Note: If anything here does inspire you and you’re looking for the right software to empower your business, you can book a free Rentrax demo to talk to one of our experts.

1) Start a Wedding Rental Business

At the time of writing, most countries are still in COVID-19 lockdowns, which means a huge backlog of couples waiting to get married. The good news is that the wedding rental business was on the rise even before the pandemic, so that business will increase exponentially in the near future. Wedding rental businesses can offer any number of inventory for weddings, with everything from marquis tents and outdoor heaters to tables, chairs, and any wedding furniture you can imagine.

A good wedding rental business will slot itself easily into the wider wedding plan, offering essential wedding equipment as the main products and fancy little extra flourishes to offer as upsells. The wedding industry arguably relies more on reviews and word-of-mouth than anything else, meaning that going the extra mile with your wedding rental business could make all the difference between struggling to get by and skyrocketing to success.

2) Start an Event Rental Business

Wedding rental businesses could be seen as a very lucrative offshoot of the wider event rental business. It might be a good idea to broaden the scope of your rental products to include a wide range of events. You could focus on business events and conferences, supplying everything from chairs, tables, whiteboards, and AV equipment. Or you could lean more towards party events, renting out photo booths, ball pits, inflatables, and anything else guaranteed to draw a smile from any partygoer, both young and old. Check out our party rental software page.

3) Start a Bike Rental Business

Rentrax actually started out as a bike rental business (a business that continues to prosper). We tried so many different kinds of rental management software, only to discover that none of them could do everything we needed them to. So we created our own and realized we had made something more rental focussed and helpful than anything else out there. But back to bike rentals…

This niche can be very lucrative if you learn the right number of bikes to keep and the right balance of types of bikes and bike equipment. Cycling is becoming increasingly popular — with the global bike rental market expected to reach USD 4.00 billion by 2025 — and there are several smaller niches within the industry, so there’s plenty of room for small specialist businesses. Check out our bike rental software page; you might also like to read our guide on how to start a bike rental business.

4) Start an E-bike and Segway Rental Business

We’ve grouped these two together because they are all motorized vehicles, but each of these could be their own rental business idea — or grouped in with a bike rental business. That’s the same with many rental niches: if you think of a clever or helpful way to group one or two product ranges together, then do it. Just make sure that the combination makes sense. Otherwise, you’ll have to split your marketing and messaging to sell radically different products. E-bikes and Segways are the perfect way for tourists to explore a new city, making them ideal for tour operators both making tours and renting out tourism products on the side. If this interests you, take a look at our fully customizable tour operator software.

5) Start a Car Rental Business

It’s no secret that the car rental industry is huge, but many people assume that the few huge multinational companies have a monopoly on the car rental industry. But this simply isn’t the case. Lots of smaller car rental businesses do very well; you just need to find something that distinguishes you from the largest companies who spend millions on advertising and marketing. Whether you offer specialist or otherwise niche cars, an additional personalized service, or some other unique selling point, the car rental industry offers so much potential for those willing to compete for their fair share of the market.

6) Start a Furniture Rental Business

The furniture rental industry is probably much bigger and more lucrative than you first imagine. For people who move home regularly, it makes much more sense to rent furniture at a lower rate rather than buy and transport it to each new place. It also allows users always to have the best sofas, swapping them out whenever they want a new look. Furniture rentals are also ideal for event management, such as weddings and corporate conferences, so some companies overlap in these areas. If this is how you develop your furniture rental business, look for software and premises that complement both niches. Find out more on our furniture rental software page.

7) Start a Medical Equipment Rental Business

The medical equipment rental industry is flourishing (due to reaching USD 68 billion by 2024), but there is plenty of room for more businesses to get involved. Choosing between different kinds of medical practice is perhaps the biggest decision to make, such as dentistry, veterinary medicine, hospital equipment, etc. Talk to local practices in your area and find out their pain points; consider that many medical practices will consider monthly payments for rental properties a lot more appealing than paying in full for equipment — so it’s often an easy sell! If you’re interested, read our guide to starting up a medical equipment rental business or just go straight to our medical equipment rental software.

