Which app can best manage a storage unit rental business with e-commerce?

[M_Hunt]

Hello,

I am doing research for a customer. They are looking to start a storage unit rental business but also sell items so the e-commerce functionality of Shopify is needed as well.

I know I won't find an app specifically for storage units but I thought maybe using one of the rental apps should do the trick. However I am not sure which one. I was looking at Izzy Rent but don't think it has everything that's needed:

1. the storage units will need to be booked through a draft order, client doesn't want everyone to be able to book, they will need to fill a form and after approval a draft order will be sent

2. rental should be ongoing, 3 months are paid in advance and then every subsequent month/week is charged  until the storage unit is vacated 

3. certain products in the shop should be available only for people who are currently using the storage unit

Any idea what app will be able to help with this? I am thinking I might end up a combination of a rental app and a membership app to achieve all of this.

Thank you in advance.

[CST]

Hi @M_Hunt 

Thanks for posting!  Chris here from BookThatApp.

This workflow can definitely be achieved using a combination of apps.  I would recommend using a  static contact form to capture the initial rental inquiry.  Once the booking is confirmed, you can create a booking and send the customer a draft order. BookThatApp, for example, supports automatically creating a draft order as part of the booking process.  

Shopify doesn’t support recurring billing out of the box but there are recurring billing or membership apps that support this requirement.  Alternatively if you don’t want to use an app, what we’ve seen some merchants do is send an automated reminder at the end of the rental period with an incentive to extend directly on their website.  

Finally, there are also apps that restrict availability to certain pages.  We like Locksmith. https://apps.shopify.com/locksmith.

Feel free to reach out to us at support@zetya.com if you want to discuss some ideas.  We're always happy to share our experience in the rental space!

Cheers,

Chris