Fat Llama Enterprise is already powering high-end, sustainable rental services from Sofology and John Lewis and has a waiting list of retailers looking to partner with rental marketplace leader.
Reinventing the High Street
Fat Llama – the world’s largest item rental marketplace – has stepped up to help the high-street reinvent itself in the wake of Covid and to appeal to the millennial/Gen Z audience with the launch of its enterprise rental software.
Fat Llama Enterprise is the latest B2B offering that allows retail partners, including at launch the likes of John Lewis, Sofology and more, to lend their products to customers who want to shop in ways that better suit their lifestyles and needs. Over the last year, businesses have felt the pressure from consumer-conscious customers to develop environmentally sustainable consumer models. While this trend accelerated during the pandemic, according to consulting firm PwC, the trend is here to stay.
A Sustainable Future
Retailers are realising that more sustainable practices; practices that include renting, reselling items, and recycling, are a growing priority for discerning customers. There has also been a substantial shift towards customers who care more about experiences and access than ownership. Furthermore, the number of homeowners is shrinking as the number of private tenants are on the rise which creates more of a demand for shorter term ownership of items.
To put the rise in demand and discernibility into perspective, during an eight-week trial, Fat Llama Enterprise enabled John Lewis to sell out its entire rental inventory in the first 48 hours. This partnership allowed customers to rent bedside tables, beds, shelving units, cabinets and more from as little as £14 a month. The partnership with Sofology, for its Loop initiative, allows customers to rent the brand’s new Virtue range of sofas, armchairs and footstools from as little as £20 a month.
“Shopify for Rental”
Fat Llama’s Enterprise software has been designed to empower retailers to make the shift to a more sustainable, in-demand offering without wrangling all the complex technological and regulatory issues that come with it. Namely, the building of an entire rental platform within their existing sales channels, and the need to manage verification requirements and customer payments.
Fat Llama Enterprise builds within hours – branded online shop fronts that sit within the retailer’s existing online presences and which list a retailer’s selected items for rent. Once built, the software handles the entire end-to-end customer journey, from landing page through to checkout, and, as its name suggests, is flexible enough to adapt to any customer service and logistics platform used by retailers.
Most importantly, the software includes Fat Llama’s sophisticated verification system and ensures that all items for rent are fully insured.
For this reason, Fat Llama Enterprise can be seen as the “Shopify for rental”. Fat Llama launched the first fully insured peer-to-peer rental marketplace for items in 2017. Often dubbed “The Airbnb for things”, Fat Llama has since grown to be the biggest item rental marketplace in the world.
