Get this question all the time (same deal with Sports Basement). 3 things:
1) Would you rather spend an extra 60 minutes renting gear from REI or having gear arrive at your place when all your friends do and then leave all together?
2) We're cheaper than REI
3) REI is not open 24/7 like we are. This is actually why we're so focused on being a last minute business, because people today are really really last minute. There are numerous instances where this happens:
Coworker A: "Hey really psyched about Tahoe trip this weekend!"
Coworker B: "Oh crap, can't go, and forgot to tell you earlier, I'm the worst!"
Coworker A: "What?! We're leaving in 2 hours!!"
Coworker B: "Yeah, don't worry I'll find my replacement, hey Coworker C, want to go on this trip? It'll be super fun and I already paid!"
Coworker C: "Yeah sure!"
Coworker C: ~oh... don't have any gear~
Also, if you're calling yourself a "camper" already and have an REI account, we're probably not right for you because you probably go frequently enough to make buying gear worth it. Check out this calculator we built on that: www.lastmingear.com/protips/buy_vs_rent
1) Good point (although 60 minutes at REI seems a bit on the long side).
2) Make your pricing model more obvious. When I can't see prices before checkout, and you're heavily marketing last minute delivery, I assume I'm about to be sticker shocked.
3) That's a great point! You should emphasize that up front, because that use case hadn't occurred to me. My first thought was "they cater to poor planners", not "they'll help me be the spontaneous guy I want to be!"
1 - In SF traffic? ;)
2 - Great insight, have not thought about this before, will work this in
3 - Fascinating, clearly we need to do better with this value prop
We're building a rental company for people who don't need to buy. Currently that manifests itself in outdoors, but hopefully not forever, since our vision is to reduce unnecessary consumption by making renting as viable and easy as buying.
Comments
Get this question all the time (same deal with Sports Basement). 3 things:
1) Would you rather spend an extra 60 minutes renting gear from REI or having gear arrive at your place when all your friends do and then leave all together?
2) We're cheaper than REI
3) REI is not open 24/7 like we are. This is actually why we're so focused on being a last minute business, because people today are really really last minute. There are numerous instances where this happens:
Coworker A: "Hey really psyched about Tahoe trip this weekend!"
Coworker B: "Oh crap, can't go, and forgot to tell you earlier, I'm the worst!"
Coworker A: "What?! We're leaving in 2 hours!!"
Coworker B: "Yeah, don't worry I'll find my replacement, hey Coworker C, want to go on this trip? It'll be super fun and I already paid!"
Coworker C: "Yeah sure!"
Coworker C: ~oh... don't have any gear~
Also, if you're calling yourself a "camper" already and have an REI account, we're probably not right for you because you probably go frequently enough to make buying gear worth it. Check out this calculator we built on that: www.lastmingear.com/protips/buy_vs_rent
1) Good point (although 60 minutes at REI seems a bit on the long side).
2) Make your pricing model more obvious. When I can't see prices before checkout, and you're heavily marketing last minute delivery, I assume I'm about to be sticker shocked.
3) That's a great point! You should emphasize that up front, because that use case hadn't occurred to me. My first thought was "they cater to poor planners", not "they'll help me be the spontaneous guy I want to be!"
1 - In SF traffic? ;) 2 - Great insight, have not thought about this before, will work this in 3 - Fascinating, clearly we need to do better with this value prop
So you're building a camping company that is for people who don't camp much.
We're building a rental company for people who don't need to buy. Currently that manifests itself in outdoors, but hopefully not forever, since our vision is to reduce unnecessary consumption by making renting as viable and easy as buying.