The owner of Kmart and Bunnings has added online giant Catch to their portfolio with a $230 million acquisition.
Wesfarmers Group on Wednesday announced that they struck the deal to buy the well-known Australian site.
The conglomerate, who owns a number of Australian retailers including Officeworks, said the move was aimed at enhancing the group’s digital footprint and consistent with its investment in building its data and digital capabilities.
Wesfarmers Managing Director Rob Scott said Catch has built a successful and fast-growing marketplace underpinned by technology with “quality fulfilment assets.”
“This acquisition represents an opportunity to accelerate Wesfarmers and Kmart Group’s digital and e-commerce capabilities whilst continuing to invest in the unique customer and supplier proposition provided by Catch Group,” he said.
Wesfarmers described Catch as a “cash-generative” and “profitable” business.
“Catch Group has a high calibre management team and a leading e-commerce platform with quality fulfilment assets,” Kmart Group Managing Director Ian Bailey said.
“This will further drive best practice in supply chain, fulfilment and online execution across our brands, including opportunities for Target to secure online fulfilment capacity and productivity benefits. Catch
will also benefit from the support of Kmart Group’s scale and capabilities to drive its continued growth in its existing marketplace business,” he said.
The acquisition will see the group “accelerate” a number of customer-driven, omni-channel initiatives across Kmart and Target,
Mr Bailey said.