US Retailers Straddle The Clothing Rental Market

More and more large American retailers are optimistic about the potential of the clothing rental market, and then cross the garment rental business. In February 10th (2020), The Associated Press released the retailer's attempt to make clothes rental business, but Retailers try clothing rental, but will it be a good fit?

According to the data of GlobalData, the market size of garment rental industry is about 1 billion US dollars. It is in the upward stage of development and is estimated to reach US $2 billion 500 million by 2023. Coupled with the resale business, it will account for 13% of the total value of the US apparel market for 360 billion years in ten years, which is higher than the current 7.3%.

The president of Retail Metrics, an American retail consultancy, points out that clothing retailers are facing many pressures, including a large number of promotions, long-term consumer flow decline, e-commerce and so on. The size of the clothing rental market is small, but there is room for growth. Clothing retailers must invest in it.

Clothing rental belongs to the Sharing Economy, and Steve Barr, head of consumer consultancy PWC (PwC), points out that the target age of the clothing rental market is at the age of 20~30. Consumers of this group have less interest in owning or investing large amounts of money, but hope to get different brands and services. Traditional retailers face many challenges in the cross foot clothing rental market, including marketing, rental clothing cleaning, logistics and other services such as consumer complaints.

CaaStle CEO H said that traditional retailers are accustomed to marketing products rather than providing services, so knowing which customers to send messages and sending frequencies is a challenge for them. Retailers face other challenges, including too few rental places.

Retail expert Melissa Gonzalez said retailers should have self-help and renting kiosks in stores in major cities, but most retailers do not have such renting kiosks. Consumers must take the clothes they want to rent to UPS or post offices. Some experts also wonder whether it is meaningful for low price clothing chains to enter the clothing rental market, because consumers can only buy second-hand clothes or buy them at a discount.