The sharing economy has produced some innovate ways to better match usage and ownership. Rent The Runway allows women to rent designer dresses, which are often only worn a handful of times if purchased. Airbnb allows house and apartment owners the opportunity to let someone else use it when they aren’t around. Dogvacay does much the same thing for pets. And then there’s Uber, the darling of regulators everywhere, who lets you share rides.
A new startup aims to achieve similar results by renting baby gear. Spoiled-One, started by two sisters, allows you to pay for only the baby gear you use. An added bonus is that they take all the research out of purchasing decisions which saves time – a precious thing for new parents.
Founded in Toronto and coming to America in the near future, the company offers modern, eco-friendly and non-toxic equipment for babies and toddlers, delivered straight to homes, hotels and airports. Their service, started in 2013, takes time, high cost, clutter and commitment out of the equation, leaving parents with a convenient, affordable and hassle-free experience.
For consumable products the service allows parents to “try before they buy” to ensure that any future purchases are a good fit. Her baby grew fast (as all babies do), which required her to constantly replace outgrown toys and gear. This was quite expensive, time consuming and on top of that, created clutter.
“I quickly realized that many mothers were experiencing the same challenge and recognized an opportunity to help address this. I took the idea to my sister-in-law Vicki and asked if she’d be interested in partnering. She agreed that this was a unique concept with plenty of potential and jumped on board. We put a plan in place and soon after Spoiled-One was founded.” Vicki said.
Typical customers for the service are young parents in major cities but also parents from out of town traveling to a new world.
The service is clearly a very modern approach to parenting as many of customers find them through social media (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter), traditional media and word-of-mouth. The company also works with high-end hotel concierges who help refer guests.
It will be interesting if this sort of service catches on in the American market, particularly with regular Americans. The service is currently high end but it seems there is no reason why it should remain there. By effectively managing to re-sell used baby gear to other new moms, the service should be able to create value for all parties and get a cut of the action for themselves.
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