Customers are the heart of any rental business, and it is essential to put them first. Rahul Tuteja started Pixel Connection to create a community around his store, providing rentals and resources. When he decided to take his business to the next level, he chose to use Booqable, and it has enabled him to improve the customer experience immeasurably for the better.
Pixel Connection
Rahul founded Pixel Connection in 2014 to serve the photo and video community in the Cleveland area. Since then, he has focused on serving creators, the backbone of his business. He has managed to create a small business thriving in a high-competition area. His team is proud of their hard work and dedication to providing customers with the best service possible.
When it comes to their customers, selling isn’t the top priority. They want to be a resource for all things photo and video for their customers and community. Building trust and a strong relationship is a huge part of their mission. This extends from their expert staff to their high-quality equipment inventory from Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fujifilm, Panasonic, Sigma, and more.
Each year Pixel Connection hosts countless community events where their customers are encouraged to come out, learn, and grow. They have a deep love for their customers and have been able to build a fantastic community around these events. This has led them to great success as a small fish in a big pond, proving that community is the key to success for camera rentals.
Growing a rental business
Over the past decade and a half, Pixel Connection has grown massively, and this has come with some challenges. For example, as their inventory grew, it became difficult to keep their catalog up to date manually and accurately and stay organized. This made it difficult for customers and staff to work together on bookings, leading to some close calls with potential shortages.
In addition, as they served more customers, dealing with payments and security deposits became more complex. This led to issues with fraud, which they found challenging to manage. Of course, this impacted their revenue and made it difficult to distinguish among growing bookings. This was an issue that they had to work hard to keep on top of as they grew.
Finally, Pixel Connection found it challenging to keep track of and facilitate pick up and drop-offs manually. They needed help to know what was coming up and what they needed to prepare. In 2021, significant growth following the pandemic made searching for a software solution necessary. So, Rahul began trying different rental software to find one that worked for them.
Improving the overall experience
After trialing several pieces of software, Rahul decided that Booqable provided the best solution for Pixel Connection. He loves that his team can easily add, edit, or remove rental catalog entries and see this information updated live on his website. This makes updating products and keeping their catalog organized much quicker and easier for him and his team.
Managing payments and security deposits through Booqable has also been a massive improvement for the business. Integrated payments allow them to combat fraud in their rental services by verifying payments and ensuring they are legitimate. This has led to less loss and more accountability for damages caused by customers during their rental period.
Booqable’s order workflow has also improved the company’s pickup and return processes. They can easily pull up a list of upcoming rentals and prepare customers’ bookings beforehand. This has not only improved the efficiency of the team internally but also the experience of customers in-store and on-site, as well as the booking process on their website.
Opening a second location
Pixel Connection has recently experienced some exciting growth, having just opened its second store in Nashville, TN. This has been a fantastic growth opportunity for our business, and they’re continuously working to strengthen their presence there. They’re focused on building a solid community around our new store through customer service and local events.
They’ll use Booqable in this location’s growth process and set up a specific rental catalog for this store. Additionally, they’re working to elevate their overall rental experience by taking advantage of the Booqable website builder. They’re switching their rental site from a WordPress site with the Booqable plugin to one a bespoke one built with the website builder.
