Catch.com.au

Overview

Catch.com.au (originally “Catch of the Day”) was one of Australia’s best-known online retailers, founded in 2006 in Melbourne by brothers Gabby and Hezi Leibovich. It pioneered the daily-deal “flash sale” model locally, then evolved into a broad general-merchandise site selling both first-party stock and third-party marketplace listings. Wesfarmers, the conglomerate behind Kmart, Target and Bunnings, acquired Catch Group for AU$230 million in June 2019. After accumulating losses of more than AU$350 million, Wesfarmers announced in January 2025 that Catch would cease trading as a standalone business, with the site shutting down on 30 April 2025.

What they’re known for

Catch is remembered as the business that brought the daily-deal / flash-sale format to Australia — a single, deeply discounted “catch of the day” posted each day. Its defining early moment came in 2008 when Toshiba offered the company 8,000 laptops and Catch sold 4,000 of them in four hours, proving the model to major brands. Over time it became a household-name bargain destination for discounted general merchandise, with its Club Catch membership (free shipping, exclusive deals) and Catch Connect mobile plans extending the brand.

History

• 2006 — Gabby and Hezi Leibovich launch Catch of the Day, one deep-discount deal per day.
• 2008 — Breakthrough Toshiba laptop sale (4,000 units in four hours) cements brand credibility.
• 2010–2012 — Sister ventures launched: Scoopon (services/vouchers), Grocery Run, Mumgo, EatNow.
• 2011 — Raises ~AU$80M for a 40% stake from investors including Tiger Global, James Packer’s Consolidated Press Holdings and SEEK’s Andrew Bassat.
• 2016 — Leibovichs buy out Tiger Global; business rebrands/consolidates toward Catch.com.au and a third-party marketplace model.
• June 2019 — Wesfarmers acquires Catch Group for AU$230M (~13x forecast EBITDA).
• FY20–FY24 — Despite COVID-era e-commerce boom, swings from ~AU$20M EBITDA (FY20) to heavy losses; revenue falls from AU$510M (FY22) to AU$227M (FY24).
• 21 January 2025 — Wesfarmers announces wind-down; fulfilment centres to move to Kmart Group.
• 30 April 2025 — Catch.com.au ceases trading.

Business model

Catch operated a hybrid retail model. It sold first-party (1P) inventory it bought and warehoused itself, and ran a third-party (3P) marketplace where independent sellers listed products and Catch took a commission. By its final years the marketplace side dominated volume — roughly 63% of GMV was 3P versus 37% 1P. Marketplace commissions were negotiated per seller and per category (broadly in the ~5–20% range depending on product type), alongside a monthly seller subscription fee. Revenue also came from Club Catch memberships and the Catch Connect MVNO mobile plans.

Why it failed

Multiple post-mortems point to a compounding set of problems rather than a single cause:

• Never made money under Wesfarmers. Catch lost more than AU$350M over roughly three-and-a-half years of ownership, including a AU$163M loss in FY23 and AU$96M in FY24, with a further AU$38–40M loss forecast for the December 2024 half. (See the ACS Information Age and Colitco write-ups, and Startup Daily’s “the one that got away”.)
• Overpaid, over-optimistic acquisition. Wesfarmers paid AU$230M at ~13x EBITDA on strong pre-acquisition fundamentals (SBO Financial’s teardown notes 27% gross margins and 3.5–6% EBITDA margins in FY19), but performance deteriorated sharply post-deal even during the COVID online boom.
• Crushed by competitive intensity. Managing Director Rob Scott cited “the recent increase in competitive intensity in the Australian e-commerce sector.” Ultra-cheap entrants Temu and Shein plus Amazon Australia and Kogan squeezed a general-discount marketplace that lacked a durable moat.
• No clear differentiation / sub-scale. As a horizontal bargain marketplace, Catch had little to distinguish it once cheaper, larger rivals arrived; fulfilment centres reportedly ran at under 50% capacity, hurting unit economics.
• Wesfarmers had better-positioned assets. The group concluded its “trusted brands” (Kmart, Bunnings) were better placed, opting to fold Catch’s fulfilment and digital capabilities into Kmart Group rather than keep funding losses.

Notable facts

• Founded 2006; sold 4,000 Toshiba laptops in four hours in 2008 — the deal that put it on the map.
• Acquired by Wesfarmers for AU$230M in June 2019 (analysts had valued the group above AU$1 billion earlier).
• Revenue fell from AU$510M (FY22) to AU$354M (FY23) to AU$227M (FY24).
• Cumulative losses under Wesfarmers exceeded AU$350M; one-off closure costs estimated at AU$50–60M.
• ~63% of GMV was third-party marketplace sales in its final years.
• Closure cut ~190 jobs (with ~100 e-commerce roles redeployed to Kmart, Target and Bunnings); fulfilment centres in NSW and Victoria transferred to Kmart Group.
• The Leibovich brothers went on to other ventures, including acquiring Click Frenzy out of administration.

Links

Title	URL	Type	Note
Catch wind down and OneDigital update (Wesfarmers)	https://www.wesfarmers.com.au/investor-centre/company-performance-news/catch-update	news	Official Wesfarmers announcement of the wind-down
Acquisition of Catch Group (Wesfarmers)	https://www.wesfarmers.com.au/who-we-are/our-history/acquisition-of-catch-group	official-site	Owner’s record of the June 2019 AU$230M acquisition
Catch.com.au to close down	https://ia.acs.org.au/article/2025/catch-com-au-to-close-down.html	article	ACS Information Age analysis of revenue collapse and competition
The one that got away: After paying $230 million for Catch, Wesfarmers is shutting it down	https://www.startupdaily.net/topic/business/230-million-catch-wesfarmers-is-shutting-it-down/	article	Startup Daily breakdown of losses and shutdown costs
Catch: A business timeline, in their words	https://www.smartcompany.com.au/retail/catch-business-timeline-gabby-hezi-leibovich-wesfarmers-sale-wind-up/	article	Full founding-to-wind-down timeline
Wesfarmers closes Australian online retailer Catch amid financial struggles	https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wesfarmers-closes-australian-online-retailer-092058640.html	news	Reuters/Yahoo report with closure cost figures
Why Is Catch Closing Down and Is It Causing Job Losses?	https://colitco.com/why-catch-is-closing-causing-job-losses/	article	Post-mortem covering reasons and 190 job losses
Catch of the Day: A financial teardown	https://sbo.financial/blog/financial-teardowns/catch-of-the-day/	article	Pre- and post-acquisition financial analysis
$1 billion in tech exits – what’s next for the Catch of the Day brothers?	https://www.forbes.com.au/news/leadership/how-the-leibovich-brothers-turned-catch-of-the-day-into-an-empire/	article	Forbes Australia profile of the Leibovich founders
Catch Company & Revenue 2015-2027 (ECDB)	https://ecdb.com/resources/sample-data/retailer/catch	report	Revenue/GMV data series for Catch