easy choice for Martin Plant
12 February 2021
The easyHire franchise network, part of the easyGroup that also includes easyJet, has landed in the UK. Martin Plant Hire has signed a licensing agreement to create easyToolhire Scotland serving customers north of the border, using a digital platform developed by easyHire for the hire market.
Martin Plant Hire has purchased the exclusive brand rights to easyToolhire Scotland, an online operation enabling customers to place equipment orders over the internet.
The Motherwell-based hirer’s seven depots will eventually be jointly branded with the easyToolhire identity, as will the equipment in its fleet and its vehicles.
“I can see more hire business being done online in the future, as we have seen in retail during the lockdown,” managing director Andy Martin tells me.
“We’ve also noticed a trend towards more equipment being delivered rather than collected. So we are trying to maximise our online presence, and easyToolhire has built up the website and the software that will help us do that."
Andy says that Martin Plant Hire, which was founded 47 years ago, is very much a business-to-business hirer, chiefly serving the trade. He believes that the easyToolhire platform and branding will enable it to win business from homeowners and DIY users who are unaware of the Martin Plant Hire name and who it might otherwise miss.
“Customers also pay for the hire up-front, as in a typical web transaction, and if they have questions there are online chat facilities,” says Andy.
“Our business model has served us well but we felt that the time was right to invest in our future. Lockdown proved how important it was to be able to take online orders, answer customer queries quickly, and have a strong online presence on every platform.”
easyHire is looking to expand the concept. As well as easyToolhire, it has established easyEventhire in the UK and an operation in Italy (easyNoleggio). It says it will soon launch in France (easyLocation), Spain (easyAlquilar) and Germany (easyMieten).
