The Catch Opportunity – Selling in Australia

Catch is an Australian marketplace that first opened as a retailer over a decade ago. The site was first launched by two brothers in 2006 as a discount site – Catch of the Day. 

In 2017, the marketplace was opened to third party sellers to expand the product range. This move grew the site’s revenue by 45% and customer base by 55%. 

When acquired by Wesfarmers in 2019, the site sold for $230 million AUD. Wesfarmers have shared big plans for Catch, including a 5 year target to reach 10x current revenue through a sizeable marketing spend.

THE AUSTRALIAN MARKET

The Australian market is just over 1/10 of UK ecommerce – $27 billion is expected to be transacted in the Australian online retail market in 2020. Ecommerce is around 10% of sales in the country and average growth is over 20% YoY. 

Some of the fastest growing verticals include:

• Fashion – 20.4% YoY
• Homeware – 22.2% YoY
• Health & Beauty – 29.4% YoY

Australian marketplaces offer a huge opportunity for international sellers as 30% of all sales are through marketplaces and Aussies show a strong desire for international, branded products.

CATCH STATISTICS

We’ve pulled together a couple of key figures to give an overview of Catch’s key categories and buyers:

• 1.9 million active customers
• 63% of customers are female
• Average customer age is 37
• Home & Furniture are the biggest categories but fashion is growing
• Average cart size is 4.3 items

THE CATCH OPPORTUNITY

The Australian market offers an incomparable opportunity for US, UK and EU sellers – 20% of the country’s sales are cross border and the customers are English speaking, with a high propensity to buy international brands. Additionally, the reverse seasons provide the perfect market to clear off season stock (the wedding season is in November).

Catch provides a fairly low cost entry point to the market – subscription is $49.99 a month and the first two months are free. Commission is similar to most marketplaces at 8-20% (15% for fashion). The site is optimised for mobile 70% of orders are through mobile/app so market penetration is sizeable. You can also integrate with Catch via both ChannelAdvisor and Linnworks so if you’re already a multichannel seller the barriers to entry are fairly low.

There are of course a few considerations to take into account when selling to an international market:

• Returns – Catch has a very low returns rate of 2% but this still needs to be considered
• GST (Goods and Sales Tax) – Catch adds 10% and submits to the Government
• Shipping – Catch recommends setting shipping at $7-8 an incorporating the remainder into your costs

GETTING STARTED ON CATCH

Catch operates with one seller per SKU so you won’t be competing with other sellers to such an extent. To apply to sell you must have proof of online selling experience, permission to sell the brands in your range and product data in a CSV flat file.

Once you’re approved to sell on Catch, this is generally best practice for sellers:

• Titles – Brand + Product + Gender + Colour + Synonyms
• Include as many relevant attributes/keywords as possible as 70% of traffic is via search
• Images should have plain white backgrounds, with one front image and one back
• Categories are growing and can often be added on request
• All customer service should be responded to within 2 business days

CATCH MARKETING OPPORTUNITIES

Catch sends email campaigns twice daily that both include 8 banners/deals as well as category specific ad placements on site. Packages range from £2-6k for a combination of the two. However, there are also criteria for free slots:

• Brands/ranges that are selling well
• A new brand
• 10-15% extra off

Propose two weeks ahead of your desired date and you may be able to gain some free marketing!

Interested in selling on Catch or exploring the Australian market more? Get in touch today with sales@richinsight.co.uk and we’d be happy to have a no obligations chat about the opportunity for your business.