The global events industry is gaining scale at a growth rate of 12% between 2023 - 2032. That is a leap of over $550 billion in the next 9 years. So, ready to look into launching a party equipment rental store now?
There are not many ready-made software options available that support party rental operations. To help you out, we will share some factors that you can consider to select a reliable party equipment rental software for your business.
Considerations Before Selecting a Party Equipment Rental Software
These are the four primary factors to consider in your research. First is software features. Because of the complexity in operations, party rental operations will require some special features.
1. Software Features
The business model of a party rental store is a bit different from other eCommerce stores and rental websites. Due to this, it requires a special set of features including:
- Rental Inventory Management: The variety of party supplies is vast. With the same equipment available in different designs, colors, styles and themes, it has become essential to have a complete set of rental inventory management features, including real-time tracking, product categories, custom filters, low stock level alerts, maintenance periods and overdue returns management.
- Pricing Flexibility: Customers rent party supplies for days, weeks and sometimes even months. Thus, your party rental software should have a tiered pricing option where you can set daily, weekly and monthly rental prices.
- Sales Functionality: For consumable items included in party supplies, such as balloons, confetti, custom banners, frozen snacks, disposable plastics, etc., you will require a sales option with which customers can directly purchase these consumables from your website.
- Request for Quote: Party supply orders can be complex. While some customers may only require decor, others can ask for upholstery, furniture, music equipment, stage, lighting and even catering or DJ services.
The quantity and booking durations of all these times can also vary. Thus, to evaluate and give a proper estimate for such requirements, your party rental platform requires a Request-for-Quote module. - Rental Agreement and eSign: As the business owner, you can have several terms and conditions regarding the usage and rental period of the equipment. You can sanction all such terms with the help of a rental agreement module. Along with this module, the eSign feature will allow you to collect online signatures from any device.
- Rental Buffer Period: Once the rental period is over and all the supplies are returned, they require proper inspection and maintenance, which can be very time consuming. Thus, while your equipment is under processing, it cannot be added in inventory. With a pre-set buffer period, you can automate the entire process easily.
- Document Verification: The risk of theft and product damage remains a lot in all rental niches. Thus, you need a feature to help you collect and validate important documents for identity and address verification. Unverified rental operations are not recommended in any rental niche nor do they help you safeguard your inventory.
Some other features to look for in a party rental software are:
- Booking calendar
- Late cancellation charges
- Content management system
- Payment management
- Tax management
- Custom filters
- Product comparison
2. Type of Hosting
There are two primary types of hosting available in the software industry. Both of them have their own benefits.
The traditional one is self-hosting, where you get the option to host the readymade solution on any server of your choice. It can be either an on-premise server or a third-party hosting service.
The other type of hosting is SaaS hosting, in which the software is pre-installed on the software provider’s own server and you need to pay monthly charges.
While the former gives more freedom in selecting a fast or more secure server, the latter does not require you to invest in a server separately.
3. Pricing
While following a precalculated budget is important, entrepreneurs often tend to invest in cheap software that only provides basic functionalities or is not usable for a long time.
Thus, the best approach to find a reasonably priced software is to evaluate its long term value over a period of 3-5 years.
A major price difference between SaaS and self-hosted software that we see is that while SaaS software appears to be budget friendly in the short term, in the long run self-hosted software is more cost effective.
4. Scalability
Every entrepreneur wants his business to grow but for that, you also require highly scalable software. A scalable software grows with your business, no matter how many product listings or user profiles you add.
On the other hand, non-scalable software will have feature restrictions and limitations on the number of users, listings and transactions.
To expand your listing range, some companies force entrepreneurs into paying more but again, such companies are neither scalable nor affordable in the long run.
- Our Recommendation
Considering all aforementioned points, YoRent party rental software is a highly reliable solution.
It comes with dedicated features to support rental operations, ranging from but not limited to booking calendar, document verification, rental buffer period, inventory management, security management and product comparison.
Further, it is also a self-hosted solution, meaning the software provider cannot put any restrictions on the number of listings and transactions, making the solution highly scalable. Some other reasons to invest in YoRent are:
- Available at a one-time cost
- Multi-currency and multi-lingual support
- State of the art features
- Complete white label solution
Conclusion
While entering in the party rental industry is a profitable business idea, like all other businesses it will require the business owner to put in consistent efforts.
The right party rental software will help the business owner in streamlining those efforts and aligning them in the right direction.
It will also improve the overall efficiency of the business while cutting down operational costs.
For this reason, it is important to select the software that best matches your requirements while giving long term value to your business.
Author Bio
Saurabh Thakur
Saurabh Thakur is a Digital Marketing Strategist and business consultant who aids entrepreneurs in establishing effective digital touchpoints, boosting sales, and fostering business growth.
He has a good knowledge of branding & reputation management and has successfully delivered a wide range of projects in the past.
Leading a team of skilled professionals, Saurabh consistently delivers exceptional results that meet and exceed customer expectations. Connect with him via LinkedIn
