On Demand Rental, Rentoza Is A Startup That Allows You To Use What You Can’t Afford To Buy

You can’t always buy what you want, but with Rentoza, you can get what you need when you need it.

Forget about buying stuff and say hello to renting with Rentoza.

Rentoza

We have all, to one degree or another, been in a situation where we needed an accessory for a special day. Sometimes it’s an appliance for a recipe we want to try out, or make for an occasion. These things are usually single use, and we may never use them often or again.

The usual route is to ask a neighbour or a family member if they could lend it. That’s if they have what we are looking for. Rentoza is a start up looking to change that.

What is Rentoza?

Rentoza is a South African start up that seeks to make everyday things available to the consumer by sourcing those items from retailers. Their angle is that retailers have stock that they wouldn’t be able to readily move and consumers might just want an item for a short period of time.

“A market place that provides simple, secure, on demand rental access of lazy assets on to the consumer market.”

Chris Govender Rentoza CEO. Speaking at Startupbootcamp 2019

Chris Govender in his pitch at Startupbootcamp Afri Tech 2019, asked the audience if they had watched South Africa win the World Cup on a 65-inch Samsung QLED TV. None in attendance raised their hands, because at time the TV retailed for R72 000 (above USD4000). It’s a steep price for a television. But his case was that you can rent a top of the line product to enhance an event or an experience.

It doesn’t have to be an expensive television, it can be something that’s needed at a moment’s notice.

What do they have in stock?

Currently, their website has three categories, Appliances, Electronics and Baby Equipment.

“Through our good friends at RCS, we learned that within their retail space, we have potential access to over 25 000 retail stores. Through some research we conducted, we identified three high earning or potentially earning “verticals”, being appliances, consumer electronics and baby goods.”

A Vertical being, niche(s) a company serves to their audience’s specific need(s)

In Appliances, they have the traditional household staples. There wouldn’t be a real need to rent a microwave if you have a place of your own. But if you are renting a space for a short time, and it doesn’t have a microwave or an air conditioning unit then this service could come in handy.

The one category I found very interesting was baby equipment. Ranging from strollers, baths to camp cots. They have most of what any new parent would need to contain or ferry around their child, if the item may have been overlooked.

How does the customer access a product?

The customer simply has to register with Rentoza. Select the item(s) they want and for how long. The customer will be notified by email and through the app to make the payment.

What are the benefits for Retailers?

This TV you see before you, sat on the floor of Young Pioneer for 8 Months. Typically, Young Pioneer would discount this by 40% and sell it off as a demo model to move it swiftly off their floors.

The daily Rental Rate from Rentoza for an asset like this is 1% of its market value. So that’s 1% to gain access to what typically the 1% will have or be able to afford.

(“This TV” refers to the 65-inch Samsung Qled TV)

It’s definitely an alternative for retailers if they have stock that they can’t move or if they don’t have an in house rental facility. It certainly gives consumers a different way to get products they wouldn’t otherwise have access to.

Uber and Lyft (and now of course Vaya) changed the idea of ownership. Unlike taxi companies that had to buy vehicles in order to provide a service, Uber allowed vehicles already owned to serve that function. For some, the idea of owning a vehicle isn’t really a priority if they can hail a ride through their smartphone. It also does quite a bit for environment if some cars already on the road are available to anyone who wants a ride…

It’s difficult to imagine moving into a house and renting a television. Some of these things are just commonplace. But depending on how Rentoza’s business model evolves who knows what the future may hold.