Xpress Rent hails growth in network

Xpress Rent, the French online rental business, has reached a network size of more than 100 locations in France with 50 affiliated rental companies just over a year after its launch.

The company, which is a subsidiary of the Monnoyeur Group, started operations in February 2017 and is an online rental site linking independent local rental companies. Its largest member has around 30 locations.

Sophie Hulin, director of Xpress Rent, said the business was performing well; “We have seen huge progress in terms of traffic on the platform. This year it has exploded, with daily traffic increasing by four times since the start of the year.” The site is seeing several thousand unique visitors a day.

The website offers small, local rental companies an online platform for their equipment, with member companies paying a subscription and a fee per rental transaction.

Ms Hulin, speaking to IRN from Xpress Rent’s stand at Intermat, said the goal was to have 400 rental locations in France by the year 2020. Before moving to Xpress Ms Hulin worked at two other Monnoyeur businesses, the Caterpillar dealership Bergerat Monnoyeur and its former rental subsidiary BM Location.

“I think the first reaction to the business was that the online platform would break the relationship with customers, but it is not true”, said Ms Hulin.

“You still have a direct relationship with your customers…and the process is very lean and simple, so they actually have more time to talk to customers.”

The website offers its members an online rental platform, with the ability to put fleet online, manage prices and availability and manage rental processes (payment, delivery, billing etc.).