Thread: Bunnings can beat it by 10% - but is it worth it?

Interesting thread. Summarising the many views posted:

• everyone knows about 'beat the competition by 10%"

• very few are comfortable with exploiting this opportunity.

And Bunnings (and the other major retailers) are very aware of this reluctance.


Now Bunnings operate in two very distinctive markets


FIRST: The hardware market where we get our toys, and


SECOND: The finance market where they sell shares and debentures and other financial products.


In the latter market they continually spruik their products to investors, stock brokers, merchant bankers, super funds, etc, and in this effort senior Bunnings people repeatably make the claim that their market feedback shows that customers want a very wide variety of products available and they are willing to pay a price premium for this choice.


This claim is the very opposite of their advertising in the other (hardware) market in which they operate.


Cheers


Graeme

Originally Posted by GraemeCook

SECOND: The finance market where they sell shares and debentures and other financial products.


In the latter market they continually spruik their products to investors, stock brokers, merchant bankers, super funds, etc, and in this effort senior Bunnings people repeatably make the claim that their market feedback shows that customers want a very wide variety of products available and they are willing to pay a price premium for this choice.


This claim is the very opposite of their advertising in the other (hardware) market in which they operate.


Cheers


Graeme

Sorry Graeme but I don't understand your comment-

Bunnings does not sell shares - they are 100% owned by Wesfarmers, who have a range of diversified companies ranging from oil and gas to insurance to retail (Bunnings, Coles, Target, Kmart, Officeworks, etc).

???

Paul

We don't have a bunnings where I live, the nearest one is almost an hour away.

But when I do go there I can't believe how cheap some of the stuff is compared to our local Mitre 10. Plus they seem to have everything in stock.

Eg, a garage shelving unit I bought not long ago was $200 at Mitre 10. Same one was $45 at bunnings. I told my mate who works at M10 about it and he believed me straight away saying they mark the price up so much on them because they don't sell many of them. I said maybe you don't sell many of them because you mark them up so much...

That being said I don't think bunnings will take out ALL of their competition, as their biggest competitors are online stores - and those guys are the way of the future whether you like it or not.

Originally Posted by Marc

Bunnings bashing is an old sport on this forum. Must love it!

From my point of view, I go to hardware and builders' supply stores for one reason and one alone. To purchase supplies I need for a job. I never owned a hardware store and do not intend to buy one, so their business is not mine to scrutinise.
I an however very sensitive to distance to the store, to bad or good service, to a large variety of stock versus poor lousy choices, and last on the list...yes price is a consideration.

If you know exactly what you need without assistance, know where it is located in the store and can handle to carry it yourself without any help, Bunnings fulfills its role well, particularly considering their unbeatable opening hours.

As for the initial concern of "beat it by 10%" I am in principle against being a collaborator in such low plot.
However there is another more practical reason I would never ask to ring a competitor to someone who would probably reach for the mesuring tape if asked to supply one meter of paint....I wouldn't know at what price others sell something, since I buy what I need WHEN I NEED IT WHERE I NEED IT. The cost of shopping around and therefore not doing what I am supposed to do, is just too high.

Well Said.

At the end (well during) the day time is money. If I know I am going to save a heap (not always) then it is worth spending an hour to go to a green shed. At other times the local hardware store is better. One local hardware store has a better timber range - but the prices are higher too. Another store has many items at the same or lower price, but does not carry the range.
Last week I wanted an anti-fatigue mat for the workshop after seeing the price at a safety shop. Mat size 1500x900, <$20. Big green shed had a similar style of mat but size was 600x900, >$23. Guess which I bought.

Originally Posted by pauljygrant

Sorry Graeme but I don't understand your comment-

Bunnings does not sell shares - they are 100% owned by Wesfarmers, who have a range of diversified companies ranging from oil and gas to insurance to retail (Bunnings, Coles, Target, Kmart, Officeworks, etc).

???

Paul

Sorry Paul; I should have been more specific. Wesfarmers run the sideshow.

Cheers

Graeme

My thoughts on this matter may well be specific to regional towns, but then again….perhaps not.
When I first started my business I spent several months building prototypes here at my own home. This was where I could develop the concept and construction methods needed and therefore the equipment and materials I had to source.

Perhaps because my mindset was on my own product alone I found Bunnies a handy place to shop and compare several options.

On several occasions I had settled on a particular bracket or screw size or timber I would use. When I went in to buy further supplies I was often told they had none in stock or were no longer carrying that item. When I need something, I need it now. I have a customer waiting for her goods. This meant I had to quickly find an alternative at another local supplier. This situation burned into what I have left of my brain with an uncomfortable feeling that all was not well.

One of my alternative suppliers (A Dogalogue store) had just moved to larger premises. I discovered the move coincided with the sale of the business to an owner not based in Bendigo. It bothered me that a local hardware store was no longer locally owned. This led to some digging where I discovered that a couple of other of my suppliers were also no longer locally owned. They used the same names and premises but profits were now going to one of the capitol cities or other major regional towns.

Something snapped inside me and I vowed to source everything I use from a Bendigo owned business. Since making this decision, I have found local suppliers for all but two of my basic needs.

