Ana Jenkins is the founder and creative director of The Set Collective, a tableware hire and event styling business in London, which all started with her love of hosting. Ana knew how much a well-set table adds to a meal, so she turned that into a business built around tableware rentals for events: plates, glasses, cutlery, tablecloths, and napkins. Every piece is selected from premium brands she loves, and that’s what makes the collection stand out.
Her typical customers are supper club hosts and food influencers, and they come back most often for plates, cutlery, and glasses. They book online through The Set Collective’s Shopify website, which takes rental bookings through the Booqable Shopify integration. For clients who want something more personal, there’s also a styling enquiry form for bespoke work.
The team is small. Ana runs the business with the help of a freelance social media and content assistant. Before Booqable, she managed every rental by hand, and each booking meant working through several separate steps. She chose Booqable as her rental back office and the engine behind her rental website because it kept track of her inventory, worked well with Shopify, and covered the paperwork too, from bespoke contracts customers can sign online to manual invoices and security deposits.
A Shopify store that books rentals
Ana wanted her website to look as good as her tables, and Shopify gave her that. But on its own, Shopify is built for selling, not renting. It doesn’t know that a set of plates is already booked for Saturday or when it’s due back. For event rentals, that’s the whole job, and handling it manually meant checking stock, confirming dates, and chasing details one step at a time.
With Booqable’s step-by-step video guides, you can easily connect your Shopify website to your Booqable account, and Booqable will add its rental tools straight onto your Shopify pages. Your Shopify products will now show up with the rental date selector, the Booqable ‘Add to cart’ button, as well as all the other necessary elements to make online rental orders a breeze. Customers can now select their rental dates, add products to their cart, and complete their booking online. Your Shopify design stays exactly as it is, so the site keeps its look and works as a proper rental website.
Ana puts it simply: Booqable “helps to keep track of inventory and works well with Shopify.” She also likes being able to reserve stock, so pieces are held for the right booking.
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Customers see what’s available for their dates on The Set Collective’s own Shopify pages
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Online bookings and inventory sit in one back office, helping prevent double bookings
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The brand keeps its curated, premium look while taking rental orders online
Delivery prices that fit the whole city
Supper clubs and dinner parties happen all over London. A flat delivery fee doesn’t work when one booking is a few streets away and the next is on the other side of the city. And for rental businesses covering a large area, working out a delivery price for each order by hand adds another step before a customer can book.
The Deliveries app is a Booqable app you connect to your online shopping cart. In the app, you set different delivery prices for different distance ranges. When a customer enters their address at checkout, Booqable calculates the delivery price automatically, and shows it to them before they check out, added to the rest of their order.
Ana says she really likes “the different delivery options that are available,” and that the delivery feature gives her “more bespoke delivery options” for her customers.
For event rentals spread across a large area like London, the Deliveries app means:
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Fair delivery pricing, whether the event is nearby or across town
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No manual quotes holding up a booking
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Customers see the delivery cost before they book, so there are no surprises later
From a love of hosting to a successful rental business
Since switching to Booqable, Ana says running The Set Collective has been “a lot more smooth sailing as everything can be organized in one place.”
The Set Collective started with a love of hosting and a collection of premium tableware. With the Booqable Shopify integration, Ana’s Shopify site now takes event rentals online with live availability. The Deliveries app prices London deliveries automatically at checkout.
With inventory, contracts, and invoices in one back office, Ana and her freelance assistant can focus on what they do best: helping supper club hosts and food influencers set a beautiful table. For a small business in event rentals, that’s a solid foundation to grow from.