If you can’t buy it, rent it!
A number of online tie and jewelry companies have entered
the market to allow us to subscribe to a new tie or necklace on a regular
basis. They dub themselves as the Netflix of ties. Given the low barrier to
entry many copy cats have followed. In the tie business there are already three
notable companies that are building market share: freshneck.com,
tiesociety.com, tie-man.com. If you are a man looking for a fashion update,
check out the Tie Society website. It costs $10 to $50 a month, depending on
how many ties you rent at a time. With this service, you choose the ties you
want.
San Francisco-based Rocksbox, is an online jewelry
rental business that has seen some decent success. There is also the well-known
Bag, Borrow or Steal that even got a shout out in the Sex in the City movie. A
lot of people purchase jewelry and have nothing to wear with it or never wear
it when they bring it home. Another San Francisco startup called Le Tote has a
similar business model, with both jewelry and clothes. The pricing is usually
between $19.99 to $49.99 for these businesses. Moreover, if you really fall in
love with the item, you can buy it at a discounted price. Adorn.com offers high
end rented jewelry for people to wear at weddings or special occasions which is
also a large market. Renttherunway offers jewelry rental but at a different
rice per piece. I much prefer the monthly subscription price at different
tiers. There are a lot of copycats out there from Bling Yourself to Bags to Riches.
Investors have put real money behind these ideas. Bag Borrow or Steal, received
$15 million in venture funding, bringing its total take from investors to $27
million. The investment enabled the company, which has reported steady revenue
growth in each of its four years, to expand into high-end jewelry.
I’m curious to understand how large this market of
men who are willing to rent ties really is? I tried to do research but was not
able to find enough stats. In general, I think it’s a great idea. Especially
for people who want new styles often but don’t want to purchase them all the
time. Moreover, storage is becoming an issue in smaller urban dwellings so the
rental model has many beneficial attributes.
No comments:
Post a Comment