Wesfarmers chief executive Rob Scott says artificial intelligence will lift productivity across Bunnings, Kmart, Officeworks and the chemicals arm thanks to its data. What does it mean for the share price?
Scott told The Australian this week that Wesfarmers is leaning into AI and automation to drive a productivity step-change across its brands.
Scott’s message, echoed in recent strategy day materials, is that productivity is the lever Wesfarmers will pull hardest. AI sits inside that lever, not beside it.
At Bunnings, the use cases named publicly include demand forecasting, range optimisation by store, and rostering against foot traffic.
At Kmart, it is product design assistance, supply chain planning and faster newness through the buying cycle.
At Officeworks, it is search, recommendations and customer service automation. The chemicals, energy and fertilisers arm gets predictive maintenance and process optimisation at plant level.
It’s what we’ve seen businesses winning the AI race doing all along: take the data you already have and find a smarter, faster way to use it.
Scott has flagged a multi-year investment in AI and digital productivity tools across the group, with the bulk earmarked for Bunnings and Kmart given their scale. The company’s stated commitment, as disclosed in CEO remarks reported by The Australian, runs into the hundreds of millions over the program horizon.
Scott has been careful on headcount. The line from the company is that AI takes work off people, not people off the payroll. Routine tasks get automated. Staff get redeployed to customer-facing work.
There’s one thing AI can’t automate, however, and that’s the humble Bunnings snag. Here’s hoping that never changes.
This article is general information only and does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice from a licensed financial adviser before making any financial decisions.
