bunnings warehouse communications strategy … · (bunnings warehouse 2015, p. 18). it is this...

BUNNINGS WAREHOUSE

COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY ANALYSIS

JUNE 2018

FRANCES GUASTALEGNAME

698669

The University of Melbourne PUBL90004 Business and Professional Communications

2,492 words

Frances Guastalegname 698669

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive Summary………………………………………………………. 3

Introduction……………………………………………………………...... 4

Communications Strategy Analysis……………………………………...

Television Adverts……………………………………………….....

Social Media……………………………………………………......

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6

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Recommendations………………………………………………………… 10

Conclusion……………………………………………………………….... 10

References…………………………………………………………………. 11

Appendix…………………………………………………………………... 12


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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This report analyses and evaluates the current communications strategies of the brand

Bunnings Warehouse.

An introduction of Bunnings is provided as context for the reader, considering the

brand’s three strategic pillars of lowest prices, widest range and best service.

An analysis of two of the brand’s current communications strategies is conducted,

providing a description and evaluation of Bunnings’ current television advert

campaigns, as well as the brand’s current online social media presence.

The evaluation considers both benefits and missed opportunities for Bunnings through

these two strategies, and concludes to recommend a shift towards an integrated

marketing communications approach for the Bunnings brand.

Overall, the report finds that although Bunnings Warehouse operates as a market-

leading retailer, there is opportunity to improve communications efforts between the

brand and its key consumers segments.


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INTRODUCTION

Bunnings Warehouse (Bunnings) is the leading home improvement retailer in

Australia and New Zealand, supplying hardware essentials and outdoor living

products to tradespeople, commercial businesses and do-it-yourself (DIY) enthusiasts

(Bunnings Warehouse 2018). As of 31 December 2017, Bunnings employs more than

40,000 team members, and operates from 253 warehouses, 77 small format stores, 33

trade centres and three frame and truss sites across Australia and New Zealand

(Bunnings Warehouse 2018). Between 2016-18, Bunnings expanded into the United

Kingdom and Ireland (BUKI) markets, piloting 15 BUKI stores and continuing

operations of a further 324 Homebase stores with propositions to rebrand (Bunnings

Warehouse 2018). However, Bunnings’ parent company Wesfarmers announced the

closure of BUKI stores in late May 2018, due to an inability to build and maintain

favourable customer relationships in the international market (Hatch 2018).

As Australia’s market-leading home improvement retailer, Bunnings possesses a

market share of 35.2% within the hardware and building supplies industry

(IBISWorld 2018, p. 23). The brand’s primary competitors of Mitre 10, True Value

Hardware and Home Timer and Hardware all possess a combined market share of less

than 5%, highlighting Bunnings’ superior position as a substantial market leader

(IBISWorld 2018, p. 24).

The Bunnings brand positions itself as a big-box retail warehouse, providing its

customers with the widest possible range of products, at everyday lowest prices.

Bunnings relies on experiential value added through employee participation and

growth within the brand, so as to positively instil the brand’s primary vision of “we’re

building the best, our team make it happen” (Bunnings Warehouse 2015, p. 7).

Additionally, the brand places importance on its guiding values of achievement,

respect, teamwork, integrity and innovation in fostering relationships between the

brand, its team members and its primary target consumers – that being, tradespeople,

commercial businesses and DIY enthusiasts (Bunnings Warehouse 2015, p. 7).

Holistically, Bunnings identifies as a brand that is driven by community involvement

and relationship building, as supported by leadership from its team members, to

positively create resonance through such identity.


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COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY ANALYSIS

To adequately analysis Bunnings’ current communications strategies, it is important

to understand the ‘three strategic pillars’ on which the brand builds all its campaigns.

Lowest prices, widest range, and best service exist as the three strategic pillars on

which all branding and communications efforts for Bunnings are foundered, so as to

ensure consistency and reinforcement of brand purpose and vision across all aspects

of communications (Bunnings Warehouse 2018). Ultimately, these pillars aim to

provide Bunnings’ customers with “the best service and widest selection of products

at the lowest prices every day”, and are therefore crucial within the brand’s

communication strategies (Bunnings Warehouse 2018).

