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Business Model

Model Overview

Yam3at is a B2B2C marketplace with SaaS + take-rate economics. Vendors pay recurring subscriptions to access demand and business tools, and the platform takes a commission on bookings transacted through it; customers use the platform free. This keeps the customer side frictionless (critical for liquidity — see KPIs & Risks) while building two complementary revenue lines from launch: predictable recurring subscription revenue plus transaction revenue that scales with GMV.

flowchart LR
    C[Customers - free] -->|events, RFQs, bookings, deposits| P[Yam3at Platform]
    V[Vendors] -->|subscriptions MVP| P
    P -->|commission on bookings MVP| P
    V -->|featured listings, ads - Scale| P
    P -->|leads, tools, trust| V
    P -->|choice, confidence, protection| C
    PSP[MyFatoorah / Tap - KNET, cards, wallets] --- P

See the authoritative Confirmed Decisions for the locked commercial parameters.

Revenue Streams by Phase

# Stream Phase Mechanics
1 Vendor subscriptions MVP Free / Basic / Professional / Enterprise monthly plans, auto-renewing, paid via KNET/cards through the PSP. The recurring revenue backbone.
2 Booking commission MVP 5% of booking total value (placeholder), captured from the platform-collected deposit at booking confirmation. Runs alongside subscriptions from launch. See Commission model.
3 Featured & sponsored listings Scale Paid placement in category pages and search results; seasonal packages (wedding season, Ramadan). Sold as add-ons or bundled into higher plans as included featured slots.
4 Advertising Scale Banner and campaign inventory for event-adjacent brands; vendor ad credits included in top plans.
5 Escrow & milestone payments Vision Payment protection fees on funds held in escrow and released per milestone.
6 Financial services Vision Vendor financing (working capital against booking pipelines), insurance partnerships.
7 White-label & enterprise APIs Vision Licensed deployments for enterprises/government; paid API access to the marketplace.

Sequencing rationale

Subscriptions and booking commission both run from launch: subscriptions monetize supply-side willingness to pay for leads and tools (predictable, volume-independent), while commission captures value from actual transactions and aligns platform revenue with vendor success. Because commission is taken from the deposit that already flows through the platform, it requires no separate billing step. Featured listings and ads wait for Scale — they only work once search traffic and category density are high enough to be worth paying for placement.

Commission model

  • Customer pays the 20% deposit through Yam3at (PSP) → platform retains 5%-of-booking-total commission from that deposit → remainder settled to the vendor → customer pays the balance to the vendor directly at the event.
  • The deposit (20%) always exceeds the commission (5%), so the full commission is captured upfront with no vendor invoicing.
  • Basic vendor settlement (deduct commission, remit vendor share) is MVP. Automated escrow with milestone release remains Vision.
  • Rate and deposit % are configurable per the Confirmed Decisions; see Payments SRS and Booking SRS for mechanics.

Subscription Plans

Prices are starting values in KWD (3 decimal places; editable, to be refined after vendor discovery interviews and launch experiments). Billing is monthly with a discounted annual option — 1 month free (annual = monthly × 11). Plan enforcement rules are specified in Vendor Onboarding & Subscriptions.

Feature Free Basic Professional Enterprise
Monthly price (KWD) 0.000 15.000 39.000 99.000
Annual price (KWD, 1 month free) — 165.000 429.000 1089.000
Quotations / month 5 30 100 Unlimited
Service listings 3 10 30 Unlimited
Gallery photos per listing 5 15 40 Unlimited
Videos per listing 0 1 5 Unlimited
Team members 1 (owner) 2 5 15+
Branches 1 1 3 Unlimited
Featured slots (days/month) — — 3 10
Analytics Profile views only Basic (views, RFQs, quote outcomes) Advanced (funnels, win rate, response time, category benchmarks) Advanced + exports + trends
Ad credits (KWD/month) — — — 20.000 (Scale)
AI quote drafting (Scale) — — ✅ ✅
Support tier Help center Email (48h) Priority email + chat (24h) Dedicated account manager
Verified badge ✅ (after approval) ✅ ✅ ✅
Intended persona New solo vendors (V1 starting out) Active solo vendors & small studios Established businesses (V2, V3) Multi-branch companies, hall groups, large caterers

Plan lifecycle rules (summary — full rules in the SRS):

  • Upgrades apply immediately with prorated charge; downgrades apply at the next renewal.
  • Exceeding the monthly quotation limit blocks new quote submissions until upgrade or reset; incoming RFQs remain visible (deliberate upgrade pressure without hiding demand).
  • Failed renewal → 7-day grace period with reminders → account drops to Free limits (profile stays live; nothing is deleted).
  • Promo codes and launch coupons supported at checkout (MVP).

