Project Idea
Arcbazar is the first-of-its-kind online marketplace for architects. This peer-to-peer creative marketplace for designers from all over the world gives customers a great opportunity to save money and access a massive pool of ideas
Results
The platform has grown with Greenice’s help to the point where Arcbazar has doubled the number of orders per year. In addition, Arcbazar has become internationally recognized and was selected for Google's Brand Accelerator Program.
project figures
Let’s discuss the details!
Client
Founded:
2010
Company Size:
Fewer than 10 employees
Headquaters:
Montreal, Quebec
Industry:
Architecture, Design, Competition, Crowdsourcing, Remodeling, Home Improvemen
Software:
Physical Therapy Software
Arcbazar was founded in 2010 by Imdat As, Master of Science in Architecture, Design and Computation, and Doctorate in Digital Media. This mixture of Imdat’s interests grew into his unique idea of a marketplace for independent designers.
The Concept
Arcbazar is a peer-to-peer marketplace that connects clients with designers through architectural competitions and links manufacturers and stores with construction projects.
This is how it works:
STEP 01
Homeowners, small businesses, start-ups, and public organizations who need architectural, interior, or landscape design solutions post their design challenge and publicized reward on Arcbazar.
STEP 02
Registered designers anonymously propose their solutions on the platform.
STEP 03
Three best projects get the prizes
Business Model
The innovative business model of Arcbazar’s online marketplace for designers connects clients and designers (either individuals or agencies) via architecture competitions.
As a result, all parties benefit:
- Clients get a variety of design solutions at an affordable price.
- Marketplace architects have an opportunity to win a prize, add new projects to their portfolio, and get real feedback. Competitions are a way to break into the field for new designers. Established specialists and agencies may also compete to win the prize and show off to clients.
- Arcbazar makes money from clients who pay 15% for the platform services and also from paid ads for furniture and materials suppliers.
The Arcbazar’s Challenge
When Arcbazar teamed up with Greenice, the online designer marketplace was already launched and needed maintenance and new features.
In the pre-development analysis and estimation step, we identified the main challenges of the project:
- The project was written in a combination of Yii1 and some self-written framework. The tangled code slowed down further development.
- The platform needed to be scaled up internationally, but there was no localization.
- Some users had trouble setting the award sum for their projects and abandoned the platform.
Our Role In the Project
Refactoring
We converted all the code to Yii1. This improved the structure and decreased the time for implementation of new features. In terms of security, we also separated servers for storing website, database, and other data using EC2 of AWS.
Localization and other new features
We made the website multilingual (10 languages) and introduced multi-currency (13 currencies) to make it usable for people from different parts of the world.
We added the ‘Tagging’ feature, and now designers are able to indicate where users can buy decor and furniture that they see in the project.
Previously, Arcbazar used only PayPal for payments. We added multiple payment methods and created ‘My Bank’ for designers to easily withdraw their earnings.
We used the ElasticSearch engine to enhance the search speed and accuracy of results.
We added a possibility to ‘Follow’ favorite designers.
We made a ‘Competition Wall’ where designers ask the clients questions in a similar manner to a Facebook thread. All names of designers are encrypted while they participate in the contest to avoid fraud and favoritism.
We introduced a rating system for designers. Their score, as well as reputation, is increased when designers participate in projects.
Award Suggestion Mechanism
When clients post contests, they must set the award sum that they will pay the winners. The price is determined by the client’s experience and budget. However, this step becomes a hindrance for many clients and some even abandon the process out of a fear they will not arrive at a suitable award amount.
The higher the award, the greater the number of designers who participate. If a client sets the award too low they risk attracting too few participants and failing to find a desirable design.
To solve this issue, first, we added the ‘Award recommendation’ feature which suggested a price, taking into account several variables like project type, score, and sizes. It was already quite good, but we made the mechanism more precise with Machine Learning.
The new award-suggestion mechanism learns from over 1,500 competitions that took place at Arcbazar. Thus, the AI-driven system suggests awards based on the results of similar projects. Each time a new project is completed, the database is updated and the system learns again and again to fine-tune itself. To provide more precision, we created a module based on Natural Language Processing that can read text descriptions and understand the details that influence the price.
Achievements
The Largest Global Crowdsourcing
Marketplace for Architects
According to Wikipedia, “Arcbazar is the first and largest global marketplace for crowdsourcing architecture projects. Arcbazar disrupts traditional methods of design acquisition with an online marketplace platform, enabling designers to compete and collaborate on design contests; and, customers to receive multiple design solutions in an online environment at a lower cost and faster delivery speed.”
Obama Presidential Center and
Library Competition
According to Wikipedia, “Arcbazar is the first and largest global marketplace for crowdsourcing architecture projects. Arcbazar disrupts traditional methods of design acquisition with an online marketplace platform, enabling designers to compete and collaborate on design contests; and, customers to receive multiple design solutions in an online environment at a lower cost and faster delivery speed.”
The map shows the geography of this project's contestants.
Google for Startups
Arcbazar has been selected among a hundred companies to join Google's Brand Accelerator Program which began on July 1, 2019.
Technologies
