Wesfarmers and Microsoft have entered a multi-year agreement to collaborate on digital initiatives, with a focus on integrating artificial intelligence across Wesfarmers’ diverse portfolio of brands. These brands include Bunnings, Kmart Group, Blackwoods and Priceline. The partnership aims to enhance both customer shopping experiences and internal team workflows through the strategic deployment of AI technologies. Wesfarmers is a major Australian conglomerate with diverse interests including retail, chemicals, energy, fertilisers, and industrial and safety products. Microsoft is a multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services.
The core objective of this collaboration is to embed AI more deeply into the fabric of Wesfarmers’ operations, streamlining the customer journey and improving internal processes. Wesfarmers intends to build AI-powered tools that will enable customers to find products more efficiently, receive tailored recommendations, and facilitate a seamless transition from product search to purchase completion. Furthermore, the company is focused on enhancing customer support by implementing new AI assistants capable of delivering faster and more personalised service.
Rob Scott, Wesfarmers managing director, highlighted the positive impact already observed from the company’s increased use of AI, particularly at the team member level through the adoption of Microsoft Copilot. He emphasized that the partnership with Microsoft is instrumental in supporting the group’s broader AI ambitions and accelerating the deployment of cloud services across critical business functions.
The agreement extends an existing collaboration between Wesfarmers and Microsoft, with a specific emphasis on expanding innovative cloud services within priority areas. This expansion is expected to provide substantial support for team member productivity and facilitate significant improvements to the overall customer experience across Wesfarmers’ brands.