Repair and Rental in the Consumer Electronics Industry

Rental and Repair business models come with the promise of superior circularity. However, it is unclear if a specific company can deliver on this promise.

The UNDRESS project provides a framework and practical guide to determine the impact of rental and repair business models. It is a collaborative industry project led by Circularity in collaboration with Fraunhofer IZM, Systemiq, and 12 industry partners (Assurant, circulee, Everphone, fixfirst, Foxway, Grover, Ingram Micro, rebuy, Recommerce Group, Reverse Logistics Group, Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone), further supported by Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt and Deloitte.

This episode is the eleventh in the series PaaS Decoded, 16 conversations about the fine details of product-as-a-service.

People Dr. Marianne Kuhlmann, Co-Founder & Managing Director of Circularity.

Patrick Hypscher, Co-Founder of Green PO, Expert in Sustainable Business Models

Chapters 00:00 Intro 02:23 The Motivation To Rent & Repair 03:39 Does renting increase lifetime and utilisation rate? 05:46 Shareholders and Stakeholders demand clarity about environmental impact 08:49 A consortium of Telcos, Renting & Repair Providers, Producers & Recyclers 10:39 Market and Company data as a basis for a framework 12:45 Rental uptake among German private users is at 1% 13:52 Desire to own and commercial attractiveness as barriers 15:22 Renting is more common in the B2B market 19:43 A company with a sustainability strategy is more likely to rent and repair 23:00 Unveiling the actual lifetime of a device 27:41 A basis for rental providers to compete on impact 28:27 The full report available as of Q1 2025 29:10 Suitable product and relevant customer needs are decisive 30:09 Further uptake of rental, impact measurement and data collection expected

About Circularity: Circularity is a do-tank that supports executives and senior professionals in business and society with circular transformation - through collaboration, consulting, training, networking and much more.

Further Links: Undress Project https://www.circularity.me/undress/

Undress Market Report https://www.circularity.me/undress-circularity-from-consumer-insight-to-circular-impact-market-report/

Transcript See the episode page for the transcript: https://circularity.fm/undress-circularity-assessing-the-impact-of-circular-business-models/