Bunnings fails miserably to get a foothold in the UK - shops sold off for 1 GBP

[paul.cleary]

Article about how Bunnings bought a "DIY" shop chain in the UK, fired all the senior management and then failed to attract the British shopper.
They had to exit by selling the chain for 1 GBP
See: Homebase sold for £1 as DIY disaster ends for Wesfarmers - BBC News

[rwbuild]

Just watch the prices go up at all Westfarmers businesses particularly Bunnings and Coles.

[China]

Bunnings in Uk failed because they took over a well liked DIY chain and tried to change it into a "Bunnings" would have bee better to keep the same concept or very
close to it instead buyers were scared off, the Brits don't take to change very well

[rrich]

Something similar happened here in the US. Sears got a CEO that is/was a hedge fund manager. His goal appeared to be stock price increase while customer service went to H*** in a hand basket.

If Sears survives this year it will be a huge surprise. They have already sold off most of their assets and closed about half of their stores.

[Beardy]

Sounds like the same thing as Masters here. It is interesting that both these business models are very successful in their country of origin and yet fail miserably elsewhere.
You wouldn’t think that the markets would be that different but obviously must be.

[Simplicity]

It sounds just like the British empire to me actually.
Or am I just becoming sinicul


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[Spyro]

Bunnings is basically another smart ass business that tries to get the customer to do most of their work for free, and achieve the holy grail of any Australian business: operate a full acre of store with 3 untrained and replaceable employees.
Works really well here because the competition is lame and because we're used to it.
But try to transplant it somewhere else as is? Nah.

[Chris Parks]

Wesfarmers saw Masters fail then thought it would be a good thing to insert Bunnies into a foreign market? I thought the people who run these sort of corporations were supposed to be smart. Our local Coles have very noticeable stock shortages these days so I suppose they have to pay for the stuff up somehow but they lose out by doing that as we now shop elsewhere. The next stockholders meeting should be awesome!

[Spyro]

Wesfarmers saw Masters fail then thought it would be a good thing to insert Bunnies into a foreign market? I thought the people who run these sort of corporations were supposed to be smart.

They probably are, but there are many reasons why a group of smart people can act collectively stupid. Historical reasons, accumulated lies and BS that nobody wants to admit, bad systems and processes that are too expensive to fix, greed, complacency, all sorts of external pressures, shortsighted targets that must be met... welcome to the corporate world.

[Infinitywood76]

I was over in the UK last month and I clearly can see why they failed and no it's not because the POMS couldn't understand the concept of the sausage sizzle. My wife and I helped my mum decorate her bathroom and tidy up the back yard. I found that Bunnings didn't have half the product or their product range was extremely limited. We looked for bathroom paint and only found one brand of paint for bathrooms, it was the same for other stuff. In the end we got everything from Wicks (bathroom) and Homebase (online garden). That's the other issue, the UK uses online shopping loads and Bunnings hasn't realise this.

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[FenceFurniture]

Sounds like the same thing as Masters here. It is interesting that both these business models are very successful in their country of origin and yet fail miserably elsewhere.

I thought the people who run these sort of corporations were supposed to be smart.

Masters tripped themselves up from the get-go by hiring a Kenidiot to do the marketing and seasonal stock selection. It takes a very special kind of stupid to try and sell Snow Shovels in September....in Sydney.......or have seedlings on sale for Autumn instead of Spring. And nobody with enough nuts to say "hey dickhead, stick you head out the window and tell me if it looks like snow!"

[Simplicity]

Masters tripped themselves up from the get-go by hiring a Kenidiot to do the marketing and seasonal stock selection. It takes a very special kind of stupid to try and sell Snow Shovels in September....in Sydney.......or have seedlings on sale for Autumn instead of Spring. And nobody with enough nuts to say "hey dickhead, stick you head out the window and tell me if it looks like snow!"

There was masters store in Melbourne next to Toorak(very very rich subarb).
They were selling weatherboards, you don't build a house in Toorak with westhboards you hire a construction company .

Cheers Matt

[ian]

Masters tripped themselves up from the get-go by hiring a Kenidiot to do the marketing and seasonal stock selection. It takes a very special kind of stupid to try and sell Snow Shovels in September....in Sydney.......or have seedlings on sale for Autumn instead of Spring. And nobody with enough nuts to say "hey dickhead, stick you head out the window and tell me if it looks like snow!"

But the "Ken idiot" did stick his head out the window -- the problem was that the window was in North Carolina.

For the first year or more "Masters" stores were really "Lowes in Australia" stores. Each store was stocked from the US warehouses, carried the same seasonal specials as stores in the US. Even at the end the select grade timber carried by Masters -- Red Oak and poplar -- was the same as that sold in the US and Canada.

[FenceFurniture]

But the "Ken idiot" did stick his head out the window -- the problem was that the window was in North Carolina.

Yeah. Much to our great loss Ian.

There was much to like about their business model and products they stocked. Had it been a bit more convenient I'd have been there all the time, but as a 90 minute round trip (plus store time) and $15 in petrol, it just wasn't feasible unless I was on a big spend (like I was during the closing down period).

[Handyjack]

I ended up driving past Masters to get to Bunnings.
Wasted 30 minutes trying to get a part for a coat rack rail that Masters did not stock. Walked in and out of Bunnings with the item the next day.

Bunnings struggled to sell BBQs in Britain. Perhaps the summer is too short, the winters too cold, and not enough back yards.

Lowest price does not mean much if you do not have what the customer wants in the first place.