Phones, Accessories and Video Games

While studying robotics at college, Josh started a hobby “business” fixing broken cell phone screens for his friends for $100 each. With help from his dad who is an accountant, after college, he built an online business and has since become the top 3 Android phone and accessories store on eBay. He has also successfully diversified into video consoles and games under another eBay store. Josh is social media savvy and he is a technocrat.

With a fully integrated eCommerce software, his sells on eBay, Amazon, as well as his own web site. Josh uses a 3PL (3rd party logistics) provider and is a very high volume seller.

To be the market leader, Josh buys the latest versions of Android cell phones and game consoles in bulk at steep discounts to get to the lowest cost of goods. Since new releases of electronic devices come out every 12-18 months, Josh must sell his current stock in a narrow window of a 6-12 months for cash flow reasons and to avoid being caught with obsolete stock.

Competition can come from anywhere and price matching is a daily routine for Josh’s staff. Cell phone prices are dictated by market reality and dynamics. Josh has to constantly monitor and revise the prices of his latest models to keep up with street prices. From time to time, he has to strategically sell below his costs to offload his inventory. Josh specifies all software must be able to manage multiple eBay stores and automates as much as possible, as Josh’s business is entirely driven by software.

Josh needed a solution that will find his competitors’ listings based on the product identifiers such as Brand, MPN, UPC, EAN, and would be excellent if it did this within a set price range.

Josh also needed a solution that can handle different pricing strategies for different groups of products, according to their profit margins and sensitivity to time-on-shelf.

Josh looked to StreetPricer for his automation needs, handling his multiple stores, finding and tracking his competitors and the ability to use multiple repricing rules to price aggressively, reducing his exposure of the inventory he holds in bulk, especially when a next model release is imminent or when the specs are getting outdate. He balances his cash flow versus margins by revising his Floor Prices frequently during stock run-out campaigns.