Bunnings revs its engine | Prada acquires Versace | Hey Siri , turn off the tariffs

Bunnings expands into auto parts as it looks to tap into the $1.5 billion car market… after stepping out of the car market over 2 decades ago.

Prada has made the big acquisition of its Italian luxury competitor Versace for $1.38 billion USD.

Apple has dodged the tariff-bullet as Donald Trump announces a tariff exemption on consumer electronic goods made in China.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
This excuse what the Flux Ti'm brand and are justin
and Wednesday, the sixteenth of April, Juzzy Boy. When it
comes to sporting goods in Australia, there's rebel and rebel
and maybe a couple of strength fans at Kmar And
now the London listed company sports Direct has entered the chat.
It's planning to open more than one hundred stores in
Australia to take on Rebel. No surprises, the shares in

(00:25):
Rebel Zone are fell following this big news. The man
heard over the last few weeks that gold has hit
another all time line and it's interesting because gold is
always a very popular investment during times of economic crisis.
The Flucks out this week we go through why gold
is considered a safe haven asset for investors and what
other major events have seen this happen as well. So
if you want to learn more about gold and the
impact on the economy, make sure to download the Flux

(00:47):
up and check it out. Three secure stories today, Juzzy Boy,
Let's do it for our first. Bunnings is expanding into
autoparts as it looks to tap into the one and
a half billion dollar car market. After stepping out of
the car market over two decades ago. Talk about getting
back into the driver's seat, b Man. So what he's
going on here? All right? So Bunnings is owned by
West Farmers and is Australia's most beloved and only major

(01:10):
hardware chain. In fact, Beman, I'll give you a sense
of Bunning scale. It generated over nineteen billion dollars in
annual sales just last year. That's a lot of snags
and sledgehammers the Beman. Bunning's actually used to sell car
parts back in the nineties and juzzy boy. Now it's
circling back to its auto roots. Yeah, Bunnings is trialing
a new range of four hundred car products. Think cool end, toebars,

(01:32):
tire foam, all the words you've vaguely heard of but
never even dared to use. So true. So why is
Bunnings pivoting to become a petrol head again? It's part
of their plan to diversify away just tools and timber
and petrol head. Remember that Bunnings has done this product
expansion before. Yeah. It entered into the cleaning and pet
supplies market successfully cough about pet farm and more recently

(01:55):
into age care and disability related products as well, and
Juzzy Boy. It's believed the auto parts and lubricants industry
is worth more than one and a half billion dollars
per year. So be Man for Bunning, it will need
to overcome the mote of its newfound competitors like Super
Cheap Order and Autobart. So what is the key learning here?
A competitive mote is what protects a business from its rivals.

(02:15):
It's what keeps competitors from easily stealing market share. And
be man specialists retailers like Super Cheap Auto and Autobarn.
They've developed their moats based on their deep, deep product
range and expert service. They stock thousands of products, have
access to premium brands like Castrol or Penriight, and those
brands are refusing to supply Bunnings because they're worried it
may upset their existing relationship. And these auto retailers employ

(02:37):
staff who live and breathe spark plugs. The Bannings has
a different kind of mode. Yep, it's got insane scale,
it's got a heap of foot traffic and of course
pricing power. It might not stock everything, but what it
does stock is easy to grab. While you're picking up
plywood and a screwdriver. So the risk is that bannings
will chip away slowly but surely and everyday purchases in
this industry. For our second story, Prita has made the

(03:00):
big acquisition of its Italian luxury competitor, Versaci for one
point three eight billion US dollars. The devil wears Versacei
Juzzy Boy. Everybody knows that. Tell me what's going on here? Okay?
So Vasaci is the iconic Italian luxury brand was started
by Gianni Versaci back in nineteen seventy eight and Jazi Boy.
Since the eighties, Versacei's brand has really blown up with

(03:20):
its maximalist prints. Think golden swirls and intricate floral kind
of like it belongs on a palace ceiling, but instead
it's on a silk shirt and jazzy boy. Since twenty eighteen,
Capri Holdings bought Vasacei from the Versacei family for more
than two point one billion US dollars. That's the US
founded company behind Michael Kors and Jimmy Chew as well.
They had a vision to double Versaci's revenue in one decade.

(03:41):
They plan to tone down the glitz and the glamour
and dial up the price tag. Think high quality fabrics
and very neutral tone, quite the far cry from Versacei's
usual loud designs and be man. It's been seven years
since that acquisition and Versacei's revenue has dropped below its
twenty twenty level. So now Versaci is coming back to
Italian soil. Yep, it's been acquired by luxury brand Product

(04:03):
for one point thirty eight billion US dollars. Or because
Capri team underestimated the negative impact of a rapid brand reposition.
So what is the key learning here? When brands try
to pivot too hard, especially away from what made them iconic,
they risk alienating their ride or dies. In Versachi's case,
it had an over the top aesthetic and that was
its signature. But Capri Holdings tried to modernize the Versati

(04:25):
brand by jumping on the quiet luxury bandwagon and b
man in the process, they raised what made Versaci Versaci
and juzzy boy. We saw this with the British handbag
label Mulberry, who tried to go upmarket in the early
twenty tens. Yeah, they raised their price significantly, but in
just a few years, share price dropped by seventy four percent,
and of course it's CEO resigned, so juzzy boy. While

(04:46):
brand evolution is necessary, if you shift too fast or
too far from what your audience expects, you risk losing
everyone in the process. For our third and final story,
Apple has dodged the tariff bullet as Donald Trump announces
it tariff exemption on consumer electronic goods made in China. Geez,
Apple breathing a very big cyb of relapb man, So

(05:06):
tell me more, well, jazy boy. Remember when Donald Trump
first announced ten percent tariffs on China, I do, and
then he jacked them up to thirty four percent, and
then fifty four percent, and then Trump jacked up his
percent tariffs to one hundred and four percent and finally
landed on one hundred and forty five percent tariffs in
response to China's tariff's back on the US. Every company
making stuff in China collectively freaked out, of course, but

(05:27):
none more than Apple. Yeah, that's because Apple assembles eighty
seven percent of their iPhones in China, and that one
hundred and forty five percent tariff felt like someone just
added another zero to their retail price. In fact, there
was talk that iPhone prices could increase by more than
forty percent if this tariff stuck. But now Donald Trump's
announced that consumer electrics are exempt from this China tariff
high so that includes iPhones and iPads and max Apple

(05:50):
watches air tags. Next minute, Apple share price jumped over
eleven percent. Trump claims he spoke to Apple CEO Tim
Cook and decided to help him out. Very strange stuff.
So what is the key learning here? Sometimes a company
gets so powerful it becomes untouched. Yep. Apple isn't just
a company, b man, It's a global economic force. Both
the US and China rely on Apple for wealth and

(06:11):
jobs and even power. Get this, be man. Apple currently
supports around three million jobs in China. On the other hand,
Apple shares have propped up American retirement fund through its
near three trillion US dollar market cap because, b man,
if Apple stumbles, everybody feels it. The stock market feels it,
the global economy feels it, and the smartphone in your
hand definitely feels it too. Platsam. If you've seen everybody

(06:34):
high the goal right now? That is because if a
safe even asset for investors, you want to know more
about why that is and what exactly sol purely about gold.
We have it all covered in the flux Cap this
week a fluckdam. We're taking a break over the Good
Friday and Easter Monday long weekend, but we'll be back
next Wednesday. Thanks for listening and we'll see you next
for Wednesday