Service Marketplace
A service marketplace is an online platform which initiates, facilitates, coordinates and concludes buying and selling of services between service seekers and service providers. Service marketplaces cater to specific niches. For instance, Freelancer, Guru, etc., are known for their professional writing and design services. Marketplaces such as Care.com cater deal in child and elderly care providers. Marketplaces such as Thumbtack, TaskRabbit deal in laborers and professional service workforce.
Why Do Businesses Use Service Marketplaces?
The popularity of on-demand service marketplaces such as Uber, Fiverr, Freelancer, Consultants 500, Urban Clap, TaskRabbit etc., is on the rise. Fiverr clocks more than 1 million transactions every month. By 2020, more than 43% of the workforce in the US will be freelancers or self-employed. This can, to a large extent, be attributed to the booming on-demand economy. More often than not, service marketplaces are used by businesses for two important reasons:
- Generate leads
- Outsource jobs to service providers
How to Create a Service Marketplace Platform?
There are different ways of creating a service marketplace platform and the most common ones are discussed here.
Method #1: Code from scratch
Do you have great expertise in web programming? Are you a coder? If the answers are not in the affirmative, you have to learn and master programming languages. It takes a lot of time, patient and efforts to code a service marketplace website from scratch. This approach is not recommended.
Method #2: Hire a team of programmers and pay them
At the very outset, I would like to tell you that this approach isn’t financially viable. You may have to spend more than $50.000 USD. And here’s the worst part – You will incur monthly hosting expenses. It takes at least 3 months to design, develop and configure a fully functional marketplace.
Is this suggested? No! However, the Consultants 500 platform was actually built in this way;-)
Method #3: Build it yourself by using a service marketplace script
This approach is strongly recommended. The basic functionality of any marketplace is to list services, effectively handle and manage communication among various stakeholders, facilitate bookings and transactions. Many existing service marketplace scripts already have great built-in functional features. You just need to make a few changes and customize it as per your discretion. Technical knowledge is required to some extent.
If you are equipped with moderate coding skills, you can build additional features. Or else, you can request service marketplace script providers to build additional features on the top of existing features.
Method #4: Pay service marketplace script providers to build it for you
This approach is slightly different from the previous one. Here, you pay service marketplace script providers to make changes to the script and customize it as per your requirements. This is also strongly recommended. As a matter of fact, this is the fastest way to launch your site.
The third and fourth approaches are cost-effective and ideal.
The Right Approach to Create Service Marketplace Platforms
To be upfront, there are no right or wrong approaches. You should take the following factors into consideration:
- Budget
- Technical skills
- Time to launch your service marketplace
If your budget is less than $5.000 USD, the third and fourth approaches are suggested. If you have great technical skills, you can go-ahead with the first method. If your budget is anywhere between $5.000 USD and $50.000 USD, you may opt for the second method. If you are looking for the fastest way to launch without compromising on quality, bet your chances on the fourth approach.
Features
Are you keen on building a marketplace like TaskRabbit? You can use popular TaskRabbit clones.
Here’s a list of features worth incorporating in your marketplace:
Basic Features
- Responsive design – Prospects should be able to access your marketplace site on laptops, smartphones, and tablets. Responsive design is all about making your platform device – agnostic.
- Geo-location based listing – Service seekers should be able to find service providers based on their geo-location and vice-versa.
- Google Maps integration – This is necessary to locate the precise location of service providers and service seekers.
- Payment processors – Multiple payment processors including credit cards, debit cards and wallets should be incorporated for processing payments seamlessly.
- Google Analytics integration – This is required to monitor the internet traffic.
- Bootstrap design – This is essential for quicker and easier front-end web development.
- Dispute manager – This handles and resolves disputes between service seekers and service providers.
- FAQ manager – This is a knowledge pool. Users can acquaint themselves with all the features, policies, rules, Dos and Don’ts, best practices, etc.
- Email messaging system – This is essential to enable hassle-free and professional communication between service providers and service seekers.
- E-mail templates – Instead of composing lengthy emails, marketplace administrators can use e-mail templates to their advantage.
- Social sharing – Social sharing features are required to get high-quality social traffic and create positive brand reputation on social networks.
- Multi-Currency support – This is required to facilitate transactions in local currencies.
Advanced Features
- Robust search – This feature should help your prospects search the marketplace based on keyword, price, category, reviews, and rating.
- Private chat system – This is required to facilitate easy and quick one-to-one chat between the tasker and client.
- Multi-language support – An integrated language translator is required to facilitate cross border commerce or international commerce.
- Dashboard – A dashboard should ideally enable administrators and clients to post unlimited jobs. Category and sub-category management should be effortlessly easy. It should also have provisions such as newsletter subscriptions, versatile user and content management etc.
Modus Operandi of TaskRabbit Clone
As an example, here is how a TaskRabbit clone works:
Step #1
The client selects his / her choice of service from the list of available services
Step #2
The client articulates his / her task requirements. He / She has to mention expectations and task specifications
Step #3
The service marketplace displays/lists the profiles of available taskers. The client can choose one or more taskers.
Step #4
The tasker arrives at the client’s location. He / She will finish the service. The client can negotiate with the tasker either through email or private chat system. In case of any disputes, the client files a complaint by using the Dispute Manager module.
Step #5
Upon the completion of the job, the client pays the tasker by using credit cards, payment gateways, etc.
Step #6
If the client is satisfied with the quality, he/she writes a review.
Found this post useful and informative? Let me know your thoughts or if you have any queries, shoot them to me via one of my social media channels. I shall reply in a day or two. I can help you build a service marketplace website. Keep watching this space for insights on service marketplace scripts. Cheers!
Author Bio
I am a professional blogger, guest writer, Influencer & an eCommerce expert. Currently associated with ShopyGen as a content marketing strategist. I also report on the latest happenings and trends associated with the eCommerce industry.
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