Bunnings’ technology operations are “incredibly underestimated”, the hardware chain’s boss says, with the retailer’s recent courting by Google viewed internally as proof of its digital capability.
Image credit: Bunnings
Speaking on the Boston Consulting Group’s Business & Beyond podcast, group managing director Mike Schneider called attention to the retailer’s investments in data and digital, which culminated in the launch of an online marketplace just before the onset of the pandemic.
“Bunnings on the tech side, I think we are incredibly underestimated in how good our technology is,” Schneider said.
“Our first CIO Leah Balter, who’s now a colleague of mine at Wesfarmers, and now CIO Gen [Genevieve] Elliott [are] both world class executives who have and continue to transform the organisation, to the point where partners like Google with the agentic Gemini commerce platform have looked to us to partner as one of the early adopters.
“We’ve gone from the kid that can’t run fast to the kid that’s actually in the elite sports team, and I think that’s actually deeply underestimated by many, many people.
“As is, I think, how different Bunnings is in 2026, because most of our experience with Bunnings is [as] the big green shed.”
Earlier this month, Bunnings unveiled Buddy, an “AI‑powered agentic assistant using Google Cloud’s Gemini Enterprise for Customer Experience” product.
“Available on the Bunnings website initially, Buddy guides customers through projects, answers complex questions and helps customers find the products they need,” the retailer said in a LinkedIn post.
“It can read a photo of a handwritten list, find the items in seconds, and add them to a customer’s online cart.”
Buddy has been progressively introduced on the Bunnings Australia website and app and will be offered to customers in New Zealand “later this year”.
“The launch forms part of Bunnings’ accelerated use of data and AI to improve customer experiences, streamline work for teams and support long-term growth,” Bunnings said.
Bunnings general manager of data and AI Vivek Pradhan presented Buddy at the Google Cloud Next ‘26 summit in Las Vegas earlier this month, a slide deck of the presentation shows [pdf].
The deck describes “agentic commerce” as a “big bet” or “high impact opportunity” for the retailer from an AI perspective.
