Australian marketplace Catch has reported a loss of $41 million for the first half of FY24, with $4 million of that going towards restructuring efforts including in-stock range reductions and labour costs.
This follows a $48 million loss in the second half of FY23, and $75 million prior to that, with full-year FY23 restructuring costs hitting $40 million, which related to inventory provisions, team member redundancies and asset write-offs.
Catch has continued to exit unprofitable lines in its in-stock range, reducing it to approximately 28,000 items. The reduced in-stock range will be supported by Catch’s broader marketplace offer of approximately 11 million additional products from third-party sellers.
The company has also made a significant reduction in labour costs per unit, noting improvements to customer service levels and faster average time to delivery.
According to its parent company Wesfarmers, the range and fulfilment improvements have enabled a significant increase in average contribution per order, which more than doubled relative to the prior corresponding period.
Indirect costs continued to reduce during the half, with lower employee and marketing costs as a result of restructuring activities, as well as cost benefits from the exit of surplus warehouse capacity during the period.
Catch is expected to remain loss-making in the 2024 financial year but with losses in the second half continuing to reduce relative to the first half.
Wesfarmers added the marketplace will continue to focus its in-stock range towards in demand categories, as well as improving fulfilment and transport efficiencies and leveraging Wesfarmer’s OnePass loyalty program to improve customer experience.
Catch is also developing new revenue streams through its multimillion-dollar investment in ‘Fulfilled by Catch’ - a program aimed to utilise technology to drive faster delivery - and is also expected to launch a media advertising platform, with trials with marketplace sellers planned for the second half of the 2024 financial year.