Lalitha Priya took a “timely” decision over a month ago taking a laptop on a rental basis by paying ₹1500 a month. “I have a computer of my own but I needed technical support to update the virus protection on it. As this support was not possible due to the lockdown, I decided to rent a laptop that both my 13-year-old son and I can use,” says Priya, a resident of RA Puram.
She initially signed up for the laptop rental for one month, and now, plans to extend it by three more months as her son’s classes are starting from the second week of June.
With schools getting ready to start online classes, stores renting laptops are getting many enquires from parents.
“Since the lockdown began, demand for laptops on rent has shot up. A majority of them are companies that have a desktop setup for employees at office and want them to quickly adapt to working from home on a laptop,” says Prakash Seshadri, director, PayRentz. The configuration, type does not matter for the customer as much of the data is stored in the Cloud, he says.
“Now, it’s from parents. We are hoping new stock of laptops will start arriving from June 1st week,” says Seshadri.
Not many homes have a spare laptop or a smart phone to offer and investing in a new one can be difficult during these times.
Top pick
Those in the business of renting say laptops, air conditioners and ergonomic chairs, in that order, are the top items homes are looking for now.
To help transition better and adapt to a work from home situation, some companies provided their employees with home office allowance to buy ergonomic chairs or even computers.
Others who are realising that work from home might be a new reality are either investing in a home office or at least renting out essential work items.
“These products were rarely rented out to houses, now doing so looks like a regular thing,” says Seshadri. He says rentals for laptops for a month range between ₹1200 and ₹1800, depending on the configuration.
RentSher, another Chennai-based outlet dealing with renting laptops, suggests that customers must consider the weight, RAM and screen while renting a machine.
Furniture Magik has a ‘WFH furniture deal’ where one can rent laptop, table and chair at a discount.
Bengaluru-based Rentlite has also started delivering ergonomic chairs to the city.
Direct outlets of Featherlite furniture are seeing a huge demand for ergonomic chairs, much of its requirements coming from companies.
“During the lockdown, we home-delivered 100 chairs to employees of a corporate bank in Chennai. A few MNCs ordered chairs for their workforce in thousands,” says U. Kandavel, associate director, Chennai, Featherlite. His sales figures for May: over 300 new chairs for individual customers in Chennai.
In Chennai, the furniture maker has not promoted rental furniture in as big a manner as it has in Bengaluru, but because of the massive remote-working situation, it plans to accord equal importance to its rental furniture segment in Chennai too.
“We are soon opening a showroom on OMR,” says Kandavel. These chairs range from ₹4000 to ₹25,000. “Higher the price more the features,” he says, adding that these include greater adjustment options, sliding possibility, three-way adjustable arm, headrest and lock in multiple positions.
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Some helpful numbers
PayRentz: The store offers laptops, ACs, ergonomic chairs and other furniture on rent. Call: 89395 81818
RentSher:8884449644
Featherlite furniture: 9884401379/80
Rentlite and Furniture Magik: Besides office chairs, they have a ‘work from home’ package that includes a chair and a work station. Contact: Rentlite at 080-47113535 and Furniture Magik at 8448445541
