A Marketplace update

NZRise recently hosted DIA’s Marketplace team for a chance to have a kanohi ki te kanohi (face to face) opportunity with the tech community to update us all as to where Marketplace currently is from both a Suppliers and Agency perspective and importantly what the future plans are to improve the service going forward.  

It was heartening to see a formal acknowledgement from the DIA that the service has not met the expectations of either the communities of people it is serving, nor themselves. After a challenging last 12 months having to deal with unexpected major back end changes in conjunction with COVID-19 challenges, the DIA are ready to explore the next iteration of the service, specifically how and where they can make it easier to use, as well as also providing greater transparency to suppliers of secondary procurement and targeting greater agency uptake.

The following provides an overview of the key take-outs from this session.

Marketplace Update:

• DIA acknowledged there have been issues
• Disappointed in dollar value of business traded through it to date
• 900 transactions have gone through Marketplace 
• Gone from $1.3m to $5m total transaction value
• Working hard to evangelise opportunities to agencies to encourage uptake. Currently there are 122 agencies on board, but DIA is meeting with several agencies every week to present to them 
• Are committed to improving the product and have a road map planned
• In terms of suppliers, as of May 20 there are:
• 283 approved
• 104 have been declined
• 76 are going through the approval process
• In terms of agencies as of May 20 there are:
• 122 agencies using Marketplace out of a potential @400+
• 172 users
• 900 transactions
• Feedback from suppliers that it’s not obvious upfront who should be applying for what
• Key challenge is how to make secondary procurement transparent. Currently it is not.
• DIA are meeting with several agencies every week to share information on the Marketplace
• DIA are committed to improving the product and have a road map planned
• April 2020 saw a spike in suppliers joining the Marketplace, with a gradual increase since

• It is a continual application process, so if your application is declined you are able to attempt again and again.  You can ask for feedback as to why you weren’t successful
• Marketplace team aren’t able to interfere with the application/procurement process – they will steer but not inform, or tell you what services to apply for

• In terms of reporting – what can be actioned? For example, do we know how many views supplier profiles have?  Are there other ways to track and share metrics to show the value for a supplier being on the Marketplace?

Thanks to the Marketplace team for the opportunity, to everyone who attended in person and online, to ITP for providing the venue, and to Somar Digital for sponsoring the food and drink.

If you have any questions or comments, please direct them to [email protected] in the first instance.  If you’d like to participate in our discussions, consider becoming an NZRise member.