8) Start a Ski and Snowboard Rental Business

Skiing and Snowboarding will always be popular, but even enthusiasts who go on several ski holidays each year, understand that they are seasonal activities, and this means that there are huge stretches of the year when people simply can’t use their skiing or snowboarding equipment. This is part of the reason why the winter sport equipment rental industry is so lucrative as the seasonality discourages many people from buying their equipment. However many people also opt for renting ski and snowboarding equipment because they want to use the very best equipment, and renting the best gear is much more feasible than buying it. It can also be a good idea for a more summer-focused rental company (such as bike rentals) to diversify their offering, using ski rentals in winter to maintain their revenue stream in their low season. If you’d like to learn more, check out our ski and snowboard rental software page.

9) Start a Dumpster/Skip Rental Business

There perhaps isn’t anything surprising we can tell you about a dumpster or skip rental business, except to say that this is a service people will always need, with everyone from builders, gardeners, home renovators, and people moving to a new house all needing access to a conventional dumpster hire service. If you get your marketing just right, you can easily jump ahead of the competition in your area, as dumpster and skip hire services often rely on word of mouth and referrals as opposed to well-managed SEO and social media campaigns.

10) Start a Tool Rental Business

Tool rental businesses can be very successful if you’re willing to build up your inventory slowly and carefully, working out exactly which items you need 30 copies of and which items are unique enough that you only need to stock one. Keeping your stock lean at the beginning and adding in new items as and when you need them is a great way to grow at a sustainable rate without needing too much initial investment. Most tools are built to last, but your customers will still put your merchandise through the wringer on a weekly basis, so it’s important to make sure your inventory management software allows you to schedule maintenance checks. Rentrax’s tool rental software does this. It also offers the ability to monitor how much money each item has generated over time, allowing you to set upper thresholds where you can sell tools once they’ve earned a certain level above their initial investment cost but before they’re so well used that they won’t sell for a decent price.

11) Start a Camera Rental Business

Starting a small camera rental business could be an excellent option for any professional photographer with more than enough photography equipment for their own use. Be careful, though, your camera rental business could offer so much value that you forget about photography altogether, becoming a full-time rental business… Many businesses and projects require high-quality photography and/or videography equipment, but only for brief windows of time, making renting the best possible option. If you’d like to know a little more about how software can really improve your camera rental business, making it easier and more profitable, check out our AV rental software page (this page also includes the next rental niche on our list).

12) Start an Audio Equipment Rental Business

While audio equipment is grouped with photography equipment on our website, they can be radically different industries depending on your inventory’s main focus. For example, you can specialize in audio equipment for events, connecting more to wedding rentals than to anything else. Or you can specialize in local music events, receiving commissions for large public music and festival events. The scale and scope of your audio equipment rental business are completely up to you; this is a vibrant industry with many viable niches that allow small and medium-sized businesses to flourish!

13) Start a Stroller/Pram Rental Business

A stroller or pram rental business can be an excellent investment if you think a little careful about how you’re reaching customers. One angle is to offer strollers in places that offer maximum convenience. For example, there are often stroller rental businesses in theme parks that can generate a considerable amount of revenue as parents are perhaps on holiday and don’t have a larger stroller or, indeed, a car to transport it. Another option is to rent strollers at a lower price as a genuine option for parents who would rather rent high-quality baby equipment rather than buy it outright. The way you pitch and market these two possible stroller/pram businesses are very different, but both can be very profitable. You can also take this idea further by adding in various other kinds of baby equipment!

14) Start a Costume Rental Business

When marketing well, costume rental can be incredibly profitable — especially around key times of the year. Santa costumes around Christmas will always be popular, as will Easter Bunny costumes on Easter. And if you’re in a country where Christmas and Easter aren’t celebrated, we’re sure there will be several key times of the year when some kind of costume will be particularly possible. In North America and Ireland, England, and many other countries around the world, Halloween is the ultimate peak time for costume-rental businesses. As long as you have plenty of stock ready and have marketed your brand well enough, then you may even be able to make enough money over this period to make up for slower seasons. The main issue with costume rentals is that there are often several parts to the costumes, making it hard to track whether all your items are returned. This is where a truly powerful inventory management system comes in, as Rentrax allows you to edit and personalize your SKU-based system, allowing you to easily keep track of different kinds of costume rental items.

