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Endeavour Group, the owner of Dan Murphy’s and BWS, has released a report on the Australian beer market – built on shopper data that the independent brewers featured in it cannot access on fair terms.

The report, State of the Hops, draws on Endeavour’s proprietary sales and loyalty data to map consumer preferences across the country.

It is a demonstration of how completely the dominant retailers control what the industry is allowed to know about its own customers and the power they wield over producers.

“It is positive to see these insights released. What’s confounding is that the data behind them sits entirely in the hands of the major retailers, and can be used to extract even more from small suppliers,” said Sabrina Kunz, Chief Executive Officer of the Independent Brewers Association.

“The same data that informs ranging decisions – which beers get on the shelf and which don’t – should be transparently and consistently available to the small producers those decisions affect.

“Instead, data about their own sales is now a marketing asset for the retailer that holds it.”

The IBA’s concern is that Endeavour does not simply sell beer. Through Dan Murphy’s and BWS it controls a dominant share of the route to market for independent brewers, and through its loyalty program it holds a near-monopoly on the data about how that market behaves.

“The AFR has today referred to Endeavour Chief Executive Jayne Hrdlicka’s plan to milk Dan Murphy’s data and help suppliers, while what she has actually outlined is a plan to further entrench power in the retailer and the large producers who can afford to buy their own information”

The AFR article sets out exactly what the changes are, with Ms Hrdlicka’s focus on aggressive cost- cutting and data use:

“ Previously, suppliers were able to access performance data for their own brands, with comparisons to competitors which had been anonymised. If Endeavour makes the data more transparent and names all the brands, it will help suppliers benchmark performance against key rivals.
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For Endeavour, the massive pool of data it collects from its My Dan’s loyalty program represents a lucrative, untapped new revenue stream.
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Even as other major retailers saw a good business in selling similar data, Endeavour remained cautious. In 2024, it began offering free, high-level quarterly data through a firm specialising in data analytics, Circana.

But Hrdlicka sees an opportunity for revenue that far outweighs the risk that commercially sensitive information will be shared with rivals.

That could lead to better product development and, Endeavour hopes, allow suppliers to work out a discounting strategy with greater certainty.”

“When one company controls both the shelf and the information about the shelf, small producers at the bottom of the chain carry the cost,” Ms Kunz said.

“It’s happened for a long time, small producers undertake all of the product innovation and then when their product is selling well, Endeavour (and now large producers that can afford it) can identify that product’s success with precision accuracy and just rip it off.  Its why we’ve been talking about “faux craft” for some time. More importantly, if you are a company that can afford the data you can likely afford to pay for preferential displays and ranging etc – all ways that Endeavour extracts more money from suppliers and further entrenches the power in the big players,” Ms Kunz said.

The IBA has previously raised concerns about the unfair use of data in response to the 2024 ACCC Supermarket Inquiry and has repeatedly called for the establishment of a code of conduct for alcohol retailers.

Endeavour’s data shows Australians have a strong and consistent preference for local, independently made beer – with that loyalty often strongest in the drinker’s home state. Consumers are actively seeking out the beer that independent brewers make.

“Their report proves the demand for genuine local beer is real and durable. We can only hope that control of both the data and market access doesn’t remove the option for the consumer to choose local in favour of pure shareholder profit. ” Ms Kunz said.

Consumers who want to support the genuine Australian owned local producers can find out who actually owns the beer they’re buying here.