Grazia launches its 2011 Shopping Awards
Weekly fashion magazine Grazia has unveiled the Grazia Shopping Awards – where consumers vote for their favorite stores.
The announcement:
GRAZIA, Australia’s fashion-forward weekly, proudly announces the GRAZIA Shopping Awards 2011.
Each week GRAZIA brings readers the ultimate in fashion: what to wear, what’s hot, the latest designers, what to look for on the high street and fash-fabulous tips on pulling the look together.
In keeping with our cutting-edge fashion philosophy, the inaugural GRAZIA Shopping Awards further empower Australian consumers to support the stores they love and let retailers who are not stepping up to the mark know it’s time to lift their game.
Launching in GRAZIA’s double fashion issue – on sale February 7 – readers can nominate their favourite stores across 11 award categories. Then, from a shortlist of finalists, they’ll vote for their favourite stores nationwide at www.grazia.com.au
The finalists and winners will be given the licence to use the GRAZIA Shopping Awards 2011 dinkus on all their promotional materials for one year.
Not only will this new initiative be profiled in-magazine and online, the GRAZIA team is rallying the support of retailers across the country.
Finalists can secure packages including magazine and on-line advertising, point-of-sale promotional packages, as well as GRAZIA-designed electronic flyers that can be distributed to their databases asking customers to vote for them.
Other brand-alignment opportunities include sponsorship of the finalists’ and winners’ reveals, and the GRAZIA online voting portal.
Selecting the finalists from readers’ nominations is an expert judging panel: retail business consultant Peter James Ryan; RMIT fashion program director Karen Webster; fashion retail consultant and trend forecaster Yasmin Sewell; and GRAZIA’s fashion director Mark Vassallo.
There are 11 categories, plus a special Judge’s Choice Award for Overall Winner:
• Best customer service (friendly staff, advice and experience)
• Favourite overall appearance (windows, shopping space and changing rooms)
• Favourite online site
• Favourite overall high street chain store
• Favourite boutique
• Favourite jewellery store
• Favourite accessory store
• Favourite shopping precinct
• Favourite luxury store
• Favourite large retailer
• Favourite Australian designer
A list of finalists in each category will be announced in GRAZIA, on-sale March 14.
Readers will then have six weeks to vote for their favourites. As an added incentive to participate, they will have the chance to win a fabulous holiday valued at $10,000 and other great prizes with a total value of over $20,000.
The winners will be decided on total number of votes only and will be announced and profiled in GRAZIA.
“GRAZIA is all about shopping and we know our readers love to shop: they are fussy and they want the fabulous. They’re quick to tell us what’s hot and what’s not – so we thought it was time to let them reward the best stores and share the love. It’s with huge excitement that we’re launching the GRAZIA Shopping Awards in February 2011 and we look forward to announcing the finalists and winners over the next three months,” says publisher Robyn Foyster.
“We are excited about launching this Australian-first shopping awards initiative. This is a true opportunity for Australian consumers to support the stores they love and for retailers to acknowledge their customers’ loyalty. We are extremely excited about the integrated opportunities the Shopping Awards will bring,” says Nicki Singh, group national sales manager, ACP Hearst Fashion Group.
TIMELINE
• Feb 7: call for nominations in-magazine (double fashion issue)
• March 14: finalists announced; online voting begins
• April 22: voting closes
• May 16: winners announced in GRAZIA
GRAZIA offers extraordinary scope for retailers to reach a highly-engaged audience.
GRAZIA readers love to shop*:
• More than two out of three GRAZIA readers believe quality is more important than price (71.7% or 122,000).
• Three out of four try to look stylish (73.3% or 124,000).
• More than a third agree “it’s important to look fashionable” (39.6% or 67,000).
• More than one in three say they were “born to shop” (37.0% or 63,000).
• More than one in two enjoy clothes shopping (64.6% or 110,000).
• More than a third are trusted advisers when it comes to buying fashion and looking good (40.7% or 69,000).
• More than one in four are information seekers when it comes to buying fashion and looking good (28.4% or 48,000).
• More than one in four are early adopters when it comes to buying the latest fashions (29.6% or 50,000).
GRAZIA readers also love to spend*:
• Combined, GRAZIA readers spent $28.7 million** on clothes in the past four weeks.
• 82% have been to a clothing store/boutique in the past three months.
• GRAZIA readers are 4.51 times more likely than the general population to have been to a clothing store/boutique 16 or more times in the last three months.
• 79% have been to a department store in the last three months.
• More than 1 in 5 have been to a department store four to seven times in the last three months (23.4% or 40,000).
• GRAZIA readers are 55% more likely than the general population to visit a department store 16 or more times in the past three months.
*Source: Roy Morgan, September 2010.
** Inference only – the number of readers who have purchased in the past four weeks multiplied by their average spend.
Source: Grazia press release
