The sharing economy continues to expand faster than the overall economy. ARA’s (American Rental Association) forecast shows a steady increase in equipment and event rental revenue to $55.8 billion in the US alone compared to a year before. Considering the figures, starting a sharing economy business is appealing. The truth is that starting a sharing economy or rental business requires hard work and there are no shortcuts and tricks. But with the right rental business ideas and commitment, you can launch a profitable rental business.
5 Lucrative Rental Businesses Ideas
Whether you are looking to establish your presence in the market or want to make extra money, there are countless ways to launch your rental platform. Here are 5 sharing economy ideas to help you get inspiration to build your own rental business.
1. Bike rentals
Bike rentals make an affordable rental business as it demands lower initial investments than any other rental business. If you want to offer high-end road bikes and mountain bikes, the investment increases. Depending on your location, staring a bike rental marketplace can be a profitable venture.
It brings in an excellent pool of opportunities for daily commuters to travel conveniently and affordably. To make bike rentals hassle-free, quicker, and affordable, you can offer unique business models to your target audience.
Revenue potential
The global bike rental business is expected to hit $4 billion by 2025. Your profitability is related to several factors like the location you serve, the demand, and a lot of other factors. To make your bike rental business more profitable, you can consider offering additional services like bike repair, guided bike tours, or selling bike gears, etc.
What does it take?
To start with, you have to devise a clear business plan that will help you map out the unique requirements of your business and discover some unknowns. Identify your target market, startup, and ongoing costs, how long it will take you to break even, etc. will help to get started with.
Register your business and get a license to ensure you are legally compliant. You can start out with a flat fee or hourly fee structure or offer a combination of both. Above all, your bike rental platform is important as the booking process takes place there. Keep the website appealing, user-friendly, and responsive.
2. Co-working space rentals
Co-working space that allows people from different companies to come together and work is a brilliant startup business idea. Co-working spaces are independent of a single office and are a shared work environment where people work, collaborate on projects, conduct meetings and exchange business ideas. It is ideal for freelancers, people who travel often, or just any company that wants to work in creative workplaces.
Co-working space rental sites work as a platform for people who want to rent out their place with people who want to use these rental services. In short, it just likes an Airbnb for co-working.
Revenue potential
It is predicted that there will be 22,400 co-working spaces worldwide by the end of 2019 and the number in the U.S alone will go up to 6200 by 2022.
The future of co-working spaces is looking like they are the next big thing in the rental space. The main mode of generating revenue for a shared workspace is when a business signs a contract to book the space for a period while renting the remaining free space to other interested parties. You can also attract higher-spending customers to monetize on membership fees.
What does it take?
All it takes to launch a co-working space rental marketplace is an online platform to allow people to connect with each other to utilize co-working spaces. Alternatively, if you have your own space, you can consider renting out that as well. It works similar to an Airbnb business model where it acts as a platform that connects service providers and renters. Just like how Airbnb connects people who want to rent out their living spaces with people who are looking for rental solutions.
Building a co-working space rental platform is easy with an Airbnb clone, as it helps in creating a fully functional shared working space effortlessly. Compared to independent offices, co-working spaces are a cheap alternative for new businesses and for the same reason it holds immense potential in the sharing economy.
3. Parking space rentals
A rental platform that connects car drivers with homeowners and businesses to rent parking lots is another great rental business idea worth considering. Parking space rental apps bring relief to car owners since it makes the whole process hassle-free and saves time. The primary function of parking rentals is to simplify the process of finding and booking free parking lots nearby.
Revenue potential
As real-time parking technology simplifies a tedious process, the demand is quite high. With increased demand, parking rental platforms have the potential to generate new streams of revenue. For example, parking rental platforms can make a good amount of money from premium memberships once the number of users increases.
What does it take?
Developing parking rental applications is a great way to kick start a new business leveraging modern mobile technology. All you need to do is to build a fully functional parking space rental platform that helps people to find free parking spaces nearby in real-time and to rent out their free spaces to make some extra money.
Your parking space rental platform must allow parking space owners to list out their spaces and for car owners to book parking lots on the go. The advantage of allowing booking on the go is that you can gain more profit with peak hour price rates and different pricing on special occasions.
4. Storage space rentals
The concept of storage space rentals is similar to Airbnb, and it can be considered as an Airbnb for storage space. A self-storage rental platform connects people who are looking for storage solutions with people who want to rent out their unused spaces at affordable costs. For storage pace owners, the platforms come as a handy solution to utilize their free space in a productive way. It also helps renters to book storage space effortlessly and cost-effectively.
Revenue potential
The revenue potential of your storage rental platform greatly depends on the number of customers you have. Hence it is really important to focus on increasing your user base once you start out. Like Airbnb, storage rental platforms also make money mainly from commissions and transaction fees, as the listing is free of cost. However, you can also make additional money by allowing premium and paid listings on the platform.
What does it take?
The storage rental businesses can be launched with a functional online platform with advanced features to make the storage space booking process easy for all users. You can use an Airbnb clone script to get the platform up in an easy, fast, and affordable way.
To succeed and be profitable in the market, it is critical to understand the needs of your customers so that you can offer services that match their expectations. Assuring the quality of services and keeping your storage rental platform secure to carry out online transactions is a great way to build trust among your customers and increase customer retention.
5. Baby gear rentals
Babies and young kids need a lot of stuff on a daily basis. However, packing and hauling the stuff across places while you are traveling doesn’t sound like a smart idea and it might even cost you additional money. The baby gear rental idea is gaining popularity as it is a flexible way to reuse baby equipment without buying new ones, thereby reducing wastage. Demand for this service is also growing among parents who are seeking easier and more relaxing day outs with their kids.
Revenue potential
With the global market value of baby products expected to hit $16.78 billion by 2025, it is evident that baby equipment rentals hold huge potential to rise into a lucrative business opportunity. While the primary way baby gear rental platforms make money is from commissions and transactions fee from users, there are additional revenue streams like selling complementary products and services.
What does it take
To launch your baby gear rental business, all you have to do is to build a platform that connects people who want to rent out their baby equipment with people who are looking for rental options for the same. In short, you help families pack light and travel easier while still enjoying a calm vacation with their young children. A website with a smart booking system, other essential features, and customer service is all that you need to start with.
Conclusion
Gone are the times when people only rented out items when they couldn’t afford it. Today, you can find a rental alternative for every product and service under the sky. Customers now prefer convenience and value for money over ownership. With more and more people adopting this trend, the sharing economy continues to grow rapidly. If you have been thinking about a rental business now is the time to give shape to your creative ideas. I hope these 5 rental business ideas gave you some inspiration to explore big opportunities in sharing economy. Share your valuable thoughts and feedback on this blog in the comment section.