The strategic pillar of lowest prices is primarily represented through the brand’s price-

beat policy, “If you find a competitor’s lower price on the same stocked item, we’ll

beat it by 10%. That’s our policy.” (Bunnings Warehouse 2018). Bunnings is able to

provide lowest prices to its consumers through the use of warehouse pricing strategies

as well as in store pricing departments, who monitor market fluctuating product

pricing (Bunnings Warehouse 2015). All Bunnings communications strategies

highlight the price-beat guarantee policy, as it exists as a branding point of difference

for Bunnings when compared to its competitors, and further reinforces the brand’s

primary vision and values.

Widest range is a fundamental strategic pillar in Bunnings’ communications

strategies, as it again highlights a branding point of difference, while further

reinforcing Bunnings as a market leader due to its ability to supply to three distinctly

large key customer segments. Large warehouses and small format stores range up to

45,000 different product lines, with an additional 400,000 products available to order

through the brand’s Special Orders service (Bunnings Warehouse 2018). It is crucial

for Bunnings to include its large stock range within its communications strategies, as

consumers will more readily engage with the brand when they are aware of the

benefits they receive in relation to product availability, when they shop with

Bunnings.

Most importantly, the strategic pillar of best service must always be communicated

throughout the brand’s campaigns, as it places emphasis on the importance of always


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addressing and meeting the needs of each individual customer. Through thorough

customer service and product training, employees on the store floor aim to provide

friendly, knowledgeable and helpful service, ensuring the presence of a reliable team

who can offer expert advice as a competitive point of difference for the brand

(Bunnings Warehouse 2015, p. 18). It is this outstanding in store communication

between team members and customers that provides substance to the best service

pillar, to ultimately build customer engagement into a loyal and resonant relationship

with Bunnings.

Although Bunnings makes use of a number of different communications strategies to

engage with and build customer relationships, this report will analyse two approaches

so as to thoroughly consider the effectiveness of each strategy for the brand’s key

consumer segments of tradespeople, commercial businesses and DIY enthusiasts.

Television Adverts

Bunnings’ television (TV) adverts campaign is one of the brand’s longest standing

communications strategies, existing as a traditional form of media advertising of

which Bunnings continues to use today. Fundamentally, Bunnings’ TV adverts have

remained rather consistent since the campaign launched, featuring current team

members highlighting the benefits of Bunnings’ lowest prices, widest range and best

service (see Figure 1). Created by the brand’s in-house marketing communications

and advertising teams, Bunnings’ TV adverts star current team members in their

‘home’ store, to highlight the importance of employee growth and participation in the

success of the brand’s communications with its consumers.

All team members featured in the adverts are encouraged to speak on a particularly

topic, depending on the purpose of the specific advert, yet no formal script is written.

This allows team members to naturally incorporate their experiences as store team

members, and to bring to light what benefits they believe consumers should know

about. Products are displayed in the adverts through Bunnings’ signature line

illustrations, which also feature in the brand’s print media catalogues (see Figure 2).

These illustrations exist as a unique selling proposition for the brand, and help to

reinforce brand identity for the consumer. Each TV advert ends with the featured

team member quoting the brand’s slogan, “Lowest prices are just the beginning.


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That’s our policy.” as repeated exposure to the slogan helps to reinforce brand

awareness through familiarity of brand identity (Holt 2003, p. 10).

Arguably, Bunnings has continued to use their well-known TV adverts primarily to

maintain creative consistency in a campaign that is favourable within its target

market. As mentioned above, Bunnings aims to reach three key target segments -

tradespeople, commercial businesses and DIY enthusiasts, all of which are noted to

respond well to these adverts as they prompt brand recall through easy identification,

in turn effecting overall brand awareness (Keller 2009, p. 141). The key message

delivered to these segments through the campaign remains the same across all adverts

– that Bunnings can and will provide for all hardware and DIY needs because of its

wide range, delivered to the customer through best service at the lowest possible

price. Maintaining a consistent key message across all adverts means that the brand’s

vision and values built on its strategic pillars are reinforced in the minds of the

consumer, and therefore help customers to understand the holistic purpose of the

brand’s communications.

Despite their popularity however, Purvis (2013) considers that traditional media forms

of advertising such as TV adverts ultimately remain impersonal, as they deliver their

key message with the intention of increasing product sales, rather than intimately

communicating with their audience (Purvis 2013, p. 23). Additionally, Purvis notes

that traditional advertisements aim to convince their audience that an absence of a

certain product results in the lack of culture or lifestyle; therefore, consumers must

purchase said product to subsequently lead a correlating lifestyle (Purvis 2013, p. 24).

