The challenge
Selling online has allowed MyCustomCar to accelerate its sales and improve the customer experience in ways brick and mortar never could. Instead of coming into the store, placing an order and waiting to pick it up later, customers can order their custom car seats and floor mats from the comfort of their own home through the MyCustomCar website. As online sales began to take off in 2018, MyCustomCar started selling on eBay. Selling through third-party (3P) commerce allows the brand to reach a growing audience of online automotive shoppers. Yet, with 250,000 possible SKUs available between vehicle type, seat shape and fabric options, manually managing its 4,000 eBay listings became a challenge. Scaling to other marketplaces would require replicating this complex setup.
MyCustomCar also struggled with stock synchronisation, resulting in inaccurate product availability. They needed an integration that could seamlessly synchronise stock between a marketplace and its ERP to prevent overselling and improve the customer experience.
Addressing the challenge
MyCustomCar partnered with Rithum for an integrated marketplace solution that could quickly and efficiently grow the company’s presence on other 3P commerce platforms.
“Rithum came well recommended for its out-of-the-box solution that could launch us on other marketplaces quicker.”
Peter Sperling, Owner and Director.
Today, the company has grown its marketplace presence beyond eBay to Bunnings, Catch, Kogan, Amazon, and Trade Me. Using Rithum to easily integrate with more channels has helped MyCustomCar grow its business on marketplaces 40% year over year and increase top line revenue.
Now, MyCustomCar can easily monitor its performance on each marketplace. In just five months since launching on Bunnings, MyCustomCar’s sales on the platform match its performance on Amazon.
“We’ve achieved tremendous GMV growth on Australian marketplaces,” said Sperling. “Bunnings has surprised us by growing in just a few months to the same size as our Amazon presence, where we have been for over two years.”
Rithum’s Managed Services for Marketplaces has also helped accelerate MyCustomCar’s marketplace sales and improved its selling strategy over time. As an extension of the team, Managed Services fine-tunes MyCustomCar’s feeds to ensure its product content is always accurate, up-to-date and primed to act fast on new opportunities.
“The team is very professional, responsive and helpful,” said Chrissie Chan, E-Commerce Manager. “Responsiveness is very important to us because sometimes we have urgent needs.”
The results
With Rithum, MyCustomCar has grown from selling on one marketplace to six. The company has grown its 3P commerce business 40% year over year and increased top line revenue 125% in three years.
Marketplaces play a significant role in the company’s growth, allowing it to sell where more customers are looking. One-third of MyCustomCar’s sales revenue are from third-party (3P) commerce and two-thirds of revenue are from MyCustomCar’s direct-to-consumer website.
“If we weren’t working with Rithum, managing our own marketplaces would be painful at an escalating rate. Updating listings in six different places would be a headache.”
Chrissie Chan, E-Commerce Manager
Going forward, MyCustomCar hopes to increase its presence in New Zealand through its newly launched website. It is also exploring new selling channels in Australia through the fleet market.
About the company
MyCustomCar, owned by Sperling Enterprises, is an Australian family business specialising in custom car seat covers since 1971. The company sells over half a million pairs of seat covers nationally through stores like Super Cheap Auto, Repco, Autobarn, and Big W, along with more than 1,000 outlets across Australia.
