Are Umbrellas Shares the Next Big Thing?
Source: Eastday
China’s investors seem eager as ever for the next big ‘share’ business in Chinese cities. And while it looks as though Umbrellas may be the next cash cow, the business model seems to be facing some issues.
Source: Eastday
The first potential issue seems to be stiff competition. JJ San and Sharing e San have already received millions of yuan in investment from Angel Financing, launching services in major cities including Shenzhen, Haikou, and Xiamen. Several other companies are set to launch in Shanghai in the upcoming months, including Molisan, OTO Umbrella and Chunsun.
Many of thee services work like bike shares, users must register, put down a deposit and pay a small single (or daily) usage fee. However, not all of these umbrella share companies require registration. Some are also forgoing the use of GPS trackers, which has led to many of them not being returned properly (or at all. A recent vendor in Lujiazui had all 100 of their umbrellas disappear overnight with no explanation and no return.
City administers are also keeping a close eye on the industry and even banning them in certain public places to avoid the sort of pile up messes that bike share companies have become infamous for over the last year.
While there are still a lot of kinks to be worked out, recent problems don't seem to be detracting investors. There's a good chance you'll be seeing a lot of these umbrellas in the near future.
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