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How to Create a Rental Website with Shopify

Author: Nathan Crossley February 13, 2025 · 5 Min read
How to Create a Rental Website with Shopify

Shopify is a fantastic platform for selling products online, but did you know it can also be a powerful tool for creating a Shopify rental website? Whether you’re renting out bikes for tourists, cameras for productions, or decor for events, Shopify can be used to create a rental website that helps you grow your Shopify rental business.

While Shopify’s core functionality isn’t built specifically for rentals, you can use third-party software like Booqable to accept online bookings on your Shopify website. This allows you to build a Shopify store for your rental business with ease. You can do this in various ways, from adding “book-now” buttons to your Shopify product pages to embedding full product lists.

Creating a Shopify rental website doesn’t have to be complex or expensive. With Shopify and Booqable, you can build a professional rental website that helps you manage bookings, process payments, and grow your business.

This combination offers several advantages:

  • Start accepting bookings quickly without custom development
  • Pay less than building a site from scratch
  • Scale your business as you grow
  • Look professional from day one

How you can use Shopify for a rental business

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Shopify becomes a complete rental platform when you integrate it with Booqable. The integration lets you add rental functionality to your Shopify rental store by adding booking buttons, embedding product lists, and managing bookings and payments. This allows you to create a seamless rental experience for your customers while leveraging Shopify’s e-commerce capabilities.

The integration handles all the complex parts of rental management. Booqable automatically updates availability when bookings are made, processes rental payments through your Stripe or PayPal, and sends confirmation emails to customers. Meanwhile, Shopify continues managing your website design and content.

This combination lets you focus on growing your rental business instead of managing technical details. You can start with basic booking functionality and add more features as your business grows. And since both platforms handle different aspects of your business, you get the best of both worlds: Shopify’s e-commerce capabilities and Booqable’s rental expertise.

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How to create a rental website with Shopify

To create a Shopify rental website, you need to install a third-party Shopify rental app like Booqable. This will enable you to add online booking to your website, either by replacing Shopify’s add-to-cart buttons with Booqable’s “book-now” buttons or by embedding Booqable product lists on your Shopify pages. This requires you to set up a Booqable account and add your inventory there.

You can follow this tutorial to get set up with adding rentals to your Shopify website. It will guide you through the process in a clear way that will help you add online bookings quickly and without headaches.

Once you’ve added your product pages to Shopify and implemented Booqable’s embeddable components, you will be ready to start accepting online bookings. Now, Shopify will be used for your website design and content and your rental bookings, payments, documents, and planning will be handled through Booqable.

Rental features you can add to Shopify with Booqable

When combining Shopify with a Shopify rental app like Booqable, you unlock powerful booking capabilities for your website. Here are some key features you can add to your Shopify rental website:

Booking components

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Replace Shopify’s add-to-cart buttons with Booqable’s “book-now” buttons. This allows customers to book items directly from your product pages, streamlining the booking process and increasing conversions.

Product bundles

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Create rental packages to increase your average order value and make booking easier for customers. For example, a photography rental business could offer combinations of camera bodies, lenses, and lighting kits. This simplifies the process for customers who need multiple items.

Availability calendar

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Show real-time availability for each product. Customers see exactly when items are free to rent, preventing double bookings and helping them plan ahead. The calendar updates automatically when bookings are made.

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Shopify rental website SEO basics

Shopify has an extensive range of apps that can be used for marketing and SEO, but it is important to get the basics right first. SEO not only involves the content on product pages, but also clearly communicating rental policies. This will help visitors to find and understand your offering, increasing the liklihood for them to convert into paying customers.

Product page SEO

There are four main aspects of product page SEO that you will need to focus on to get the most out of your website. They are title tags and meta descriptions, product page URLs, product descriptions, and images and videos. Let’s take a look at what each involves and how they can benefit your rental website.

  • Title tags and meta descriptions play a vital role in search engine results, requiring them to be engaging, keyword-rich, and accurately reflective of the product. Crafting these elements effectively can boost your click-through rate.
  • Product page URLs should be descriptive and contain your key terms to enhance both user experience and search engine comprehension.
  • Product descriptions should be unique and comprehensive descriptions, emphasizing the features, benefits, and distinctive qualities of your products, with keywords used sparingly.
  • High-quality images and videos can greatly enrich user experience, with descriptive file names and alt tags serving both visually impaired users and search engine algorithms in understanding your content.

Beyond basic SEO, there are several strategies you can use to optimize your Shopify rental website for search engines:

Location-based optimization: Include your service area in product titles and descriptions. For example, “Mountain Bike Rentals in Denver, Colorado” works better than just “Bike Rentals.”

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Rental period keywords: Use terms like “hourly,” “daily,” and “weekly” in your content. Create separate pages or sections for different rental durations if you offer them.

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Seasonal content: Plan content around peak rental seasons. For example, ski equipment rentals should target winter-specific terms several months before the season starts.

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Craft clear rental policies

Crafting clear rental policies is essential for establishing mutual understanding and trust between rental companies and customers. It should be prominently displayed on your rental website and easily accessible by visitors. There are a few essential elements that a required in a rental policy which are outlined below:

  • Overview: A concise introduction outlining the involved parties in the agreement, including their company names and addresses.
  • Financial arrangements: Detail whether a retainer or non-refundable deposit is necessary. If applicable, clarify the requirement for a security deposit and explicitly state that a signed contract permits you to charge the customer’s provided debit or credit card for any owed payments and fees.
  • Delivery, pickup, and returns: Address the responsibilities regarding the transportation, staging, and pickup fees associated with the rental equipment delivery.
  • Liability for loss and damage: Outline the protocol in cases of damage, theft, or loss of items. Specify whether the customer is liable for repair costs and the timeframe for which a product may be temporarily unavailable.
  • Modification and cancellation policies: Explain the procedures for making changes after reservation processing. Define the consequences of order cancellation before and after the final balance is due, based on your payment handling method (“If the order is canceled before the final balance is due, the deposit will be forfeited”).

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Can you make a rental website on Shopify?

Creating a Shopify rental website offers entrepreneurs a scalable and efficient solution to capitalize on the growing demand for rental services. By leveraging Shopify’s robust platform and a Shopify rental app like Booqable, you can provide exceptional customer experiences. Whether you’re just starting or looking to expand an existing Shopify rental business, Shopify provides the tools needed to create a successful rental website, while Booqable handles the rental-specific features.

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