We're happy to have Laura Morris of Rentabuggy here with us as our guest blogger to tell you all about how her exciting business can benefit anyone travelling with children.
Back in October and my daughter was just 18 months old and I was meeting a friend for lunch, who also had a son the same age. When I met her in the car park she told me she had forgot her pushchair. We joked that wouldn't it be a good idea if there was a shop down the road where we could rent one for the day. This thought sat with me for 6 months.
One night just as I was nodding off I kept thinking further into what we had talked about, I had ideas popping out my head all of a sudden and a justification as to how I could make it work so I got up and wrote it all down. Within a week I had built my own website and had also received my first sale. Rentabuggy was born!
Rentabuggy is split into two markets: - The first is that we rent top selling pushchairs on a monthly basis. These include big brands that customers want like Bugaboo, Phil & Teds, Maclaren and more. The concept of Rentabuggy is like leasing a car but doing it for a pram or a buggy. You can rent the pram or buggy for as long a period as you need (long term rentals from three months onwards), which means you can even try before you buy! Our prices vary according to the make and model of the pram but compared to buying a brand new one every few months it is very competitive and we feel in such an economic downturn it means families can ease their cash flow by renting monthly and not making big essential purchases.
A few months into the business I was going away on holiday and realised how much stuff I needed to pack and that wasn't even including the clothes! I saw another gap in the market and we launched our Holiday Rental service which covers Nationwide in the UK. This includes not only pushchairs, but the bulky essential items you can't always fit in your car like the Travel Cot, Highchairs, Sterilisers and more. We take the stress out of travelling by delivering the items direct to your place of stay ready for your arrival. You don't even have to worry about collecting as we sort that too!
Prices for the Holiday Rentals start from a minimum of £15 for a basic stroller which makes our prices very competitive too.
For more information please visit www.rentabuggy.co.uk
Written by Laura Morris
Finalist for BT Business Grant Competition 2009
Shortlisted for Remote Worker Awards 2010
Winner of 'Women on Their' Way Awards 'Start Up' Category 2010
Ambassador for Enterprise UK
