Marketplace gives people in poverty space to participate

9,475

connected members

1,872

Challenge

Not scalable

QUIET started in Tilburg and in no time more than a hundred entrepreneurs were willing to offer dinners, haircuts, training, beauty treatments or even odd jobs. A flying start! But the sharing platform only starts running when you not only have supply of services or products, but also demand. Finding and matching the right people to this offer was done via an Excel sheet. That can be done more efficiently. The challenge was clear: how do you digitize the distribution of sponsored offers, without losing the humanity of QUIET? Especially with the ambition to grow into a nationwide network in the coming years. Digitizing was therefore no longer a nice to have, but a must have.

“

The old platform helped us distribute sponsored offers for years. Now that QUIET continues to grow, we have developed a platform together that is faster, clearer, and more flexible. This way we support our communities better and are ready for the next phase of our organization.

Pauline Tempelman, Product Owner - QUIET

Advice

Build further on what works

Our advice ten years ago? Don't turn the manual process into a digital Excel sheet, but into a smart sharing platform. A platform that fairly distributes the offer from local sponsors among people who can really use it. Accessible and clear.

That starting point still stands. What has changed, however, is how big Quiet has become by now. There are more communities, more members, and more sponsored offers. Over the years, more and more exceptions and workarounds emerged that were used by sponsor coordinators, making it harder for new communities to start off well. Our advice was therefore to go back to the core: one clear way of working for all communities and less room for detours. This keeps the distribution fair, makes the platform easier to use, and allows Quiet to grow further. And we are happy to contribute to that!

Solution

A marketplace for warmth instead of trade

We developed a supply and demand platform where, based on personal preferences, the offer from local businesses is distributed among the members of the local QUIET community. Members receive an app notification when a suitable offer is ready for them. That makes QUIET special: members do not have to actively search themselves. The platform brings suitable offers directly to them. This keeps it highly accessible and straightforward for members, sponsors, and communities.

The digital platform consists of, among other things:

The sharing platform, a marketplace where local sponsors can offer their products, services, and experiences.
A members app in which members receive matching offers.
An algorithm for fair distribution based on personal preferences and available offers.
Notifications that allow members to quickly indicate whether they want to use an offer.
An environment for communities to manage offers.
A platform that brings local supply and demand together without extra barriers for members.

Process

Under the microscope

To understand what poverty in the Netherlands means, we already spoke with people who use Quiet during the start of the collaboration. To achieve the perfect match between demand and supply, we also took a closer look at the supply side. We interviewed local entrepreneurs (sponsors) to map out their needs. That is important. Because the sharing platform must work for members, communities and local sponsors.

Now, after 10 years of working together, there are plenty of opportunities. The latest technologies for developers back then are now outdated. Together we decided to do a complete rebuild of the sharing platform. We spoke with users who work with it and incorporated their feedback to set it up better right away. We also took the use of language into account. Because when members are offered something, it must be immediately clear what they can do. No hassle, just understandable!

Result

More communities, more members and above all more moments of breathing space

We dare to say that the platform has more than proven itself as a tool to alleviate poverty. There are now 17 active communities and several communities are added every year. QUIET has also attracted over 3,500 sponsors and realized more than 300,000 sponsored offers. And the counter keeps running!

Freshheads as a sponsor of QUIET

With the sharing platform, QUIET grew from a local initiative to an organization with national ambition. And we take that ambition seriously. So seriously that we have been a sponsor of QUIET since the very beginning. With the latest version as a starting point, we continue to improve the platform together, so that QUIET can continue to distribute sponsored offers fairly in the coming years and give more and more people some breathing space.