Trend #1: Events Clients Are Falling Into Two Buckets

There are two big buckets of clients in the event rental industry right now:

1. One segment is cost-conscious events that need affordable, fast execution. Think corporate lunch-and-learns, community festivals, or backyard graduation parties where the priority is getting reliable equipment without breaking the budget.
2. The other is a growing segment that wants hyper-individualization and unique experiences. They don’t just want uplighting — they want uplighting in that exact shade of blush that matches the bridesmaids’ dresses, and they want to see it mocked up before they commit.

Here’s the challenge: People want a unique experience fast. And that’s extremely difficult to pull off.

The companies that will succeed are building customization engines within their businesses. Interchangeable bar facades. Different colored wraps around cushions or furniture. Systems that let you deliver personalization without reinventing the wheel every single time.

Trend #2: Lead Times Are Getting Shorter

Think about how lead times have changed. When we first got into this industry, event pros were planning things a month or two out. Then it became a couple weeks. Now, we’re seeing 24-36 hour lead times on projects.

That’s going to only increase. We’re in the economy of convenience, and Amazon Prime & AI are creating expectations that everything can be delivered tomorrow (or right now). The reality is that’s a consumer expectation, and event rental businesses have to figure out how to meet it while still delivering quality.

That’s where technology shines. It doesn’t need a lot of time to do things. It can automate processes or do them in a significantly reduced amount of time.

​​The businesses that win will be the ones customers can find and work with online. When a bride can browse your inventory on your website at 11pm, add items to a wishlist, and submit a quote request without calling during business hours, that’s a competitive advantage.

When a corporate planner in another city can see your full catalog with real-time availability instead of playing phone tag, you’re capturing business your competitors miss.

Trend #3: AI Could Help You Find Better Talent

Here’s a hot take: AI is going to create a talent shift that benefits event rental businesses.

While other industries race to automate human roles, the event rental industry is proving that some work can’t be replicated by a machine. Loading a truck correctly, solving a last-minute crisis on-site, building client trust through years of reliability — these are skilled trade capabilities that take real experience to master. The events industry is such a powerful trade, and we’re here to keep it that way.

We’re already seeing it. The most successful event rental companies aren’t just about the inventory; they’re about the people. Every owner we talk to, when we ask “what do you deeply desire about your business?”, said the same thing: their people and the security they provide for their teams’ lives.

That’s not something AI can replace. 

Goodshuffle Pro’s 3 Core Objectives for 2026

Based on the above trends and everything we’ve seen and heard from event pros, we have three objectives for Goodshuffle Pro in 2026:

1. Cut in half the back-and-forth messages between you and your client.
2. Cut in half the back-and-forth communication between your staff. Get sales, operations and ownership all in alignment.
3. Build an even more powerful client experience that has never existed before.

Let’s break down how.

Multi-Language: Talent Without Barriers

To kick off 2026 with a strong start, we just launched internationalization! The entire Goodshuffle Pro platform is now available in Spanish and French, with any other language trivially easy to add. All of our help articles are already in those languages too.

This matters because a lot of business owners think in their native language. A lot of crews operate in Spanish or French. We think it’ll be easier for you to find the right talent, have them hit the ground running, and immediately be productive in Goodshuffle Pro.

And if you need another language added in the platform, reach out to our team. We build based on your feedback.

Advanced CRM: See What Matters at a Glance

We’re rebuilding the core screens of the platform — project list, directory, and files — and weaving in inventory usage, revenue columns, and saved views so you can make data-oriented decisions much faster.

Here’s what that means in practice:

You open your project list and immediately see which clients have the highest lifetime value, which deals are stuck in proposal limbo, and what inventory is moving vs. sitting on shelves. You’re not digging through reports or exporting to Excel. It’s right there.

Saved views let you create custom filters for exactly how you work. Maybe you want to see “all confirmed events in the next 7 days.” Or “all proposals over $5,000 sent in the last 30 days.” You build it once, save it, and it becomes a one-click dashboard that shows you what matters most to your role.

Sales reps can focus on closing high-value deals. Warehouse managers can see what’s moving out the door this week. Owners can track revenue trends without manually calculating.

We’ve been running customers through prototypes for months now, and the feedback has been incredible. This launches in Q1 2026.

Dispatch: From Planning Tool to Real-Time Decision Engine

We launched Dispatch in 2025 as the foundation. Today, you can plan multi-stop routes, visualize delivery schedules, and optimize your trucks so you’re not criss-crossing town inefficiently.

Now we’re making it even smarter.

Here’s the vision: A salesperson is building a quote. Before they even send it, they peek into the future based on dispatching data and get immediate feedback. “Hey, that day isn’t available. This other day works better.” Or the system auto-routes the delivery and the warehouse manager sees what’s coming up days in advance.

