Because of the increased mobility of modern business, starting a business focused on office furniture rental has become a lucrative idea.
You’ll find money-making niches across the board from simple furniture rental to party rentals to selling used furniture.
As people travel and move frequently for work, school or other reasons, moving furniture can become a challenging and sometimes cost-prohibitive affair.
Office furniture rental, therefore, has come to be one of the more popular and successful start-up business avenues. What’s more, starting a furniture rental business and helping people get settled quickly into their new locations can be very rewarding work.
Far from simply selling office chairs, computer furniture and office desks to big businesses, you may find yourself involved with segments as diverse as corporate housing, vacation homes and campus dormitories and apartments.
Managing Your Office Furniture Rental Business
Your first concern in this business is to properly manage your inventory. You will need enough furniture to fulfill demand, but must also be aware that excess inventory will quickly drain your working capital.
To help you get started, focus on one single rental market in the beginning. In this way you can build your inventory in "real time" as corporate contracts are signed, therefore avoiding the dreaded stock surplus.
You will want to keep your furniture looking new without draining your revenue by diverting too many funds to refurbishing your stock, so depending on the value of the item it may make more sense to buy a replacement and donate the old piece to charity or scrap it.
Used furniture can also be a cost-effective option when high-end stock is not necessary. Indeed, used furniture is often in very good shape – only requiring minor repairs which are affordable given the reduced purchase prices.
Expanding Your Business
A great way to prime your existing business model for expansion is to offer party rentals. For this side of your business, you will offer your customers tables and chairs, linens, silverware, bar supplies, tents and other party items.
You won’t be able to share your inventory across businesses (it is unlikely, for example, that you will be able to rent beds for parties and related events,) but you can certainly leverage things like rental agreements, delivery vehicles, warehousing storage and office space.
Another expansion opportunity is taking your older yet popular rental furniture and refurbishing and reselling it.
For small businesses on a tight budget, office furniture rental can result in much-needed savings. A ‘try before you buy’ strategy might also work well in this situation. In addition, if the business is seasonal rentals can lower expenses.
This sub-market of office furniture rental can be an essential service for today’s small business owner – and helps you to become successful and profitable in the process.