15) Start a Trailer Rental Business

A trailer rental business is actually surprisingly secure as long as you’re close enough to a large customer base to generate plenty of revenue. This is because most ordinary people would never require the use of a trailer often enough to actually buy one themselves — instead, simply renting one is almost always the better option. Most people also don’t have enough space on their driveway to even accommodate a trailer. But landscaping, moving house, DIY work, and various other events will all require the use of a trailer. Come up with a snappy name and spend a little time working on your brand — do this and you’re onto a really great business idea!

How to Make the Most of your Equipment Rental Business

So, we’ve covered fifteen different kinds of equipment rental businesses, and we may come back to add more later. No doubt one or two businesses on this list stood out to you more than the others, and now you’re trying to figure out how to make them work for you. Well, we’d like to offer a few pointers to help you make the most of your equipment rental business.

Your Website is VERY Important

This advice will hold for most businesses, but it’s still worth noting here. Even if you aren’t relying on online sales, potential customers will still want to check you out online. If you’ve put a little time and care into making a good-looking site that is clear and easy to navigate, then everyone who wants to check online to make sure you’re a decent company will be convinced. In this way, your website is your ultimate sales tool. And it can be made even better with some basic SEO. However, we don’t have time to go into how to do this now, as the topic deserves a blog (or two) all to itself. Suffice it to say that people Google nearly everything they want to buy — even if they don’t intend to buy it online. So ranking high on Google’s results pages is hugely advantageous.

Your Rental Software Can Add Lots of Value

Good rental software can be one of your greatest assets. There are some free rental software options, but most people who have tried both the free options and the higher-performing paid software options seem to agree that good software saves so much time and empowers your business so much that the paid option is significantly more worthwhile. There are too many intelligent features to list everything here, so check out our Rentrax rental software features page for all of the details. Otherwise, here’s a list of some features that may interest you:

• Native waiver: Rentrax has a native waiver function that protects the customer and the business. There are many third-party waivers that can be integrated into rental software, but it’s much simpler just to have a native waiver.
• SKU-based inventory: We have created a detailed SKU-based inventory management system enabling you to give your customers a wide range of features to choose between. Of course, the complexity of this depends on your rental niche and your inventory.
• Sales features: Sales and booking features are also built into our equipment rental software. Rentrax allows you to have sales and rental software as part of the same system. It saves money and time when you have both of these features in one place.
• Marketing Features: Rentrax also allows you to offer special deals to previous customers, both by email and SMS. This could be achieved on separate software, but it would cost more money and more time.
• ROI Tracking: Our inventory management tracks when your rental assets have earned over the initial cost of investment, allowing you to sell the stock after it has more than paid for itself. This refreshes stock in the most efficient (and profitable) way possible!

Reviews and Marketing are Key

There’s no point in having the best equipment rental business idea in the world if no one knows how good your service is. Just as SEO is important, so too are local sales, paid advertising, and any other activity that helps you get the word out about your brand. With only a few exceptions (depending on your rental niche), a good collection of customer reviews is the most important factor for any rental business’s success. This is because people are naturally wary of online businesses, so they use Google to find reviews left by previous customers. Reviews work better than testimonials as reviews are usually on third-party websites, making it much harder for companies to manipulate what people are saying about them. Whichever equipment rental niche you operate in — or plan to operate in — make sure you ask happy customers to leave reviews.

That’s all we have time for today. We hope we’ve given you plenty to consider, whether you’re simply dreaming about starting an equipment rental business or trying to develop one that already exists. We’ve included a lot of information in this resource — including a lot of information about our rental software features. If you’d like to ask some follow-up questions, please feel free to get in touch. Please also feel free to schedule Rentrax a demo with one of our experts!

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That’s where Rentrax comes in. Sure, we have plenty of software experts here, but we started off as a bike rental business, and we made our own software because we couldn’t find a software service that met all of our practical needs. This means that we aren’t purely sat at our computers, developing software; we are running our bike rental business, which also doubles as a ski rental shop in the winter. 