The bonus has been that the local suppliers have more than made up for any variation in pricing by bending over backwards to assist me. When they learn that I use these items on a regular basis and that I guarantee to buy from them so long as they are locally owned, they promise to always keep sufficient stocks on hand for me and almost anything else they can do to help my business.
At this point in time, the only item I still have to buy from Bunnies is a marine carpet. So far, I have been unable to source the same product elsewhere and every time I walk into Bunnies I vow to renew my efforts to find another (local) source.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that it is all too easy to fall into the trap of shopping on the basis of convenience and price or quality and the question of where does our money end up is lost.
In my case it has to be Bendigo</ST1l owned, but in other people’s situations it may translate to Australian owned. The source of the goods themselves are yet another variable. Are they manufactured by an Australian company? From Australian sourced raw materials? By Australian workers? How many of the three can we rack up?

In my relatively small town, it’s easy to see the effects of not buying from local businesses. But the same situation exists on a country wide scale. Same result exactly in all areas except scale.

I’ll know we’re turning the corner when I read discussions here on the purchase of a tool or similar and the poster says “X was a little more expensive than Y but the quality was similar and its made here in Oz so I went with that one”
When this becomes common place, we will be in a better place I believe.

Hi guy's well a few years ago I would not have dreamed to ask for price matching or discount but now a days I do for the simple reason I can not afford not to.

And with Bunnies the 10% is only on a stocked item. I went in to get a MLT100 table saw ( and no the switch has not gone as yet)because they had it for $518 instead of $620 at the local mitre 10. And that is when the guy said it is only for stocked items and they don't stock much in Makita because they are not a Makita Dealer. SO I went back to the drawing board and noticed in a recent Catalog that gasweld had them for $559 on special so I went to mitre 10 and asked if they would price match with Gasweld and they did.
About 90% of the time I get my stuff from Mitre 10 which is a family run business here and prefer to help them plus I know them quite well in the paint and tool departments and they were happy to do this for me. The people I am working for at the moment have a account there so I'm always down there.

Really the only stupid question is a question not asked, You would be amazed at how much you can save just by asking and most of the time they are very willing and more than helpful.
Even if they can't, a few times they have pointed me in a directoin that would.

I only buy from bunnies if I have no choice and I have found that most of the prices are the same in mitre 10 or actually slightly cheaper on some items.

I live in Goulburn and our local hardware is Magnet Mart who have been taken over by Danks and Woolworth owns Danks.
In Canberra Woolworths are building a super hardware store
And in Goulburn Bunnings are spending $22.5 million on a new store.
I have supported the local shops when I can but to be able to buy what you need to do a job I have to travel to Canberra Bunnings [at the present].
I am renovating caravans and for the ply needed ,none in Goulburn
Bunnings only have a limited stock in Canberra
To get what I need in a one shop environment I have to travel to Sydney , to a firm that has been trading for 30 or 40 years to my knowledge.
So it makes me wonder the profits that the super hardware makes, are they from making us buy what they have, not what we want. The other day I need 12 screws for a job, Magnet Mart had the size but in packets of 10, so I had to buy two.
The swing for tools seems Bunnings have Ryobi, Magnet Mart have Bosh and Hytachi.
I bought from Bunnings impact driver 18 volts with lithium batteries, the battery wont fit any other brand. I had to buy from Bunnings their price was $180 in Goulburn there were none for sale I could order one in for $700. So I don't care about the 10% I would just like the have a proper hardware store.
I am building a Murphy bed in a caravan where do you think the fittings came from, the Good Old US of A
I rest my case
les

Bunnings constantly sends out under cover price checking staff to our shops to make sure they aren't giving away 10% offers. I have had supplier reps tell me that they also watch pricing on our website, the do get models with slight different model numbers so they Don't have to apply 10% offer. The industry has definatly changed with the online & more big chain hardware stores bidding for the same market. There will always be a price for this & we find it's honest & quality customer service

They will also deny the 10% if the item is in a different packaging. They do not consider it the same item. If the normal item comes in a cardboard box and theirs comes in a blister pack its a different item. Even if whats inside is exactly the same.

I was led to believe that the 10% bit is 10% of the price difference, as in if was a $100 difference they would beet it by $10,

No it's off the value of the tool if they give it to you, lately they are getting different part numbers & exclusive models so they don't have to beat by 10%

It seems to me you all are a bit spoiled for choice. I have to travel 60-70 ks to get to a second choice in stores. We have M10 only. The big green shed has land they have talked about building on for a few years. Now M10 has started a massive new complex next door to their block, so I don't expect they will bother now. the new M10 is due to open in sept. They say the biggest in regional Queensland, One day when I was after a new compound mitre saw asked a question about adjusting the depth of cut. I was told " I wouldn't know, I just sell them i don't know how to use them" What happened to product knowledge?

The last major purchase I bought new was a cordless drill. I had some idea what features I wanted, and what sort of quality (better than cheap junk but don't need tradie quality either). The local Mitre 10 were having one of their 1 day sales where you have different discount tickets that you can apply to whatever product you want. Not sure if they still do that. Anyway, the bloke in Mitre 10 spent ages with me going over all the different options, with the pro's and cons. I didn't even try to compare prices at the Bunnings 5 minutes down the road. That bloke had done a top job, and earned that sale. I left pretty confident that what I bought would do what I wanted and last well. That was a long time ago now, and I was right, it was a good buy suited exactly to what I needed. Happy to reward good customer service with my money.