Case Study
The Event Site
Design, development and launch of the UK’s biggest marketplace for event hire
The Event Site is a subscription-based website allowing
event suppliers to register their services and to be able
to receive requests for quotes from event organisers, who
in turn can post requirements on the service.
All types and size of events are catered for, with organisers
able to benefit from a database of more than 70,000 suppliers.
This marketplace was born out of a “frustration” that there was
not a quicker way to find suitable suppliers than often unproductive
web searches and multiple calls.
levels.digital worked closely with the founder, James Cooke-Priest,
to build The Event Site, and enable the event organisers to find the
most suitable supplier for their event in just a few clicks. The Event
Site was launched using a two-phased approach. It was first unveiled to
the event suppliers at International Confex 2020 allowing them the sign
up and populate their profiles prior to The Event Site [publicly launching] in May 2020. This
ensured an optimal user experience for the event organisers, as they were
able to begin procuring services for their events right away.
WHAT WE DID
Two-sided marketplace mechanics
Website design and development
Stripe payment integration
Promo code management system
Value-based upsell features
Transactional email flows
Custom CMS development
OUTCOMES
11
weeks from kickoff to launch
70,000+
suppliers
THE JOURNEY
The project was kickstarted with a full-day product workshop where we
defined the key problems that this marketplace aimed to solve, as well
as the user personas for the marketplace participants. We then outlined
the primary and secondary user journeys that would allow The Event Site
to spark maximum engagement between the event organisers and suppliers.
This led to a well-defined feature set that was prioritised appropriately
to ensure the timely two-phased launch.
A two-phased launch was used to ensure the quickest time-to-market and to
allow each side of this marketplace to be market-tested independently. The
Event Site is monetised by offering paid subscriptions to the event suppliers.
Hence it was essential to deliver the platform in front of the suppliers first
to test the product-market fit. This also ensured that the event organisers were
able to benefit from a vast directory of suppliers immediately upon visiting the
marketplace, hence avoiding the “chicken and egg” problem that so many two-sided
marketplaces face.
Our design and development teams worked in tandem deliver these features, allowing
us to move fast and ship the primary user journeys early on, and minimise the project
risk. Each user journey was thoroughly QA-tested upon its completion to lock-in the
platform value in the initial stages.
The Event Site was first launched at International Confex 2020 in front of the
largest event suppliers in the UK. This product proved to be popular among the
target audience, which helped us to obtain the buy-in from the key stakeholders
and build the outstanding user journeys aimed at the event organisers – the demand
side of the marketplace.
The site was then publicly launched in May 2020, instantly disrupting the events
industry and receiving favourable appraisal in the media.
01
Marketplace mechanics
02
Design
03
Supply-side launch
04
Full launch
TECHNOLOGIES USED
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