Startupbootcamp
Sidedoor
Client
Sidedoor
Platforms
Web
Innovify transforms Sidedoor into the uber of x in property survey
Challenge
It’s not easy to build a sustainable two-sided marketplace. This adequately sums up the primary challenge that went behind building Sidedoor. There is no dearth of websites and online platforms that offer long lists of available residential as well commercial properties. In the absence of a meaningful differentiation and value proposition, most portals in this space appear clones, devoid of uniqueness and focused on acquiring only one set of customers. However, it was this vacuum, which facilitated the opportunity to create a niche that would transform the digital experience of property buyers and property surveyors. To summarize, the key objective was to envisage a two-sided portal that succeeds in creating a thriving network of two distinct set of customers – with one set (individual property buyers & commercial property buyers) wanting to join to consume the value and another group wanting to join to provide the value. Another requirement was to ensure smooth scalability and the ability to enable incremental growth by being able to launch additional offerings on the marketplace.
Key Objectives
- Growing offline model into the Uber of X online marketplace
- Two-side marketplace for property buyers & surveyors
- Bespoke skeleton with Magento at the backend
- Easy-to-use yet enjoyable UX, mapped to target customer personas
- Deepen customers understanding using rapid prototyping and in-depth research
- Modular components for better suability and minimal navigation
- Synchronised dogfooding and Alpha testing
- Robotics process automation
Solution
Managed MVP – customer-centric design thinking & approach
Creating unique difference in a marketplace which is inundated with commodity offerings requires taking care of “experience gaps”. This necessitates an approach that explores the big picture not from outside, but from inside the customer’s psyche. By embracing this principle, Innovify helped capture the value as the customer sees it in the MVP. From envisaging an ideal anatomy to devising its UX, the team managed to build an ecosystem that went beyond an ordinary marketplace with plain “listings”. By enabling the opportunity to exchange desired value to customers at both ends, the project could emerge into a meaningful two-sided marketplace. Applying “double-sided” marquee strategy helped arrest the interest of both those who wanted help in buying or acquiring properties and also those who wanted to offer their expertise to willing customers.
Technology used
Results
The ultimate goal behind Sidedoor was to achieve a multi-pronged outcome, which succeeds in shaping the Uber of X two-sided marketplace – a platform for added value, innovation, greater awareness and growth (scalability). By going beyond its original mandate, team Innovify left no stone unturned in ensuring desired outcome and also enabled the client to establish a sound GTM strategy to establish the business model and gain some early traction. The proof of success lies in it being able to offer measurable value. To this end, the marketplace was launched well within the allocated budget and was able to seize the interest of a sizable number of users/merchant right within three months of the launch. Getting rave reviews on Reviews.co.uk was the icing on the cake.
