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Excellence in customer experience
2027 nominations open! Select a category below.
The Retailer Awards is the ultimate accolade that recognises retailers at the forefront of excellence in customer experience (cx).
If you have created a customer experience of the highest standard, make sure it’s noticed.
Nominations open
14 October 2026
Nominations close
3 December 2026
Finalists announced
14 January 2027
Winners announced
25 February 2027
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Retailer Awards 2027
Twelve years strong. Celebrating the best in customer experiences.
The Retailer Awards is marked as the pivotal event for the retail sector. Celebrating its tenth year, the awards highlight customer experience excellence across Australia and New Zealand and attract some of the best talent the retail industry has to offer.
The awards are managed and run by the superstar team behind Inside Retail and Octomedia, one of Australia’s leading B2B publishers.
Winners are announced at a Gala Evening in Melbourne.
Meet your judges
Thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedules.
Nicola Clement
Founder and E-commerce Consultant – NJ Clement Consulting
Dean Salakas is an award-winning retail leader, entrepreneur and advisor with more than 25 years’ experience across retail, e-commerce, technology and business transformation.
He is the Co-Founder and CEO of Retail Community, one of Australia’s largest and most active retail networks. Previously, Dean led The Party People, transforming the family business from a single bricks-and-mortar store into a leading omnichannel retailer before exiting in 2024.
Having won more than 40 retail industry awards throughout his career, Dean is no stranger to the awards stage. He was a multi-year finalist and winner at the Inside Retail Awards and now brings that experience, along with more than two decades of hands-on retail leadership, to the judging panel.
Dean Salakis
CEO & Co-Founder – Retail Community
Charlie Watt
Founder & Senior Marketing Leader – C Watt Consulting
Heather McIlvaine
Managing editor, features and premium – Inside Retail
More judges coming soon
Tong Van was born and educated in Vietnam and travels around Southeast Asia frequently. A graduate of Ho Chi Minh City Law School majoring in Legal English, Van has been a content writer for several years. With Inside Retail Asia she has researched the Top 50 Innovative Retail Leaders in Hong Kong for three years running and writes news. Her retail interests include fashion, health & beauty and food.
Tong Van
Inside Retail
Adam Thorn leads an international team of editors to produce Inside Retail’s global features content, including exclusive series, in-depth analyses of key trends and premium quarterly print magazines and reports. With almost two decades of experience as a journalist, he has previously worked for fashion and lifestyle publications in the UK and Australia, including Esquire, GQ, Gentleman’s Journal and Cosmopolitan. Adam has also presented hundreds of B2B podcasts on a variety of topics, as well as curating and moderating major business events.
Adam Thorn
Inside Retail
Heather McIlvaine
Inside Retail
More judges coming soon
Contact
Have a question? Let us know at: events@insideretail.com.au