Generation of renters can now hire their furniture
A RETAILER launches its furniture hire scheme today in a bid to draw in “Generation Rent” millennials as part of a restructuring amid the pandemic.
Tenants who are in short-term lets, or shoppers who want to try before they buy, can choose from 50 different items, including sofas, sideboards and desks.
Prices for John Lewis products on year-long rents start at £17 a month for a desk or chair and rise for larger goods on shorter contracts. The service will be offered via rental marketplace website Fat Llama.
Shoppers will have the option to buy the furniture at any time with payments already made deducted from the purchase price.
John Lewis is hoping to target millennials who often move home every 12 months and are used to renting rather than owning items.
Johnathan Marsh, director of home at John Lewis, said: “We want to make our products and services as compelling and meaningful to the next generation of customers and how they want to live.
“Attitudes towards renting items and the sharing economy have dramatically shifted in recent years, and we know that renting, reselling items and recycling them is a growing priority for our customers.”
He added that renting offers people flexibility to use furniture they may not want for ever and allows people to change style and size if they are moving or temporarily working from home.
Returned items will be cleaned and then re-let to new customers.
Chaz Englander, co-founder and chief executive of Fat Llama, said: “The world is changing. People are focusing more on access instead of ownership. As we have seen in the US, renting furniture instead of owning it is becoming the new normal for millennials; a generation that is moving house every 12 months.”