Rental services are quietly emerging, and the road to shared home development can last for a long time.

It is reported that the home retailer IKEA plans to launch a new business this month: furniture rental services. When the news came out, it caused an uproar in the industry. In fact, with the rapid development of technology, consumers' way of owning products is also changing, and shared homes are quietly emerging. Many domestic and foreign large-scale home furnishing companies have already aimed at the opportunity to test the water home rental market.

Home sharing leasing is becoming a trend

It is reported that IKEA's leasing business pilot began in Switzerland, starting with corporate customers, the first products to be used include office chairs. “We will work with our partners and you can rent the furniture. When the rental period ends, you can return it and you can rent another one.” Torbjorn Loof, CEO of IKEA brand parent Inter Ikea Said, "IKEA will not throw away the furniture that is still coming back, we will do a little renovation, and it can be sold, which will extend the life of the product." In addition, he said that this rental model and the low carbon that IKEA has always attached importance to Environmentally consistent. IKEA publishes a social responsibility report almost every year, emphasizing the sustainability of the materials used.

According to Korean media reports, as early as last year, LG Electronics has launched rental products, including air purifiers, water dispensers, dryers, electric stoves, clothing care machines and massage chairs. At the same time, the company announced that it will launch “Care solution” appliance management service for users who use rental products, and regularly replace the core components of home appliances for users. For example, if the user rents a water dispenser, the company will not only provide the user with the service of replacing the filter core, but also check the status of the sensor, and replace the internal straight water pipe for the user free of charge every year. For users who rent laundry care machines, the company replaces the product water supply tank and drain tank every two years and provides the user with a fragrance film on a regular basis.

In contrast, Samsung Electronics, the largest electronics industry company in South Korea, has not yet entered the appliance rental industry directly, but has actively joined hands with professional rental companies to launch home appliance rental services. In June last year, the company sold clothing dryers, washing machines and other home appliances in the form of leases, and began to introduce clothing dryer rental services through “Modern Rental Care Company” in July. ??

In addition, in recent years, news about the financing of shared furniture companies has also been heard: in 2019, the US furniture rental company Fernish completed 30 million US dollars financing; in 2015, the Indian furniture rental platform Furlenco received $ 6 million A round of financing; 2017 Shake the home to complete the 3 million yuan angel round of financing, the home rental platform "Jujiajia" won millions of angel round financing.

Home market subscription service is popular

It is understood that the Korean market has recently appeared a series of subscription-based services, the scope of services has been extended to the automotive, household goods and other industries, and gradually become a mainstream lifestyle. At present, there are more than 300 companies specializing in providing subscription-related services in Korea, covering a wide range of industries such as culture and home appliances. The service targets are mostly consumers in the 30- to 40-year-old age group. As Korean consumers' demand for personalized products and services grows, the subscription-based service model will become a new consumption growth point for the Korean retail market while promoting consumption upgrades.

In the home decoration area, a person in charge of a gallery in South Korea said in an interview that the subscription service is very helpful for the sales of the merchants. Because the paintings only really hang there, they know whether they meet the overall layout of the home, and the consumers are replacing them. After a few times, I bought the favorite painting directly.

“I usually like to watch art exhibitions. I feel that every time I change my paintings, I will inject new vitality into my home. This is very good.” A home consumer who likes to show the exhibition is pleased. Every time you spend a small amount of money, you can make your home a new look and a sense of art through a decoration. This is the common aspiration of many home consumers.

High quality experience is better than "owning"

It is understood that the expansion of the Korean leasing and subscription market is due to the fact that as the economy is in a long-term recession, more consumers are beginning to focus on “product experience” rather than “owning goods”. Professor Dan Pansheng, a professor of business at Dankook University, said: "Everyone wants to use good products, but because of the economic downturn, everyone has to tighten their belts to live, so they will be interested in renting goods, and they will be able to satisfy themselves. The demand does not have to spend a lot of money in the short term."

In addition, the increase in single families is also a major reason. It is difficult for a person living alone to come up with hundreds of thousands or even millions of won to buy a variety of home appliances. According to data from the Korea Statistics Office, there were 5.5 million households in Korea in 2017, accounting for 28.5% of the total number of households in the country.

In contrast, China's research data from research institutions shows that China's current rental population is about 190 million, and the size of the main housing rental market is 1.1 trillion. It is estimated that by 2025, the scale of China's leasing market will grow to 2.9 trillion. By 2030, the domestic leased population will reach 270 million, and the market size will exceed 4.6 trillion.

In the context of consumption upgrading, young people have become more demanding of life after becoming the mainstay of the consumer market. High-quality furniture is a part of “life”. The shared furniture just fits the characteristics of short rental time and low budget, so you don't have to worry about furniture handling after moving. Behind the huge rental market, the shared furniture market is vast and vast.

Giant investment, "hematopoietic" model is crucial

According to industry insiders, since the current market is in the “sharing” turmoil, any shared economic project can attract the attention of capital, so sharing the home naturally has won a lot of capital. From the perspective of operation mode, today's shared home enterprises, the way to find the source of goods is mainly divided into self-production and self-rent and cooperation with third-party businesses.

For domestic enterprises, self-production and self-lease is obviously a very large project, not only need to build a furniture factory, but also have a complete manufacturing process. Due to fierce competition in the home industry, it is difficult to compete with some giants, so many companies still choose to cooperate with third-party businesses, and can launch different grades of furniture products for different groups of people.

According to industry experts, taking shared furniture as an example, the biggest problem facing it at present is that due to the monthly payment of rent, the slow return of cash flow, resulting in long profit time, etc., in the search for a solid "hematopoietic system", the back is still not Open up capital giant investment, so you can choose a mode of cooperation with tenants. For example, you can cooperate with some long-term rental apartments, but there are also many shortcomings: long cycle, low repurchase, low gross profit, etc., but because of their large amount of goods, they may be able to “small profits but quick turnover”.

In addition, the rest is facing the C-end - renting the public. Domestic shared furniture companies can imitate Furlenco, an Indian furniture rental platform, to launch suitable furniture and even package services for different room types. As the package service looks more affordable, it is also more popular with young people today. In short, relying on the huge rental market, we must find a reliable "hematopoietic" model and a solid profit model, this road can go long.

For more information, please pay attention to the official website of Xianghe Furniture City http://