Bunnings will install more in-store LED screen displays

The hardware giant is investing in more advertising in its stores, with in-store advertising believed to generate as much as $1.6bn in revenue for retailers.

Bunnings is expanding its in-store advertising. Picture: Brenton Edwards

Hardware giant Bunnings is chasing a larger slice of the Australian retail media market, estimated to be worth as much as $1.6bn, and has begun rolling out 300 large in-store LED screens through its network of hardware stores to spruik products to passing shoppers.

Following the footsteps of other major Australian retailers such as Woolworths, Coles and Chemist Warehouse, Bunnings has upped its game via its burgeoning Bunnings Retail Media program.

The new investment in large LED screens is expected to lure in hardware suppliers who will pay to advertise on them and which will be placed at key strategic positions around Bunnings stores.

Bunnings is upping its investment in the lucrative retail media space. Picture: Trevor Veale

In an update sent to Bunnings suppliers, who it is hoped will spend up on advertising in Bunnings stores across point-of-sale placements and new electronic advertising platforms, the hardware retailer said as part of the new Bunnings Retail Media program, 200 digital screens have been installed across 100 stores in Australia.

By February 2025, an additional 100 screens will be rolled out across 50 more stores.

“These 65-inch LED screens are strategically placed at the store entry and Trade Desk to maximise visibility for our customers,” Bunnings said in a recent update to suppliers.

“The screens will display a mix of supplier advertisements and Bunnings campaign messages.”

Many retailers are now investing in their own media advertising businesses, with Woolworths creating its own advertising division called Cartology, Coles developing Coles 360 and Chemist Warehouse operating its own lucrative media sales arm Strat.

While the precise revenue and earnings generated by these retail media arms are kept confidential, analysts believe the sector is worth as much as $1.6bn, with Woolworths harvesting around $550m in annual sales from Cartology, Coles 360 delivering around $250m in sales and Chemist Warehouse nabbing $600m from Strat.

The nation’s leading supermarket chain, Woolworths, has been particularly active in this area, and it produces growing sales and earnings for the retailer.

Its Cartology business has rolled out around 400 health and beauty screens and ran more than 5000 advertising campaigns across Woolworths supermarkets and BIG Ws in 2024. Over the past four years Cartology’s revenue has booked a compound annual growth rate of 34 per cent.

Rival Coles 360 booked a 20.5 per cent increase in media income in 2024. Coles also recently launched Coles 360Impact, a measurement tool providing detailed insights into campaign performance for suppliers.

In 2022 the Woolworths’ Cartology arm paid $150m to acquire Shopper Media Group, a leading Australian digital out-of-home media company, offering targeted shopper advertising through a national screen network of more than 2000 screens in over 400 shopping centres.

Underlining the importance of retail media sales to the business, then-Woolworths chief executive Brad Banducci said retail media was developing rapidly and was an important part of the evolution of Woolworths Group.

“We’re excited about the opportunity to bring together the complementary capabilities of our retail media business, Cartology, with Shopper’s expertise in out of home media,” Mr Banducci said upon the purchase of Shopper Media Group.