Response to Tradesy's Interview Questions

This is a preliminary response for interview discussions. Due to limited resources and research, some recommendations are based on estimates and assumptions.

Yang Zhao | May 3, 2022
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Q1: How would you tackle synchronizing the material attribute across VC and Tradesy platforms?

First, I would like to propose main goals and priorities my recommendations center around in executing this task.

Goals

Minimize disruption & missed crosslistings Tradesy Sellers Minimize disruption & ensure seamless internaltional checkouts VC & Tradesy Buyers Maximize crosslistings and sales VC & Tradesy

Priorities

Low Priority High Priority High value Low value Low sell-through High sell-through Top Priority

Recommendations

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.

Step 1: Auto Scripting Step 2: CRM & Merch Step 3: Prepare for Bulk Material Update All Tradesy Listings Have Materials Have Multiple Materials Have A Single Material Do Not Have Materials Materials Updated by Sellers Materials Not Updated Materials Updated by Merch Ready for Bulk Update Shipping Logic Update Merch Spot Check Back Burner Sync to VC Auto-scripting to extract materials. Based on auto-scripting results, CRM reach out to sellers to update materials. Merch clean up existing materials and manually* update priority listings. (*compose CSV files to pass onto dev team) Legal/ops update shipping logic. Merch spot check high sensitivity listings.

Q2: Trends & Opportunities in Supply & Demand

Overview

10% of Brands of GMV 95% 1 2 3 Supply opportunities in high-end watches, jewelries, discreet luxury, and streetwear Sales seems to overly concentrate on top 10% of brands suggesting Lo-Q stale inventory, and pricing opportunities Unique “Americana” buyer profile that is in favor of American designers such as Tory Burch, Coach and Michael Kors

Scatter Plots on Supply & Demand

Three additional metrics are created to faciliate further observations.

  • Purchases over Listings: Total purchases divided by total listings. A greater number suggests higher demand or lower supply.
  • GMV Pct Total: Brand level GMV divided by total GMV.
  • Listing Pct Total: Brand level active listings divided by total active listings.

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.