NIke/Jordan Basketball Shoe Rental Opinion

[cbutker18]

Hey everyone, 

So, I'm considering starting an online sneaker rental company and I wanted everyones advice on it. That being said, here's how it'll work. If you have a big game or big event coming up and are bored of your current shoes, then my proposal is to rent a pair for however long you need them. Whether it be a day, or a month. Does anyone think they would use this? We would have all types of shoes from basketball shoes, to rare collector items as well. This also serves as a great way to try out a pair of athletic shoes before you buy them. Also, if you like them enough you'd be able to buy them from us as well. Does anyone think they would use this type of business any time in the near future? We've worked through a lot of the issues that could arise but we're just wondering if this idea would attract enough customers. Let me know what you guys think! 

Thanks 

 

[ka0tik1]

Interesting idea but think it would be very hard to implement into a viable business and too many concerns over depreciating assists since how many times are you going to be able to rent the same shoe before no one is going to be willing to wear/rent it anymore?

 

[hydeous]

Also how are you going to keep track of the shoes, whether what you are getting back is a legit pair or not?

Maybe you can make a members only club. But the inventory has to be pretty big as you'd need a few sizes of each model. Unlike rental cars.

 

[nuclear90]

What are you going to do if someone dogs the pair out?

You would have to determine how to charge them for damages/unusable merchandise.

EDIT: How are you going to clean/sanitize them between renters? Some people have awfully nasty feet and don't wear socks. I'm iffy towards buying a used pair unless they look nearly brand new. But renting? Who knows how many times they've been worn.

 

[anthracite8s]

not gonna work but cool idea. you will have more arguments over condition than you literally could handle. also some people will try to just keep the shoe. maybe get a prepaid credit card or something to pay then you never hear from them again. I'm sure there is a way to prevent that but it just seems like there is too many loopholes. besides most people already rent their shoes anyways by wearing them 1 or 2 times then selling. some of the time they can even make money on the deal so I don't see why they would want to just rent and lose money on any shoe they rent. 

 

[thirdtimearound]

Horrible idea.

Yikes. People getting desperate.
People like this dude is what give sneaker collectors a bad name.

 

[sheridan91]

Nah, wouldn't even consider it.  Same concept as renting out underwear to me.  Nasty as hell.

 

[Bert.]

Wouldn't work

 

[mattva]

I understand your perceived target market would be "sneakerheads", truthfully, I could see the true market being crooks and scumbags who would just grab a pair rented from you guys and not returning them. 

Even if you enforced these problems like adding huge-late fees or fees for not returning, I feel that it would be hard for your business to turn a profit if you guys plan to update inventory every week with acquiring/buying more shoes just to put up for renting.

Plus you got to think about the value of renting shoes...

If I saw a website that was renting out sneakers, I wouldn't even consider it just because, let's be honest, renting these shoes would probably be priced same as they retail or above. Perhaps slightly under retail...

Logically from a renter's standpoint, you would have to rent out the shoe near retail cost in order to make some sort of profit, after all, you had to buy the shoe for retail/resell amount and plus you have to spend money to ship it, etc. But, also renting shoes would probably yield things like a lot of wear/damage/etc... yeah you could charge people fees for repair,etc, but ideally that renter will not come back to rent from you again, therefore your consumer base would probably dip. 

buyer's standpoint, it would not make sense to let's say spend, $150 to rent a shoe... it just doesn't make sense, a shoe buyer's perception is that the $190 spent on a new Jordan, part of the price is the consumer's value. Logically, a consumer would spend more money to buy a shoe he/she can have forever versus almost paying that same amount for a few days or a week of wear. Think about it: Spend $160 on a pair of Nikes I purchased and can wear forever... OR Spend $140 on a pair of Nikes I have to return. I'm taking the first option.

Plus, let's be serious... renting a shoe?.... I see NO people around me even remotely interested in renting a piece of clothing... It's like renting socks almost. 

That being said, kind of a cool idea 

 

[hydeous]

You could maybe do a membership where they need to pay say 500$ and they can rent like 20-25 times of normal shoes like master, supreme vs, PSNY. While for premium membership it's higher and you can get yeezys or something.

 

[JACKFROSTY843]

I could see this lowkey working within Hollywood but with super high end designer shoes....Reps given for making me LOL tho....





Hit me when u wanna rent some orange metallics out lol

 

[beelzebub45]

Bro, if you're serious about this, I wish you all the best and nothing but success.



But if this takes off and becomes widely popular, (stranger things have happened) NIKE IS GOING TO TRY TO SHUT THIS DOWN SO FAST IT'LL MAKE YOUR HEAD SPIN. Why? Because you showed them it could be successful without them having to take any of the risk. Out goes your rental in comes their version of it.