We decided it might be useful for anyone considering getting new rental software to write a brief guide to the kinds of useful features you will actually need for your bike or ski rental business. And if you need any further clarification, or you would like a free demo of our rental software, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Open-Ended and Closed Rental Duration

This could apply to skis too, but it usually just refers to bike rentals. Sometimes, customers will want to rent their bike over a flexible duration, bringing it back when they’re done with it as opposed to returning it on a fixed date. This kind of rental model depends on inventory and demand, but it can be a nice additional selling point to set yourself apart from competitors. The trouble is that most rental software is too rigid to allow for open-ended rentals on their system. Even if you don’t plan to add this feature straightaway, make sure your software offers it so that you have the option to include it later.

The Ability to Add Items Without Scanning Them

There are many expensive individual items within the bike and ski rental industry. Bikes, e-bikes, and skis can all be extremely expensive, depending on the model. Rental businesses are always adding new, exciting stock, and they don’t always have time to add each item to the inventory (SKU tracking).  To help you keep track of these more expensive models, your rental software should be able to track or log an item’s return without having to scan it every time.

Rental Software that Handles More than Just Bikes

Depending on where you are in the world, your bike rental business may be seasonal; this is why it’s often ideal to offer a different, more winter-friendly rental product to help generate revenue in your low season. As we’re based in Canada, our bike rental business doubles as a ski rental business in winter, but there may be other options for you, depending on where you’re based. Make sure that your rental software is nuanced and flexible enough to facilitate this second niche; the last thing you want is the added cost and time sink associated with getting a second rental software system!

Changing Rental Items on an Existing Order

No two days are exactly the same in the rental industry; there are just so many different variables to consider. Your rental software should allow you to change things out on the fly, as and when you need them to. For example, sometimes the rental item doesn’t work properly or gets damaged and your renters need to change the item with another without placing a new order. Your software should give you the power to do this. Software should empower you, not limit you!

You Need to Have a Native Waiver

This really is a game-changer. We can’t emphasize enough how important it is to have a good waiver system with your rental software. A native waiver has a lot more advantages over third-party waivers integrated into your rental software, and it is one of our clients’ favorite aspects of Rentrax. The native waiver system should be able to handle multiple renters in one order and also sign on behalf of a minor renter. Ultimately, the native waiver system saves you and your employees time, but it also saves customers time, giving them a smoother, easier experience with your company.

Facilitating a Pick-up and Drop-off Service

Even if your business doesn’t offer a pick-up and drop-off service right now, it’s a good idea to keep this option open by choosing a rental software with this functionality, allowing you to add the service later on if it makes sense for your business. The rental software should allow you to easily add an additional charge based on the delivery zone or distance. Without this function, it’s almost impossible to integrate a delivery service into your business, and it’s surprising how many rental software companies skip this particular option!

Demand Ultra-flexible Functionality from your Rental Software

This last point isn’t arguing for one particular software feature for any specific type of bike or ski rental business; it’s arguing for as much flexibility as possible. Your rental software needs to help in the day-to-day running of your business, and there are so many parts to this that can be a little easier with the right software features. Here are a few useful things to look out for:

• Driver license scanning (saves a lot of time)
• Security deposit management (saves time and eliminates errors)
• Automatic charges for late returns (saves time and eliminates errors)
• Allowing early pick-ups and late drop-offs (offers customers a more pleasant, more flexible service)

There are so many other great software features that are helpful when running a bike or ski-rental business that you might not have considered. Rentrax’s bike and scooter rental software and our snowboard and ski rental software offer all of the features discussed in this guide and you can schedule a free demo if you’d like one of our experts to explain how the software works over a video call. Even if you don’t choose Rentrax as your rental software provider, we hope this guide helped you out!

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Inventory Management

Of course, the first function you’ll want from your sports equipment rental software is inventory management. Depending on the kind of stock you’re renting out, you may have a huge number of different products, all at different sizes or with different specialty functions. This is why the inventory management system of your rental software needs to work hard for your business. Beware of stock software that has simply been repurposed from sales or some other irrelevant industry as it may not have the functionality you need from it.

Rentrax’s software offers inventory management features specialized for sports equipment rental companies:

–   SKU-based inventory management allows customers to select the specific kinds of sports equipment they would like to rent, personalizing the service. Think about it this way: if your inventory management software allows you to easily categorize your stock according to size, shape, function, color, etc, then customers will have a better, more personalized experience with your brand, leading to good reviews, repeat custom, and personal recommendations.

