Assured profits@rent

Increased materialism and ambitiousness is influencing people to fulfill their dreams and desires even if they can not afford to buy certain things. One tried-and-true method is to take things on rent instead of buying. Besides showing off, certain things are actually required for some period of time and after their need is over, these things take place in one corner of the house. It is here that renting services have a role to play. Taking up something on rent is cost effective and saves energy and resources.

Spending more than one earns, is picking up pace these days. Entrepreneurs having realised the need are venturing into rental service businesses.

Renting a concept

The concept of renting products and services is not new to India. Around two three decades back when cable televisions were not there people used to bring VCR’s on rent and the whole family used to watch movies. Similarly, audio video cassettes were also brought on rent. The renting industry today has become more organised with the emergence of a lot of organised players. Rental services in India cater to segments like DVD, property, books, toys, phones, etc. Though in India the renting concept started with video cassettes, the idea is covering many industries.

Renting franchises

The fastest and the most reliable mode for expansion for any business is franchising. Rental service is not an exception. Entrepreneurs having successfully launched their brands, opted for franchise route to make their services available to large number of people across the country and internationally as well. Here we discuss some significant rental concepts and franchises available in India.

DVD Rental service

The concept of movie renting is the oldest and the most sought after. The trend came into being when people started renting VCR’s and cassettes to display a new movie to a cluster of people. The trend has continued to gain popularity even in the recent era.

BIGFlix, an Indian movie rental company is a prominent player in the industry. “The initial stages of the rental business had slow growth; the masses did take time to understand the concept of renting out movies. However, an ongoing process of educating the masses about the advantages of the concept of renting movies helped them understand the business and procedure,” said Puneet Sachdeva, Chief Lead- Franchise Operations, BIGFlix.com.

The company has 10 operational franchisee stores. The initial investment required to open a BIGFlix franchise is around Rs 12-15 lakh.

Toy renting

The concept not very famous so far, will soon gain popularity amongst the Indian parents. Children have a habit of stocking up their room with unnecessary toys. Ones the child is grown the only option left, is to either throw them away or give it to someone with a baby. Renting a toy is one option that the parents can opt to shave off the expenses involved in buying a toy.

Rentoys.in is one such company that rents toys to children. They have also tied up with Kid NGO 'Toy Bank' to provide toys to underprivileged kids who have never had access to their childhood right i.e. play. Speaking of the concept Neeta Verma, Founder, Rentoys.in said: “For most parents finding toys that do not add to the household clutter, but are still safe, fun and easy on the pocket is very difficult. And that's where Rentoys.in as a business came into existence for parents.” Rentoys currently have operations in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai. The initial investment for Rentoys franchisee is Rs 3.25 lakh with space requirement of 150-200 sq. ft.

Renting of books

The concept and service of renting books has been around for some years now, but has become more organised only recently. Books are considered a one time use material. Unless you are a big book worm and love to decorate your shelf with different genres and types of books, renting a book is the best option for you.

JustBooksclc (community library chain) started in 2009 with a vision to provide its readers with on tap selection of books. The company is present through franchising in 15 main libraries in Bangalore and two each in Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune. Their collection of books includes Fiction, Nonfiction, Childrens books and Regional books.

Mobile phones renting

Got a family convene or an office event coming up? Is your phone making you look futile? Then this option will definitely get you in high spirits. Renting a phone is the best alternative for technology freaks that are hesitant to empty their pockets on expensive phones. This particular service is designed for people, who want different varieties of phones either to check out its functions or just to brag.

Vincegrass Rent A Phone is one such company that rents phone to such tech savvy individuals. It presently has 284 franchisees in states like Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, etc. with its count increasing day by day. There is assured variant for investments from Rs 45,000 to Rs 28 lakh to take up a Vincegrass Rent A Phone franchisee.

Property renting

Property renting is one phenomenon that is not only common but also helpful for most of the families in India. While moving to a new place, the first thing that people find for is a broker that can help them find a rented accommodation.
Remax India is one of the many companies that aid people in renting property. The company presently operates 130 franchisee outlets across India and 7,000 across more than 85 countries in the world. The investment for a Remax franchisee is Rs 25 to 50 lakh for a master regional franchisee, Rs 5 to 15 lakh for a broker office franchisee and nominal initialization fee for a broker associate.

Emerging opportunity

The renting service providers are successfully running a strong franchise network across the country. “Rentoys.in is poised to expand pan India. In addition to all prospective franchisees, we are also looking for house wives who are aspired to become entrepreneur and love interacting with kids,” stated Verma.

Talking about Vincegrass Rent A Phone’s expansion plans Bhalla said: “We anticipate launch of attractive services which create new business for all investors in India. Our priority services are technology related and we will release our OneStop telecom after sales chain shortly that will give a new face to the next generation consumer services.”

With the bizarre price tags added to these basic products and services, people usually tend to simply window shop and do without the quality items that they would otherwise like to possess. Renting has made it easier for the people to own the thing they wish for at least for a little while.

Opting for franchise route has made these companies reach a larger market. Apart from the above mentioned businesses there is a scope for industries like handbags, dresses, cars, etc. to offer rental services via franchise route.