The online rental economy is booming and its implications can be felt right across the retail sector. Ownership of what used to be vital assets for living - house, car and common goods such as furniture, clothing and numerous home appliances is in decline. This change is driven partly by a preference for minimalistic lifestyle among millennials and partly by the abundance of collective global resources. People no longer see the incentive in owning something when they can easily acquire it for a fraction of its cost for the needed amount of time.
From well-established brands to upcoming startups, everyone is focused on satiating the short-term and commitment-free needs of the modern consumer. The reasons are obvious; a report by PricewaterCoopers predicts that the rental market will touch a staggering $335 billion by 2025.
In no particular order, some of the leading segments in the rental industry would be:
- Dress Rental
- Furniture Rental
- Equipment Rental
- Car/Bike Rental
- Portable Toilet Rental
- Books Rental
- Accessory Rental
- Travel Gear Rental
- Sports Gear Rental
- Music Instrument Rental
Entrepreneurs looking to kickstart their venture in any of the following rental markets first need to set up base. This usually includes developing an online storefront or a marketplace based on their business model. Until recently, this was a tedious process but with the advent of numerous off-the-shelf online store/marketplace building solutions has become rather simple and less time-intensive.
Following is a list of the six most popular solutions:
- Sharetribe
Sharetribe is a perfect platform to build a Peer to Peer(P2P) online marketplace in the form of Airbnb, Etsy, eBay. It's an off-the-shelf, white-label and self-hosted solution that requires no installation, download or the coding skills of a developer. Sharetribe can handle all online payments and client's application hosting. It's a SaaS deployed on the cloud with an open-source code, which is ideal for new enthusiasts.
Website - https://www.sharetribe.com/
Type - B2B, B2C, C2C marketplace platform
Pricing - ShareTribeGo @ $79/month
Clients
- Kinspiring
- Canon
- Heineken
- Studiotime
Demo - 30 days free trial
Customer Support - 24*7 Live Rep Support
Features:
- Global Payment Option
- Secure Payment
- Responsive Design
- No Language or Currency Barrier
- Yo!Rent
Yo!Rent is popular for launching highly scalable, customized and self-hosted marketplaces for a wide range of products/services. Yo!Rent is a feature-rich solution that's capable of fulfilling a diverse range of business requirements. It's affordable pricing at just $999 and flexible payment options further make it a go-to online rental marketplace platform. There's no recurring fee and with just a one-time payment the buyer acquires a lifetime license. Yo!Rent demo is available publicly, which highlights its developers' confidence and transparency in their services.
Website - https://www.yo-rent.com/
Type - Multi-vendor by default but can be customized to develop a single-vendor platform.
Pricing: Starting @ $999 with flexible payment options. (30 days money-back guarantee)
Top clients
- Gearflow
- RentForAll
- BlingAround
- FWD
Demo: Free live demo available - https://demo.yo-rent.com
Customer Support: 1 year free technical support
Features:
- Rent/sell with an on/off option
- Real-Time Inventory Management
- Multiple revenue channels
- Smart review management
- Arcadier
Arcadier is a Singapore based marketplace Saas(Software-as-a-Service) provider with its proprietary marketplace technology. Arcadier builds white-labels solutions through subscription-based web-applications. The platform is fully customizable and easy to use and doesn't require any technical knowledge for installation. With its off-the-shelf, DIY platform and extensive feature offering, anyone can start buying, selling, trading and renting any goods and services.
Website - https://www.arcadier.com/
Type - Multi-vendor
Pricing: Starting @ $69/month, billed every 6 months.
Top clients
- Kinly
- Heya!
- Snap Squad
Demo: 30 days free trial available
Customer Support: 24/7 Live Rep Support
Features:
- Private marketplace
- Multi-lingual
- Custom Domain
- API access
- Multi-admin access
- Merchant sub-accounts
4. Genstore
Genstore is a product of ShopyGen, a Thailand based company. It's a white-labeled multi-vendor marketplace solution for launching a highly scalable eCommerce business. Genstore is an open-source Node JS platform, a technology that is widely used by companies such as Google, Facebook, and IBM. It offers a robust admin panel, unique seller dashboard along with native iOS and Android apps.
Website - https://shopygen.com/nodejs-marketplace-software/
Type - Multi-vendor B2B, B2C, C2C
Pricing - One time $999 payment
Clients
- Bridalope
- Gappers
Demo - Yes
Customer Support - 24*7 Live Rep Support
Features
- Robust Admin Panel
- Android & iOS app
- Multiple Revenue Channels
- Unique Seller Dashboard
- Exlcart
Exlcart is a SaaS-based open source marketplace solution for B2B and B2C businesses. This platform is capable of supporting unlimited vendors and allows them to upload an unlimited number of products. With social sharing options, users can easily share their products on Facebook, Twitter, and GooglePlus for maximum outreach. Exlcart offers a powerful admin panel, free themes, multi-lingual, multi-currency and payment gateways support.
Website: https://www.exlcart.com/
Type - Multi-vendor B2B, B2C
Pricing - Starting @ $399 One Time Fee
Clients
- Babynilia
- SAMMITR
- Sleepyhead
- Fashionworld
- MyGroceriZ
Demo - Free Trial
Customer Support - 24*7 Live Rep Support
Features
- Multi-seller platform
- Unlimited vendors/products
- Responsive layout
- Mobile applications
- Customizable
Final Thoughts
All the solutions mentioned in this blog carry the key features essential for launching an online rental marketplace. For business owners, the selection comes down to a combination of factors viz. level of customization available, type of hosting offered, technology stack platform is built upon, and the availability of mobile apps. Based on the type of marketplace one is planning to build, it’s best to check its requirements against the feature set and functionality offered by different platforms.
Do you feel I have not mentioned some other major rental marketplace platform? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below.