The Benefits of Bunnings Trade PowerPass Membership

Having a Bunnings Trade PowerPass card in your wallet – and the app on your phone – is like having a personalised business centre in your pocket. It can save you time sourcing products, get you better prices and even have inventory delivered to your door, and that’s just for starters. Every business has different needs, so we spoke with a landscaper, kitchen installer and holiday park owner to understand how they get the most from their PowerPass.

What is PowerPass? The benefits at a glance

● Get exclusive PowerPass pricing: Take advantage of discounts on your commonly bought items.

● Project management: Keep lists of products needed for each job you’re working on.

● Make account keeping easier: Manage receipts, track project costs and link to your accounting software.

● Save time in-store: Easily research and find your products, map your way to the right aisle, check out in the app, make quicker returns and use the delivery service.

● Flexible payment options: Pay on the spot or reconcile with a 30-day account.

● Dedicated Trade Support team: Get a team of experts in-store or on the phone when you need help with any job. 

● Keeping clients happy: Show clients exact products and pricing for their project.

The benefits of PowerPass according to a landscaper

Name: Kayne Hunter
Business: Ekka Landscaping, Vic
PowerPass member: Nine years

It connects your software

Having streamlined systems is important to Kayne, which is why he has connected his PowerPass account to his business software. “Everything we do goes through the PowerPass app – it’s so easy because it can all flow into Xero and [project management software] Jobber,” Kayne says.

“I like to screenshot receipts, then set up an email in Xero called ‘Bills’ and email it to Bills. With Xero Projects, you can also press the scanner in the Xero app and it puts the receipt straight into Projects.” 

Gives your clients visibility

Kayne likes his clients to have full visibility over their projects and having integrated systems within his business makes that easy to do. “The clients love it because they can see the receipts and the purchases in real time [in Jobber], and they can see their discounts,” he says. “I’m transparent with the client and say, ‘These are the discounts I can get you because Bunnings supports me, and because I support them’.” 

Suggested add-ons and products

Kayne likes to use his PowerPass app to track items that might interest his clients. “I went into Bunnings and in the garden section – there were these air conditioner protectors that I’d never seen before,” he says. “Before, I used to go around and take photos of everything. Now all I do is scan it on the app and it’s straight in my cart. When I click on it, I can look at the specs while I’m walking around.” Kayne is then able to suggest those products to the client. “It’s so convenient to go that extra mile.”

Keeps your receipts in one place

It’s part of doing business, sometimes you grab the wrong product or something isn’t the right fit. Before getting a PowerPass account, Kayne rarely wasted his time hunting for receipts and doing returns. “Time is money for me. I would have gear here that I hadn’t returned just because I didn’t have time,” he says. “Now, I love when you do returns – they’re easy as. They say, ‘Do you have your receipt there?’ And it’s in the app.”

Tip: Are you in the construction or building sector and don’t have a PowerPass yet? Discover how to apply today.

The benefits of PowerPass according to a builder

Name: Pat McGuinness
Business: Precision Cabinetry Installations, Vic 
PowerPass member: 10 years

You can lean on the expert team

When Pat became a proud PowerPass member 10 years ago, he was offered the expert services of a Bunnings Trade Account Manger, and he jumped at the opportunity. “I might only call my Account Manager, Kim, two or three times a month if I’m really stuck or if there’s something that’s a little bit out of the ordinary,” he says. “Other than that, I’ve got a good team at Carrum Downs Bunnings [that I can go to]. I ring them three or four times a day; I lean on them for what I need.”

The cost savings

“The pricing is handy,” Pat says of how PowerPass can help him save on regular purchases. “ I get a percentage off the cost of the things I buy the most, including timber, plasterboard and kitchen bits and pieces. I get a lot of good pricing!”

Faster check out

Busy builders don’t have time to go through checkouts, according to Pat’s team, which is why they love the PowerPass app. “ One of my guys is all about this stuff – he goes in-store and does everything on his app and then leaves and doesn’t even go to the counters,” Pat says. 

Make the most of set pricing

Installing kitchens takes Pat and his team everywhere from their base in Carrum Downs, just outside of Melbourne, to Echuca, on the Victorian border, and Mildura in the northwest. “It’s handy to be able to walk in anywhere and transfer messages across from my home store,” Pat says. “I can contact my Trade Specialist and he can ring any store to make sure they’ve got what I need and get them to hold it for me. And because my pricing is set, it doesn’t matter which store I walk into – I just put my card down and my pricing is automatic.”

The benefits of PowerPass according to a holiday park owner

Name: Lachlan Farquharson
Business: Lake Tinaroo Holiday Park, Qld 
PowerPass member: Six years

Easy cash flow monitor

A challenge Lachlan faces is keeping track of spending across builds, but the PowerPass app helps with that. “One of the big advantages – especially when the staff loses receipts – is you can easily find them in the PowerPass app,” Lachlan says. “My business partner looks after all the building side of things and I look after the back-end, running the business. So I personally find the app most useful when I’m trying to track down all the money they’ve spent and where they’ve spent it.” 

Flexible payment options

Caravan parks need a lot of maintenance, so the crew is in and out of Bunnings all week, which makes managing cash flow an ongoing challenge. Lachlan takes advantage of the flexible payment options he has with his PowerPass membership, which allows him to grab what he needs and then settle it up monthly with his 30-day account. “We order stuff regularly, but we don’t have to pay for that upfront; it goes onto our account and then I can pay for it at the end of the month. It makes it much easier to pay and track.”

Get all the staff a PowerPass card

Lachlan has equipped his team with cards under the business’s PowerPass membership. There’s no fiddling around trying to remember numbers. “Our staff all have [PowerPass] swipe cards attached to our account which makes it easier – anyone from the team can use the PowerPass account when they need to,” he says. 

Want to spend less time in store and more time on the job?

Discover five ways the Bunnings PowerPass app can save you time.