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Bunnings is finally launching an online store

Tony Yoo
A Lowest Prices are Just the Beginning… sign is seen at a Bunnings hardware store at Chatswood, in Sydney, Friday, Feb. 20, 2015. (AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts)
A Lowest Prices are Just the Beginning… sign is seen at a Bunnings hardware store at Chatswood, in Sydney, Friday, Feb. 20, 2015. (AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts)

Hardware chain Bunnings Warehouse will open an online store, with a full national rollout expected in the next 18 months.

Last year the hardware chain took special online orders for bulky items that can’t easily be kept in physical stores, and that experience has evolved into a full click-and-collect trial at Melbourne’s Craigieburn store, which started in December.

“Unsurprisingly, we haven’t seen a lot of sales through that because it’s very hard to market a one-store location – but it has allowed us to understand really deeply what’s going on from a customer expectation point of view,” said Bunnings managing director Michael Schneider.

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The hardware chain has now decided to roll-out the full online store to the entire state of Tasmania from April ahead of a national rollout in the next 18 months.

Tasmania was chosen as a desirable initial location because of the smaller geographic area compared to other states and good store coverage.

Both click-and-collect and home delivery will be available for online orders, although Schneider expected the pickup option would be more popular.

Bunnings has invested in the digitisation of customer interaction in the past year, even trying a pop-up store on eBay in January to test out the marketplace format and rolling out emailed receipts last September.

“The last thing I want people thinking about when we connect with them in a digital sense is that we’re just like everyone else,” said Schneider.

With parent company Wesfarmers selling off Coles, Bunnings’ fortunes affect the group’s financial health more than ever.

Schneider told the investor briefing that there was plenty of room to grow for the hardware giant, with it holding less than 10 percent market share in product categories like kitchens, bathrooms and flooring.

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