From furniture to jewellery, renting firms sprout online

When Ajit Mishra, a 25 year-old media professional, moved from Lucknow to Mumbai, he did not have basic necessities such as a bed, chairs, kitchen utensils and refrigerator, among several other things.

He made a calculation and found that these things would cost him no less than ₹1.5 lakh if he wished to buy them immediately.

But soon, he discovered several e-commerce sites where he could rent these things at a fraction of the cost. For example, he rented a bed and a recliner sofa for ₹2,000 a month from Furlenco.com.

Similarly, Ayushi Poddar, a resident of Mumbai, rented diamond jewellery sets from Eves24.com to wear at her brother’s wedding.

“I did not want to splurge on new sets. So I rented it for just 5 per cent of the real value,” Poddar said.

Startups like Furlenco, Rentongo, Rentomojo, Eves24, Klozee, Bagsutra, Carzonrent and Rentsher provide the option of renting stuff. These start-ups either provide things that people need, or serve as middlemen, connecting people who want something to people who own it.

Constant movement Ajit Mohan, Founder of Furlenco, told BusinessLine , “According to a study, every urban Indian is moving houses once every three years for various reasons.

“This makes it financially unviable for them to buy and tag along their furniture wherever they go. It is a $5-billion business opportunity for us.”

The company, which was launched early this year in Bengaluru, already has 2,000 active subscribers at present. It was launched in Mumbai recently and plans to enter Pune, Hyderabad and Gurgaon soon.

Furlenco gives appliances and furniture on rent. It designs and manufactures its own products and gives it on rent at 2.5 per cent of the original price.

The only condition is that customers are required to rent the product for at least 3 months, and need to pay a month’s rental in advance as deposit money.

Drawback in model There is a flipside to the model as well, as rental companies have to bear the refurbishing and delivery cost.

In case of damage, the company refurbishes it and doesn’t charge anything from the consumer. Once the user returns the product, it is again refurbished (depending on the condition), and put on rent.

Bengaluru-based companies Rentsher, Rentongo and Rentomojo, rent and help people share products across categories, ranging from kitchen appliances, and gadgets to kids toys and costumes.

According to Sandeep Murthy, founder of Venture capital firm Lightbox, “The rental economy is growing despite the fact that people’s discretionary spending power has gone up. People want to spend wisely and not on things that have high depreciation like furniture and appliances.”

While renting economy seems like the new buzz-word, New Delhi-based Eco Rent-a-car had come up with the concept in the nineties for renting cars to corporates and events.

Aditya Lumba, Managing Director, said the company is betting big on the consumers segment, wherein they can hire a car for 4 hours and even up to 4 years.

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