How would you create a P2P used appliances lending platform?

Let’s first clarify a few questions:

P2P means peer to peer so is it for individuals like you and me or small business owners of certain industry? à You can assume

Used appliances mean one party already owns an appliance and will lend it to another party who is in need of it for a few days/weeks/months? à Yes

Has there been any market research or user research that I should be aware of? à None

Is there any specific business objective I should be aware of? à You can assume

I will structure my answer my first looking at the current situation and high level goal of Jumbotail. Then I will discuss the user segments and their pain points. After prioritizing them, I will brainstorm the solutions and prioritize them to create the P2P used appliance lending platform.

Jumbotail has been in operation since 2015-2016 and connects thousands of mom & pop grocery retailers, ‘kirana stores’ and supermarkets, with brands and staples producers and also owns the supply chain and logistics to provide warehousing and fulfilment solutions to the sellers and storefront delivery to the customers. Main competitors of Jumbotail are Udaan and Reliance Jio Mart. So, Jumbotail will be trying to expand to other adjacent businesses using some of its existing capabilities. Jumbotail’s mission is to transform the delivery of goods from farmers/staple producers to shopkeepers at affordable rates and convenience for both parties. So, for this new P2P lending platform as well the mission would be to transform the journey of purchasing and utilizing appliances at affordable rates and convenience.

Now, lets look at the user segments:

1. Individuals who are in need of certain appliances to get one of jobs/repairing done in their homes
2. Individuals such as plumbers, electricians, gardeners providing services by visiting respective houses
3. Small business owners with 20-30 employees providing the services of plumbing, gardening etc to individual houses as well as to some smaller companies

Since Jumbotail already has logistics support and experience of dealing with small businesses owners and individuals and has created a strong business network and since individuals in India tend to call the respective skilled personnel for any kind of repair work than doing it by themselves, I would like the focus on the latter 2 segments.

Now, let’s look at their pain points:

1. Some jobs that come up rarely and so the appliances required are not in very good state. So, need a new one to complete it but there is not much value in purchasing a completely brand new one. à P
2. Someone might have got a good deal in buying same/different appliances in bulk and now they are lying around and are getting corroded à P1
3. Someone is not getting many jobs these days or unable to travel much to provide the necessary service and is looking for a new source of revenue à P2

Prioritized them based on the chances of the appliances being in better condition for them to be lent and used by borrowers and the frequency of such situations arising.

Now, let’s brainstorm the steps to design a P2P used appliance lending platform:

There are 3 players in the ecosystem – lender owing the used appliances, borrowers borrowing the used appliances and the deliver agents/distribution system to carry out the lending/borrowing process

I forgot to mention that I am assuming that these appliances are not very bulky to be transported.

1. The lenders should be able to sign up into the application i.e., create account with identification details. 
2. The lenders should then be able to input the following data – a) types of appliances with specific details b) 2-3 photos c) number of days for which each appliance is available for rent d) price e) when was it purchased
3. The borrowers should be able to sign up into the application i.e., create account with identification details. 
4. The borrowers should be able to search for specific appliances, indicate the date of requirement and date of return and make a partial payment (30% maybe, based on market research) to the platform for the actual delivery.
5. At the time of pickup of the appliances, the lender should be given the full payment.
6. At the time of delivery of the appliances, the borrower should make the full payment + 3% or 5% (depending on the type of appliance) of the actual amount to the platform.
7. At the time of return of the appliances, the borrower should be given back the 3% or 5% i.e., the extra that he/she had paid.
8. The appliances should be returned to the lender.
9. The borrower and the lender should be able to rate and review each other on their respective accounts.
10. Since the exchange will mostly be within a city in the initial phase, the borrower can place the order 2 days in advance of actual date of requirement. It can be then reduced to 1 day depending on the growth of the operations.

Initially, the application can be mobile native and later extended to web for faster adoption as smartphone penetration is the highest than any other devicee. 

Trust is a big factor here. So, defaulting to return on time or lending appliances in very poor/unusable state or damage of the borrowed appliances should be penalized by charging extra or blocking their account for a specific time period or complete removal depending on the severity of the offence or not allowing them to lend a specific type of appliance. 

The company Jumbotail might take a commission from the actual transaction amount and might even start earning through advertisements.