Bunnings MD Reveals Plans for COVID-19 and Beyond at LFRA’s First Live Webinar

With members not able to gather at National Quarterly Forums due to COVID-19, the LFRA has embarked on a Webinar Series. Bunnings Managing Director, Michael Schneider, was interviewed by LFRA CEO, Philippa Kelly, in the Bunnings Studio to launch the new series on 16 July.

Schneider’s retail career started at Target in Sydney, pushing trolleys and at the register. He then eventually made his way to Bunnings and has been with the company for the past 15 years.

Commencing at Bunnings in 2005 as the State Operations Manager (NSW and ACT) Schneider worked his way up to General Manager, Operations then Director, Store Operations and into his current role of Managing Director.

“Retail got into my blood,” said Mr Schneider.

“When I joined Bunnings 15 years ago, what really attracted me to the business was the fact that there was such an emphasis on team.”

 

Connecting with the community in COVID-19

Social distancing measures, capping of customer numbers in-store, and other restrictions in place across the country meant Bunnings had to find new ways of connecting with locals.

“When people talk about Bunnings, or think about Bunnings, one of the things most commonly talked about are the community barbeques and the sausage sizzle,” comments Mr Schneider.

“We’ve been finding new ways to connect and engage with the community because many of the things we are known for we haven’t been able to do.”

Before COVID-19, the large format layout allowed community groups to use Bunnings carpark to host stalls, events, and the famous sausage sizzle fundraisers.

“The stores themselves have become a community hub.

“We had dedicated team members who go out into the community and do work, whether it is at aged care facilities or schools.

“All of us as business leaders have contingency plans, crisis management, modelled a roof collapsing on a Bunnings store, fires, floods, cyclones. We’ve lived through those. All of us in retail and in particular Large Format Retail, have to deal with those things based on the footprint of our stores.

“But pandemics, that’s out there, a black swan event and there’s no playbook for it. It’s been challenging, to say the least, for the team at Bunnings to work their way through it. As it has been for all of us in the community.”

 

Lessons learnt during COVID-19

With the drought, summer bushfires, and now a global pandemic, 2020 has taught Bunnings some valuable lessons.

“The learning for us is the value of team”, answered Mr Schneider.

“The strength of teamwork in Bunnings, and the agility of a big organisation being able to pivot at pace.”

There is no doubt that we are spending more time at home during COVID-19. Rooms have been converted into home offices, there’s been an unprecedented increase in online shopping, and people are opting for a home-cooked meal instead of dining at a restaurant.

“I think probably every Australian and New Zealander has been inside a Bunnings store during the pandemic because there’s always something at home that needs to be done,” said Mr Schneider.

COVID-19 has taught Bunnings to be agile and key learnings focussed on what is important during this time – safety and wellbeing of team and customer “as a non-negotiable”.

“It’s been interesting, we’ve had people approach us and say they can make sanitising stations or create Perspex shields for team members to keep them safe at registers and check outs.

“And all those things actually created jobs in the community,” added Mr Schneider.

In addition to 48,000 team members across Australia and New Zealand, suppliers and trades heavily rely on Bunnings stores remaining open during the pandemic.

“We see ourselves, and governments see us as an essential service retailer because we are providing critical products for people to maintain homes, keep their homes safe, urgent home repairs, and keeping small businesses running,” said Mr Schneider.

The last lesson Bunnings learnt during COVID-19 was the important role the business can play in keeping Australians and New Zealanders active and positive at home.

“The mental health of our team and community is something we’ve been really focussed on as well.”

 

What’s next for Bunnings?

Audience members were given an insider’s view on exciting projects Bunnings has on the horizon.

In October 2019 Bunnings announced its plans to launch Marketlink, an online marketplace providing customers access to home and lifestyle products sold by trusted third-party partners. One of the biggest benefits is its seamless shopping experience – where a customer can conveniently pay for products from Bunnings and Marketlink in the same transaction.

Mr Schneider described Bunnings as having products and services for more permanent fixtures “from the front gate of the property to the back fence”. What was missing was an offer for inside the home like bedding and furniture.

“Marketlink is about enhancing the convenience and making sure customers can get everything for the home hopefully as best they can in a one-stop shop,” explained Mr Schneider.

Bunnings is currently heading towards 380 trading locations but Managing Director Michael Schneider believes there are opportunities to grow into new markets and to regenerate existing stores.

“There is a really high desire to invest in the built environment and regenerate and improve the built environment because it is such an important part of what we do.

“Online just adds to that. It lets customers shop at times in the day when stores are not open, and is potentially more convenient at different points in time. But the wow effect of when you walk into a great big Bunnings Warehouse is something we want to continue to invest in,” Mr Schneider revealed.

More recently, Bunnings completed its acquisition of Adelaide Tools, a family owned and run business that sells tools, tool accessories and outdoor power equipment, primarily to trade customers.

“What we didn’t do is buy Adelaide Tools to integrate into Bunnings,” clarified Mr Schneider.

“What we want to now do over the next 3-6 months is finish off the deep learning of what a specialist tool market looks like, then we will accelerate into a growth strategy [for Adelaide Tools] that takes a specialist trade business around Australia and potentially into New Zealand.

“We think we can bring a lot more competition to the market, and we’re interested in other categories – hard surfaces, plumbing, electrical – they’re all areas where on the trade side Bunnings has very low market share,” concluded Mr Schneider.

 

The first LFRA Webinar was certainly a success. It was insightful, engaging, and the natural flow of conversation led by LFRA CEO Philippa Kelly made it feel like we were in the room with them.

Stay tuned for the reveal of the next guest in the Webinar series.