A China-based umbrella-sharing startup has seen brighter days, after losing nearly all of its 300,000 umbrellas in under three months.
The news may come as no surprise, considering just last month, umbrella-share startups in Shanghai lost most of their umbrellas in just days.
Growth in the sharing economy has introduced a number of shared items into Chinese cities, most notably bicycles. But as the new sharing company E Umbrella has learned, umbrellas, unlike bikes, are easily misplaced.
“We were really impressed by the bike-sharing model,” said E Umbrella creator Zhao Shuping to The Paper, adding that he “thought that everything on the street can now be shared.”
According to South China Morning Post, E Umbrella launched in April with a RMB10-million investment, and has since sprung up in 11 cities throughout Chinese mainland
The company operates like China’s many bike shares, with customers paying a RMB19 deposit, and an additional RMB0.5 per 30 minutes of use.
Each lost umbrella costs E Umbrella about RMB60 to replace, but the company still intends to add another 30 million over the next several months.
Despite the clouds looming over his business, Zhao remains optimistic about the future of E Umbrella, though he is aware of its limitations.
“Umbrellas are different from bicycles,” said Zhao. “Bikes can be parked anywhere, but with an umbrella you need railings or a fence to hang it on.”
Zhao did not disclose what measures might be taken to ensure that future umbrellas would not see the same fate as the first 300,000. Perhaps GPS tracking or lost umbrella fees can be expected?
With the addition of millions of new umbrellas by the end of the year, he will certainly have to make some changes to keep the business afloat.
READ MORE: 3 Things You Can Now Rent With Chinese Sharing Apps
[Images via The Guardian, SCMP]
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