Twenty-six years ago, OnlineMetals.com started out of Seattle garage as a niche seller of raw materials like steel, brass and copper.
It has built its reputation over the years as a supplier to both small artisans and large manufacturers. It has grown into a distributor of over 60,000 products among raw materials including steel brass, copper, nickel, titanium and zinc in various shapes and sizes, including custom cut-to-size.
Gregory Raece, president, OnlineMetals.com
Last year, it expanded its online capabilities and presence by deploying a new B2B ecommerce platform integrated with its own metals-and-plastics catalog marketplace, where raw materials manufacturers can sell their products.
The new marketplace “allows us to quickly onboard new sellers who want to reach the millions of metal buyers Online Metals reaches,” says Gregory Raece, president.
Online Metals runs its ecommerce platform on SAP Commerce Cloud with an SAP-licensed version of the Mirakl marketplace technology platform.
Online Metals says its new digital infrastructure has enabled its ecommerce team to “sell products that have been traditionally non-transparent with pricing and also difficult to order in small quantities.”
As a result, Online Metals adds that it “can now support a growing number of micro-manufacturers throughout the U.S.,” such as TCI Precision Metals, that rely on a “just-in-time, small-quantity metal supplier.”
While Online Metals specializes in raw materials, it also supplies several other products used in the manufacturing, fabrication, and manufacturing process. “Sellers can sell anything from prefinished parts, machine shop supplies, safety equipment, polishing supplies and more,” Online Metals says.
Online Metals charges third-party sellers a referral fee for each sale transaction on its marketplace but does not charge upfront fees or require long-term commitments. It uses revenue from referral fees to pay for digital marketing initiatives such as email campaigns, on-site promotions, search and shopping ads, plus with credit card and bank fees.
In 2007, OnlineMetals was acquired by ThyssenKrupp AG, a German industrial engineering and steel production multinational conglomerate. ThyssenKrupp resulted from the 1999 merger of Thyssen AG and Krupp; its Germany-based operational headquarters are in Duisburg and Essen.
Paul Demery is a Digital Commerce 360 contributing editor covering B2B digital commerce technology and strategy. paul@digitalcommerce360.com.
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