It can be argued that Wesfarmers learned very little from Woolworths foray into hardware in Australia. After all, taking on a dominant number one in any market – let alone a market dominated by trade relationships such as hardware – is fraught with disaster. Just ask Eric Watson about his Countdown UK electronics retailing fiasco.

Dominant market players are very hard to unseat but in the UK, home improvement retailer B&Q is more than dominant. It is what Bunnings is in Australia – a deeply entrenched monster – so buying a seriously flawed Homebase was always a risky move.

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