Corporate concierge service platform: MVP, commissions and budget

The verdict in three sentences

A corporate concierge platform earns from two streams: the employer subscription (£2.50 to £5, or €3 to €6, per employee per month) and the supplier commission (10 to 20% on dry cleaning, alterations or grocery boxes). For a workplace services operator covering 12 office buildings and 6,000 employees in London or Dublin, a custom MVP (employee app, concierge back office, supplier portal) ships in 3 to 4 months. The figure that matters is not the build cost but the number of orders per employee needed to pay the platform back within year one.

The business model of a multi-site concierge in 2026

In London's business districts and Dublin's Docklands, employers buy concierge services as a workplace wellbeing perk, alongside the staff canteen and gym membership. A concierge visits each building two or three times a week, collects shirts, shoes for repair and parcels, and drops off finished orders. Without software, everything runs on lockers, paper logs and WhatsApp messages. At 6,000 employees, that breaks: lost orders, approximate invoicing, and no way to prove actual usage to the employer.

The subscription carries most of the revenue, but usage is what gets it renewed. HR teams ask for an adoption rate, typically at least 20 to 25% of employees active over the year. The platform must therefore measure usage per building and produce a monthly report the client signs off without debate.

MVP scope and what it costs

A useful MVP has three building blocks. The employee app (mobile web or PWA) handles ordering, payment, status tracking and drop-off slots. The concierge back office manages rounds per building, tracking labels, lockers and employer invoicing. The supplier portal gives the dry cleaner or grocer today's orders and a commission statement.

On Kolonell's 2026 grid, a custom application ranges from 2,500,000 to 4,000,000 FCFA (3,810 to 6,100 EUR) for a simple build, 4,000,000 to 7,000,000 FCFA (6,100 to 10,670 EUR) for a medium build and 7,000,000 to 15,000,000+ FCFA (10,670 to 22,870+ EUR) for a complex one. A multi-site concierge with three user profiles, split payments and an employer report usually sits in the medium category, with a 3 to 4 month timeline. Maintenance then runs at 35,000, 75,000 or 120,000 FCFA per month (53, 114 or 183 EUR) depending on the support level. For comparison, a London agency typically quotes £35,000 to £80,000 for an equivalent scope, and Dublin studios €40,000 to €90,000, order of magnitude 2026.

What derails these projects

The first trap is split payments: the employee pays £16 for dry cleaning, the platform keeps 15%, the supplier gets the rest. You need a payment provider that handles connected accounts and partial refunds when a shirt comes back damaged. The second trap is physical logistics: every item needs a QR label scanned at pickup, at the supplier and at return, otherwise disputes become unmanageable. The third is UK GDPR and EU GDPR: the platform processes employee data on behalf of the employer, which requires a data processing agreement and a clear retention policy.

Mini case study

Fiona runs a workplace services company in Dublin covering 12 buildings and 6,000 employees, with an average subscription of €4 per employee per month. Subscription revenue: 6,000 × 4 × 12 = €288,000 a year. Today her three concierges each spend 6 hours a week re-keying orders and reconciling payments, 18 hours weekly, about 830 hours a year at €32 loaded cost, so €26,560. She picks a medium-complexity MVP at the top of the grid, around 10,670 EUR, plus mid-level maintenance at 114 EUR a month (1,368 EUR a year). If the tool removes 70% of the re-keying, the saving is €18,590 in year one, and the platform pays for itself in under 9 months, before counting the extra commissions from a catalogue finally visible to all 6,000 employees.

FAQ

How long does it take to launch the MVP across 12 buildings?

Allow 3 to 4 months of development, then a gradual rollout on 2 or 3 pilot buildings over 4 to 6 weeks. Opening the remaining buildings takes about a month once rounds are stable.

Do we need native iOS and Android apps?

Rarely at first. A progressive web app covers 90% of use cases (ordering, tracking, notifications) and avoids two app store releases. Native apps make sense beyond 15,000 to 20,000 active employees.

What commission should suppliers pay?

The 2026 market sits between 10 and 20%: 10% on low-margin grocery boxes, 15% on dry cleaning, up to 20% on alterations and high-value services. Above that, good independent tradespeople walk away.

How do we prove value to HR?

With a monthly report per building: active employees, orders, average turnaround, satisfaction score. A 25% annual adoption rate is a strong argument to renew a subscription of £2.50 to £5 per employee.

Is employee data exposed?

Not with a clean architecture: login via the employer's email domain, minimised data (name, building, orders), hosting in the UK or EU and deletion after 3 years of inactivity. A data processing agreement is signed with every employer.

Let's scope your project. Tell us about your buildings, suppliers and subscription model, and we will scope an MVP deliverable in 3 to 4 months. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.