judging will continue for the next two weeks before winners are announced at the gala dinner event on Wednesday, 4 September 2019.
The gala will take place at the luxurious Star in Sydney, preceded by a professional development and networking luncheon for Young Retailer and Store Manager of the Year finalists.
Full finalist details can be found online – http://www.nationalretailawards.net.au
The gala dinner is open to the public and tickets can be purchased through the NRA website www.nra.net.au .
The National Retail Association is Australia’s largest and most representative retail industry association. It has been serving businesses in the retail and fast food sectors for close to 100 years.
Contact the NRA’s marketing team on (07) 3240 0100 for more details.