Subscriptions and durable goods rental

In the WSJ, Philip Delves Broughton reviews Subscribed by Tien Tzuo with Gabe Weisert.

Husqvarna, the Swedish maker of forestry and garden tools, maintains what it calls the Husqvarna Battery Box out of a Stockholm parking lot. The handyman’s hut offers subscribers access to hedge trimmers, chain saws, leaf blowers and other equipment; users pay a flat monthly fee to borrow the tools and return them when they’re done.

My guess is that a central issue in these sorts of businesses is pickup/delivery/installation logistics. Take the yellow, green, and orange bicycles that lately I have seen strewn around the area. I suspect that, on average, the users of this bikes disperse them to less convenient locations than where they pick them up. That leaves the company with the task of going around and retrieving the bikes and moving them closer to where people might want to start biking. I doubt the business model in that case.

3 thoughts on “Subscriptions and durable goods rental

  1. But tool rental is wide spread with numerous retail outlets.
    Even Home Depot rents tools.

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