One Business Model I Hope Catches On

Post by David Pierce. Find me on Twitter.

It’s time for me to come clean about something: I loved the Sex and the City movie. I just watched it for the first time the other night, and am now unabashedly a fan.

One of the things I loved about the movie – in addition to romance, happiness, love and joy and merriment – was the mention of a really cool website called Bag Borrow or Steal. In the movie, Carrie’s assistant has no money, but a gorgeous bag (I actually don’t know what kind… I promise). Carrie asks her how she afforded such an expensive accessory, and she (Jennifer Hudson) mentions Bag Borrow or Steal.

Out of curiosity, I went to check out the website. Basically, it works like this: you “rent” bags, watches, sunglasses or jewelry. Instead of paying $250 for a bag you’ll use a couple of times, you pay $12 to rent it for a week. In addition, you pay a small membership fee. When you return one bag, you get another one. The New York Times called it “The Net Flix for Bags!” and that’s a fairly apt description.

Being a guy, unfortunately, I don’t get to enjoy how incredible Bag Borrow or Steal really is (if you’re a woman, check it out. It’s well-respected, totally legit, and pretty awesome to boot). It’s lead me to wondering, though- can this business model be replicated?

Take technology gadgets, for example. What if I could pay $25 a month, and then be able to rent iPods, or TVs, or even laptops? I love the idea of this, and think it could actually work. A lot of cool technology toys we use once or twice, and then realize we don’t need; others, we don’t know how much we need them until we use them. Why doesn’t this get done more often? Get a big warehouse of cool gadgets, someone with their online business degree, and watch the cash come pouring in.

Why couldn’t it work? If it could, someone go do it, and tell me where to sign! I want to try the new iMac for a week before I buy it, just to see if I like it. Or, I want to rent a big-screen TV for a weekend during March Madness.

Netflix, by the way, is another great example of this. Instead of renting a movie for three days, you own it as long as you want it. When you’re done, send it back, and you get something else. The more you use it, the better the deal is – that’s a win for everyone.

Particularly in a struggling economy, it’s much easier to rent luxury (and let’s face it, a big-screen TV is luxury) than buy it. Bag Borrow and Steal is in a position to thrive right now, because they allow people to enjoy the finer things for only a small fee.

What do you think? Could this work in realms other than handbags?

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