Former Amazon executive Pete Sauerborn is bringing his knowledge down under.
The Kmart Group has announced his appointment as the new MD of Catch (catch.com.au).
Sauerborn, 53, has resided in Seattle, Washington – home of Amazon’s worldwide headquarters – for the past decade and has lived most of his working life on the United States’ west coast.
He said he was looking forward to the opportunity to help grow Catch to the next level and introduce new e-commerce solutions specifically for Australia.
“The Catch team has built an impressive e-commerce business to serve Australian consumers.
The opportunity to help scale the business to the next level by leveraging the Kmart Group’s physical store infrastructure and great brands is very exciting."
Sauerborn noted similarities between the underlying needs and motivations of customers in countries in North America, Europe and Asia, but that differences in Australia in online adoption, transportation networks, regulations, and taxation create different dynamics.
“Australia is a bit earlier in its adoption of e-commerce when measured as a percentage of total retail sales, and there are different dynamics because of its relatively smaller population and remote geography, which has implications for supply chain, inventory and transportation.”
Sauerborn has spent the past two decades working within technology and retail businesses in the United States, including iconic brands like Amazon and Teleflora, where he consistently increased sales and profit margins,
Most recently, he was Amazon VP of selling partner recruitment and development.
In that role, he led a team of over 4000 full-time team members in 16 countries across product management, software development, sales, marketing and operations.
Prior to that he served as director and GM of worldwide marketplace.
There he led the product management and business teams developing software tools and programs used by Amazon marketplace sellers, which collectively represent over 58% of Amazon’s consumer business.
Catch is a primary online consumer products business platform and is part of the Kmart Group, which also comprises the national network of Kmart and Target retail stores.
It was acquired by Wesfarmers Limited in August 2019, and has since operated as an independent business unit under the oversight of Kmart Group MD Ian Bailey.
Bailey welcomed his appointment to Catch.
“We are really thrilled to have someone as experienced and qualified in ecommerce and online shopping as Pete Sauerborn to lead Catch through its next exciting phase of growth.
“Since Catch joined us last year the business has outperformed our initial expectations, demonstrating the increasing confidence Australian consumers have in online shopping and their appetite for the phenomenal deals the Catch team are able to curate for their customers.”
Bailey said that under Sauerborn’s leadership, Catch would seek to significantly improve and expand its customer offer and become a leader in online retailing.
“By increasing our investment in the business, and by continuing to build Catch into a trusted marketplace for online shoppers, we have every reason to believe that Catch will go from strength to strength”.
Sauerborn will join the team on Monday May 11. He will be based at the Catch head office in Bentleigh, Victoria.