While there is the possibility of this perception being understood by Bunnings’

consumers, the brand’s inclusion of unscripted dialogue and working team members

in their ‘home’ stores aids in delivering the key message in a more authentic and

genuine manner.

Distributed first through TV, and subsequently posted on Bunnings’ YouTube

channel, this television campaign remains crucial to Bunnings’ overall

communications strategy, as it ultimately fuses traditional forms of media with the

digital space through the constant availability and accessibility of the campaign for all

consumers. As a majority, the use of television to distribute the campaign is an


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appropriate channel for its intended audience, as traditional media channels remain

popular among these target segments. Furthermore, as Bunnings’ target markets are

aging, it is appropriate to make these adverts available on YouTube as younger and

more digitally literate generations are emerging as the brand’s primary consumers.

As noted above, Bunnings’ TV adverts ultimately exist as a unique selling proposition

and an effective competitive point of difference for the brand. Although they are not

necessarily bold or startling, the adverts do aid in differentiating Bunnings from its

competitors, who underwhelming deliver marketing or communications content of a

similar kind.

Social Media

Bunnings’ minimal online presence and social media campaigns are fundamental to

acknowledge when analysing the brand’s communications strategies, as there is

effectively missed opportunity by Bunnings to create further engagement with their

key consumer segments. As discussed in relation to the brand’s current and

longstanding TV campaign, Bunnings places a large reliance on traditional forms of

advertising to ultimately push content and communication out to its consumers. The

brand has made attempts in recent years to build two-way communication in a digital

space with its consumers, primarily through the use of the social media platform

Instagram. Observing the platforms of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube, it

is evident that Bunnings is most actively engaging in communication with its

consumers on Instagram, as its Facebook and Twitter platforms possess little to no

content whatsoever (Facebook 2018; Twitter 2018; see Figures 3 and 4). The brand’s

YouTube channel does feature content, including TV adverts as mentioned above, as

well as ‘how-to’ instructional videos, again featuring current team members

(YouTube 2018; see Figures 5 and 6).

With specific consideration of Bunnings’ Instagram page, the brand aims to

communicate project ideas and inspiration to its followers (Instagram 2018; see

Figure 7). As of the end of May 2018, the page features 453 posts which showcase

completed renovations and current projects outside of the warehouse environment

(Instagram 2018). Although there are sporadic reposts of customer’s photos taken in

store to prompt consumer engagement by using the hashtag ‘bunnings’, the platform


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ultimately aims to provide consumers with ideas and encouragement to begin new

projects, and in turn complete these projects using products sold at Bunnings.

Undoubtedly, an online presence is almost a necessity for brands to communicate and

engage with their consumer base in today’s marketing and communications space. By

building a digital space for the brand through platforms such as Instagram, Bunnings

is providing itself with the opportunity to more readily reach their key target

segments, and further interact with them through engaging communications. As

mentioned earlier, Bunnings’ primary consumers are now typically younger

generations of tradespeople and DIY enthusiasts, who are actively searching for

inspiration and ideas through platforms including Instagram and Pintrest (IBISWorld

2017, p. 14). Therefore, it is crucial that Bunnings grow and maintain a presence on

these platforms, so that they are able to deliver the inspiration and ideas their

consumers are looking for, and in turn supply products as the market-leading retailer

of hardware and DIY supplies.

Despite its efforts to build an inspirational platform for its consumers, Bunnings’

social media communications strategies do not adequately maintain two-way

communication, or prompt consumer engagement to the greatest extent.

Communications from Bunnings on the brand’s Instagram page fundamentally end

with the posting of an image; despite consumers often commenting on posts, there are

no attempts to further engagement through discussion or call to action prompts for the

consumer (Instagram 2018; see Figure 8). This highlights a flaw in the brand’s online

communications strategies, as there is missed opportunity for Bunnings to create

resonant relationships with their communications through thorough two-way

communications.

