World Retail Congress unveils this year’s award finalists

The World Retail Congress has now revealed the list of retailers shortlisted as finalists for this year’s World Retail Awards.

Following a record number of entries from one of the most extensive range of countries and retail sectors, the teams of expert judges have now selected the retailers they believe are the most outstanding and worthy of a place in the final.

This year’s judges include Hugo Bethlem Executive Director of Pão de Açúcar, Ian Cheshire, Group CEO of Kingfisher Plc, Lucy Neville-Rolfe, Corporate and Legal Affairs Director of Tesco, Bernie Brookes, CEO of Myer Limited, Spencer Fung, European President of Li & Fung, Matt Rubel, Senior Advisor at TPG Capital plus numerous other high profile figures from the retail industry.*

The finalists will all be reviewed by the Grand Jury, made up of 15 senior retail leaders, who meet in London on September 18th, just before the World Retail Congress begins on September 19th. All of the winners are announced at the Gala Dinner taking place at the Royal Courts of Justice on September 20th, one of London’s landmark buildings.

“We are delighted with the range and spread of finalists in this year’s Awards shortlist,” says World Retail Congress Chairman, Ian McGarrigle, “and in particular, the growing number of retailers representing the fast-growing retail markets such as China, India, Brazil and Turkey. We would like to thank everyone for their entries for this year’s competition and wish all the finalists the very best of luck.”

THE 2012 WORLD RETAIL AWARD FINALISTS

RETAIL INNOVATION OF THE YEAR (Concept Innovation)
2011 Winner: Eataly

C&A Brazil - C&A Fashion Like
Desigual - La Vida es Chula Store Barcelona
Diehl & Brüser Handelskonzepte GmbH - Emmas Enkel
Energy Resources - Zew Store
Magazine Luiza - Magazine Você
Top3 by design

RETAIL INNOVATION OF THE YEAR (Business Innovation)
2011 Winner: Adidas – adiVERSE Virtual Footwear Wall

Bolia - “Nature meets City” concept
Sonae - Mobile portal
McDonalds – Drive Thru Reinvention
Tesco – Korean Virtual Stores
Sprinkles – Cupcake vending machine
Walt Disney World – The Emporium at Magic Kingdom

PURE PLAY ETAILER OF THE YEAR
2011 Winner: 360buy.com

Appliances Online
ASOS
eSpares
Isabella Oliver
Not Just a label
Ocado

RESPONSIBLE RETAILER OF THE YEAR
2011 Winner: Marks & Spencer

Coop Switzerland
Marks and Spencer Plc
Pick n Pay
The Co-operative
Turkcell ¡letisim A.S
Woolworths South Africa

EMERGING MARKET RETAILER OF THE YEAR
2011 Winner: Grupo Pao De Acucar, Brazil

Koton, Turkey
Max Retail, United Arab Emirates
Mom & Me, Mahindra Retail Pvt Ltd, India
Mr Price Group Limited, South Africa
SMU, Chile
Teknosa, Turkey

STORE DESIGN OF THE YEAR
2011 Winner: Myer Melbourne

Colour Store by Asian Paints, New Delhi, India with FITCH Design Singapore
Fangsuo Commune, Guangzhou, China
MINI Store Westfield Stratford, London, UK with studio 38
Next Home and Garden, Shoreham, UK with Dalziel and Pow
Puma store, Amsterdam,Netherlands with plajer & franz studio
Ruetz Bakery, Kematen, Austria with JHP

MULTI-CHANNEL RETAILER OF THE YEAR
2011 Winner: Tesco

Aurora Fashions
Burberry
Debenhams
Falabella
Fnac
Macy's

RETAIL ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN OF THE YEAR
2011 Winner: Walgreens “Arm Yourselves for the One You Love” by Arc Worldwide

7-Eleven - "BYO Cup Day", Leo Burnett Melbourne
Garbarino - "Back to Garbarino", Leo Burnett Argentina
John Lewis - "The Long Wait", Adam & Eve
McDonald's - "You Want McDonald's Fries with That", Arc Worldwide/Leo Burnett Chicago
Nike -"Sticker Wall" - JWT Dubai
Walgreens - "Walk With Walgreens", Arc Worldwide

International Retailer of the Year
*Coming soon*

Retailer of the Year
*Coming soon*

Retail Leader of the Year
*Coming soon*

About The World Retail Congress
The World Retail Congress was launched in 2007 to be a platform for senior retail executives to meet and discuss the most important topics affecting retailers across the world. It has been held in Barcelona (2007-9) and Berlin (2010-11) and is attended by up to 1,000 industry leaders from more than 60 countries. The programme is developed in conjunction with the Congress Advisory Board which represents many of the world’s biggest retailers such as Gap, Kingfisher, Macys, Reliance Lifestyle, Myer, Alshaya, Netto, Inditex and Tesco.
The co-sponsors of the 2012 World Retail Congress are Deloitte and Mastercard.
More information at: www.worldretailcongress.com