Goal: Before building any model, understand how the business actually works — which products drive volume, how pricing and contract length interact, and when demand peaks.

1.1 Who rents what — demand concentration

The company operates across 25+ product categories. But demand is far from evenly distributed.

Three categories — Truck Mounted Articulated Platforms, Electric Vertical Lifts, and Articulated Electric Boom Lifts — collectively serve more than 3× the company average of 174 unique customers per category. These are the backbone of the business.

At the other end, categories like Hybrid Articulated Boom Lifts, Column Lifts, and Truck Platform Accessories serve fewer than 30 customers each — niche products with very different retention dynamics.

💡 Business implication: Retention efforts focused on the top 3 categories protect the majority of revenue. A 10% churn reduction there outweighs a 50% reduction in the tail categories.

Contracts vs. customers — a useful tension

When we look at unique contracts per category alongside customer counts, a pattern emerges: some categories show disproportionately high contract volume relative to their customer base.

• Operators and Machines with Operator have high contract numbers but are driven by a relatively smaller customer pool — suggesting repeat, short-cycle bookings from a loyal core.
• Truck Mounted Articulated Platforms top both charts — confirming dominance in both breadth of customers and frequency of use.

📌 Note: Category-level contract detail is available in the appendix.

1.2 The price-duration trade-off

Not all rentals are equal. Two variables define the revenue profile of each category: how much it earns per day, and how long the contract runs.