Furthermore, Bunnings struggles to define a clear marketing mix for each of its target

segments in the online space, and is therefore unable to create content specific to each

segment, to prompt effective communications and engagement. Distinctively

segmenting and then targeting each primary consumer audience will allow Bunnings

to effectively communicate with each respective segment, as they will respond more

favourably to communications and content that they believe adds value to their

experiences with the brand (Hunt and Arnett 2004). This in turn will allow Bunnings


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to reinforce its overall brand identity through its communication, while still

addressing the primary needs and concerns of each consumer segment.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Considering both traditional and digital media campaigns, through TV adverts and the

brand’s Instagram page, I recommend for Bunnings to consider shifting their

communications efforts towards a holistically integrated communications campaign,

so as to create synergy across all forms of media communications. Although the

brand’s communications are currently successful in relation to their TV adverts, and

their growing social media presence, there is opportunity for the brand to formulate a

more integrated campaign that will again bolster the brand’s three strategic pillars of

lowest prices, widest range and best service. By highlighting these pillars, and then

targeting each consumer segment through their individual marketing mix, Bunnings

will be able to reflect their current and successful campaigns in a manner that will

foster two-way communication with their consumers.

CONCLUSION

Undoubtedly, Bunnings warrants its position as Australia’s market-leading home

improvement retailer through its strong brand positioning foundered on its three

strategic pillars of lowest prices, widest range and best service. Current

communications strategies, including TV adverts and social media presence

demonstrate the brand’s ability to create content that is relevant and recognisable to

maintain brand image, while further addressing the needs and wants of the brand’s

primary consumers. Despite missed opportunities in fostering two-way

communication, Bunnings has potential to shift their communications strategies

towards a more integrated approach, so that both the brand and consumers can benefit

from the development of more engaged, loyal and overall resonant relationships.


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REFERENCES Bunnings Warehouse 2015, Bunnings and You – Book 1, Bunnings Warehouse. Bunnings Warehouse 2018, About Us, viewed 22 April 2018, <https://www.bunnings.com.au/about-us> Facebook 2018, Bunnings Warehouse Australia, viewed 19 May 2018, < https://www.facebook.com/BunningsWarehouseAustralia/> Hatch, P 2018, In for $705m, out for £1: Wesfarmers abandons UK Bunnings disaster, viewed 27 May 2018, < https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/wesfarmers-decides-to-pull-out-of-uk-bunnings-disaster-20180525-p4zhg4.html> Holt, D B 2003, Brands and Branding, Harvard Business School Publishing, p. 10. Hunt, S D and Arnett, D B 2004, “Market Segmentation Strategy, Competitive Advantage, and Public Policy: Grounding Segmentation Strategy in Resource-Advantage Theory” in Australasian Marketing Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, Texas Tech University. IBISWorld 2018, February, Hardware and Building Supplies Retailing in Australia, retrieved from <http://clients1.ibisworld.com.au.ezp.lib.unimelb.edu.au/reports/au/industry/default.aspx?entid=1877> Instagram 2018, Bunnings, viewed 19 May 2018, < https://www.instagram.com/bunnings/ Keller, K L 2009, “Building strong brands in a modern marketing communications environment” in Journal of Marketing Communications, vol. 15, no. 2-3, Routledge, p. 141. Purvis, T 2013, “Advertising as a way of life” in Advertising as Culture, United Kingdom, Bristol, pp. 23-24. Twitter 2018, Bunnings Warehouse, viewed 19 May 2018, < https://twitter.com/Bunnings> Youtube 2018, Bunnings Warehouse, viewed 19 May 2018, < https://www.youtube.com/user/bunningswarehouse>


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APPENDIX

Figure 1: A screenshot of Bunnings' current TV adverts featuring team members in their 'home' stores (Bunnings Warehouse 2018).

Figure 2: A sample of Bunnings' line illustrations, which feature in their current TV adverts and print media catalogues (Bunnings Warehouse 2018).


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Figure 3: Facebook profile for Bunnings (Facebook 2018).

Figure 4: Twitter profile for Bunnings (Twitter 2018).


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Figure 5: YouTube channel for Bunnings (YouTube 2018).

Figure 6: Sample of Bunnings' 'how-to' videos featured on their YouTube channel (YouTube 2018).


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Figure 7: Instagram profile for Bunnings (Instagram 2018).

Figure 8: A sample Instagram post from Bunnings. Comments on the right are from consumers. There are no replies to comments by Bunnings (Instagram 2018).

bunnings warehouse communications strategy … · (bunnings warehouse 2015, p. 18). it is this...

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