Bunnings, Kmart and three other major Australian retail brands are offering free delivery and a six-month free OnePass trial in a new push to ease pressure on households facing higher fuel bills and broader cost-of-living strain.
The offer, launched on Tuesday, applies to new customers who sign up to OnePass before May 14 and covers eligible online orders from Bunnings Warehouse, Kmart, Target, Officeworks and Priceline. The promotion removes the usual minimum spend for free delivery during the trial period, although postcode exclusions and item eligibility still apply.
The timing is central to why the announcement is drawing attention. With petrol costs climbing and many families reassessing everyday spending, Wesfarmers is using one of the most visible parts of the shopping bill — delivery charges — as a lever for relief. Standard parcel delivery across its retail brands typically ranges from $9 to $12, a fee that can quickly turn a low-cost purchase into a more expensive one.
Under the offer, new members receive six months of free access to OnePass, which normally costs $4 a month or $40 a year. Existing monthly members will receive a six-month pause on membership payments before their subscriptions resume at the usual monthly rate, while existing members on renewal are being offered $20 off their next OnePass renewal.
The retailer’s message is clear: shoppers under pressure are no longer judging value only by shelf prices. The cost of driving to a store, especially for households in outer suburbs and regional areas, has become part of the purchasing decision. Free delivery, particularly with no minimum spend, gives retailers a way to cut that hidden cost without rewriting price tags across thousands of products.
More News
Why the move matters now
The initiative comes as Australian households continue to grapple with rising everyday expenses, from groceries and petrol to mortgage repayments and business costs. Wesfarmers has framed the free-delivery push as a direct response to that environment, with senior executives positioning it as a practical way to make shopping easier at a moment when many budgets are under strain.
Bunnings managing director Michael Schneider said free delivery was one of the most direct ways the brands could reduce financial pressure customers may be feeling. Kmart Group managing director Aleks Spaseska also described the initiative as a practical response to ongoing household cost pressures, linking it to the group’s broader effort to maintain everyday low prices across Kmart and Target.
The offer is also designed to shift behaviour. By encouraging customers to shop online instead of driving to stores, Wesfarmers is responding to an economic moment in which transport costs have become harder to ignore. In that sense, this is more than a membership promotion. It is a retail response to a fuel shock that is changing how Australians think about even routine purchases.
The pressure is being felt at household level. Families who once absorbed petrol costs as part of the weekly routine are now recalculating whether a store visit is worth the trip. For parents living some distance from the nearest major shopping centre, delivery savings can have a more immediate impact than a small in-store discount.
That is one reason the scheme has been framed around practicality rather than marketing gloss. The message is less about convenience for its own sake and more about avoiding unnecessary driving at a time when each extra trip can stretch an already tight budget.
A sign of broader pressure on retail and consumers
The move also reflects broader weakness in consumer sentiment. Australian retailers have been navigating softer discretionary spending as high living costs reshape shopping habits. For major chains, free delivery can help preserve demand without forcing a broad cut in listed prices, while also drawing shoppers deeper into subscription-based loyalty programs.
Wesfarmers has its own reasons to sharpen that value proposition. The group’s share price has fallen sharply from its mid-February high, reflecting wider concerns about consumer spending and a more fragile retail outlook. In that context, waiving delivery fees is not only a gesture to households but also a commercially calculated way to keep customers active across multiple brands.
The backdrop is an economy where policymakers are increasingly focused on easing household pressure, with guidance from the Reserve Bank of Australia highlighting how rising fuel and living costs are reshaping consumer spending behaviour.
For shoppers, the attraction of the new OnePass offer lies in its simplicity. Free delivery across five major retail brands, no minimum spend during the trial, and a clear sign-up window give consumers something tangible at a time when cost-of-living headlines have often delivered more anxiety than relief. For Wesfarmers, it is a reminder that in a tight economy, cutting friction can be just as powerful as cutting prices.
Make Swikblog your go-to source on Google for reliable updates, smart insights, and daily trends.
