Woolworths cuts Big W loose from shared technology stack

Woolworths Group is set to decouple Big W from its shared technology infrastructure, transitioning the department store to a “standalone, fit-for-purpose” platform.

The move follows Big W’s reported $35 million loss for the 2025 financial year, prompting Woolworths to begin the process of overhauling its systems in a bid to improve the chain's performance this year [pdf].

Big W’s loss comes despite traffic to the chain’s website and app increasing by over 20 percent for the financial year, partly driven by the expansion of its third-party range through the MyDeal technology platform and new seller partnerships.

Woolworths Group CEO and managing director Amanda Bardwell acknowledged the challenges facing the department store sector but highlighted growth opportunities in categories such as pet care and health and beauty.

“Going forward, we want to ensure Big W has the appropriate foundations to be successful,” she said as part of the group’s earnings announcement on the ASX.

“We have begun a process to unlock Big W from Woolworths Group technology platforms.

"This will enable Big W to have systems appropriate for a discount department store and is the right thing to do for Big W and the group.”

Big W was part of Woolworths Group’s migration of its SAP applications, including SAP ERP, SAP Retail for Merchandise Management, and SAP Customer Activity Repository (CAR), to Microsoft Azure in 2022.

The group is currently progressing a long-running transition from its 20-year-old SAP ECC5 system to S4/HANA, which is expected to conclude in 2026 [pdf].

Meanwhile, during the results announcement, Woolworths Group also revealed plans to build a new automated customer fulfilment centre in Melbourne's north to increase capacity to 40,000 orders a week.

The centre will use Knapp automation technology “to support improved availability and customer delivery times,” the group added.

Woolworths Group closed the year with a total net profit after tax of $1.4 billion on the back $69 billion in revenue.