Wesfarmers’ disastrous acquisition of Homebase and the announced closure of nearly a fifth of its 250 stores have led to Homebase losing 2.9 percentage points of the DIY market, saysGlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.
In the years before Wesfarmers’ acquisition, Homebase was streamlining its store estate and introducing more homewares lines to appeal to female shoppers, giving it a point of difference and an appeal to an underserved market.
Emily Stella, Lead Retail Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Arguably, it had some success, as Homebase reported strong like-for-like sales and operating profit of 10.7% in its financial year ending February 2016 – its final accounts before the acquisition. But, as Wesfarmers undid this hard work, and refocused the business on harder DIY lines, Homebase sales suffered terribly.”
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