How do I find out which items earn the most at an event rental company?
Ask the seller for rental revenue broken down by item or category, covering a full year of bookings. Then set each line against what the item cost, how many days it was out and what it needed in cleaning and repair. The best earners are usually not the most rented items.
Start with the booking system and the invoices. Ask for an export that lists every rental line with the item, the date, the price charged and any discount given. If the seller can only give totals per event, ask how the lines are recorded and whether anyone has ever sorted them by item.
Revenue alone can mislead. A tent or a set of chairs may go out constantly but need heavy washing, delivery labour and replacement. A smaller item with few breakages may leave more in the till. Ask what each category costs to clean, transport, store and repair, and who does that work.
Check how much of the stock sits idle. Walk the warehouse and compare what you see with the inventory list. Items that rarely leave the shelf tie up money and space, and some may be near the end of their life. Finally, ask which items are bundled into packages, because a package price can hide which piece customers actually came for.
Key takeaways
- Get rental revenue by item for a full year, not only by event.
- Weigh each item’s income against cleaning, repair, delivery and storage effort.
- Walk the warehouse and match the inventory list to what is there.
- Ask which bundled packages hide the item customers actually wanted.
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Sources
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- 01Business Development Bank of CanadaGovernmentHow to conduct due diligence when buying a business
- 02Business Development Bank of CanadaGovernmentWhat are the steps to buying a business?
- 03Business Development Bank of CanadaGovernmentWhat are financial statements?
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