The original Click Frenzy, launched in 2012, was built on scarcity and urgency around singular sales events. But Gabby Leibovich – the man who snapped up Click Frenzy alongside his brother Hezi, after the etailer collapsed into administration earlier this year – says times have changed.
“Customers today don’t want to wait two months for a shopping event to find a good deal,” Gabby Leibovich tells Ragtrader.
“The way Australians shop has changed dramatically since 2012. Value discovery is now a daily behaviour.”
This offers a glimpse into the new model that Gabby and Hezi are planning, which shifts towards ongoing and more regular deals. This might be seen as a major shift for the 1.5 million members who were part of Click Frenzy when it collapsed, but the man who co-founded Catch.com.au in 2006 and sold it to Wesfarmers for $230 million in 2019 thinks the opposite.
“The original Click Frenzy proved Australians love the excitement of event-driven shopping, and we will absolutely keep that DNA alive through major monthly and seasonal events,” Gabby says. “But between those spikes, we want the platform to remain useful every single day.
“Our goal is not to replace the excitement. It’s to extend the relationship with the customer beyond a few dates on the calendar.
“The opportunity is to combine the best of both worlds: always-on discovery with event-level excitement layered on top.”
The other key reason why he thinks the new model will work commercially is the advantage of technology that wasn’t available 10 years ago. Click Frenzy will be run as a lean and entrepreneurial model.
Gabby says that, at least in the early stages, he expects to hire a relatively small core team focused on technology, partnerships, content and customer engagement.
“We have already started conversations with several experienced people across e-commerce," Gabby says, "but right now the focus is on building the right foundations first rather than announcing big executive structures.
“We’ve always believed in moving quickly, testing fast and staying close to the customer rather than building large corporate structures early.
“At Catch in the early days, we learned that speed and execution mattered more than headcount."
Of course, while improvements in technology have allowed businesses to run more efficiently today, Gabby knows the market itself has flipped dramatically, too. Amazon and global platforms like Shein and Temu have trained Australian consumers to expect deals every day. They have also made the consumer more needy of convenience and speed.
But Gabby says those global platforms have also created an opportunity for trusted local platforms that understand Australian shoppers and Australian retailers.
He and Hezi’s view is that urgency today is less about countdown timers and more about surfacing genuinely great value, limited opportunities and smart discovery.
“Customers are overwhelmed with choice,” Gabby says. “The challenge now is helping people find the signal amongst the noise.
“We believe there’s still strong demand for curated deals from reputable brands, particularly when supported by local service, faster delivery and trusted retail partners.
“Loyalty comes from consistency. If customers know that every day they can discover something genuinely worthwhile, they keep coming back.”
What’s next?
Up until Click Frenzy's collapse, the brand was reportedly generating around $7 million in revenue annually. While making a profit is obviously a future goal, Gabby says the focus is less on short-term revenue targets and more on building trust, engagement and retailer participation.
But there’s also a personal excitement. Gabby describes this move as being back in the game, but the truth is he and Hezi have stayed very active in technology, investing and digital businesses over the years. This includes co-founding Fingertip, a Linktree company, and being a shareholder in Luxury Escapes – an online travel agency.
But to Gabby, building and operating consumer businesses is something he and his brother genuinely love.
“There’s a unique energy in launching products, solving problems quickly and creating something customers engage with every day,” he says.
“When the Click Frenzy opportunity came up, it immediately felt familiar to us. We understood the space, the customer behaviour and the potential evolution of the model very quickly.
“So in many ways, the opportunity found us — but we also probably missed the excitement of building a fast-moving consumer business from the ground up again.”
Click Frenzy is expected to relaunch either later this month or in early June.