Nationwide Buying Group Launches RentDirect Div. Targeting RTO
LAS VEGAS -- Nationwide has launched a new RentDirect Div. targeting the rent-to-own market, it announced at the Assn. of Progressive Rental Organizations (APRO) show here. The move builds on dealer recruitment efforts begun a year ago by a BrandDirect subsidiary and poses a challenge to the rental channel’s 22-year-old Trib Buying Group.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
Former Rent-2-Own COO James MacAlpine, hired to head the new division, is seeking to bring 150 dealers into the fold by 2006. Nationwide also introduced RentDirect this week at its semiannual meeting in Dallas.
Laying groundwork for its recruitment drive, RentDirect is likely to draw on Nationwide’s buying strength, reflecting 6,500 dealers with a combined $9 billion in revenue. It also plans to have rental-specific supply agreements with vendors and conduct RTO-oriented programs at Nationwide’s semiannual conventions, MacAlpine said.
About 6 or 7 rental dealers have dual memberships in Trib and Nationwide, said Ernie Lewallen, pres. of UHR Rents and a Trib officer. Trib has 129 members with 1,892 stores, including those operated by 3 of its largest chains -- Buddy’s Home Furnishings (64), Baber’s (51) and Furniture & Appliance Rentall. Nationwide’s largest RTO member is Aaron Rents (1,024).
To have high profiles at the APRO convention, Trib and RentDirect took booth space and placed ads in the trade group’s daily show. RentDirect’s ad landed on the front of the newsletter Wed. Meanwhile, Trib members maintained their tradition at APRO conventions by donning black sport shirts emblazoned with the buying group’s name in “Unity Day” festivities Wed.
“There’s something more to Trib than pricing and rebates,” Lewallen said. “There’s a camaraderie and learning and sharing of education that isn’t going to happen with Nationwide. Nationwide’s a big group and RTO fits into a corner of its business. I tried my best to become a Nationwide member and I couldn’t make it fit.”
But some RTO dealers we canvassed said they are pleased with the RentDirect offer based largely on product discounts and rebates. “The savings in software alone more than pays for the dues,” said Craig Stanley, pres. of the 7-store Stanley’s Rent to Own in Okla.
Trib has withstood previous challenges from new buying groups seeking to enter RTO. Nationwide rival Associated Volume Buyers (AVB) established a subsidiary -- Home Rental Source (HRS) -- in 2001 with a goal of securing 200 members within 12 months. HRS sought to draw from a base of AVB dealers that also had a rental business and like Nationwide, tried to negotiate group deals with vendors. HRS appeared at the APRO show in 2001, but didn’t return the next year. “It was a long hard road to get vendors to provide us with programs and we've been at it for more than 20 years,” Trib Member Services Dir. Karl Wicker said.