Bunnings goes two track in online assault

Hardware giant Bunnings has come good on its promise to make its warehouse catalogue available for online purchasing online by Christmas, revealing that it is now online in anger alongside a dual play that will resell popular non-hardware items like electronics, kitchenware and Manchester.

Dubbed Bunnings MarketLink, the non-catalogue reseller play pipes a gaggle of products from non-hardware category competitors through Bunnings’ already massive online presence to essentially offer-up the jolly green juggernaut as a one-stop emporium.

So far, the MarketLink offers are essentially safe mid-range bets: $50 Krosno decanters, $89 Sheridan sheet sets and a smattering of Kenwood mixers and processors. And they’re delivery only, not pick-up instore like Bunnings’ main range, that has made carparking into modern ballet.

But we reckon they soon will be, and here’s why.

Bunnings has for more than a decade been arguably Australia’s smartest land banker. If you can’t get in and out between 15 to 20 minutes, tradie-in-chief Mike Schneider gets twitchy.

And as much as non-hardware consumer sales boost margins, the bottom line is that if they deplete core Bunnings core business, they’re a non-starter. The car park is everything. And Bunnings’ main line comes first, as previous strategy disclosures have made clear.

All that said, Bunnings is now fronting up to the likes of Kogan, Victoria’s Basement and Harvey Norman.

Schneider’s suck-it-and-see online play will essentially sift the online movers from shakers  and broaden the brand to a click-and-collect hub that supermarkets can’t yet addresss.

It will also challenge Kmart and Target to get their online acts together like nothing before.

Come post-Christmas results, there will be a new reckoning.