Space Trader — Commercial Property Marketplace for Green Logistics

The Brief

The growth of last-mile delivery and EV logistics has created demand for urban commercial spaces that traditional property marketplaces don’t serve well. Space Trader needed a platform specifically designed for this niche: connecting property owners who have unused commercial space (car parks, forecourts, yards, warehouse sections) with logistics businesses looking for urban locations to stage EV fleets, operate delivery hubs, or store cargo.

The marketplace needed to support both sides: sellers listing available spaces with relevant specifications (power supply, access hours, vehicle capacity, EV charging availability) and buyers searching, enquiring, and negotiating terms.

The Approach

We built a two-sided marketplace with three user roles: sellers who list spaces, buyers who browse and enquire, and administrators who qualify listings and oversee the platform. The listing lifecycle includes a qualification workflow — public submissions go through admin review before publication, ensuring listing quality and accuracy.

SEO was a primary consideration for a marketplace that needs organic discovery. Every listing, location page, and category page has SEO-friendly slug-based URLs generated via Spatie’s Sluggable package, with structured data markup for search engine visibility.

The Build

The listing creation flow guides sellers through space specifications: location, size, surface type, power availability, access restrictions, available facilities, and pricing. Intervention Image handles photo uploads with automatic resizing and optimisation. Listings enter a review queue where administrators verify details and may request additional information before publication.

The search system supports filtering by location, space type, size range, facilities, and availability. Search analytics track every query — what terms are searched, which filters are applied, which listings are viewed — providing market intelligence about demand patterns that the platform operator can use to guide supply acquisition.

A reverse enquiry system allows buyers to post “space requests” describing what they need when suitable listings don’t exist. Sellers and administrators can see these requests and match them against new or existing inventory. This two-way matching increases the likelihood of successful connections beyond simple browse-and-enquire.

The blog and news CMS allows the platform operator to publish industry content — market reports, case studies, regulatory updates — supporting both SEO and user engagement. A newsletter subscription system captures leads and maintains engagement with registered users who haven’t yet transacted.

A Sanctum-authenticated REST API supports future mobile app development and third-party integrations.

The Result

Space Trader launched with an initial inventory of listed spaces and has grown through both direct seller acquisition and organic inbound listings. The search analytics provide ongoing insight into market demand, informing the platform operator’s commercial strategy for which geographic areas and space types to prioritise for supply growth.

The qualification workflow ensures listing quality, which supports user trust — a critical factor in marketplace dynamics where both sides need confidence in the platform.