Quickthink

Netflix is one of my favorite companies because its founders dared to take the “next step” to make renting movies easier and fun for their customers. I am not overly surprised that Netflix also is becoming a model that other companies are using to promote renting products that in the past had to be purchased at high prices.

Rent the Runway is an example. Want to wear a knock out designer dress for that wedding that is coming up? In the past you might have to pay $500 or more and afterwards be stuck with a product that you might use once or twice more. Using the Rent a Runway site, you can rent it for $50 (with a packet of stuff to help you fit into it). Hmmm …. Don’t like the way it looks once it is on? For $25 more, you can rent a back up as well. After you’ve “wowed” everyone at the wedding, you return the dress by mail in a package that they provide.

I won’t be renting dresses any time too soon. But I love the direction that companies like Netflix and Rent the Runway are going — giving access to the “good life” to people who don’t have Bill Gates’ budget. ye, ye, people are all talking about Apple, Facebook, Twitter, etc. But I think this is one of the most promising “value added” stories I have seen from the net so far.

All hail to the internet rental model!

This entry was posted on Monday, November 9th, 2009 at 1:44 pm and is filed under Business models. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.