–   The inventory management system tracks how much your equipment has earned since you acquired it, allowing you to sell off your equipment as and when it has earned over its initial investment. Selling off stock before it is so old that it has lost any resale value is a great way to increase revenue, and it also helps you maintain fresh new stock at all times.

Software Functions that Make Sense to Sports Rental Companies

Anyone who has worked in any kind of rental niche knows how different it can be to other retail services. There is usually additional customer interaction, this is because there is an initial sale combined with timeframes and the moment when a customer brings the rental item back. This is why any software that has merely been adapted from traditional sales software simply won’t provide the same level of specialist functions. Here, we’re talking about the interface and day-to-day quality-of-life functions that just make sense to anyone working in rentals. Whichever software you choose, make sure it has been developed specifically for rental businesses — the majority of the software promoted online are merely repurposed from something else.

This is actually Rentrax’s origin story, as we started out as a bike rental company that was struggling to find a rental management software that offered all of the features and functions we needed it to. So, when no one seemed to offer the functionality we needed, we decided to attempt to make our own software. This took a while, but the result is a rental software service built by a rental business for rental businesses. We understand how busy things can get when you’re running a rental business, so we understand how important it is that your software speeds up transactions and make your day-to-day activities easier. It was with this ethos that we designed Rentrax. If you’d like to know more, read our about us page.

Native Waiver System

Depending on what kind of sports equipment you’re renting out, you may need a waiver system to protect your business. It’s a legal responsibility, but it’s also just good sense. There are numerous third-party waiver systems you can use, and many of them are very good. However, having the waiver system native to your rental software is so much more convenient as you don’t need to jump between systems, messing around with logins, and filling in all of the details again, for a second time.

This native waiver system saves so much time and effort. This is either time saved for the business owner, allowing them to work on marketing or business development. Or it saves time for employees, allowing them to spend more time talking to and serving customers, offering a better, faster experience.

Sports Rental Software with Sales Functionality

We realized that adding sales functionality to our rental software would help us and any other equipment rental company. This is because so many rental software options simply don’t offer any kind of straightforward sales functions. However, most rental businesses find that selling smaller items can work well both for upselling and for simply enticing customers with an impulse buy at the till. For example, a bicycle rental company may offer cycling shorts or water bottles at the till, or a gym equipment rental company could offer protein supplements. There are so many different kinds of products that rental companies can sell rather than rent — so why should they be forced to record these sales on a different system?

Integrating sales revenue with rental revenue is a no-brainer. It’s easier for everyone involved, and it’s much easier when it comes time to do your accounting. And this leads us to our next point… 

Built-in QuickBooks Integration

Given the popularity of QuickBooks as the number one accounting software, used by 4.5 million small businesses, we felt it was important to make it as easy as possible to integrate QuickBooks into Rentrax’s sports rental software. Unlike offering simple sales functionality on our rental software, accounting is best left to the experts. However, it is incredibly convenient to have the software integrate perfectly into your system, saving a lot of time, capturing and recording all the right data in real-time.

There are, of course, various specific features worth considering when you’re looking for the right rental software for your sports equipment business, but we hope we’ve at least focused your search a little, helping you home in on the most important factors. There is much more to Rentrax than we’ve had time to discuss here, and we would be more than happy to offer you a free demo. Schedule a demo today if you’d like to learn more. And if you’d like some more useful guides, take a look at how to create a business model for a rental business and how to calculate ROI for equipment rental software.

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According to a recent study, 30% of an employee’s work time is taken up by searching for paper. You don’t want your staff to search for paper – you want them to focus on providing better customer service.

Nowadays, most renters are very comfortable with working on the internet. Most of your customers are likely Millennials who crave efficiency and expect a streamlined customer experience. Their lives are completely integrated into the tech world, making platforms like social media and google an essential part of how they interact with businesses.

Furthermore, a paperless environment may also mean less energy consumption while customizing documents to meet their needs.

You should go paperless and sign up for Rentrax – the best cloud-based rental equipment software.

1: Automation

Rentrax allows you to automate your workflow so that you can manage your store in a much more efficient manner.

