Rental consumption set to go mainstream

A camping equipment store in Southwest China's Chongqing is filled with customers in late August. Between racks of tents and camping chairs, store owner Zhou Xiangyu is managing the steady flow of business with ease.

"The summer season is our busiest period," the 31-year-old said.

From April to October, he explained, demand for rentals spikes significantly. During the peak summer holiday period, his outlet receives over 30 orders a day on average.

Zhou's store offers equipment for sale as well as rent, and more than 60 percent of his customers prefer to rent. The trend is most visible among two groups: young people and families.

This surge in rental consumption — a market encompassing everything from digital gadgets and outdoor gear to apartments and maternal and infant supplies — is more than a fleeting trend; it is a profound shift in the values and spending patterns of a generation.

From high-end cameras and designer apparel to luxury cars and children's toys, the mentality of "why buy when you can rent" is rapidly moving from the fringe to the mainstream, analysts said.

According to a report co-compiled by the Development Research Center of the State Administration for Market Regulation and financial tech company Ant Group in July, the transaction scale of China's rental economy exceeded 4.2 trillion yuan ($589 billion) in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 32 percent, with over 750 million users served.

In August, the search volume for camera rentals on e-commerce platform Meituan increased by 63 percent year-on-year, wedding dress rentals recorded a 109 percent hike, drone rentals grew 89 percent, and stroller rentals surged 165 percent, indicating that the rental market is expanding into a wider range of consumer scenarios.

Two weeks before her trip to the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, Chen Sisi, a 28-year-old resident of Beijing, had already solved her travel equipment equation — not through purchase, but through rental.

Through online rental platforms, she secured everything needed for the journey: a drone at over 40 yuan daily, a professional camera at about 50 yuan, and an off-road vehicle averaging 400 yuan per day.

"When split among the group, it only amounted to just over 100 yuan per person per day," Chen said.