Catch.com.au

Catch.com.au was Australia's original daily deals and online marketplace pioneer. Acquired by Wesfarmers in 2019 for A$230 million, the platform accumulated nearly A$450 million in trading losses under Wesfarmers' ownership before being wound down in January 2025.

This case is instructive not as a foreign company entering Australia, but as an example of a strategic acquirer failing to integrate or protect a digital native from incoming international competition. Wesfarmers bought Catch to build e-commerce capabilities, but left it operating largely independently.

• Amazon's scale overwhelmed Catch's position — When Wesfarmers bought Catch in 2019, Amazon had been in Australia for less than two years. By 2025, Amazon had 10% of online shopping spend, Temu had 20% — together dismantling Catch's competitive position.
• Marketplace economics require massive scale — As Wesfarmers CEO Rob Scott acknowledged, "standalone, broad-based marketplaces require significant scale and traffic to achieve profitability. International players are better able to leverage their global scale."
• Synergies never materialised — Despite the stated goal of building e-commerce expertise across Kmart and Target, Catch was never integrated into Wesfarmers' ecosystem in a way that created competitive advantage.
• Product range differentiation lost — Under Wesfarmers, Catch lost the sharp buying and own-product capabilities that had made its original founders (Gabby and Hezi Leibovich) successful.
• Fulfilment centres operating at <50% capacity — A signal of structural over-investment in fixed costs relative to achievable volume.

Wesfarmers announced Catch's wind-down in January 2025, with final closure by June 2025 (Q4 FY2025). Approximately 200 jobs were lost. The fulfilment centres were transferred to Kmart Group, which operates them more cost-effectively. Cumulative losses under Wesfarmers approached A$450M.

For operators considering Australian entry, Catch.com.au's experience offers a sharp cautionary template. The lessons below distil what went wrong and what foreign and domestic operators can learn from the failure mode.

• Acquisition of a local digital player buys time, not immunity — Foreign competition (Amazon, Temu) will eventually outscale any locally owned marketplace without continuous capital investment.
• Marketplace integration must be deep and immediate — Half-measures that leave an acquired business "operating independently" without the full benefit of group resources create the worst of both worlds.
• Digital platforms have scale thresholds, not gradual curves — Below a certain transaction volume, a marketplace becomes structurally unprofitable regardless of management quality.
• Assess acquisition rationale carefully — Wesfarmers admitted it bought Catch for capability, not for Catch itself — a rationale that rarely justifies the acquisition price.
• Competitive due diligence must include forthcoming entrants, not just current players — Amazon was "new" in 2019; Temu didn't exist. Strategic planning must scenario-model for new entrants.