This is a preliminary response for interview discussions. Due to limited resources and research, some recommendations are based on estimates and assumptions.
First, I would like to propose main goals and priorities my recommendations center around in executing this task.
To start, in Step 1, a script is written to automatically extract material types in item listing's "title" and "description" fields to return a list of materials.
The following flow chart illustrates corresponding item state in each step of the synchronization.
Three additional metrics are created to faciliate further observations.
Brands in the highlighted purple region have a relatively high Purchase over Listings ratio. More supply is desired.
Brands in the highlighted orange region have a low Purchase over Listings ratio but lots of active listings. Might worth revisiting brand approval or pricing.