"Rod Speed" wrote in message
...
alan_m wrote
FMurtz wrote
JoeJoe wrote

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44248409

It was never going to end up well.

Good I hate Bunnings, they cancelled my account when they took over my
hardware chain in Australia because I did not always buy more than a set
figure per month, I have not been in there since.

Judging by whats been written and seeing what they have stocked in the
local Homebase* I'm surprised that the operation in Oz hasn't gone to the
wall.

They do things differently here

In what way.

and have just ****ed over
the attempt at a competitor and have sent it broke.

There pricing wasn't competitive with the local B&Q warehouse

It is here, and in fact they have always offered to sell anything to you
for 10% less than any competitors price you can present them with.

And in fact currently have undercut Amazon on the Philips
Hue stuff that our Amazon has just offered, cheaper on
total price than anywhere in the entire country.

and they didn't seem to realise that they were only 5 minutes away were a
Screwfix and a Toolstation who advertise locally with regular letter box
leaflet drops.

I see that they are blaming a lack of understanding of UK culture and the
DIY market but (IMO) in reality they just overpaid for a failing business
that the previous owners were glad to get shot of and then ran it with
incompetent management.

Its more complicated than that with the profits not being there.

The difference in the UK over Oz is probably that land costs in Oz for out
of town warehouses is going to be pretty much zero

whereas in the UK, it makes a huge addition to your costs base.

It's easy to compete with online if your shop space is cheap, next to
impossible if it isn't

tim