Bunnings announces ‘biggest category expansion in 20 years’

The hardware retailer is doubling down on a group of products it’s barely touched before in a move that will rankle Woolworths.

Bunnings has announced it will embark on its “biggest category expansion in 20 years,” in the coming weeks.

The hardware retailer has long welcomed pets into stores – now in a big shake-up to its range it’s going to double down on products for those furry friends.

Bunnings has said it will go from offering a few hundred lines of pet products to around 1000 items, including food and toys.

The move will rankle Woolworths which last year spent $586 million for a controlling stake in the parent company of the PETstock chain.

Bunnings will move into the lucrative pet products sector. Picture: Supplied

Now this move will see Woolies and Bunnings go head to head over chewy toys, treats and leads.

And it will happen soon, with Bunnings hoping to roll out dedicated pet areas in stores by the end of March.

“What we are going to be bringing to life in our stores over the next four weeks is quite a comprehensive step change in our pet range, probably the biggest category expansion in Bunnings for 20 years,” managing director Mike Schneider told The Australian.

Around 40sq m of each store will now become a zone for all things pet-related. It will take up some of the space of children’s playground equipment which will now be sold in a smaller area.

Bunnings managing director Mike Schneider and his dog Henry.

Australians have enjoyed record levels of pet ownership after a puppy boom during the pandemic, while the speciality pet sector is worth a whopping $10 billion a year.

Dog ownership rose 25 per cent between 2019 and 2022 and the number of pet cats skyrocketed by 43 per cent.

“Sixty per cent of Australians now own at least one pet. It has become a very important part of many, many families across Australia and we think that that connection that people have with the Bunnings brand, bringing those pets into the store, creates a great advantage,” Mr Schneider said.

Currently, the biggest pet supply retailers include Pet Barn and PETstock. However, a significant amount of products, including pet food, is bought from supermarkets or discount department stores such as Kmart.

Bunnings is part of Perth-based Wesfarmers, which also owns Kmart, Target and Officeworks.

Pet ownership has soared in Australia over the last few years. Picture: Brett Costello

Bunnings said it planned to keep its pet offer simple by selling only products and not services like grooming. The focus would be on dogs, cats and birds.

“We can bring a very, very competitive offer into this market and we think … it’s going to be a very good complementary category for us,” Mr Schneider said.

Woolworths’ December purchase of 55 per cent of Petspiration, the owner of PETstock, brought with it almost 300 stores, 160 grooming salons and 65 vets.

PETstock has $979 million in annual sales.

Woolworths Group CEO Brad Banducci and his three-year-old King Charles Cavalier cocker spaniel cross Juno. Woolworths has a controlling stake in PETstock. Picture: Supplied

At the time, Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci said pets was a large and growing retail segment.

“Specialty pet is a logical adjacency given the high penetration of pet ownership across Australia and New Zealand,” he said.

“The partnership will allow us to meet more of our customers’ pet family needs with a complementary range of specialty pet products and services, strengthen the Everyday Rewards loyalty program and unlock opportunities for material value creation across both businesses.”