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BUSINESS Tuesday 14 January 2020
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Startups see a market in renting couches by the month

By JOSEPH PISANI 1990s and 2016. Young
AP Retail Writer people today get married
NEW YORK (AP) — Zacha- and buy homes later than
riah Mohammed's living they used to, and young
room is filled with stuff he people move more than
doesn't own. older people do. Still, mil-
He pays $200 a month for lennials are moving less
the sofa, side table, bar than previous generations
cart, dining table and four did at their age, and Amer-
chairs in his living room. icans overall are moving
It's worth it, the 27-year- less.
old New Yorker says. If he Moving her furniture from
needs to move, which he's New York to Los Angeles
done twice in the last 12 would have cost Clarissa
months, he won't need to Wright $3,000. Instead, she
lug a sofa across the city gave away most of what
or worry if it will fit in a new she owned, traveled in Eu-
place. The furniture-rental rope for two months and
startup, Feather, will swap then rented a couch, bed,
out items for something mattress, bar stools and
else. other furniture in her new
Feather, Fernish and other place, for $255 a month.
companies aim to rent fur- Feather delivered and as-
niture to millennials who In this Monday, Nov. 25, 2019 photo, Zachariah Mohammed, left, Pete Mancilla, and their dog sembled everything in one
don't want to commit to Remy pose for a picture in their apartment in New York. day.
big purchases or move Associated Press Wright, a 28-year-old mar-
heavy furniture and are like I was truly at home," Others are renting out Renting may make sense keting consulting for fash-
willing to pay for the con- Park says. home goods, too. Rent the for a generation that sees ion and beauty brands,
venience. It's part of a These startups are in just a Runway recently added "life as transient," says Hana says she can switch out the
wave of rental culture that handful of coastal cities, West Elm pillows and quilts. Ben-Shabat, the founder of furniture, add more stuff,
includes Rent the Runway, with few users, but seek to Ikea is testing a rental ser- Gen Z Planet, a research move to a new apartment
focused on women's de- grow. They offer furniture vice in several countries and advisory firm that fo- or city. But right now, she
signer clothing, and even from Crate & Barrel, West outside the U.S., including cuses on the generation doesn't know what the fu-
Netflix and Spotify, which Elm and smaller brands. Switzerland and Belgium. born between the late ture holds. q
let you stream from a huge
catalog rather than buy in- Visa buys financial technology company Plaid for $5.3B
dividual TV show episodes,
movies or songs. By KEN SWEET link their bank accounts Bankers refer to companies gies of Plaid to link their
"They're moving a lot. NEW YORK (AP) — Visa is to financial services apps like Plaid as “the plumbing” bank accounts with other
They're changing jobs a purchasing the financial like Venmo, PayPal, Better- behind how these apps money transfer apps.
lot," says Thomas Robert- technology company Plaid ment and Transferwise. The work. The Monday announce-
son, a marketing professor for $5.3 billion, a major push company is an important This “plumbing” has be- ment is Visa’s first big push
at the Wharton School of by the payment process- but unknown middle man come more important has into a product that isn’t just
the University of Pennsylva- ing giant into other types between the banks, who more Americans use mo- credit and debits cards.
nia, describing the types of of money transfer systems hold consumers’s cash, bile wallets or send money Visa is the world’s largest
people who would use the outside of Visa’s traditional and the dozens of plat- to friends, families and busi- payment processing com-
services. "Why would you credit and debit card busi- forms who vie to be the nesses. pany, but it makes almost
want to be saddled with ness. platform of choice to send Visa estimates that 1 in ev- entirely all of its money
furniture?" Plaid allows consumers to that cash. ery 4 Americans who have from swipe fees it earns
The furniture-rental com- a bank account have used from merchants whenever
panies target high-income the underlying technolo- its cards are accepted.q
city dwellers who want a
$1,100 orange love seat
($46 a month) or $980
leather bench ($41 a
month) — but only tempo-
rarily. The furniture itself is a
step up from Ikea.
"I'm 32 years old and have
lived in 25 different places,
five different countries, 12
different cities," says Chan
Park, who co-founded on-
line furniture rental compa-
ny Oliver Space last year.
He constantly bought and
discarded cheap furniture.
Then he moved to a fur-
nished rental apartment in
Singapore.
"It was probably the first
time my adult life that I felt