Home improvement retailer Bunnings hasn’t embraced the digital revolution of online shopping just yet, but the company has just announced an action plan to rectify that situation.
Managing director Michael Schneider told Australian Financial Review that within the next 18 months the company plans to expand their online store with the goal of having a fully transactional website by 2021, where Bunnings will sell more than 60,000 products online.
Currently, the website only allows the purchase of Special Order products online for pickup or delivery, which went live in February 2018 and has a range of 20,000 products, such as skylights, exclusive products and other items that are simply too large to fit on store shelves.
Bunnings are currently also trialling an eBay pop-up store which launched in late January 2019 and has just over 170 products available for purchase, the majority being outdoor living and leisure products.
However, Bunnings now has plans in the works to shift most of its product range online over the coming 24 months, which customers will be able to pay for online and pick up in-store, with home deliveries likely to follow.
To get the ball rolling, Bunnings is currently trialing the click and collect model in Craigieburn, Victoria, with plans to roll out click and collect across the state of Tasmania in April 2019. These trials will inform the company’s action plan for the online store going forward.
“We’re not seeing huge demand for a full click-and-collect offer but there’s no doubt in my mind that’s where we’ll end up.” Schneider told investors in June, 2018. “That’s the reality of the world we live in now.”