Consumer Electrical Rental Business?

[Pheonix]

Hello All,

Has anybody been involved in or got any thoughts on Consumer Electrical Rental Businesses? E.G. Renting high value electrical items such as TVs, Video Games Consoles, Computers etc out to the public.

Seems it used to be fairly usual but with the decrease in the price of tech + it becoming easier to get credit to buy the stuff out right it's become a much less well used method.

Seems to be big in Australia. Anybody have any thoughts about it?

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Just about 50 years to late at one time it was big business but now limited to a few small electronics companies in each town, 50 years ago every town had half a dozen renting shops

 

[Pheonix]

I thought this as well Chris. I've noticed a couple of comanies popping up, one in particular from Australia who are expanding quite quickly based on a franchise model. They 'franchise' out a region to somebody who basically generates the leads and finances the deals. Once a deal is done the company send out the product and the franchisee takes the repayments.

I can't work out if there is a demand for it, but when you look at the likes of Brighthouse who offer a similar (not rental) thing then I wonder if there is potential in it, perhaps in a different format to a few years ago?

 

[Chris Ashdown]

I see its as working with very low income families with high risk of additional work chasing up payments and runners who sell of the goods and move to the next town

 

[Pheonix]

Yes I think the bad debt level would be high, but perhaps if the charges wern't so outrageous as they are with some of the current providers, bad debt levels may drop down.

 

[silvermusic]

Yes I think the bad debt level would be high, but perhaps if the charges wern't so outrageous as they are with some of the current providers, bad debt levels may drop down.

At the bottom end of the market interest rates need to be high to cover the very real fact that many will default or be in arrears. I worked in retail consumer electronics in the late 70s and 80s, by the end of the 80s TV/Video rental was all but dead, due to easy credit availability, cheaper prices, better and more reliable equipment.

 

[Barnes Thomas]

True TV/ video rental has not been in the picture right now, and all because of easy credit availability, and you will get more reliable equipment on your own.

 

[Gecko001]

I have often thought that renting out home gym equipment might be a good idea. Often these pieces of equipment are used for about a couple of months and then end up as ornaments or just clutter. Renting would mean that you would only pay for how long you wanted to use the equipment. You could market it as cheaper than a gym subscription.