Value in a Marketplace
For people designing or delivering products, services or community initiatives, as well anyone wanting to think more consciously about their customer exchanges
Understanding value in a marketplace
The Value in a Marketplace perspective explores how value moves between customers (clients or members) and the organisations they interact with. Whether you are researching how people engage with your offerings or you are designing a new offering.
Money sometimes features in an exchange, but it is rarely the whole story. Attention, trust, loyalty, participation, and insight all carry weight. What people look for in return is benefit, meaning, or impact that is genuinely valuable to them.
Understanding these value exchanges helps teams design offerings and relationships that create real mutual value. It can also help individuals make clearer choices and more confident requests when seeking services.
From 'customer' to 'marketplace'
This deck of cards was originally called the Customer Version. Over time, it became clear that “customer” didn’t reflect all the relationships where value is exchanged between people and different types of organisations.
Government teams, community groups, educators, and creative enterprises engage in exchanges of value but not all of them have “customers”.
So this perspective evolved into Value in a Marketplace, a broader framing that fits public, commercial, and community settings alike.
If you already own the Customer Value Exchange cards, they remain fully relevant.
Why it matters
When organisations define value only through their own lens, they risk missing what truly matters to the people they serve.
A Value Exchange Ledger™ helps teams and individuals explore different perspectives in a structured way; not by guessing, but by listening, observing, or reflecting on real experiences. A Value Creation Plan, extends the ledger to an actionable plan for creating value for yourself and those that matter to you. (And there are more methods and artefacts in the hub for value-based conversations in a marketplace context.)
The value element cards are a key tool, providing a vocabulary for conversations about customer wants, needs and contributions. It turns fuzzy ideas and concepts into tangible insights that guide design, and decision-making, and supports more meaningful exchanges.
Questions thare are explored are:
- What is the customer contributing? Is it what they want to contribute? What do they want to contribute?
- What do they want to claim? What can they claim?
- What value do they seek to create for themselves or for others who matter to them?
- What is the customer value proposition?
- What value do we actually deliver?
The concept of value exchange
Hear founder and creator Helen Palmer, share about this simple and powerful concept as it relates to the marketplace context.
VIDEO COMING IN 2026
Marketplace value element cards
- 75 value element cards for marketplace context
- Instruction booklet for the Marketplace Value Exchange Ledger™ method (simple version)
- Marketplace Value Exchange Ledger™ sheet (A4 printed; printable PDF)
Cards only available in printed formats (English only).
Resources to go deeper
Dive into these free resources to deepen your understanding
Read ‘Exploring Customer Perspectives of Value Exchange’ – COMING
Roles for a marketplace context
The marketplace context will be particularly relevant to people in these roles
Business Owner – COMING
Ready, set, go!
Opportunities for you to explore value in a marketplace
Arrange a Customer Value Exploration Workshop – COMING