The Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) share price is on the move on Tuesday morning.
At the time of writing, the conglomerate's shares are up slightly to $48.61.
What's going on with the Wesfarmers share price?
The catalyst for the rise in the Wesfarmers share price today appears to have been some big news out of the company's Bunnings business.
No, Harry Styles hasn't agreed to tour the world in a Bunnings straw hat! Rather, the hardware giant is going to expand into the pet care market. This marks the business' biggest category expansion in two decades.
According to the AFR, Bunnings' pet care department will launch next month and include almost 1,000 new items as part of its aim of winning a greater slice of the growing $10 billion specialty pet sector.
Bunnings' managing director, Mike Schneider, told the news outlet:
Between working from home more and potentially not spending any disposable income on other categories, we see people doing things around the home (DIY). Over the last few years we still have some really strong performance in the limited range of pet products … so this is just a logical next step.
The hallmark of Bunnings' success over the years has to do with being very focused on the things where it believes it can add value, and I think convenience, price and range on an assortment are things that are very much at the core of Bunnings. The challenge of services is the ability to execute them at scale.
Battle on with Woolies
It is also worth noting that this move brings Wesfarmers head-to-head with arch-rival Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) in yet another category.
The latter made a $586 million investment in Petspiration at the end of the last year, giving it a 55% stake in the PETstock business.
