Ounasvaara improves customer experience and inventory management with Rentle

Ounasvaara Ski Resort is located just next to the city of Rovaniemi. With only a few minutes drive outside the city center, Ounasvaara has a significant role as a recreational outdoor location for the locals and the growing number of tourists who visit Lapland and want to try skiing during their stay. Both customer segments provide high demand for ski school and rental services. Rentle helps the resort handle the growing customer amounts better and manage inventory more accurately.

Ounasvaara decided to take Rentle into use to improve their check-in process and inventory management. We interviewed the shop manager, Ossi Pesonen, from Ounasvaara Ski Resort, and talked about their experiences with Rentle.

Ounasvaara needed rental software to remove bottlenecks and digitize inventory

Ounasvaara had been looking for ERP software for a few years but had not found anything that could solve their challenges in a meaningful way. Digitizing the inventory and bottlenecks in the on-site customer flow were the most important reasons why moving operations on Rentle ski rental software.

Before switching to Rentle, customers were asked to check in by filling out a paper form. The method is bulletproof but has its’ cons. For example, storing the customer information required a vast amount of work, and the information collected from the customers was practically impossible to find after the forms were archived.

The biggest obstacles hindering growth were very practical and, thus, easy to fix with software. For example, paper check-in forms require a surprising lot of storage space, not to mention the monetary and environmental cost of using paper. Digital check-in with Rentle has not only solved these issues but has proven to be a significantly faster way to welcome customers.

We figured out that the time customers spend inside the shop queuing, waiting, and fitting the equipment was significantly reduced.

The inventory tracking was done in a spreadsheet and updated once a season by depreciating the old and adding the new equipment. Needless to say that the old method left the shop without any real-time inventory information, which has become useful with the growing number of customers.

Rentle has added flexibility and transparency

The two main areas where Rentle has helped Ounasvaara Ski Resort are digital inventory management and digital customer check-in. Implementing Rentle into Ounasvaara's day-to-day processes was relatively simple. First, the inventory was documented and barcode labeled before importing it to Rentle. Second, installing the new check-in kiosks required making slight modifications to the store layout.

Nowadays, the employees know exactly how many items they have left in the inventory, even in a specific size, and what time they will have more as customers return their equipment. This information is handy during the busiest days when the whole inventory can be out in use.

In general, the employees learned to use Rentle fast, and whenever there were questions related to the software, the employees actively used the help & support chat.

Every time we have faced any sort of issues with the software, the customer support has provided us with a clear solution or an accurate schedule when the issue will be solved. Transparent and fast customer support that Rentle provides is inevitable for us, especially during the busiest days of the season.

Dealing with unique situations and customer requests is easy with Rentle, as everything is flexible and can be modified on the go. Furthermore, automated product recommendations have improved the customer experience, which has been shown in the growing sales.

Obviously, the software does not do anything by itself. The way Ounasvaara has made the most of its new rental software has had an important role in the successful transformation. By relocating focus from paperwork and cashier activities to assisting customers, Ounasvaara has had the opportunity to switch to a more customer-focused approach. Consequently, this has impacted the sales and efficiency of the shop.

I can definitely recommend Rentle to other rental shops. It’s pointless to bother yourself with the paperwork anymore plus having a clear and real-time overview of the inventory is a big benefit for us and most likely to other rental shops as well.