What if you open a part-time Christmas decoration rental business?

^{By Marissa Sánchez}

Why?

It’s a fact: Mexicans really like Christmas. According to a survey conducted by the research firm, De la Riva Group, among 800 people across the country, nine out of 10 celebrated Christmas last year. In this way, it became the most important celebration of 2016 in Mexico, surpassing Mother’s Day (79%) and Father’s Day (57%).

Christmas is also the time of year when it is spent the most. According to a recent study by the Chamber of Commerce, Services and Tourism in Small (Canacope) of Mexico City, an estimate of average spending for a Christmas and New Year’s dinner, including gifts, is 4 thousand 717 pesos for a family of four to six members.

Leaving aside the purchase of gifts, food and drinks for dinners, celebrations and gatherings, the acquisition of the Christmas tree and other Christmas accessories represent the main categories of disbursement.

How?

Due to the Christmas scene in Mexico, full of expenses for buying things that often end up thrown away in a closet or cellar, or even in the trash, the idea is to offer a professional Christmas decoration rental service. For this, it is not necessary to rent a commercial space, but to prepare a space at home or warehouse that serves as a warehouse for the items that will be part of your catalog: from artificial trees, series and spheres, to outdoor lighting, giant Santa Claus figures and births. This will require a minimum investment of $ 150,000.

To conquer the market, you can set up a website (for $ 30,000) where you show your catalog together with the conditions and terms of the rental contract (per day, week or month), so you can reach private clients – most of them young people from middle and upper-middle class increasingly accustomed to the collaborative economy, therefore, interested in using certain products for a time instead of acquiring them. On the other hand, there are corporate clients, that is, offices, businesses and corporations that require both decoration advice and the rental of Christmas items (including cleaning and maintenance service).

Although it is a seasonal business, you have the option of taking advantage of your infrastructure and contacts to offer decoration during the rest of the year. For example: February 14, National Holidays and Halloween.

Success example

In Mexico: Laurel Floristería