Could web rental efficiency gut DIY chains?
If specialized do-it-yourself tools can be rented, easily and efficiently, for two hours, will that start to hurt Lowe's and Home Depot?
If RentUs ends up working, will this hurt sales of these tools from traditional retailers? Or could it work in the reverse way? Will people start purchasing these tools with the sole intent of renting them out?
Chavando also argues that business areas where renting is widely done can also be enhanced with web-fueled lower prices, citing products such as event porta-potties, motorized wheelchairs and hospital beds for home use.
Whether or not this startup succeeds, it raises a discomforting thought. If any efficiency or transparency improvement hurts major retail chains, that probably says more about the inherent weaknesses and flaws within retail chains than anything else.
Sign up for Computerworld eNewsletters.