You can, for example, pull up the reservation details quickly in a matter of seconds. Rentrax is one of the best online reservation systems for sports rentals and the best Cloud Based Rental Equipment Software. It allows you to store, retrieve or search for reservations much faster than you can within a traditional paper-based system.

2: Better customer service

Rentrax saves time so your staff can focus on more important tasks, such as customer service.

Instead of waiting in a queue for the paperwork to be completed, your customers can register and sign up for your sports equipment on their smartphones or tablets. They can even sign their contracts electronically, which can speed up purchase requests, loan approvals, expense reports, contracts, and much more.

3: Cloud-based

Rentrax is a cloud-based system. All contracts are stored in the cloud, so there is no risk of losing your customer files or data. If you have a bike rental, for example, you don’t have to worry about losing the information on the bikes, such as the height, pedals, and so on. You can track your bikes and the rest of your inventory with the click of a button. Rentrax is easily one of the best inventory-tracking software for rental businesses. All invoices are electronic, so you don’t have to worry about printing them out. You can also monitor your business tax and insurance information. Any relevant documents, such as passports or driver’s licenses, can be scanned and digitally saved in the cloud to be accessed whenever needed.

4: Security

Since all the information is stored in the cloud, Rentrax provides you with maximum security.

You don’t have to worry about your documents getting damaged in a disaster such as fire, flood, etc. All the data is stored in the cloud and backed up regularly, so no matter what happens, your files are safe.

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Sports rental stores are one of the best small business ideas out there. Rentrax is a top-rated sports rental management software and we work closely with sports rental stores across the country, so we know a thing or two about this business.

The advice given is based on our experience of providing solutions such as equipment tracking software for this fast-growing industry.

Tip #1: Do your research on your target audience

Location matters a great deal when you’re starting a sports equipment store. Having the store by the beach is much different from having one in the city – both will have different types of customers. You should know who your customers are, whether they are tourists, students, or young professionals, and invest in the sort of equipment that they are looking for, whether it is something high-end or basic.

Tip #2: Don’t overspend on the equipment

The last thing you want is to purchase too much equipment and have idle inventory lying around, taking up space and money. An inventory tracking software such as Rentrax which has been made especially for sports rental stores can come in really handy in this case. Don’t overspend on the equipment and buy only as many as you really need.

Tip #3: Look for ways to buy your equipment cheap

The equipment that you buy is your biggest expense as a sports rental. You should make it a point to save as much as possible on every purchase. Don’t waste money on the latest and best equipment; instead, look for more cost-effective alternatives. If your customers are looking for affordable skis or bicycles to rent, it doesn’t make sense to spend a large amount of profit on expensive equipment. Why not buy used equipment instead, as long as it is in good condition?

Tip #4: Have a lawyer look through the terms and conditions

Are you sure your paperwork is perfect? Starting a new business requires a lot of formalities to be taken care of. Get help from a qualified lawyer and have your terms and conditions checked by them so that there’s no confusion later. This should cover issues such as damage, loss, theft, etc. related to the equipment.

Tip #5: Invest in a professionally designed website

You should have a proper website when you start a business these days, even a brick-and-mortar business such as a rental equipment store. Keep in mind that your customers will google you first before they initiate contact. A professional-looking website creates a decent impression. Also, invest in SEO, Facebook marketing, and pay-per-click advertising to build your visibility online, especially on Google and Facebook.

Tip #6: Build relationships with strategic partners

You should develop relationships with strategic partners such as hotels, bed & breakfasts, restaurants, coffee shops, etc. with the understanding that they will refer you to customers looking for sports equipment to rent.

Tip #7: Get all equipment insured

You should make sure that your equipment is properly insured. There cannot be any compromises on this. Get appropriate business liability insurance for your store.

Finally, if you’re planning to start an equipment rental business, invest in a cloud-based real-time inventory management and equipment tracking software such as Rentrax to make sure that you are in complete control of your business. Rentrax is reasonably priced, easy to use, secure, and efficient. It takes only a couple of minutes to set up and can be customized according to your specific requirements.

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To begin with, you should know that sports rentals have to compete in a very crowded market. It is wise to first do your research, analyze the competitive landscape in your area and see where you fit in. List your local competitors; mark their locations on a map.

