Lynk, which recently raised undisclosed series A funding from Lateral Capital, has launched concierge services dubbed Lynk Project to the public as it eyes local expansion.
Lynk Projects, a business-to-business service handles big construction and fit-out projects for businesses in Nairobi with plans to expand across the country. Some of Lynk Projects’ pioneer clients include Baobox, Mama Rocks, Workstyle, Andela among others.
” As a business or even a household you can expect high-quality services, cost control, flexibility and timely completion of your project,” said Mrinalini Agnihotri, Marketing and E-commerce lead at Lynk.
The e-commerce platform linking households and businesses in Nairobi to reliable and quality assured blue-collar professionals in installation, repair & maintenance, cleaning & home care, beauty, and furniture & decor both for households and businesses.
So far, Lynk has 1,300 active workers on the platform and has delivered over 40,000 jobs.
“In our bid to fulfill our mission and provide affordable prices, excellent quality of workers and top-notch customer experience, we have been undergoing various changes. We wanted to streamline our service delivery and improve the user experience on our website,” said Agnihotri.
The new web app is easy to use and has commoditized all the services to ensure its customers know the price upfront and know exactly what to expect while getting a service, product or pro from Lynk.
The firm has also revamped its furniture and decor shop with over 100 new pieces 100% made in Kenya by Kenyan artisans.
“All services are now commoditized,” said Agnihotri. “We started commoditizing services since November 2018, starting with Manicures and Pedicures. We’ve come a long way since then. Now all our services are standardized.”
Services on the platform now have upfront pricing, Standard delivery, Quick booking, and on-time delivery and of course quality guarantee.Lynk has also beautifully designed segment pages for ease of access and navigation.
The five major segments include Installation and Repair, Beauty and wellness, Cleaning and Care, Furniture and Decor and the recently launched Lynk Projects. Each segment has a dedicated home on of the website for simplicity and ease of access.
Lynk is banking on the all-new website and user experience to attract new customers and retain its old customers as things are super easy to find. The furniture segment, which was among the first to be revamped has been one of the most moving segments with over 100 new furniture items. (All made by local Kenyan artisans- at its workshop where it trains and supports professionals.)
“Our ability to grow market size in Nairobi is the remaining proof point before expanding to the second market. We have budgeted a good amount for marketing activities,” said Agnihotri adding that the firm is hiring a senior team to fuel local expansion. “It will almost exclusively be for salaries as we are hiring a more senior team. We are growing our commercial presence in Nairobi.”
Lynk is not the first marketplace in Kenya to launch concierge services. ROAM’s BuyRentKenya at one time launched concierge services. According to BuyRentKenya, Concierge services were aimed at simplifying property search, inspection, and purchase. Jamie Pujara, the then CEO of BuyRentKenya told TechMoran. “The idea is to provide a level of convenience. Our mission was to make property search easier and while we have done this to a certain degree, we feel there is still so much we haven’t accomplished.”
By removing the back-and-forth processes involved, concierge services are targeted at bringing convenience to customers minus the back-and-forth processes involved. A concierge service takes over mundane activities for the customer and only delivers results. It’s like hiring Lynk as the contractor to do all the tasks involved in the process then pay Lynk which then pays its white-collar subcontractors. For Lynk, this is more revenues than the commission it would earn from matching fundis to gigs.
OLX tried a similar initiative with Sell it for Me but its overheads were unbearable and it had to call it a day.
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