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Wesfarmers Limited
Wesfarmers runs a collection of large retail and hardware businesses in Australia and New Zealand, selling everything from hardware and office supplies to clothing and chemicals.
Wesfarmers is one of Australia's largest companies, but it is not a single store — it is a collection of big businesses under one roof. Most Australians run into it without realizing: they shop at Bunnings for paint and timber, pick up office supplies at Officeworks, or buy clothes and homewares at Kmart. Together, these businesses sell the everyday things people and tradespeople need, and that is where most of the money comes from.
The star of the show is Bunnings, the hardware chain that has become an Australian institution. It sells tools, timber, garden supplies, and building materials to both weekend do-it-yourselfers and professional tradespeople. Bunnings is famous for its sausage sizzles and its enormous warehouses, and its scale makes it hard for rivals to compete. In New Zealand, the company runs the Kmart and Officeworks brands too, plus a home-improvement chain called Trade Tools. The retail division also includes Kmart, which sells budget clothing, homewares, and toys, and Officeworks, which sells stationery, printers, and office furniture. Beyond retail, Wesfarmers has a chemicals and industrial division. It makes things like lithium for batteries, ammonia, and other industrial chemicals, and it runs a safety-products business selling workwear and protective gear. This industrial arm is much smaller than retail in terms of sales, but it adds a different flavor to the business. Wesfarmers also owns a stake in a data and analytics company called Quantium, and it has been building a digital health business. So how does the company make money? Customers pay at the till — in stores and online — and Wesfarmers keeps the difference between what it pays suppliers and what shoppers pay. The retail businesses are low-margin but high-volume, and their huge scale lets them negotiate hard with suppliers and run lean operations. Bunnings in particular is a cash machine, generating piles of free cash that Wesfarmers uses to pay dividends and fund new ventures.
Wesfarmers has a long history that started as a farmers' cooperative in Western Australia, but today it is a sprawling conglomerate. It sold off its coal mines and its Coles supermarket stake in recent years, focusing more on retail and industrial chemicals. The company is headquartered in Perth and listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. It is not without controversy — its Bunnings chain has faced criticism over its treatment of suppliers and its environmental impact — but it remains one of the most profitable retailers in the country.
Saved answer · last researched 12 Nov 2026