Situation

This event and ticket company had multiple products and services, including a marketplace for individual buyers and sellers to exchange tickets. Transactions on this marketplace were strategically important and growing but the existing marketplace platform provider lacked critical functionality. The company wanted to evaluate alternative partners to ensure it had the most advantageous set of value propositions across key variables such as cost, reliability, transaction performance, and data/reporting, among others.

Approach

To help address this goal, Glenbrook ran a competitive RFP process to select a new acquiring partner for its marketplace transactions. This included codifying business requirements, drafting and distributing the RFP document, managing the vendor interactions, and evaluating responses. Ultimately Glenbrook recommended a best fit partner and provided over-the-shoulder support during the contract negation phase. Given Glenbrook’s tested RFP methodology and the company’s investment in the project, the following timetable was used to manage the project

Phase 1: Definition of Requirements and RFP process: 2 weeks

Phase 2: Development and Issuance of RFP: 6 weeks

Phase 3: Vendor Selection: 2 weeks

Impact

Within three months, the company was working with a new payments partner in support of their marketplace operations that more comprehensively met its needs and priorities, for example,1) a single vendor to support buyer pay-in and seller pay-outs, 2) minimal friction in KYC processes and 3) flexible payout amounts.