Marketplace commission versus owning your own booking path

There is a trap that local UK businesses fall into when they first launch, and it is incredibly difficult to climb out of.

You open a salon, a takeaway, or a plumbing business. You need customers immediately, so you sign up for a marketplace platform. Suddenly, the phone is ringing. The platform is sending you work. It feels like a massive win.

Then you look at your end-of-month accounts. The marketplace took 20 percent. You are doing all the hard labour, paying the rent, covering the insurance, and managing the staff, while a tech giant takes a fifth of your revenue just for processing a form.

The acquisition versus retention trap #

Let's be clear: paying a 20 percent commission to acquire a brand new customer is actually a brilliant deal. Marketing is expensive, and if a platform hands you a paying customer you would never have found otherwise, they have earned that cut.

The trap snaps shut when that customer comes back for the second, third, and tenth time.

If a loyal client books their monthly haircut through Treatwell, or orders their Friday curry through Just Eat, you are paying a massive tax on loyalty. You already won that customer. They like your food and your service. Why are you still paying a Silicon Valley tech company to let them speak to you?

You do not own the customer #

Worse than the financial haircut is the data hostage situation.

When a customer books through a marketplace, you rarely get their actual email address or permission to market to them directly. The platform owns the relationship. If the platform decides to raise its commission to 35 percent tomorrow, or worse, promote your direct competitor above you because they paid for a sponsored slot, you are entirely powerless.

How to transition your regulars #

You do not need to delete your marketplace accounts today. You just need a bridge.

1. The physical intercept: Put a flyer in every takeaway bag or hand a card to every client leaving the salon: "Book direct next time at [YourWebsite.co.uk] for 10% off." You give the customer a discount, and you still make more money because you aren't paying a 20% platform fee. 2. The digital front door: Your website must have a booking system that is just as easy to use on a mobile phone as the marketplace app. If your direct booking form is clunky and requires them to print something out or wait 24 hours for a confirmation email, they will go right back to the app. 3. The Google override: Make sure your Google Business Profile links to your website, not your marketplace profile. Platforms actively try to hijack your local search presence.

Common questions #

Stop renting your own customers back from tech giants. Build a proper WaveSite with a direct booking path, and keep the margins you are working so hard for.