The online booking systems have been transforming the markets; markets that are not limited to specific domains alone. Think of any product or service in your mind, and perform a Google search, you will find a rental service for each. It doesn't matter it’s home, cars, artificial flowers, or even expensive jewelry, there is no limit to the stuff you can rent these days.

Are you thinking about creating a similar kind of rental marketplace business and making money from it?

Lucky you, because you can build a website for renting vacation houses, cars, dress, furniture, and many more without even coding it from scratch. However, we should first know about the concept of rental marketplaces before we begin with the ways to build them. So let’s see.

What Is Rental Marketplace?

A rental marketplace is a platform for individuals or businesses to rent different types of items/services to-and-from one another.

When it comes to the best known rental marketplace in the world, Airbnb is the most popular example. A vacation home rental marketplace, which was completely new for the consumers a few years back, but known to the masses today.

The popularity of sharing and renting economy has skyrocketed after the immense success of Airbnb’s business model. People these days are sharing and renting all kinds of goods like bikes, cars, homes, etc., which has also replaced the concept of ownership for people around the world.

And why wouldn’t it? The e-commerce marketplaces have given a new shape to the sharing and renting economy, and we can’t deny the trends they have set. Instead of buying expensive or occasionally used items, renting has remained a cheaper and more convenient alternative among the consumers.

On the other hand, more people are also willing to list their items and properties on rental marketplaces and make some extra money. This particular business model has encouraged entrepreneurs to use airbnb clone script and design similar rental marketplaces for renting an array of products, properties, and services.

How to Build a Successful Rental Marketplace?

Creating a rental marketplace doesn’t require a huge investment anymore. In fact, software solutions have become so affordable and simple to use. You can launch a fully functional platform with just a little effort and become a full-time entrepreneur. Like most of the wise entrepreneurs, you can adopt a readymade script for building their marketplaces, because it’s quick.

Take the popular marketplace solution by Cs-Cart for instance. The CS-Cart Multi-Vendor Solution lets anyone build a competitive online marketplace by simply installing and setting up the open-source script. The best part is, you can also customize it to build your rental marketplace.

How to Proceed with a Ready-made Script?

Building a successful marketplace business can be a challenging task without a unique business idea. However, it’s not much as compared with the retail marketplace sphere. You need to find a niche business idea that solves the real problem of the users. Then, offer the users with a platform that both providers and customers would love to use.

The question here is how to solve the real problems of customers? How to determine the best kind of website for your users?

One of the answers could be implementing your business idea into a website solution as quick as possible. What could be a better solution than using a ready-made script to do so? After you know about your users, start developing your marketplace in a specific direction according to the user requirements.

• Know your market and competitors

The rental marketplace is becoming a competitive field in any area around the world. You can see that there are plenty of long term and short term rentals available everywhere. You need to analyze your specific market trends at your location.

For example, the trends of renting co-working spaces occupied by several freelancers or start-up owners are booming in the US market. According to a report, an estimated 2,188 co-working spaces were opened worldwide, out of which almost 1,000 were in the U.S. itself.

Based on the demographics in your location, you can choose the proper rental strategy for a profitable endeavor. You also need to do comparative market analysis with your competitors to find the ideal option.

• Build a customized rental platform

Most of the entrepreneurs think that their rental marketplace should match all the advanced features of Airbnb to get better engagement. However, trying to build an Airbnb clone from scratch could be a cumbersome process in terms of cost and resources.

Instead, focus on taking a ready-made clone from the market, and then customize it according to your unique requirements. In fact, there are certain open-source turnkey solutions available that even offer customized experiences into different products and services niche.

In short, it would be an Airbnb clone because it works on the same business model, but it would be better because it has been customized for other kinds of products and services, rather than home rentals alone.

• A word about the cost of building a rental marketplace

Cost is one of the biggest challenges for entrepreneurs. As we know, building a marketplace from scratch with all the features will be a difficult, time-consuming and expensive task. Also, the millennials need premium-quality experience without spending much time on development.

