Coworking operators all over the globe share one major concern. They are struggling to monetize their businesses. There are many ways to do it and in this article, we are going to talk about one of them: selling additional goods.
What Can You Offer Members a la Carte
Coworking spaces may offer a variety of products and services to their customers. Some of them are included in their membership plans and some go as à la carte propositions, which means members can order them separately.
A regular coworking space membership always includes workspace in some form (hot desk, private office.) This is obvious, coworking is about workspace, which is its essence and foundation. However, by covering basic office space needs you can hardly get far in terms of business differentiation and customer satisfaction.
A growing business or company requires much more than just a place to sit. That's why coworking spaces provide a whole lot of additional services for entrepreneurs and remote workers at all stages of their company development. Conference rooms are one of those value-added services. Let's see what else you can sell to members and how to do it graciously.
Additional Products List
- Office Cleaning
- Personal Assistant
- Airport Pickup
- Office Handyman
- Parking lot
- Offset printing
- Beverages
- Food and snacks
- Alcohol
- Daypass
- Merch
- Utensils
The list goes on as additional goods you offer to new members and loyal residents are limited only by your imagination. The possibilities for growing revenue through those products are also truly numerous as you can cover not only professional but personal needs of people enabling them to order everything, from pet groomer to their favorite sandwich.
The most unusual products available at my coworking space were massages, bike repair, and pet daycare. These offers were very unexpected amenities, which I quickly came to enjoy and took for granted. The services are not commonly found in traditional office spaces, which was appealing to me as I was interested in the unique work experience. — Daniel Chan, CTO at Marketplace Fairness
It goes without saying that all additional products should be available to members at a very competitive price, which adds value to their membership.
How to Organize the List of Your Products
Now, when you have a bunch of ideas for your a la carte offers, you can easily fill your products catalog with them.
Side note: Building up a workspace products catalog is similar to collecting membership benefits. Learn more about how to do it.
Though, it's critical to understand that simply having many cool items on the list is not enough. Making customers aware of them is exactly what you want to do and here are two potential ways to promote your stuff.
- Feature the products you sell on your website. Unfortunately, this option is not too efficient unless you promote your website heavily. As a rule, customers don’t browse a coworking website too often and forget about the info you post there right after closing the browser tab.
- Sell your products in-app. You can compile a beautiful list of products right inside web and mobile apps your members already use for booking conference rooms. This is the best way to put your offers in front of the customers. Every time a member opens your app to book a hot desk or read a community newsfeed, they see a notification that new products were added, review them, and purchase the ones they like.
To conclude, building up a product catalog is not as challenging as making members use it. So, the rest of my article is dedicated to giving you an idea of creating an online store for your value-added products right inside your coworking space app. I will also show you some real-life examples of such shops.
Organize Goods by Categories
- Cafe & Bar
- Merch
- Souvenirs
- Apparel, etc.
By adding a clear structure to the items you offer, you literally create a marketplace where the products can be easily discovered by customers. In other words, by creating a beautiful easy-to-navigate catalog, you promote awareness of value-added offers across your customer base.
You can add branded stuff, office necessities, snacks, and other on-demand products to the shop. Establish options and pricing for members to choose from. Customers can not only explore what's inside the offer but choose a product option they are interested in, the number of items, and pay for it right from the mobile app on their smartphone.
Schedule a personal demo to discover how Spacebring could benefit your shared space business
Sell on Demand Goods
Now you know how to make your products easy to discover. In the previous section, we arrived at the conclusion that the easiest and the most efficient way to demonstrate those items to members is to include them in a virtual catalog/Shop accessible right from the workspace app on their smartphones.
Pro tip: If your coworking space doesn't provide comfy apps for members, consider migrating to a better option. Members' happiness is your top priority as your revenue depends on it. If you are not able to put all your products at customers' fingertips — you are losing money!
Once your products are easy to find, take care of their instant availability. In other words, don't forget to clearly describe how to get this or that item (without talking to a community manager). Add clear call-to-actions prompting customers their next step: "Get,", "Buy," "Pay," or any custom verb that works better for you.
As you understand, in-app purchases are the most efficient and desired for your business. Just imagine that a person has purchased a cocktail through the app. Barista immediately sees the order, knows the person's name, and where they are sitting. The customer is served in a blink of an eye. Isn't it a dream customer experience? And people get it at your flexible workspace.
Accepting payments for goods inside the coworking space software is a brilliant option. You make the process simple and familiar for members and completely automated for a community manager. Customers pick out the preferred payment method (credit/debit card or Invoice), click the "Pay" button and you watch your revenue grow.
Main Benefits of the Shop
- Improve customer satisfaction and service quality.
- Create new revenue channels by upselling members through your app.
- Differentiate your coworking brand among the competitors by offering a unique mix of products and services.
- Accept payments for value-added items automatically.
Shop Use Cases
As you see, a service catalog inside your coworking space software solves two main problems:
- how to show products to the customers
- and how to enable members to purchase the services they like.
Let me sketch a quick outline for a possible service catalog use case.
Supposing you have created a nice service catalog (with categories, images, and descriptions) inside your coworking space system. Customers can apply for services via email or the link provided in the service description. They can also choose the pricing option of the service and pay for it via available gateways.
As a result, your members are able to discover, apply, and pay for the services they want from the coworking space apps on their smartphones.
Please take a look at a couple of existing Product Catalogs created by our customers on the basis of Spacebring coworking app.
Shops inside our respected customers' apps: Hatchworks Coworking and Workps
Looks good, isn't it? Please note that you can inform members about new products with the help of a community newsfeed and push notifications to promote them even more efficiently.
Analyze Shop Performance to Maximize Revenue and Give Members Exactly What They Need
A huge advantage of the Shop inside your coworking app is the ability to gather insights into which products are the most popular among members. You can use a built-in Analytics solution to get a detailed report on members’ purchases and your revenue.
After acquiring accurate numbers, you can analyze the data and get a deeper understanding of community members' requirements. See the frequency at which a particular product is purchased, know the most popular categories, and give members exactly what they want and need the most incredibly boosting their experience and your MRR.
Wind Up
That was pretty much of it. I hope this article gave you one more idea for increasing your workspace revenue. Besides, a usable online catalog of ad-hoc products will give you a notable advantage over the competitors and contribute to the best member experience at your space which is cool as focus on members is the only right direction for a growing coworking business.
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Would you like to discuss the possibility of starting an e-Shop inside your workspace app? Schedule a demo call with us to see what Spacebring can do for you.