So at this point, one of you genius will say "that's stupid. Nike wouldn't care, and even if they did what could they do?" You guys totally missed the '90s. Do you have any idea what Nintendo tried to do to Blockbuster Video?

 

[tonytobacco]

 
Hey everyone, 

So, I'm considering starting an online sneaker rental company and I wanted everyones advice on it. That being said, here's how it'll work. If you have a big game or big event coming up and are bored of your current shoes, then my proposal is to rent a pair for however long you need them. Whether it be a day, or a month. Does anyone think they would use this? We would have all types of shoes from basketball shoes, to rare collector items as well. This also serves as a great way to try out a pair of athletic shoes before you buy them. Also, if you like them enough you'd be able to buy them from us as well. Does anyone think they would use this type of business any time in the near future? We've worked through a lot of the issues that could arise but we're just wondering if this idea would attract enough customers. Let me know what you guys think! 

Thanks 

I'm imagining you renting a Lambo out in Vegas and looking down at your Chicagos while having a mental breakthrough. The only difference between the two is that what you're renting out is 100x more disgusting.

If this ends up happening though call it Netkix.com. Like netflix but for kicks. You can have that free of charge since I made fun of the venture lol

 

[tonytobacco]

Bro, if you're serious about this, I wish you all the best and nothing but success.



But if this takes off and becomes widely popular, (stranger things have happened) NIKE IS GOING TO TRY TO SHUT THIS DOWN SO FAST IT'LL MAKE YOUR HEAD SPIN. Why? Because you showed them it could be successful without them having to take any of the risk. Out goes your rental in comes their version of it.






So at this point, one of you genius will say "that's stupid. Nike wouldn't care, and even if they did what could they do?" You guys totally missed the '90s. Do you have any idea what Nintendo tried to do to Blockbuster Video?

You don't have to worry about any of that happening. 

Also, Nintendo could try all the wanted, renting nintendo games wasn't going to end with Blockbuster.

 

[vintageog7]

Renting when I could be saving... Wow!!!

 

[scrubstoreowner]

i dont think the OP thought this out:

just the uncontrollable variable of "anything can happen to the shoes while you are wearing them" would shut this down.

RENT?

its an idea, but no way is it a viable business.

 

[brandon3000]

It's not a crazy idea at all. It should however require a significant deposit... for example, in the past I would rent camera equipment. For a $2K camera I was paying like $150 a day along with a $500 deposit.

There are actually clothing company upstarts that do the same thing. You get like 10 outfits and every month ship to the next person. Look into it... good luck OP

 

[da hen]

Bad ideA, use the money and go to college

 

[shoeliker69]

you'd have to set a non-return charge at least equal to the (deadstock) resell market value of shoe to ward off scammers. your logistics considerations would be substantial. and i'd think you would have to focus on the extremely high end, because - how to put this politely? - you don't want to be dealing en masse with donkeys who can't afford their own shoes but want to get their hands on nice ones and the risks inherent to that market. 

netkix is a great name good work to poster above. 

 

[scrubstoreowner]

It's not a crazy idea at all. It should however require a significant deposit... for example, in the past I would rent camera equipment. For a $2K camera I was paying like $150 a day along with a $500 deposit.

There are actually clothing company upstarts that do the same thing. You get like 10 outfits and every month ship to the next person. Look into it... good luck OP

people renting shoes do not have a deposit, much less the entire cost of a shoe.

if they did they would not be a netkix.com

 

[staffsgtdignam]

It's not a crazy idea at all. It should however require a significant deposit... for example, in the past I would rent camera equipment. For a $2K camera I was paying like $150 a day along with a $500 deposit.

There are actually clothing company upstarts that do the same thing. You get like 10 outfits and every month ship to the next person. Look into it... good luck OP

The thing is you would have to buy MULTIPLE FSRs of the models you wanted to rent out and, unlike clothing which can easily be laundered or dry-cleaned, sneakers get messed up, creased and scuffed-some of which can not be undone. Clothes can tear but it's harder to mess them up permanently since they don't really noticeable scuff with regular wear.

 

[frank mucus]

Nobody is trying to wear some sneakers from some stranger with terrible foot odor.


Where they do that at?

 

[617collector]

Let me rent a brand new Red October Yeezy 2 in a size 9 for the week.

I'll send you a $100 money order once I receive them...

 

[mosedefkicks]

Great concept but I don't think this would work tbh. Right now I'm imagining that feeling being at a bowling alley and having to put on a pair of bowling shoes that have been "rented"

 

[airave]

@cbutker18 keep at your idea. It may work for stylists but not the "casual sneakerhead".