Using an Airbnb clone script will let you build a marketplace without doing any coding from scratch. Hence, the development cost could be exponentially cheaper.

These scripts offer essential marketplace functionalities at a fraction of the cost it would take to build the same from scratch. You just need to pay a one-time purchasing cost for your script.

As these are self-hosted solutions, you need not pay on a recurring basis. You can also customize your marketplace according to your user base. Instead of spending thousands of dollars on the development of the skeleton.

You just need to figure out the best option from the list of marketplace solutions available in the market. The best platform will allow you to grow your business ideas and to make your marketplace viable in the market. So, what are the most essential features that will make your rental marketplace viable? Let’s discuss this.

• Get the best features for the rental platform

Every marketplace has a unique value proposition to thrive in the market. However, successful marketplaces should have some additional features to stand different from others. Let’s have a look at the list of the most critical features that almost every rental marketplace will need.

• Cutting Edge Technology
• Responsive design
• Multiple payment gateways
• SEO friendly URLs
• Real-time navigation
• Scalable platform
• API integration
• Invoicing and online payments
• Centralized Management
• Review System

For example, RentCubo’s products have been designed in such a way that it helps you to go in a day. You’ll get all the above-mentioned essential features ready-made without doing any coding. You can start and scale your vacation rental, co-working, self-storage, and car parking space management business today with all the features and functionalities given in this script.

• Devise your marketing strategies

If the marketing strategy for your rental marketplace is running smoothly and you’re happy with how it’s going, let's grow your rental business with further marketing techniques to get more profits. It would give the success of investing a little time and money to boost your strategy and help you gaining profit.

Let’s have a look at a few tips and techniques for the rental marketplace similar to the Airbnb business strategy. These will help you grow your business.

• Grow your business by adding new experiences for your users.
• Give your customers the best deals and offers to compete with rivals.
• Add additional value-added services besides the primary services.
• Collaborate with different value-added businesses or start in-house.
• Reach out to users with strategic digital marketing channels, Email, Social, SEO, Ads, etc.
• Enhance your platform with trendy user experiences to attract the millennials.

Let’s know the business model and profits earned from the rental marketplace to have a clear understanding.

Rental Marketplace Business Model

You might be wondering, if people use a marketplace to rent their items from each other just like Peer to Peer model, then how the marketplace entrepreneur builds a profitable business.

The integrated revenue options of Airbnb clone scripts make them more valuable in the market. They are equipped with different revenue channels to generate money for your business.

Let’s know the two different revenue model which Airbnb follows.

• Commission model: Airbnb charges commission cut from hosts on every booking done through its marketplace. Most rental marketplaces produce their profit through commissions just like Airbnb. The admin makes money by taking a commission for each transaction that occurs in the marketplace.
• Transaction fee from guests: It also charges a percentage cut of the booking amount as a transaction fee from the guests on every confirmed booking.

There are other kinds of business models available for rental platforms. For example, some marketplaces charge from their users to join or to publish a listing of their properties. Some marketplaces make money by selling ads, or premium services such as insurance or delivery.

With highly customizable Airbnb clone scripts, you can incorporate various revenue-generating systems on your marketplace. These additional revenue options will bring more profit for you.

For instance, let’s have a look at some additional revenue-generating options for vacation rental marketplaces.

• Host registration fee
• Property listing fee
• Property verification fee
• Traveler commission
• Advertising options

Conclusion

The idea of online renting of items/services is highly unique. The entrepreneurs will find great growth potential in this marketplace because of its prospects in different geographical regions. If you want to start a rental marketplace just like Airbnb, be sure to find a script with all the essential features, which will increase your profit. And finally, everything depends on your uniquely identified product/service and the geographical market. So choose wisely.

Jessica Bruce

I am a professional blogger, guest writer, Influencer & an eCommerce expert. Currently associated with ShopyGen as a content marketing strategist. I also report on the latest happenings and trends associated with the eCommerce industry.

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