Catch Group to establish bricks-and-mortar presence in Melbourne

Just over a month on from announcing the launch of Bon Voyage, a platform allowing travellers to find and book luxury travel experience, Catch Group has announced that it will be expanding its Catch (no longer ‘of the day’) offering offline, with the introduction of a bricks-and-mortar store.

The company is planning to develop its first retail store in Melbourne by the end of the year, and is currently looking in the market for a 1500-2000 square metre commercial property that is approved to sell mixed merchandise to hold it.

Nati Harpaz, Catch Group’s CEO, said the store will carry roughly 3000 to 4000 products found on Catch, across a range of products including fashion apparel, electronics, toys, homewares, and beauty.

“We believe the Catch retail store will have a better offer than other mixed and specialist retailers both from a merchandising and pricing perspective,” he said.

Pricing for the product offering will follow suit from the Catch platform, offering store customers deals similar to what they would find online.

The Catch store will also hold popular items from childrenswear apparel brand Pumpkin Patch, which Catch Group acquired in March this year as part of the company’s shift into the New Zealand market.

The company had stated at the time of the acquisition it was exploring experimenting with pop ups for Pumpkin Patch.

Harpaz said the introduction of an offline offering is a “natural extension” for the brand, which will allow the company to tap into a previously untouched pool of customers who do most of their shopping the traditional way, in store.

“Online retail still represents a small percentage of overall retail sales. Having a physical space is still the best way to acquire new customers and then, over time, migrate them to our online stores,” he explained.

“In our view, there is no online or offline, it’s just one retail, and as such, it’s important to be where our customers are and provide them with the choice to shop where and when they want. Whether that is online, on a mobile device via our apps, or in store.”

Branching out the Catch platform offline is the latest move from the company this year to broaden its offering, ahead of Amazon’s pending launch in Australia.

June saw Catch Group relaunch its flagship ‘Catch of the Day’ branding under the name ‘Catch’, alongside introducing 300 new sellers on the platform.

Looking to the travel space, the month also saw Catch Group launch Bon Voyage in partnership with former Miss Universe and Myer brand ambassador Jennifer Hawkins, signing on luxury brands to give members access to curated holiday packages across destinations such as Bali, Fiji and Thailand.

With the introduction of the bricks-and-mortar, stores, Catch Group will also be introducing a set of new delivery options tied to the Catch platform, including click and collect and a shop in store choice with home delivery.

Image: Gabby Leibovich and Nati Harpaz of Catch Group. Source: Supplied.