Is the local market big enough for your sports goods rental business to be profitable? The last thing you want is to compete with too many other businesses in a fast-shrinking market. So, analyze the demand for sports rentals closely.

Talk to people who are already in the rental business, or have run a rental business in the past. You cannot expect your local competitors to reveal much, so talk to an expert who does not own a sports rental store; or someone who has retired or moved on to another business. You can expect them to be more objective in their assessment of the market.

You should try talking to sports good rental owners in other cities. When they realize that you’re not going to compete with them, they are likely to be happy enough to offer tips and great advice on the business.

Next, consider your options. Should you acquire a pre-existing store or launch a brand-new rental? This is a decision only you can make, after looking at the benefits and drawbacks of buying an already existing business.

The advantage of buying an existing business is that you will make money from day one. If the sports goods rental has a good reputation in the area, then you should have no trouble attracting new customers and holding on to the existing ones, provided you offer the same quality of customer service.

But it is not easy to buy an existing business. It could cost you a fortune for one, and you may not find one that matches your business philosophy.

You could try the next best option, which is to purchase a franchise instead. This way you can take advantage of a pre-existing model and an already famous brand name. But it’s possible that the best franchises are already taken, and you’re left with those that are not so well known.

In that case, it is better to start off on your own and launch a brand-new sports goods rental. There are so many things to be taken care of, such as identifying the right location, purchasing sufficient equipment and spares at affordable rates, designing a website, investing in marketing, and much more.

One of the most important things you will need to do at the outset is to invest in cloud-based sports rental management software. Rentrax is the best rental management software for sports goods rentals that comes with inventory tracking, equipment tracking, online reservation system and allows you to automate your workflow.

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3 Reasons to use Rentrax software

It is crucial to understand that communication with customers holds a basic need when you get involved in a rental business. When a customer invests money into an experience, you are promising him a good bike ride ahead. The customer will expect you to help him achieve a memorable experience without wasting any time. To prevent such business losses, turn to our Bike Rental Software which will help you set up and manage your fleet and help in tracking and scheduling rides – all at the convenience of your fingertips.

A good bike rental management system will help you to achieve the following goals:

Makes you a better manager

Our software will help you remain updated with the records of your bicycles at every level. This means you will always have updated information about the location, time, client, and repairs of your bike. This makes managing your inventory an efficient and fast process. When a customer contacts you for details, you provide a convenient interaction and can go ahead to make a sale!

And a better manager!

Once a deal has been settled, you can draft your order in our software and generate invoices. Once the payment has been processed and the signatures are in place, you can draw up maps, brochures, and manuals to help your customers draw the best route possible for their cycling expedition. You can offer him/her additional support in bike repair, the knowledge of which will be saved in the software. We do not expect you to remember the maintenance of each bike.

Benefits in cross-checking returned items

Once the customer returns your bike, the Bike Rental Software allows you to scan and verify the returned items and identify damaged or missing parts. If you come across any damages, the software will draw up a charge to be collected from the customer. This will ensure transparency and allows you to retain customers for their future cycling plans.

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Logical structure

The entire software interface is built upon a logical structure modeled to match how a typical equipment rental business would organize its fleet in a physical store.

The software follows the same structure to help you set up and mentally organize your inventory within its database. With Rentrax, your inventory is managed first based on categories, and then your individual products are placed inside of any relevant categories as defined by the user.

For example, if you have different types of rental equipment (such as Bikes, Boats, Ski items, or Jet Skies), you can define and create your own categories to separate and organize your rental equipment.

Set your pricing packages hourly or daily for maximum billing flexibility

Under each category, Rentrax gives you even more flexibility by enabling you to set “Category policies and pricing” for similar items or groups of products. You can set your pricing packages based on both hourly & daily rental periods for maximum billing flexibility.

Track inventory

Product categories in sports equipment rental software are where you tell the software which items will be made available for rent only, retail, and/or for your customers to borrow if that applies to your business. This means you can track every item in your store if you want to.

Import your products from an excel CSV file or add products manually

A products tile allows you to either import an entire catalog of your products from an Excel CSV file or add one product at a time. You can set your rental rates at the Product Category level or the individual product level.

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