Af Morten Suhr Hansen
For the past eight years, Subscrybe has been based on Store Kongensgade in the heart of Copenhagen. But now it’s over. Shortly before summer, we moved out of our spacious, lovely offices, and after a brief period of being a little bit homeless, we’ve just this week moved into brand new offices in Bredgade, very close to the Marble Church, which now greets us with its beautiful dome every morning.
Our new offices are newly renovated and ready to move into. With a fixed monthly rent, it’s already a subscription in itself, and that gave us the idea to investigate whether it’s actually possible as a business to subscribe to everything associated with your office space. Naturally, you might think, “Of course!” After all, aren’t we at Subscrybe a bunch of subscription enthusiasts? Yes, we are. But it also makes sense for you too. More on that later, but first, to the experiment.
Naturally, it all begins with the furniture. It’s often the biggest expense on the budget, second only to rent. That’s when we came across NORNORM, a Scandinavian startup backed by major investors, including IKEA. Their mission? To make it as easy and flexible for businesses to subscribe to furniture as it is for you to subscribe to Netflix. In other words: Furniture-as-a-Service.
NORNORM’s subscription model is based on a monthly fee. But here’s the twist: instead of paying for specific pieces or the quantity of furniture needed, you pay a fixed rate based on the number of square meters you need to furnish. This means NORNORM provides a tailored solution that fits the available space in your office. The current price is €3 per square meter per month. For our new office in Bredgade, which is 150 square meters in total, we’re paying around DKK 3,700 per month to subscribe to all of our furniture.
Is it expensive? That’s subjective. But based on my calculations, I would have had to spend at least DKK 160,000 to buy the same furniture. And on top of that, you get full flexibility – whether your company grows, downsizes, or simply changes its needs over time.
We’ve gone all-in on subscriptions
After subscribing to our furniture, we started looking into other possibilities – and thankfully, it turned out to be quite feasible.
We get our printer and internet from PrinterGuys, a company specializing in easy subscription solutions for various office hardware. Our high-end espresso machine and coffee beans are also on a subscription plan. Naturally, so are our green plants. Even our ongoing consumables are delivered via Matas’ product subscription. And let’s not forget the lovely fruit box that Aarstiderne delivers to us weekly, or the office bikes we rent through Swapfiets.
I believe it’s mission accomplished. Full subscription mode activated. And, of course, you’re more than welcome to come by Bredgade and taste our excellent coffee yourself.
Subscription makes even more sense for businesses
I fully understand that this is just our little experience of setting up a new office on a subscription basis. But is there a broader perspective here? I absolutely believe so. It’s clear evidence that the subscription movement, which has already taken over our personal consumption, is now making its way into the business world with full force.
Doesn’t it make even more sense for companies to subscribe to just about everything? A business’s size can change more quickly and drastically than a private household’s. Companies grow, shrink, and evolve. That’s why businesses have an even greater need for flexible solutions that can adapt over time.
This subscription trend in the corporate world is something we’ll see much more of in the future. And it’s not just for small businesses like mine. Major companies like Netflix, Klarna, and Booking.com are already NORNORM customers. And many more are sure to follow.
