Wesfarmers Advances Bunnings Merger With Blackwoods, Workwear Group
Wesfarmers is moving Blackwoods and Workwear Group under Bunnings Group control from July 1 in a bunnings merger that redraws how two of its industrial businesses are run. The shift puts Blackwoods, Australia’s largest industrial and safety distributor, alongside a national workwear portfolio inside Bunnings’ retail network.
Anthony Gianotti said the change is meant to boost shareholder value, with the finance chief describing Blackwoods and Workwear Group as businesses that hold market-leading positions. For customers and suppliers, the immediate change is operational: the brands stay in place for now, but the parent structure changes beneath them.
July 1 under Bunnings
July 1 is the date that matters for the transfer, when control passes from Wesfarmers to Bunnings Group. Blackwoods and Workwear Group will move under Bunnings while continuing to operate under their own names for now, which keeps the customer-facing labels intact even as the reporting line changes.
312 stores nationwide give Bunnings the physical scale to absorb the new businesses, while Blackwoods brings six national distribution centres and more than 45 branches across metropolitan, regional and remote Australia. That mix links store traffic, industrial supply and fulfilment in a way the businesses did not have under separate control.
Blackwoods and Workwear Group scale
Blackwoods has six national distribution centres in Canningvale, Regency Park, Scoresby, Greystanes, Carole Park and Mackay, giving the business reach across the country. Workwear Group adds eight brands, including Hard Yakka and King Gee, which broadens the product set under the new structure.
13,500 square metres is the size of the site attached to the background context for Bunnings as one of Australia’s largest single-tenant occupiers, a reminder of the scale already sitting behind the company’s retail footprint. Folding Blackwoods and Workwear Group into that network brings more of the supply chain into one operating umbrella.
Scale, fulfilment and small business
Anthony Gianotti said the businesses had continued to grow share after the successful implementation of Blackwoods enterprise resource planning (ERP) system and the simplification and reset of their operating models last financial year. He said that, with the transition, Wesfarmers sees “a significant opportunity to leverage greater scale and capabilities to further enhance the customer experience.”
Mike Schneider said the move would give “greater access to Blackwoods’ extensive product range and national fulfilment capabilities,” which points to the practical handover for trade customers seeking more products through a larger distribution base. Gianotti also said working more closely with Bunnings would unlock growth in the small and medium sized customer segments, which makes those businesses the clearest target of the new structure.
8 brands across Workwear Group and Blackwoods will continue under their own names for now, so the change is in control rather than branding. That leaves the key test on July 1: whether the new parent structure makes it easier to move stock, serve trade buyers and scale the customer base without changing the labels customers already know.
