[00:00:00] Barry O'Kane: Hello and welcome back to HappyPorch Radio, the Circular Economy Technology Podcast, or I guess nearly welcome. The season is coming soon, and we're here to share a little about what we have in store this season. We're on season nine now. Season nine is going to be all about rental, and we'll be speaking to the leaders and experts and all things rental, leasing and subscription, those both doing and supporting these business models.
There's also another big change for the season. I'll be joined by two new co-hosts. Each joining me for different episodes over the season. So in a moment we'll discuss a little more about why and how we're focusing on rental this season. But first of all, I'm delighted to introduce Jo and Tandi.
[00:00:48] Jo Weston: Hi, I am Jo Weston, originally from the UK, currently based in the Netherlands. I help visionary leaders translate their big ideas into a brand that people love. I’m a brand builder and storyteller by heart, and I have spent quite a few years here in the Netherlands helping sustainable and circular businesses build a brand and make sure that they are seen and heard in this busy world. I'm very glad to be on this podcast with Barry and Tandi.
[00:01:21] Tandi Tuakli: My name is Tandi Tuakli, and I've been working in fashion and technology for nearly 20 years. I help brands create circular business models that increase the reuse of their products, generate additional revenue as well as build customer loyalty, and I'm looking forward to most this season is speaking with both Jo and with Barry, and helping you find out what is actually behind the curtain when it comes to things like rental.
[00:01:52] Barry O'Kane: Awesome. This is really exciting and this is for many reasons, exciting, but two wonderful people joining me. So I want to ask you both, what as a starting point, what do we mean by rental? It's a different term. We use different terminologies in different ways. So when we say rental business model, what comes to mind for you? Some examples and some of the things that you might be looking forward to exploring this season.
[00:02:13] Jo Weston: I guess the first thing about rental is that it's about not buying something. So if we think about the circularity ladder, the first step is to not buy it in the first place. So renting something is a good option, which means it doesn't belong to you, and you have it for a certain period of time, and then you give it back and you pay a price to do that.
[00:02:35] Tandi Tuakli: I think probably what's interesting about rental is the fact that when we're thinking about different kinds of products, exactly what do we mean by rental? Because their sort of servitisation when we think about things like washing machines, where you have the product in your home, but you're not necessarily the owner and it gets swapped out or repaired as needed. And then when we think about things like fashion and rental, we're talking more about on a time basis. So actually traditional rental, I pick out what I would like, it gets sent to my house. I keep it for a certain amount of time and then send it back. I think it's also interesting to think about not only how quote unquote rental applies in these different kinds of products, but also how we're seeing it develop according to the type of customer. So, you know, younger customers you see with Urban Outfitters, the kind of rental program that they've developed compared to a company that does work wear the kind of rental programs that they might have, which are kind of more on a B2B scale as opposed to like a direct to consumer rental program.
[00:03:44] Barry O'Kane: Yeah, that's one of the things that I'm looking forward to, I hope we can cover in this season. It's quite a lot. We'll see how we go with things like event rental or clothes or fashion for specific times and events versus a subscription or a leasing or a membership. Different models, different ways that we think about that rental business model, both from the user's point of view, from the renter's point of view.
But I think even more crucially from our point of view is looking at it as the business. So, and then from a business point of view, what is the infrastructure, the operationals, the technology, the people, and the supporting infrastructure to enable successful rental? We were also talking before recording started about not shying away from the difficulties. Is this a true statement? Renting is not an easy business model. It seems easy, but the act of implementation in the current market is hard.
[00:04:32] Jo Weston: Yeah, I think that's a fair assessment on how to make it commercially work for you so that you can survive as a business. But at the same time, recognising that, for a lot of people, it's a change of mindset. So it feels like we're on a kind of journey as consumers in that sense. And yeah, the awareness around the different ways of renting or consuming or using a particular product or a service is something I think that needs to evolve and how to match your business model with the level that a customer is able to understand and integrate into their everyday life, I think is part of the challenge.
[00:05:17] Tandi Tuakli: Yeah, I think consumer uptake has been a big challenge for a lot of companies in terms of being able to get people to change their normal consumption habits and the way that they consume particular products. Particularly, I'm thinking of clothing. We're so used to being able to buy clothing, keep it for as long as we want, and we sort of dictate how long we keep it, what we can do with it, and when we get rid of it. So to Jo's point, it really is a change in mindset for consumers. I think that also we're seeing that brands are also being challenged to change the way that they operate because rental and I think circular business models in general, you cannot just sort of insert it into your existing way of operating. You start having to think about product durability, repairability, lifespans, you know, will you be able to get an ROI on that product based on how durable it is and how many times it could be rented. And so I think that those are really some of the challenges that people may not foresee when they start to venture into, particularly with starting with pilots, but then also with scaling rental programs as well.
[00:06:26] Barry O'Kane: Exciting. And we're trying to cover quite a lot in the season, and I'm quite excited about this, covering both the high level. What is rental? Where and in what sectors and what geographies? Where are the challenges and the opportunities? What type of models does it work on? As you said, the customer mindset, the business mindset, but then feeding into that also more granular, speaking to people who are actually running businesses with a rental. Either a hundred percent rental business model or have a rental as part of their service and what is real for them. Like where are the areas where they're succeeding in the areas where as a concept we're struggling, and then also talking to the enablers. So as a personal interest of mine, particularly the tech enablers, so the people who are providing the platforms and the tooling to enable the rental transaction, but also the operational behind the scenes and warehousing and so on. And then hopefully talking to people about some of the challenges around financing or funding or legal and trying to touch on as much as possible about what rental looks like and talking to people who are in the trenches making it real. Looking forward to it.
[00:07:28] Jo Weston: Yeah!
[00:07:29] Tandi Tuakli: Definitely!
[00:07:31] Barry O'Kane: You can find us on your favorite podcast player or visit happyporchradio.com for past episodes, show notes, transcripts, and more.