The Situation
When RockBottomGolf.com launched on eBay in 2002, it was one of the first retailers specializing in sporting goods and equipment, buying large quantities of close-out merchandise and passing the savings on to consumers. Finishing its first year with $3.2 million in sales, RockBottomGolf.com knew it would have to keep overhead low to continue to meet its goals. The company decided that leaning heavily on technology was its ace in the hole.
Before choosing Rithum Marketplaces, RockBottomGolf.com had no real solution for managing eBay sales. When they looked around at the available options, they were particularly impressed with Rithum’s industry expertise and how well Marketplaces integrated with RockBottomGolf.com’s back office shipping, accounting and reporting systems.
“Rithum had been growing at a pace similar to ours,” said Tom Rath, CEO at RockBottomGolf.com. “We were familiar with their philosophy and we liked their proven technology. We chose Rithum Marketplaces because we envisioned a partner that would grow with us, not just create a platform and say here it is and then walk away.”
The Solution
When RockBottomGolf.com launched its eBay strategy with Rithum Marketplaces, the company was immediately amazed at how streamlined its processes became and how much more could be accomplished in less time. The back-end operational efficiencies helped make all the difference.
“We like to call Rithum our hub,” said Rath. “The Rithum software provides us our available-to-promise inventory – whether we’re selling on Amazon.com, or eBay or other channels. It’s the central location where I plug in all my partner tools. Rithum is the hub of the wheel that houses all our product data.”
With its newfound competitive advantage, RockBottomGolf.com was soon on target to meet another one of its goals: $1 million in revenue per employee. “Rithum helps us do more with less,” said Rath. “Now we can do more sales, do more listings and post to more marketplaces with just one software platform instead of using four different software tools to get to the same end result,” Rath added.
The Results
With the help of Rithum’s Marketplaces software, RockBottomGolf.com was able to efficiently integrate Amazon as an additional marketplace last year, helping revenue grow more than 25 percent. With sales totalling $25.5 million and a head count of 30 employees, RockBottomGolf.com is close to reaching its goal of $1 million per employee.
According to Rath, Rithum’s return on investment lies in its far-reaching efficiencies. “We’re in a world today where you have to be very high-tech to make money,” said Rath. “In the close-out golf business, our margins aren’t great, so we have to depend on volume. If I didn’t use Marketplaces, I’d have to increase headcount and my revenues would definitely suffer.”
Recently named #326 on Internet Retailer’s Top 500 list, RockBottomGolf.com is confident that with the help of Rithum it will continue to successfully grow and reach its goals.
Due to the overwhelming success with Rithum Marketplaces, RockBottomGolf.com has since launched on Rithum Digital Marketing and Rich Media. Check back for future updates on RockBottomGolf.com’s success.
