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1. THE BEGINNING
This innovation came to life when…
This innovation initially came to life when its founder, working as a corporate lawyer at the time, noticed an overwhelming abundance of vacant commercial space throughout Melbourne, and Australia. This primarily included vacant retail stores, warehouse facilities, and offices.
Meanwhile, there were people everywhere searching for such space but being ‘priced out’ of the market or otherwise prevented from accessing this idle space due to long-term and highly inflexible commercial leases.
Hence, the founder quit his career to spend 12 long months creating an online marketplace to allow those with space to communicate directly with those who need it.
2. WHAT & HOW
The purpose of this innovation is to…
Provide a marketplace which allows for the short-term, direct and flexible trade of commercial space.
This overcomes the problem of existing commercial offerings, which are typically long-term, costly, inflexible and inaccessible.
It does this by…
Allowing retail, warehouse and office space owners to connect directly with those who might require their space for a short term (i.e. daily, weekly, monthly) in a direct, transparent, instantaneous, and cost-effective way.
Previously, this was not achievable. There was not one single ‘destination’ for short-term commercial space (the ‘Airbnb’ of the commercial sector, in some respects).
3. PURPOSE & BENEFITS
This innovation improves on what came before because…
Existing offerings are arguably non-existent, misaligned with present-day consumer needs (i.e. long-term, rigid, inflexible, costly, require additional stakeholders), or otherwise unknown as a central point of transacting short-term space.
Our most common feedback: “We’re so glad someone is finally doing this! Where else do you go for this kind of thing?”
The benefits to the customer/end-user include…
- Access to short-term commercial space (for example, a retail spaces for a PopUp store, office for co-working, etc.)
- Ability to ‘List’ and ‘Book’ directly
- Need for intermediaries (agents) typically removed
- Cost effective
- Flexible
4. COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE
In the past, this problem was solved by…
Word of mouth, or via other non-purpose-specific classifieds sites like GumTree. In essence, space owners were unable to connect with their target audience (i.e. those seeking space) and vice versa.
Otherwise, this was not achievable. Hence, the gap in the market.
Its predecessors/competitors include…
- Word of mouth (often via social media)
- General classifieds (i.e. GumTree)
- Offerings restricted to ‘office space’ which are international only
Otherwise, this is a NEW offering.
5. TARGET MARKET
This innovation is made for…
The target audience is two-fold:
- those with spare/idle/unused commercial space
- those who require such space short-term
The former market is hard to define numerically, due to its nature, however research stemming from the Commercial Real Estate industry suggests there are millions of SQM of vacant commercial space sitting idle, costing owners significantly.
The latter market is wider, and is comprised of people seeking space for a variety of purposes, including but not limited to: PopUp installations, warehouse events, co-working arrangements, expanding business needs, seasonal operations, new product launches, etc. Although again hard to define numerically, early indications are extremely encouraging.
6. DISTRIBUTION STRATEGY
It is available for sale through…
It is available online, via airspaced.com.au.
Our marketing strategy is to…
Our marketing strategy turns largely on awareness, as we are confident there is a need for this offering. Although the angle will be slightly different for each side of the marketplace, the following are our primary channels:
- Social media
- Direct marketing
- PR
- Strategic alliances (e.g. present discussions with City of Melbourne)
- SEO
- Awareness via anthill, StartupSmart, etc. 🙂
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FINE PRINT
This SMART 100 profile and the information it contains is a duplication of content submitted by the applicant during the entry process. As a function of entry, applicants were required to declare that all details are factually correct, do not infringe on another’s intellectual property and are not unlawful, threatening, defamatory, invasive of privacy, obscene, or otherwise objectionable. Some profiles have been edited for reasons of space and clarity.
