Bunnings change tagline following customer feedback

Work has commenced on changing the tagline on the exterior of four of the Bunnings Warehouse stores, following feedback from customers.

In a positive sign that the company's new management team is starting to listen to UK customers, the previously non-negotiable strap-line 'Lowest prices are just the beginning' used on all Bunnings Warehouse stores in Australia, New Zealand and the 24 UK stores converted to date, is being dropped in the UK in favour of  Bunnings Warehouse 'Your Home Improvement & Garden Centre'.

The first four stores to experience the change are Broadstairs in Kent, Hanworth in London, Rochdale in Greater Manchester and Rotherham in South Yorkshire. It's understood the exterior of all 24 converted Bunnings stores will be showing the new tag-line by the middle of April. The exterior of the stores will also be showing the retailers leading categories including Decorating and Gardening.

Damian McGloughlin, Managing Director of Bunnings UK & Ireland said: “Customer feedback is really important to us and as we continue to establish the Bunnings brand in the UK and Ireland, we are updating our tagline and building signage to showcase our great range of home improvement and garden products. We remain committed to delivering the widest range, best service and our policy of lowest prices, backed by our Price Promise Guarantee.”

When asked if this was a clear move away from offering the lowest prices to UK consumers, a spokesperson for Bunnings made it clear that "We will continue to deliver our policy of lowest prices to our customers but want to help customers better understand the breadth and depth of our offer as we continue to establish the Bunnings brand in the UK market".

Insight DIY Comment - Steve Collinge

Launching a new brand into a market that has never heard of you is always a huge challenge and is probably the single biggest error made by the original team. Just because your consumers back home in Australia love you, counts for nothing in a completely different country. With so many established retail competitiors, it's a good decision for any retailer to actually explain to customers what it is that they actually sell and therefore this is clearly a good move.

With all of last weekends media coverage on the likely sale of Homebase, read -'Wesfarmers approach potential buyers as Homebase sell-off looks likely', I think what is most interesting, is that Wesfarmers is allowing the UK business to spend anything at all on the Bunnings stores. This is either due to a potential buyer flagging up that they need to tell local customers what it is they sell, or more likely, it's a decision to keep the existing management and store team believing there's future for the business under the ownership of Wesfarmers, even if clearly there isn't.

Source: Insight DIY Team

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