Looking at the prospects of a bike rental shop, if you think of starting one of your own, then be informed you are on the right path. You will see that with a little bit of management technique followed and the knowledge about the market and the city it is not much different from managing any other business.
It surely has its shortfalls, but the successes are far too many to eclipse these. You will have curious tourists and a few tough customers, good employees as well as bad employees as it is in all businesses, but all in all the pros are much more in number to go ahead with such an endeavor.
Follow A Proper Budget
Just like any other business, budgeting is the key factor of success. Apart from the proper allocation of funds, it is required that you manage your finance well so that there is no interruption in service, productivity and generation of revenue. Prioritize the aspects in which you want to allot funds and the amount required for each.
The different aspects such as bikes, parts, retail items, employees and shop functions are just like multiple colors of a picture. Manage your colors well and do not run out of it and your final picture will look just as beautiful as you wanted.
Different Cost Segments
There are different cost segments of this highly prospective bike rental business that you must carefully consider and prioritize.
- A major part of your liquid capital will be spent on the cost of the space.
- The second most costly segment will be the replacement parts of the bikes including tires and tubes.
- There will be the cost of employees and their benefits to consider.
Though the cost of the fleet of bikes and tools will be very high, you can pay it off over a period of 3 years or so. Therefore, after 3 years whatever you earn goes directly to the bank.
Tap The Tourists
Most of the locals will already have their own bikes, and therefore it is unwise to rely on local market only for your business to kick start. Follow the footsteps of all successful bike rental shops across the world and tap the tourists. Tourism is a flourishing business, and there will be a lot of people coming from different corners of the world. They will want to explore the city in the most convenient and hassle-free mode of transportation and what better mode anything can be apart from a bike.
Reach out to the tourist and design a website for that matter as the internet is the most effective way to provide and gather information. In no time your website will be visited by the tourist to hire a bike just like www.unlimitedbiking.com/.
Make The Best Of All Marketing Opportunities
Make sure you budget well for marketing your business and avail all marketing opportunities. However, given the current prospective scenario of a bike rental business, you will not have to use most of it.
- Make sure that you have a great and easy to access location so that the tourists who are stranger’s to the city, have a difficult time to locate your bike rental shop.
- You may also send an employee to the local hotels to distribute flyers to the guests. This will ensure that the tourists have all the information required readily in hand. This will save a lot of money in the costly newspaper and other media for advertising.
Lay The Ground Rules
You must lay out the ground rules of your business. You must interact with the tourists well even if you find that getting past the customs and language barrier is relatively easy. Make sure to explain everything well so that they understand the importance of the liability waiver. This will make sure that your assets are adequately covered if anything goes wrong.
You must know that replacement costs are never cheap. Therefore, you must be honest with yourself to believe that customers can be negligent for sure. This does not involve theft only. It can be a nonfunctional bike for some unknown reason to the customer, but you know it is for due to manhandling the bike.
Provide Memorable Experience
Apart from the best and professionally maintained bikes that will provide a memorable biking experience, you must also make sure that you provide exceptional customer service. This will make the trip of the customers most memorable.
- Keep your bike rental process and terms simple and easy to understand.
- Do not indulge in long and tedious paperwork.
- Keep your pricing fair and transparent along with a fair deposit amount and fast refund when the bike is returned.
Provide additional facilities to the tourists within your package. This will ensure that they will come back to your shop for more.
Knowledge About The City
It is important that you have proper and specific knowledge of the city. It might be your home, but it is entirely new to the tourist. Therefore make sure that you convey all relevant information about the city along with the best spots to visit and eateries to dine or have lunch.
Mention the famous items to shop and the place to buy these from. Also be happy to oblige them with a roadmap in case they divert from the biking trail at times. Make sure that the map is bike specific and include all details in it and all of it is easy to see on the map.
They are your business and it is your right to provide the best knowledge to ensure that have a hassle free ride on your bike.
Use Of Technology
Apart from the best website designed such as unlimitedbiking.commake sure that you make the best and most use of technology for your bike rental business. You can include GPS trackers in it to ensure the biker is on the right path. You can use different software for better business management. Apart from that, you may use apps for more convenient booking and better service.
