Victorian location, which will complement their upcoming Preston store set to open next month. The Queensland store will open in North Lakes. The move is an attempt to capitalise on an approximately 500,000-strong existing online customer base on the east coast, which has represented 80 per cent of Kitchen Warehouse’s ecommerce orders thus far. Targeting locations in the 1000sqm range within homemaker centres, it will continue to consider areas with strong large format neighbours and an upper-middle class catchment.  “At this stage we have an organic roll out plan…we’ll be setting up mini distribution centres in Melbourne once we have three stores in the state,” Macauley revealed.  Digitally-enabled offer for a digital retailer With a digitally-enabled customer place stemming from its pureplay operations, Macaulay says they’ve made a few tweaks to their store model for their east coast expansion. The large format offering will be enabled by click-and-collect from day one, with the centre of the stores serving as a hub for point-of-sale operations, pickups and customer service inquiries.  There will also be digital devices present for customers to browse its full online range as part of what it calls an ‘endless aisle’ initiative. This digitally-enabled part of the offering will be complemented by a demonstration kitchen, which will allow customers to try products in-store, even going so far as letting them fry omelets to test products. The demonstration-style offer is similar to that of US-based homewares retailer Pirch, which has defined its in-store offer on demonstration and exploration, going so far as to allow customers to shower or cook meals in their stores. “We’re combining two key aspects of retail going forward; the convergence of digital, having that endless aisle, and then secondly retail theatre by having a demo kitchen,” Macaulay said. For now, only stores in Queensland and Melbourne are in the works, but Macaulay noted that the company is looking at all states, particularly in NSW. “We have areas in Sydney that we are very interested in, but there have been no opportunities yet that have presented themselves that make sense to us in terms of position,” he said. Hedging with differentiation Tweaking the in-store model is a move to differentiate the offering, hedging against the risk of incoming international players such as Amazon, which retail across many of Kitchen Warehouse’s categories in the US.  Macaulay explained that he’s already taken a trip to the US to observe the market and develop an Amazon counter strategy, and that the company will also emphasise their private label offering as they upscale their east coast operation.  “Amazon is certainly something we’re cognisant of,” he said. “Our category lends itself to people wanting to experience things first, which will be a key part of our store strategy.  “We’ll put a lot more emphasis on a private label offering which differentiates ourselves from the third party branded products,” he continued. We’ll expand our private label range as we gain scale, as it will give us more capability to develop our own product line.”  Kitchen Warehouse has retailed home and kitchenware in Perth across a portfolio of seven stores since 1996. In June last year the business merged with pureplay business Kitchenware Direct to develop a multi-channel offering. Access exclusive analysis, locked news and reports with Inside Retail Weekly. Subscribe today and get our premium print publication delivered to your door every week.