Home furniture rental services gained traction in the last few years mainly due to timing and the upcoming generation. This younger population is more willing to move and relocate, which stimulates demand for rented furnishings.
Additionally, this demographic is less likely to purchase high-ticket items. This will further boost the market.
Flexibility
Furnishing a home can be a significant financial commitment. Signing a lease, putting down the first and last month’s rent, paying security deposits, and providing an apartment can add to a sizable upfront debt for a new homeowner.
Furniture rental like Brook Furniture Rental Inc. offers a way to outfit your home without the initial investment. Depending on your chosen company, you can pay for a 3- to 12-month period with flexible lease options. You can swap out pieces, return them, or keep them during that time. Most services have a wide selection of high-quality, stylish parts that you can choose from.
Their goal is to give young people in cities, who often move from apartment to apartment, temporary access to nice furniture they would otherwise have to lug from place to place.
Similarly, it provides a solution for international assignees who need help to ship their furniture from their previous homes in the US. By offering a variety of stylish, high-quality furniture pieces to suit any space and budget, they make it easy for assignees to move into their new home without worrying about lengthy pack-outs or damage during shipping.
Convenience
Home furniture rental offers a convenient way to decorate without costly purchases. It’s also a great option for people living in temporary living situations, like students moving between homes or families relocating for close-ended work assignments. Home furniture rental is the perfect solution for those who want to decorate their spaces with modern designs without making a permanent commitment.
Focusing on a specific niche is important if you’re considering starting your own home furniture rental business. This helps you build your brand around a target market and develop your marketing and supply chain operations to cater to that particular audience. Focusing on a narrow market segment will also help you source adequate investment capital for your startup.
Using paid search advertising and working with design influencers are effective ways to promote your new home furniture rental company. Additionally, implementing a comprehensive management platform to track your inventory and logistics is essential to streamline your business operations and boost efficiency.
As more millennials move into apartments across the country, there’s been a surge in the demand for home furniture rentals. Companies have been able to capitalize on this demand by offering convenient, affordable furniture packages that include white-glove delivery and assembly.
Value
Home furniture rental is an affordable option for shoppers looking to make monthly payments on furnishings without the commitment of owning them. Depending on the company, some furniture renters offer the opportunity to buy the furnishings at the end of the lease, and others provide a rent-to-rent model that allows customers to continue making payments and then own their pieces after the contract is complete.
Regardless of the rental model, most brands offer a wide range of styles, from the coveted Floyd sofa that retails for nearly $1,500 to more decorative accent pieces like side chairs and cocktail tables. The opportunity to test styles and silhouettes makes renting furniture an ideal option for design newbies and those unsure about their aesthetic preferences.
Furniture rentals are also smart for New Yorkers who want to avoid expensive upfront purchasing costs associated with buying a new apartment or house. In addition to signing a lease and paying the first and last month’s rent and security deposits, furnishing a space requires an investment of thousands of dollars.
Those hesitant about renting furniture due to a fear of damaging their pieces may be surprised to learn that most companies have a damage waiver for a low monthly fee. In addition, the ability to switch out items for something else at any time means that furniture rentals are perfect for those planning on putting their home on the market or anyone wanting to change things up in their homes regularly.
Sustainability
As with e-commerce, consumers’ increasing sustainability knowledge drives the demand for furniture rental. Renting instead of purchasing reduces the need for more raw materials, which means less consumption and a smaller carbon footprint. In addition, a company like Feather keeps pieces out of landfills by refurbishing and redeploying each piece multiple times before it goes to another consumer.
As a result, consumers are reducing their ecological impact and still have access to the latest styles of home furnishings. Moreover, furniture rental companies allow people to try out new products before they buy them — an important consideration for the highly transient millennial population.
Some of the newest furniture startups offer “commitment-free” home furniture rentals. These e-commerce brands let consumers rent furniture for as little as three months and swap pieces in and out of their inventory during the contract period if they don’t love the details or want to move on to something else.
In a world where the meaning of home has become a squeezed-in office, improvised classroom, reluctant gym, and spontaneous family restaurant all at once, renting is the more sustainable way to get the furniture we need for the day. And, with several brands already operating in this space, the trend is only set to grow.