Asset Intelligence and Management

Asset Intelligence and Management

EZRentOut Blogs Best Online Rental Software

What makes the best online rental software?

Best Online Rental Software

The best online rental software for your rental business

Rental businesses can be difficult to run. There are so many concerns that need to be met with diligence and efficiency. Trying to work out rental trends, off-season pricing, ensuring your equipment is in top shape, and trying to carve out a space for yourself in the burgeoning industry are all tough jobs to handle.

With so many cloud computing options available, rental business owners can often get confused about which rental software features they should be prioritizing in order to give themselves the best chance of success. Below, we’ll outline some major features you should be on the lookout for when shopping for the best online rental software. These will not only help you lower overheads and increase efficiency, but will also open up a lot more time for you so you can focus on being the best rental store around!

Best Online Rental Software

A webstore integrated with all your rental equipment makes for speedy rent-outs.

Online shopping is all the rage these days. With millenials getting greater purchasing power, and people over 50 increasingly looking to online stores to shop and rent, retail sales are predicted to grow to $370 billion this year. This is a huge leap from $231 billion in 2012. This means that rental businesses have a huge market to tap into.

The increased growth in the online rental industry means that your online rental store needs to capture the customers’ interest better than anyone else’s. However, the best online rental software wouldn’t just stop there. A really sought-after feature would be to have a webstore that not only helps customers rent out items online, but also integrates with your product catalog at the back-end to tell you what’s rented out, when high-demand items will be back, and how much revenue each staff member is bringing in. This can help make things run a lot more smoothly for you. No more logging in and out of different systems for running your webstore, tracking items, and running business reports!

Best Online Rental Software

Faulty rental equipment can seriously damage your company’s reputation.

Rental businesses need to have a stellar reputation. This is because there is so much competition in this industry that one bad review and you could be done forever! Experts suggest you should always account for the replacement costs of items when making procurement decisions. While this is important, replacement can get very expensive.

A cost-effective way of overcoming this would be to service items regularly. This would enhance their longevity and catch little problems that could turn into big problems later down the line. Services and maintenance modules in your rental software can help plan maintenance ahead of time. Not just this, but you can flag items for service as soon as they come in, meaning equipment damaged by customers never gets checked back into your product catalog until it’s fully functional again.

Read more: How SMBs can Benefit from an Online Rental Software this Season

Best Online Rental Software

Accounting integrations enable rental owners to better understand financial data.

You might think that your rental business is too small to worry about accounting integrations. However, just for a small fee a month, you can free up so much time that you can instead use to focus on other, more profitable avenues. In fact, 73% of respondents in a survey said they were currently using a cloud accounting software solution. This is why the best online rental software should have features that help you integrate with popular accounting software such as QuickBooks or Xero.

This would not just help you sift through payments on rental orders a lot more efficiently, but would also help you draft up financial reports that are a lot more well-rounded. You could answer questions like, ‘Which items are doing well?’, ‘Which cost more to maintain than the revenue they bring in?’, and ‘Which customers are the biggest spenders?’. This is all really significant information to have if you want your rental business to overtake the competition.

Best Online Rental Software

Parking your account in the off-season can help eliminate extraneous overheads.

Rental businesses are often seasonal. Whether you’re renting out skiing equipment, or items for wedding receptions, chances are you’re going to have your peak seasons after which you’ll experience a significant lull in business. While some businesses choose to power through these lean times, others close up shop waiting for the peak-season to roll around again. The best online rental software should be one that recognizes quirks such as these, and tries its best to accommodate its customers. The ability to ‘park’ your account – meaning all your data is stored safely for only a fraction of your annual subscription fee – can therefore be invaluable to rental businesses. This way, you won’t have to spend extortionist fees for an account that you’re only using half the year!

Read more: Hit a Homerun with Online Rental Software

Best Online Rental Software

Multi-channel support is the easiest way to increase rental revenue.

The rental industry is increasing in scope every year. Taking a random rental sub-industry as an example, the railroad car industry is forecast to grow at a rate of 6.9% till 2020. This means that rental business owners have to come up with new ways to capture this burgeoning market. A great way to do this is to exploit different channels to increase your consumer base. The best online rental software should be able to understand this, and provide you with omni-channel support to increase your rental revenue. For example, a POS system for in-store interactions and a customizable webstore for online customers can help you capture a larger slice of the rental pie.

The best rental software is built on its ability to understand rental business needs.

So what makes the best online rental software?

As we’ve seen, online rental software can help you with a lot of the aspects of running a rental store. From providing different mediums to make that sale, to safeguarding your reputation for reliable rentals, the best online rental software is built on its ability to understand the needs of rental businesses. This is the only way to ensure that every feature on the list helps add value to your rental operations, and gives you a leg up on your road to success!

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