Wesfarmers has welcomed improving digital performance, with its OnePass membership program growing and losses from its troubled Catch operating shrinking.
Wesfarmers’ OneDigital operation – home to its OnePass digital membership business – contributed strongly across the company’s retail businesses, according to managing director Rob Scott.
Scott told the company’s half-year results briefing that OnePass had undergone “significant enhancements” in back half of last year, and that was delivering results.
“OnePass members are higher-frequency, higher-value customers compared to non-members,” he said.
That was backed by OneDigital’s managing director, Nicole Sheffield, who said “OnePass members’ total spend is two-and-a-half times non-members.”
OnePass was also contributing to better Catch.com.au performance, Scott said, because “customers that join OnePass increase their spend on Catch.”
CFO Anthony Gianotti said OnePass’s performance justified the continued investment in it, “with a net investment of $39 million in the half.”
In its results presentation [pdf], Wesfarmers said it had more than 2.2 million digital transactions in the half year, with total digital revenue of more than $1.6 billion.
During the half year, OfficeWorks and InstantScripts were added as OnePass partners, with the Priceline brand expected to join during the current half year.
While the OneDigital group itself recorded a loss (excluding Catch) of $70 million, Wesfarmers said “the benefits from investment in OneDigital are embedded in divisional results” – those of its retail brands.
The $37 million loss attributed to Catch in the half was down from $48 million in the corresponding period in 2022.
Gianotti told the company’s earnings call that Catch restructuring started in August 2023 would “continue to reduce operating losses into the second half.”
The focus of that restructure, Gianotti said, has been to exit unprofitable profit lines and improve Catch’s fulfillment efficiency (which has also allowed the operation to exit warehouse space it no longer needs).
In August 2023, Wesfarmers said much of its OneDigital investment focused on AI and analytics.
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