Pricing Strategy Rationale

  1. Free is an on-ramp, not a product. Free must be good enough to onboard the long tail of Instagram/WhatsApp vendors (supply liquidity at launch) but constrained enough (5 quotes/month, 5 photos) that any vendor winning real business upgrades within 1–2 months.
  2. Anchor on vendor ROI, not cost. One won wedding photography job (~300–800 KWD) pays for years of Basic. Pricing communicates this: Basic ≈ the price of a single tank of sponsored Instagram posts, Professional ≈ one small booking, Enterprise ≈ one mid-size booking per month.
  3. Price ladder mirrors business maturity. Limits (quotes, listings, team members, branches) grow along the natural growth path of a vendor, so upgrades feel like graduation, not extortion.
  4. Kuwait-first calibration. KWD price points respect local SaaS expectations; when expanding (Scale) each market gets local currency pricing and limits via the multi-country pricing tables — never a hard-coded conversion.
  5. Commission is small and value-paired. The 5% take-rate is deliberately low and is only charged on the deposit that flows through the platform, paired with clear value (secure deposit handling, dispute support). Kept low at launch so vendors have little incentive to settle off-platform while trust is established; rule M4 prohibits off-platform steering.
  6. Launch offers. Founding-vendor program: 3–6 months of Professional free for the first cohort of high-quality vendors in priority categories — buying supply-side liquidity with plan time instead of cash.

Marketplace Rules

The rules that keep the marketplace fair, safe, and liquid. Enforcement mechanics live in Admin & CMS and Operations Handbook.

# Rule Rationale
M1 Only admin-approved vendors with a valid Kuwait commercial license may receive RFQs or appear in search. Trust is the product.
M2 Customers register with email/phone only — no civil ID required. Zero friction on the demand side.
M3 All quotations must be submitted through the platform in the structured quote format (price, scope, validity, delivery terms). Comparability and auditability.
M4 Off-platform payment steering is prohibited (sharing bank details in chat to bypass booking). First offense: warning; repeat: suspension. Protects customers and future commission revenue.
M5 Reviews can be written only by customers with a completed booking with that vendor. One review per booking; vendors may reply publicly. Verified reviews only.
M6 Quotes carry an explicit validity period (default 14 days) and expire automatically. Prevents stale-price disputes.
M7 Vendors must state cancellation and refund policies on each listing; the policy shown at booking time is the one that binds. Transparency (الشفافية).
M8 Deposits are paid through the platform (KNET/cards/wallets via PSP). Refunds follow the vendor's stated policy; disputes are arbitrated by Yam3at operations per the dispute process. Safe payments.
M9 Prohibited content and services (illegal, unlicensed food handling, etc.) are removed; repeat offenders are banned. Platform integrity and regulatory compliance.
M10 Category placement is admin-moderated; vendors may not list in categories they are not licensed/equipped to serve. Search quality.

Vendor Quality Standards

Vendors keep marketplace access by meeting ongoing standards, measured automatically and reviewed by operations:

Standard Threshold (initial) Consequence of breach
Quote response time Respond or decline within 24h for 80% of RFQs Ranking penalty → temporary RFQ pause
Quote acceptance integrity Honor accepted quotes at the quoted price Warning → suspension
Booking completion rate ≥ 95% of confirmed bookings completed (no vendor no-shows) Suspension review
Review score Rolling average ≥ 3.5/5 after 10+ reviews Quality review, coaching, possible delisting
Content accuracy Photos and packages represent actual service Listing correction or removal
License validity Commercial license current; renewal uploaded before expiry Listing hidden until renewed

High performers earn algorithmic ranking boosts and eligibility for featured placement — quality is rewarded with the platform's most valuable currency: visibility.

Unit Economics Sketch

Directional logic, not a forecast; real numbers replace placeholders after launch. Definitions live in KPIs & Risks.

Vendor side (the revenue engine)

  • ARPPU (blended, placeholder): ~25 KWD/month across Basic/Professional/Enterprise mix.
  • Vendor CAC: field sales + onboarding for anchor vendors (high-touch, ~50–150 KWD each); self-serve long tail via content/Instagram (~5–20 KWD each). Blended target: < 4× monthly ARPPU.
  • Vendor lifetime: driven by renewal rate. At 85% annual gross retention, expected lifetime ≈ 3+ years → LTV ≈ 25 × 12 × 3 ≈ 900 KWD (before margin).
  • Target LTV:CAC ≥ 5:1 for self-serve, ≥ 3:1 blended. The lever that dominates LTV is vendor ROI: a vendor who wins ≥ 1 booking/month from Yam3at effectively never churns.

Customer side (the demand engine)

  • Customers are free; their "economics" are measured as cost per activated customer (created an event or sent an RFQ) and the demand they generate per vendor.
  • Customer acquisition at launch: Instagram/TikTok content, wedding-season campaigns, vendor cross-promotion (each onboarded vendor announces their Yam3at profile — supply markets demand), referrals (Scale).
  • Repeat usage across event types (C3/C4 personas host several events per year) lowers effective demand-side CAC over time.

The number that matters most

RFQs received per paying vendor per month. If that number stays healthy (target ≥ 8–10 for Basic+ vendors in priority categories), renewal follows, LTV compounds, and the flywheel turns. Every growth initiative should trace to it.