01 | NOT WALLPAPER is a weekly post about what is changing in customer value and growth: behaviour, acquisition, retention and churn, journeys, service, customer experience and AI.
Bunnings rolled out Buddy in April 2026. Built on Google’s Gemini platform, it replaced the retailer’s first-generation AI assistant. That earlier AI tool’s safety failure likely informed Buddy’s stronger guardrails.
COMMERCIAL VIEW
Bunnings reports that customers using Buddy convert at more than twice the usual rate. Wesfarmers also reports average order values 20% to 40% higher across its retail businesses. On paper, it is working.
CUSTOMER VIEW
Feedback on social platforms tells a different story: incorrect recommendations, excessive product quantities, missing aisle information, and another layer of friction within an already difficult website experience.
CX UPSIDE
Less uncertainty. Efficient planning. Connected project-to-purchase journey.
CX DOWNSIDE
Over-purchasing, incorrect advice, avoidable returns and customer effort shifted further along the journey.
BOTTOM LINE
Bigger baskets measure commercial activity. Better CX measures whether customers bought the right products and successfully completed the job too.
OVER TO YOU…
Sources: Bunnings, Google Cloud, Wesfarmers reporting, ProductReview and public customer feedback.