The verdict in three sentences
A B2B subscription store for office deliveries costs 18,000 to 40,000 EUR excl. VAT (about 15,500 to 34,500 GBP) in 2026, depending on how automated the customer portal is. Stripe Billing + direct debit (SEPA in the eurozone, Bacs in the UK) is the standard for monthly billing with no manual chasing, with total fees around 1% of revenue. The main financial lever is not the cost of the site but cutting monthly churn, currently 4%, through a portal where the office manager adjusts deliveries on their own.
Tools and their recurring costs in 2026
Three architectures dominate B2B subscriptions: a Shopify store with a subscription app, a custom site on Stripe Billing, or a dedicated subscription platform such as Chargebee. The fees below are 2026 orders of magnitude for 180 customers at an average monthly basket of 650 EUR excl. VAT, i.e. 117,000 EUR billed per month.
| Item | Shopify + subscription app | Custom + Stripe Billing | Dedicated platform (Chargebee) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Platform subscription | 300 to 400 EUR/month | 0 | 0 to 600 EUR/month |
| Recurring billing fees | 1% via app | 0.7% (Stripe Billing) | 0.75% above threshold |
| Direct debit (SEPA/Bacs) | Poorly suited to B2B | 0.35 EUR per transaction (SEPA) | Via Stripe or GoCardless |
| EU card payment | 1.5% + 0.25 EUR | 1.5% + 0.25 EUR | Depends on gateway |
| B2B invoices (VAT, company ID, PO) | Limited | Full | Full |
| Multi-site office manager portal | Basic | Custom | Standard |
| Estimated monthly cost (180 customers) | 1,500 to 1,900 EUR | 880 to 950 EUR | 1,300 to 1,600 EUR |
Direct debit costs a few cents per transaction versus 1.5% for a card: on a 650 EUR invoice, the gap is about 9 EUR per customer per month. It does require a signed mandate and a 3 to 5 business day collection delay.
Build budget by scope
| Scope | Key features | Budget (EUR excl. VAT) | Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essential | Plan catalogue, sign-up, direct debit, automatic invoices | 18,000 to 24,000 | 8 weeks |
| Standard | + office manager portal (pause, add products, change address) | 24,000 to 32,000 | 10 weeks |
| Advanced | + multi-site, per-department budgets, accounting export, failed debit retries | 32,000 to 40,000 | 12 to 14 weeks |
| Option | Delivery route planning connector | 4,000 to 8,000 | 2 weeks |
| Option | Churn and cohort dashboard | 3,000 to 5,000 | 1 to 2 weeks |
The office manager portal is what makes the difference: most B2B cancellations happen when the customer cannot simply pause over the holidays or downgrade after a headcount drop.
Cutting churn: the features that pay
Three features have a measurable impact on office subscription churn: pause instead of cancel (holidays, remote work), one-click plan change when headcount varies, and automatic retry of failed debits (Stripe Smart Retries recovers a significant share of failures on average). A cancellation flow that first offers a pause or a smaller plan commonly retains 15 to 25% of departing customers.
Mini case study
Camille, founder of an office fruit and snack delivery company, has 180 business customers at 650 EUR excl. VAT per month. With 4% churn she loses about 7 customers a month, i.e. 4,550 EUR of monthly recurring revenue to win back.
Need a professional website?
Kolonell builds websites that attract clients, optimized for the Sénégalese market. Free quote in 2 minutes.
She invests 30,000 EUR excl. VAT in a Standard build with pause, plan change and a cancellation flow. If churn drops to 2.8%, she keeps about 2 more customers each month. Over 12 months, the cumulative effect is about 14 customers retained, i.e. 9,100 EUR of extra monthly recurring revenue, or nearly 109,000 EUR annualised. Meanwhile, moving from card to direct debit saves about 1,000 EUR a month in fees. The project pays back in 6 to 8 months.
FAQ
Do business customers accept direct debit?
Yes, it is the payment method finance teams prefer for recurring spend. The SEPA B2B mandate also removes the 8-week refund right, which secures collection; Bacs is the UK equivalent.
Is Stripe Billing enough for compliant invoices?
It generates invoices with VAT and continuous numbering, but customer company ID, purchase order references and mandatory e-invoicing (in France from September 2026) need dedicated configuration costing 2,000 to 4,000 EUR excl. VAT.
Do we need a mobile app?
Rarely: office managers handle orders from a desktop. A responsive web portal at 24,000 EUR covers over 90% of use cases.
How do we handle a company with several sites?
The Advanced build supports a parent account, multiple delivery addresses and a budget per site. Allow 6,000 to 8,000 EUR excl. VAT more than the Standard build.
How much does maintenance cost?
Plan 400 to 900 EUR excl. VAT per month for hosting, security updates and small changes, depending on service level.
Let's scope your project. We scope your B2B subscription store (Stripe Billing, direct debit, office manager portal, anti-churn flow) with an indicative budget of 18,000 to 40,000 EUR excl. VAT and an 8 to 14 week timeline. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
