Bart or Lisa? Amazon or Catch? Which child will Australia love more?

So Wesfarmers has managed to pick Catch up for a sweet $230 mil, the regulator has approved it, and now the deal has been signed. Nice price.

I love this acquisition for Wesfarmers. Amazon’s sweet spot for making money is a $30+ price sell price with an easy pick-dispatch and low shipping cost. Say, a couple of computer cables, or a print cartridge. Just what Wesfarmers owned Officeworks happen to sell.

In 1994, Kmart US had 2,323 stores; today they have just 202. To be fair, Walmart had a fair crack at Kmart in the early days, before Amazon came in to deliver the final blow. It’s taken even Walmart several years of stalled growth to figure out how to compete vs. Amazon. But as Amazon is gathering steam in the Australian market (and they are, underestimate them at your peril), this acquisition is a fast start for Wesfarmers to be fast-tracking their capabilities to become a strong player in the online space.

What will be interesting to watch, is to see how Wesfarmers bring these businesses together and provide a compelling option for Australians to choose vs. Amazon. So, I’m thinking seamless bricks & mortar integration? Product curation? Data led insight generation? (and data sharing with suppliers even? There’s a radical idea!) moreover, just a bucket load of penetration growing investment.   

One thing for sure, with two active players driving online, the Australian ecomm space is going to start heating up!

To quote Homer Simpson… ‘ fight, fight, fight, fight, fight, fight….’ #Amazon #catch #ecommerce #wesfarmers