A marketplace where customers post jobs to have goods moved, and transport providers bid for those jobs.
Our client is a transport company that handles a wide range of transport jobs. It brings together a network of operators across Australia, providing a single point of contact between customers and transport providers.
Customers publish their jobs in this online marketplace, and registered transport providers bid for those jobs. The marketplace is also integrated with popular online auction sites, making it easy for the winning bidder to arrange to have their goods transported.
When a new customer uses the marketplace for the first time, they post their first job before we take them through the registration process. By taking care of the customer's immediate need first, the marketplace maximises every customer acquisition opportunity. This in turn increases the value received from the marketplace by the transport providers. Everyone's a winner.
Before bidding on a job, transport providers can ask questions in the Q&A forum. The questions and answers are public, which means that all providers have access to the same information and thus can compete fairly. All bids, however, are private — visible only to the customer. This makes it impossible for providers to undercut each other tactically.
To keep things moving along quickly, when a job is posted the marketplace notifies compatible transport providers by SMS and email. And again as questions and answers are posted in the Q&A forum, and finally when the customer awards the job to the winning bidder.
At this point the marketplace brokers the commercial arrangement between the customer and the transport provider, and collects a percentage of the value of the job by credit card. The system ensures that our client receives their payment before the job can proceed, enhancing the commercial stability of the marketplace.