By Warren Beaumont, www.c-store.com.au

A Melbourne Shell dealer, Kingston Garage, operated by Ross Hallett, has taken out the international award for Single Site Retailer of the Year – Licensed Markets.

The award was presented to Hallett at the global Smiling Stars 2015 event held in Paris during May that was attended by more than 1000 Shell retailers, with Heatherton’s Kingston Garage taking out the award for Single Site Retailer of the Year – Licensed Markets.

Accepting the Single Site Retailer of the Year – Licensed Markets award was Ross Hallett – Kingston Garage (Heatherton, Australia), flanked by Martin Lustenberger – Shell general manager Licensed Markets (on left) and David Bunch – Shell vice president marketing.

Shell’s global retail program People Make the Difference Real (PMTDR) is active in 65 countries with more than 30,000 participating sites. It provides a framework for measuring key elements of customer service excellence, with the performance of each site tracked closely throughout the year.

The annual Smiling Stars awards are held as part of the program, where representatives from the ‘best-of-the-best’ Shell retailers converge to share best practices and celebrate achievements.

Hallett, who operates a Bosch mechanical workshop alongside his Shell dealership and convenience store, said he was up against stiff competition from retailers from 38 countries, but still believed he had a chance.

“We were very happy to win and it’s provided the extra recognition, opportunity and encouragement for me and my team to continue to excel and to offer friendly service to our customers,” he says.

Commercial business manager of Viva Energy Australia, exclusive license to the Shell brand in Australia, Nikki Gerling, says that the company was delighted to hear that Ross and the team had won such a prestigious Shell award.

“After being named Country Retailer of the Year in Australia, Ross was competing against individual sites from countries where Shell operates under a licenced brand agreement including Japan, Brazil, Greece, Spain, Africa and the Caribbean just to name a few!” she says.

The Heatherton site has been branded Shell for 51 years and under Ross’ guidance has consistently improved the customer offer each year, she said.

The Kingston Garage is located at 61-63 Kingston Road, Heatherton.

This article first appeared on www.c-store.com.au