Steel manufacturer and outdoor living retailer Stratco grows to three marketplaces with the same team

• Stratco launches on three marketplaces without new hires
• Added ~100 preset length options to support cut-to-length items on eBay 
• Used state-tagged SKUs to avoid duplicate listings and localize offers 
• Enabled Buy Online Pickup in Store (BOPIS) on eBay to remove delivery fees

Stratco Australia manufactures and sells a wide range of patios, sheds, roofing, fencing, and related outdoor living products. Many of their products are custom made and cut; instead of choosing from limited “small/medium/large” sizing, buyers can specify their exact length. Stratco then rolls and cuts the steel to that size before fulfillment. If you visit a Stratco product page, you will find corrugated roof sheets listed in dozens of profile and size options with pricing “per linear meter,” “rolled to the specific length you require.” 
 
Stratco gives their customers flexibility that they can’t get anywhere else. And as shoppers started buying outdoor living products on eBay, Stratco realized they need to extend that flexibility to marketplaces. So, they partnered with Rithum to launch on eBay and lay the groundwork for additional marketplaces to meet consumers where they shop.

We took a long-term view by partnering with Rithum, ensuring that we were in a good position to quickly and easily list on other marketplaces in the future.

– Rob Fischer, Digital Marketing Manager at Stratco.  

The challenge 

Most marketplaces don’t let a shopper type any length they want. That is a problem when your catalog includes roofing sheets and gutters that customers buy in exact measurements.  

Length selection must be compliant with marketplace rules. “To sell on eBay, you can’t enter a free-form length. With Rithum we were able to create it in five-centimeter increments from one to six meters,” said Rob.  

The Rithum solution: Publish one product feed and adapt it per marketplace.   

Stratco runs one product feed with the details that matter: what is sold, where it is available, and how it ships. Rithum adapts that feed to each marketplace and helps run the daily operations with Stratco.  

We provide one product feed with pricing and inventory by state, and Rithum takes that feed, optimizes it, and adapts it for each marketplace. It would be extremely inefficient for us to try and figure that out without Rithum. – Rob Fischer, Stratco

Rules and automation do the heavy lifting, keeping the buyer experience consistent across marketplaces. Where a marketplace does not support state-based pricing and product ranges, Rithum developed an automated control: listings turn off when any state is out of stock and turn back on when all states have stock.  

“Rithum set up a dynamic product feed that when a product is out of stock in one location, it comes off the marketplace, and when it is back in stock in every location, it goes back on,” Rob said. 

eBay’s Buy Online Pickup In Store (BOPIS) feature removes the high delivery fees of shipping large and heavy items in Australia. Stratco partnered with Rithum to develop an automated eBay feed that uses state-level inventory and pricing, so Queensland shoppers see Queensland stock and Victorian shoppers see Victoria’s product range on eBay.  

Merchandising stays hands on. Stratco uses Rithum to track items with high views but low sales and adjusts price, copy, or promotion by channel. “We definitely look at it product by product and channel by channel to identify opportunities,” Rob says. 

Scaling without adding costs 

Stratco expanded to three marketplaces without adding staff. “We’ve gone from no marketplaces to three without growing the team,” Rob says. The setup also gives Stratco options. “If we wanted to start selling on Amazon tomorrow, it’s all there, ready to go, and Rithum can switch it on for us.” 

Inside the business, online sales now carry more weight. “Seven years ago, ecommerce was a small slice of revenue. Today, when ecommerce and marketplace sales are viewed together, our online sales are as important to our business as any physical retail store,” Rob said.