Many business owners are now focusing on online rental marketplaces as a lucrative industry as the sharing economy and e-commerce platforms grow. Not in vain either. Online shopping is becoming more and more popular, and so is shared consumption. Total rentals are predicted to reach $600 billion by 2027, per Statistica reports.
The advantages offered by online rental services are one of the driving forces behind the increase in popularity. It is useful and available in this instance. According to US studies, 77% of consumers would rather save money by renting than by buying.
Why are Rental Goods Becoming More and More Popular?
Gen Y’s Interest in Shared Consumption
People aged 26 to 41 who were born between 1981 and 1996 are currently active consumers. They already have children, a steady income, and associated fixed costs, such as those related to their home, daily living, a car, their family, travel, etc. Instead of emphasizing ownership, Generation Y has grown increasingly dedicated to the idea of shared consumption.
The Consumer’s Desire for a Better Offer
Renting is typically less expensive than buying. Particularly when it comes to seasonal products and complicated products (e.g., electronics, gadgets) when the decision-making process takes longer. The Lost Profit Syndrome (FOMO) is one of the driving forces in this situation.
Current Shopping Malls and Rental Aggregators
There are more and more rental electronic platforms available for various market areas. They are distinguished by a wide range of offers, save the user time, and simplify and rely on their functionality. Consequently, they are becoming more credible. Just to name a couple of the more popular ones, there are Airbnb and Uber.
Consumption
Consumption that is repeated and shared is encouraged by environmental safety concerns. Renting out items gives you the chance to safeguard the environment, which raises your personal responsibility score. Even large, powerful corporations are subject to the influence of environmental campaigners, which forces them to reduce their product’s carbon impact.
How to Setup An Online Rental Marketplace
Once you start the process of building an online rental marketplace, you will need to work with a tech individual or company to ensure the success of the entire venture. The procedures you must carry out after being cleared to proceed are as follows:
Knowing the Requirements: Start by outlining the main points of your concept. Once your idea is established, you now discuss the necessary expenses.
Creating a Strategy: This involves developing a workable plan for the entire process, including the steps to follow, the tools to utilize, and the features needed to ensure its success. This crucial stage reduces the likelihood that issues may arise once the project is finished.
Implementation: You currently have every single piece of information needed to carry out the processes. Therefore, the tech team has a responsibility to use the most recent technological developments to produce the greatest product. The project management team has the opportunity to set your company apart from the competition at this time.
Deployment: As soon as your project passes several quality checks, it is deployed. Deployment, however, can only take place with the QA team’s approval.
Post-Deployment Services: This stage, which is sometimes referred to as the maintenance phase, is when you guarantee timely updates and ongoing maintenance services to guarantee a positive user experience.
Cost of Rental Marketplace Development: The complexity of the project and the kind of team working on it are two variables that affect the cost of developing an online rental marketplace. As a result, considering all the variables, the price tag for such projects may range from $8000 to $100,000.
How to Start Earning Money from Your Online Rental Marketplace
Let’s investigate how the rental process functions in the market, who the participants are, and what the advantage is. Product owners, or vendors, can post their rental advertising on your rental marketplace. The marketplace model in this instance might be:
- Business to Business – Manufacturers of coffee machines, for instance, may rent out their supplies to coffee shops.
- Business to Consumer – Building owners lend out space to customers for special occasions.
- Consumer to Consumer – Apartments are rented by private property owners.
- Mixed – Both people and businesses utilize the Internet to advertise their services. For instance, anyone can rent automobiles from taxi companies and private proprietors.
As a result, the owners profit from every day that their goods are rented out. How will you make a living? There are numerous choices:
Transactional Commission
The most common source of income. Depending on the product’s margin, the seller’s reputation, the number of transactions, etc., the commission’s size can vary.
Promotional Cost: Owners pay to move their adverts up in the general ranking so that they are visible first.
Ads: Owners have unrestricted access to the market, but they must pay to post a rental listing.
Subscription: For each month that an ad is shown on your website, you charge sellers. suitable if there is little rivalry in your industry and the service is well-liked. Or your market is well-known and has already made a name for itself.
Key Features Of An Online Rental Marketplace
Photo by Roberto Cortese on Unsplash
Now that we understand how online rentals operate, let’s consider what should be included in the marketplace to make it useful and appealing to vendors as well as tenants.
Reservation Add On
This is the essential killer feature. Your marketplace won’t run smoothly without it. Additionally, you’ll take applications by phone or mail. The visitor should be able to make the proper product, dating, and rent decisions. It is essential to alter the functionality in certain systems while adding this feature as a separate addon or plugin in others.
Users can save time thanks to this feature, which is its main benefit. They will be able to place an order and pay for it online rather than having to wait for a reply to their email.
Availability Schedule
The user can see which dates are available for booking the product on it. By using this approach, retailers will be able to monitor and regulate rentals while avoiding duplicate orders. The availability calendar will automatically update with orders that have been placed.
The customer chooses and reserves things for particular dates that are open. The administrator will view placed and paid orders in the CRM system.
Automatic Determination of the Reservation’s Cost
It’s possible to offer a dynamic price for specific types of commodities. For instance, hiring a place for a vacation during the week is less expensive than doing it on the weekends. Also subject to change is the pricing. Automatic cost computation will bring concrete, user-friendly features to users and dramatically simplify how sellers manage the marketplace. Automate the calculation if extra factors have an impact on the reservation’s pricing for the benefit of users.
Advance Bookings and Full Payment for Booking
Different payment methods should be supported by payment systems. Users will have greater advantages over competitors if you provide them with more payment methods. As your market expands and changes, it is worthwhile to use each strategy because it has its benefits.
Although pay-on-delivery gives your website legitimacy, you can encounter “ghost clients.” You have an assurance from prepaid orders that the customer will use the service and you won’t lose money. 100% payment gives merchants more time to get their goods ready for rental.
Receiving and Returning Techniques
Any shipping method, just like typical online retailers, can be used to do this. It should go quickly if you need to deliver the item that same day. Alternatively, you might adhere to the “order online, pick up in-store” maxim. Add the locations where you rent out or return items.
Automatic Letter and Document Mailing
Managers may find it time-consuming to manually send emails about successful bookings, booking confirmations, reminders, and documentation. Administrators will benefit greatly from time savings and error prevention provided by mailing automation.
Verification of the Tenant’s Reliability
Consider a means to confirm the client’s security in advance because some equipment is quite expensive to prevent fraud. You can accomplish this by establishing a validator-based system for customer verification. CSiRentals has put this experience into practice. They provide for hire cameras and video equipment.
A three-step verification process using Telesign, Emailage, and USPS validators is employed to confirm tenants. All personal information is verified, and information on potential hazards is provided.
Conclusion
You are already well on your way to success in the internet rental market if you have the proper setup and marketing plan in place. You will have everything you need to start a successful rental business if you take the time to research the finest technological solutions, cultivate strong client connections, and offer a simple and convenient service that you will want to use again and again. Therefore, go ahead and start developing your rental marketplace!
Check out: Quick Ways to Attract More Customers to Your Business and Make Money
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