One Stop checks in with easyHire
16 February 2023
One Stop Hire has partnered with the online platform easyHire Technologies (formerly Rentuu and trading as easyHire), having purchased the exclusive branding rights to easyToolhire North West and easyToolhire North East.
One Stop Hire has its headquarters in Chorley and operates from 20 depots serving the north of England, as well as a training business. In 2021 it bought the Newcastle-based Lord Hire Centres operation.
easyHire Technologies is backed by Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, founder of easyJet, and says that its online platform provides a similar experience for hiring tools and equipment as when booking flights. Customers will have access to easy online ID verification, contactless delivery/collection, contactless payments, the ability to carbon offset their order at checkout, and the ability to hire round the clock.
One Stop Hire’s depots and training centres will be dual-branded, with easyToolhire’s bright orange logo alongside One Stop’s red, white and black livery.
Steve Hitchen, MD of One Stop Hire, says that the platform represents an opportunity to reach more effectively the business-to-consumer (B2C) market and members of the public, alongside the hirer’s established business-to-business (B2B) trade customer base.
“In effect, we are sub-contracting our online marketing strategy for the B2C sector to an expert. Things like e-commerce, online portals and SEO (search engine optimisation) represent expertise and experience that we don’t have in-house,” he tells me. “But that’s what easyToolhire do and are very good at. And they look for partners and franchisees who are very good at tool hire.
“When easyToolhire came along and demonstrated its marketing ability, and we discovered that 95 per cent of the products hired by its clients were actually in our fleet, we began to look deeper into the proposal,” he adds.
Steve says that One Stop Hire has control over the hire rates and other details listed on the platform, with easyToolhire taking a commission on each transaction.
Dennis Helderman, director of easyHire Technologies, says that the platform “enables consumers, DIY enthusiasts, tradespeople, construction workers, and anyone working on everything from a landscaping project to a renovation job, and more, to find all their tool hire needs in one space. Moreover, they can hire the equipment from a brand that almost everyone recognises.”
In 2021, the organisation signed a similar agreement with Martin Plant Hire to create easyToolhire Scotland, as reported on the blog at the time, serving customers north of the border.
And easyToolhire says that other developments will be announced soon.
● Read the earlier Q&A interview on the blog with Steve Hitchen here.
