You can now rent your holiday clothes
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Photo credit: Cynthia del Río / Unsplash
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You know that old adage about walking a mile in someone else’s shoes? Well, now you can do that literally – walk in his shoes, and then judge him on a five-star rating system.
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The idea, says first-time entrepreneur Shimpei Watanabe, is that you won’t need to lug so much luggage on your trip. Instead, you’ll use his new startup, Locarry, to rent stuff from people once you arrive.
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Dresses, trousers, T-shirts, hiking boots, backpacks, beach towels, cameras, pushchairs, yoga mats – these are among the things users are sharing in exchange for a fee.
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A quick trip to China sparked the concept for the service. Japan-based Watanabe decided to pack a suitcase instead of a light bag because he brought along a bunch of workout clothes.
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“When I met my friend in China, my friend said you didn’t have to bring them, I could’ve lent them to you,” he says.
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While a service for borrowing apparel isn’t a new idea – see Rent The Runway, now a US$800 million business – it’s so far been confined to sites loaning out their own items. Locarry looks like the first to let absolutely anyone share their stuff.
nSide jobbersn
Watanabe quit his associate job at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in late 2017, and flipped the switch on his startup’s site earlier this month.
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When he was mulling over startup ideas, home-sharer Airbnb, Japanese flea-market app Mercari, and Singapore-based marketplace Carousell were his inspirations. He eventually decided to mash up the marketplace model with a sharing service, focusing on the idea of how convenient it would be for travelers to carry a lot less while on vacation.
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The CEO sees how Locarry could create “side jobs” for some lenders or even create full-time jobs for users in developing countries who can cater to a busy tourist industry. In such places, he estimates a lender could make US$600 to $700 per month.
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Think of it like Airbnb – except anybody can try to earn some cash from it, not just rich and middle-class folks who own several properties.
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Shimpei Watanabe. Photo credit: Locarry
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Being such a new startup – Watanabe kept referring to his startup’s age in the number of days it’s been online – there are no data points he can report. But he’s encouraged by the uptake in Locarry’s first week.
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To bring in more users on both the borrower and lender sides, he’s contemplating a tie-up with Airbnb hosts, who have a captive audience that might need to borrow stuff. Imagine just turning up at your Airbnb, and all your luggage is already there, waiting for you. “That might be a good model,” Watanabe muses.
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With such a hands-off approach to the service, the startup is relying on the reviews system to ensure that the clothing is hygienic. In addition, verification by SMS and real ID will eventually be added to make personal meetups safer.
nMaking bankn
Since Locarry takes no commission when rentals take place, Watanabe concedes that his fledgling firm “right now has no ways of making money” since payments take place face-to-face between users – as do item exchanges.
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That’s an unusual strategy in the gig economy, where startups – such as apps that connect people with cleaners – tend to control as much of the interaction as they can and take their cut.
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“It was a difficult point whether to take a commission fee,” says Watanabe. He gave two reasons: a fee would cause lenders to raise prices, and it would be harder to expand the site globally if it had to wrangle with fragmented payment services.
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To generate revenue, Locarry will later add a premium option as well as listing ads – an approach that’s similar to how online marketplaces that don’t charge commission make money from their top merchants.
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Nearly a year after Watanabe traded his cushy PwC job for the precarious gig economy, he describes entrepreneurial life as being “so enjoyable.”
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With a total of four Locarry staffers, he’s relishing a role that allows him to use his own judgement.
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As he explains, “The most important thing humans can do from now on, I think, is judgement. Data gathering or analysis, or any other [such] tasks, will be taken over by AI and machine learning. Judgement itself will remain people’s job.”
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“That’s why I left PwC and changed my career – to go to any place where I can judge for myself,” Watanabe adds.