Page 8 - HW May-June 2020

hard news
Lockdown and online learnings for hardware channel
CONSUMERS WENT ONLINE in droves and displayed unexpected levels of demand for click & collect as Alert Levels reduced and DIY retailers were allowed to o er full ranges online.
Motivation, if any were required in this day and age, to get your e-commerce ducks in a row and indeed, on the very day we entered Alert Level 3, Bunnings NZ (www.bunnings.co.nz) went live with a transactional website, drive & collect (as proven across the ditch) and home delivery.
Although Bunnings in Australia has been active in e-commerce for some time now, until 28 April Bunnings had been the last DIY retailer to go live with an e-commerce o ering in the New Zealand marketplace.
As con rmed by Bunnings Director New Zealand, Jacqui Coombes, the COVID-19 situation was the catalyst towards bringing the launch forward in advance of its planned e-commerce timeline.
Although fast tracking an NZ start to e-commerce was aided by “learnings
from our Australian online development as well as great team support from across the Tasman”, Jacqui says her local team did “an outstanding job of adapting to this new way of working.”
As with other players in the market, although home delivery is an option, Bunnings NZ’s contactless drive & collect model proved to be “extremely popular”.
Was Level 3’s clear preference for consumers to drive & collect a surprise for Bunnings?
“I guess it’s hard to say it was more than expected as we are in such different times,” said Jacqui Coombes at the time, “but the demand is certainly high! As with all new processes, there will be learnings and improvements, especially as the volume is high, so
we are really appreciating everyone’s patience.”
Reader’s Digest’s 2020 Most Trusted Home Improvement Store brand, Mitre 10 (www.mitre10.co.nz) also experienced signi cant demand for click & collect in Level 3, Chief of Customer Marketing & Inspiration, Jules Lloyd-Jones, having
admitted that the co-op’s “very limited online o ering of essential goods only and trade supplies for essential services ... delivered a small fraction of pre- lockdown revenue”.
Says Jules Lloyd-Jones: “After almost ve weeks of lockdown, online demand has been absolutely unprecedented.”
And in terms of ful lment, perhaps
to the surprise of Mitre 10 at the time, it seems consumers were particularly keen and willing to exit social isolation and travel to collect their purchases.
Indeed, over 70% of Mitre 10 customers ordering online during lockdown chose click & collect over home delivery, to the surprise of the cooperative which had to “pivot” to ful l the preference.
As to whether online purchasing will remain at the current elevated levels, for Mitre 10 at least this may be part of the “new normal”.
“We think online demand will smooth out over the coming days but we expect it to remain well above where it was pre- lockdown,” says Jules Lloyd-Jones.
6 NZHJ | MAY/JUNE 2020
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