#SchbangNodePad Ep. 1 - What goes into building a Marketplace?

What I love about working at Schbang is that we don’t consider ourselves simply “creatives.” 

We know that technology is now a huge part of the most impactful ROI-driven campaigns for brands. And we realize how big a role paid media plays in distributing content. 

So we embrace all these interconnected aspects & the teams work together to solve problems for our partners. 

Now you already see most of our social media work on Instagram or LinkedIn. But today we’re kicking off #SchbangNodePad: Our tech-focused series of case study articles.

Folks from our Digital Transformation Team will delve into real case studies, revealing the tech wizardy behind our brand transformations. First up, let me share the story of how we built a UK-based marketplace app, which is launching this month!

Breaking Down Our Process 

Traditionally, teams that build tech platforms (marketplace, e-commerce store, social networking app, etc.) follow an Agile Method, which includes planning, architecture, designing & coding. 

In theory, these stages happen simultaneously when you’re developing a product. However, to reduce the number of iterations and deliver a more polished product quickly, it's important to have a process in place.

We realised early on the importance of planning and solutioning to make a product more reliable and scalable. So, we decided to break it down step by step for our latest exciting project.

The Ask

Camper Trailers are getting very popular amongst travel enthusiasts in the UK, probably because one gets the freedom of moving around with the convenience of having all your utilities inside the van. 

To capitalize on this trend, we worked with our partner to build a marketplace that connects trailer owners with users who want to rent them. It looks straightforward when you just consider the two audiences we’re connecting but there’s so much to it! 

Visualizing & Mapping the User Journey

We keep the end user at the heart of our projects so to ensure that it's a seamless experience for both parties, we mapped out every step of the journey. 

Visualising all the points one would need to take to browse & rent or list & approve, also gave us insight into possible friction or pain points users may face, such as not being able to filter as per their preferences (for renters) or not being able to accept end-to-end payments easily (for owners). 

Once we had clear layouts designed, we layered each stage in the process with the features we’d need to build to take a user from Point A to Z. 

Picking the Tools - Software Architecture

We built the foundation of the platform using the Django Web Framework, which provided us with a stable environment capable of handling updates as the business and project scale.

For my non-techie friends, think of a framework as an assistant that takes care of the trickier parts of building a website, giving you more time to focus on making it unique and powerful. We leveraged many built-in features like ORM and a template engine to create a robust product.

As a marketplace involves different frontend and backend systems running simultaneously, the Rest Framework helped us develop APIs that served as a common language between all the systems, enabling modules designed for owners and renters to seamlessly work together.

Anticipating the high data volume generated by an aggregator model, we chose PostGres for its reputation for reliable performance.

To ensure seamless communication between renters and owners, allowing them to exchange messages and notifications effortlessly, we opted for MailHog.

Building the Owner Module

Once the systems were in place, we started developing features for both sides of the marketplace. Starting with owners, we made an intuitive registration system to onboard them onto the platform, register their accounts & start using it right away. 

We made a personalized dashboard that will enable them to list new campers by adding details such as availability, amenities & pricing. 

Owners can also access the booking management tab to review or approve camper booking requests, giving them complete control & flexibility over their listings.    

Building the Renter Module

Arguably, the primary function of a marketplace is to help users search for and quickly obtain what they want.

So, we made our search feature to be comprehensive with filters that interested renters can toggle to see campers based on their location, type of vehicle, availability and amenities, among other preferences.

If in doubt, renters can also ask questions about the vans directly to the owners, allowing them to get answers faster than through a middleman, ensuring they’re confident before booking and also fostering rapport between them and the owner. 

Reservation, checkout and secure payment processing are all built-in, so one can book their next trip in just a few clicks. 

What we learned

1. In any tech project, talking to your actual TG and visualising their journey helps you know the requirements in advance, be confident about delivering and set milestones for each stage of the process. 

2. In marketplaces, seamless access to all information is non-negotiable. People want to search and get answers fast, so it’s important to think of features like search filter, intra-user chat or even customer rep live chat.

All in all, by ensuring that all our devs & departments are collaborating on the project with one visual roadmap to align everyone’s thinking, we’ve delivered a highly custom yet seamless product we’re proud of! 

Hope our story gave you some insight into how a digital marketplace is actually developed.

Which type of product or platform would you like me to explore next? Or do you want me to dive into any particular aspect of making a marketplace? Let me know in the comments! 

And if you want to leverage our expertise in custom web app development, just drop a line at bd@schbang.com or just say hello to me on LinkedIn!