Today, many of us consume products and services via subscriptions. While the first subscriptions appeared in the telecoms and Internet industries, they now affect more and more sectors.
Why has this mode of consumption revolutionized our lives?
Subscriptions have a series of well-known advantages that justify the growing number of customers of the companies that offer them: exclusive access to content (media, news), dematerialization of a product (music streaming), personalization of the offer (Netflix), access to one or more additional services (Amazon Prime), a discovery offer (beauty or culinary boxes) and many others.
So we asked ourselves: what advantages could we gain from a subscription in the furnishings sector?
1. First of all, it's very practical
The very principle of subscription / furniture rental is to be able to use a product or service periodically, according to our own needs.
What could be more logical than to use it to furnish yourself when you know that you're going to stay in an apartment for 4 months, 6 months, 1 year or 2 years before having to leave for various reasons?
And there's no shortage of reasons: first rental after spending most of your life with mom and dad, first internship, first university exchange, flat-sharing, first solo apartment, first apartment with your partner, then breaking up and going solo again, first job and first desire for comfort, first professional opportunity not to be missed...
Life's ups and downs are forcing us to be more and more mobile (hello Millennials and students) and we should have access to a simple and practical furniture rental solution to help us through these stages. No need to spend hours buying furniture, no need to rent a van or convince a buddy that "yes, the sofa fits in your 206", no need to move... in short, no need to worry!
2. It saves us money
Another advantage of renting furniture is that you can access a wider range of products without breaking the bank, and even save money.
With a coherent subscription system, renting furniture allows us tosave hundreds of CHF on moving house, hundreds more CHF on buying furniture (new or second-hand), hundreds more on buying new furniture because the old ones no longer fit in our new apartment, hundreds because we can no longer see those chairs in paint, or thousands of CHF because we want to finally have access to quality designer furniture.
So yes, today it's also possible to resell your furniture. We've all been there, and ended up selling the bed at the last minute ("bed at 100CHF because urgent departure, literally in 5 hours"), or having to eat on the ironing board for 2 weeks because we couldn't refuse to sell the dining table at that price (let's say 40% of the purchase price...).
Having access to quality furniture at an affordable monthly price is a great way to save money.
3. It considerably reduces our initial investment
Let's face it, renting an apartment as a student or young professional represents a high initial cost.
When renting, we're talking about the first month's rent, a deposit (equivalent to two months' rent for a furnished apartment), and possible agency fees. If, on top of that, we have to add the purchase of furniture, the bill can quickly become very expensive.
Renting out our furniture allows us to spread out this investment and also to rent an unfurnished apartment for up to 30% less than an already furnished one (plus a lower deposit). And this difference in rent can cover our furniture rental : jackpot!
4. It's environmentally friendly
And let's not forget, this should simply be our priority.
In France, the furniture market represents over 2.6 million tonnes of furniture purchased every year. And every year, 1.7 million tonnes are thrown away... The proportion recycled is still low.
And where there's consumption, there's production. The more we consume, the more we produce and the more we pollute.
Renting furniture is a first step, because we're participating in a circular economy in which the lifespan of furniture is extended. The more we participate in this consumption model, the more manufacturers will have to make their production increasingly sustainable (bye bye fast-furniture). Welcome to a better world!
5. Our tastes change, our desires evolve
The advantage of a subscription is that it allows you to adapt to the changing desires of your customers and provide them with an ever more personalized service.
And this makes a lot of sense when we ourselves know that our tastes change over time. So what's the point today of spending hundreds of euros (or even thousands) on furniture that we won't be able to see in paint in a few months or 2 years' time?
Furniture rental adapts to our ever-changing desires, as it also allows us to regularly replace our furniture with new ones without throwing our money down the drain.
6. It saves a lot of time
As Millennials, we've finally realized that time is our most precious commodity. And we're keen on anything that can save us some.
When it comes to furnishings, we spend hours and hours trying to find that rare gem. We spend hours scouring sites like Leboncoin, made.com , But, Conforma... Strolling through interior design stores, only to end up buying things we didn't really need...
Renting furniture obviously helps us reduce the time we spend on this tedious task. Not only because we have a catalog of pre-selected furniture (at least, that's what we do at Rentli) , but also because the services offered by these platforms make our lives easier: delivery within 7 days, furniture already assembled and ready to be installed in our home (no need to decipher instructions, we do it for you), and no more worries about moving or selling our furniture - our furniture is collected at the end of our subscription!
Hours and hours lost that we can put to good use for many things that are far more valuable to us.
7. It allows us to test before buying
Renting furniture is practical, economical, durable and quick, but what happens if we end up staying in our apartment longer than planned, or if we love the furniture we've rented?
We include a purchase option in all our rentals, which corresponds to the retail price minus the monthly payments you have already made.
In a way, we give ourselves the opportunity to test a piece of furniture before buying it.
At the end of the subscription, we might also be tempted to extend it before enjoying a few more months of the furniture we love. We can do that, too, with Swaap.
We've thought of everything.
8. We have access to more premium furniture
We don't all want to - or can't all - invest thousands of CHF in premium brand furniture, even if it does make us dream a little. These days, fast-furnishing gives us global access to designer furniture whose comfort doesn't always meet our expectations (and the quality isn't always up to scratch, but isn't that done on purpose so that we can renew our furniture more regularly?)
Yet we should have access to furniture that combines design, comfort and durability. And that's one of the great advantages of furniture rental: we can access these products via an affordable monthly subscription.
9. You finally feel at home
As we all know, when we rent an apartment, it's always hard to feel at home because we know it's going to be temporary, even when our deadline hasn't yet been set.
For simplicity's sake, we often turn to apartments that are already furnished. But the furniture is often old and uncomfortable. So we're prepared to pay the price of practicality if we don't feel at home.
Unfortunately, with the times we're living in, we're spending more time at home. So at Swaap, we've made it our mission to ensure that everyone can at least feel at home, without compromising on comfort or any other aspect. And there's something for every taste (and budget).
10. How does it work? You don't have to do a thing
A constantly evolving platform to ensure the best possible user experience. A selection of top-flight furniture already made, focusing on design, durability and your comfort. Delivery, assembly and installation of your furniture within 14 days. Return of your furniture at the end of your subscription, or the option of extending it, buying your favorite pieces or changing them to try out new ones.
All in just a few clicks. So that you can focus on yourself and your personal ambitions without the hassle of furnishing or moving. So that you too can feel at home. This is Swaap's deepest wish, and you can count on us to do everything in our power to achieve it.