But here’s the flip side: the same visibility that prevents conflicts can reveal capacity you didn’t know you had. That weekend you assumed was maxed out? There might be room for one more job. And in this industry, one extra booking on a Saturday can cover an entire year of Goodshuffle Pro. These mistakes — and these opportunities — are easy to miss when you’re piecing things together from memory and gut instinct.

Dispatch becomes the connective tissue between sales, warehouse, and delivery. It gives everyone faster feedback loops and visibility into what’s actually possible vs. what will break your operation.

Mobile & Barcode Scanning: Your Warehouse in Your Pocket

The mobile fulfillment tools and barcode scanning we launched are just getting started.

Right now, your team can scan items for check-in/check-out, confirm what’s loaded on trucks, and manage pull sheets from their phones. That eliminates the paper chaos and “did we grab that?” uncertainty.

There’s a lot more coming down the pike for mobile teams — better offline capabilities, faster check-in/check-out flows, and tighter integration with Dispatch so your drivers see exactly what they need without digging through paper pull sheets.

Customers tell us that proper pull sheet systems and barcode scanning have virtually eliminated the ‘forgot something’ runs back to the warehouse.

E-Commerce & Client-Facing Tools: Let Customers Book Themselves (Safely)

The biggest opportunity we’re excited about is letting customers engage with your business 24/7 while you’re running other events.

We’re building client-facing tools like Goodshuffle’s Marketplace that let customers browse inventory, see real-time availability, and move themselves through your process — but with guardrails that prevent them from booking things that conflict or promising equipment you don’t have.

The speed and ability for customers to book themselves to the gills safely is the unlock. Not just “here’s a catalog, good luck figuring out what’s available.” But intelligent systems that guide them toward what works and away from what breaks.

What Drives Our Roadmap

Quickly imagine the look on a couple’s face as they first see each other down the aisle. Now think of yourself in traffic 30 minutes from the venue bringing a linen you forgot.

That gap — between the elation events create and the chaos of executing them — is what drives every feature decision we make.

We’ve been working 10 years to get to 2026, and we’re here because we’re not willing to accept the gap between the joy our industry creates and the emotional cost on the people bringing those events to life.

The question is always what should we build next? We spend a lot of time pattern-matching across businesses, verticals, and individual roles. When we solve a problem, we want it to be big enough that everyone benefits — whether you’re a one-person operation or a 50-person team.

Technology should eliminate the 2am panic about whether you double-booked equipment. It should prevent the “where are the chiavari chairs?” texts at midnight. It should let you focus on the creative, high-value work that actually requires your brain — not repetitive data entry and manual coordination.

Stay tuned because we’re moving fast in 2026. Advanced CRM launches Q1. Dispatch improvements roll out continuously. E-commerce tools are coming. The roadmap is aggressive because we’ve seen what you’re dealing with, and we know Goodshuffle Pro can solve it.

Explore Goodshuffle Pro

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FAQs

What are the biggest trends affecting event rental businesses in 2026?

Lead times are shrinking dramatically — what used to be planned months out is now being booked days or even hours in advance. The industry is also splitting between cost-conscious events and clients demanding hyper-personalized experiences. Companies that can deliver customization quickly (with technology’s help) will have a major competitive advantage.

How is customer behavior changing in the event rental industry?

Customer expectations have been shifting for years. Pinterest made clients feel like they could be their own event designers — suddenly everyone had a mood board and a vision. Amazon Prime made them feel like they could resource an event in days instead of weeks. Now AI is bringing those two together: giving consumers immediate access to both the design inspiration and the sourcing to pull it off themselves. That’s the real pressure event pros are up against: competing with systems that make clients feel like they don’t need you. The businesses that win are the ones using technology to do what those systems can’t: deliver genuinely personalized, expertly executed events that no algorithm can replicate.

What's Goodshuffle Pro building in 2026?

Here’s a small sampling of what’s coming in the first half of 2026 alone: AI is being woven intelligently throughout the platform — it’s already in Dispatch, and it’s coming to inventory and sales motions next. Timed messaging (emails now, SMS soon) will let you automate client communication without losing the personal touch. Next-gen inventory search will make finding exactly what you need faster than ever. Multi-brand support is coming for businesses running more than one operation. And SMS is coming to Dispatch so your delivery teams stay connected in real time. We’re also rebuilding core views — project list, directory, and files — with advanced CRM capabilities and saved views so the right information is always one click away. And we’re expanding client-facing tools so customers can engage with your business 24/7.

How will Goodshuffle Pro's 2026 updates help small businesses specifically?

The pattern-matching approach means features solve problems for businesses at every stage. Saved views help one-person operations track everything without getting lost in spreadsheets. The same views help 50-person teams coordinate across departments. You’re not paying for “enterprise” features you’ll never use. You’re getting tools that scale as you grow.

How will Goodshuffle Pro's 2026 updates help large event operations?

The bigger your team, the more expensive miscommunication gets. The 2026 updates are designed to get sales, operations, and ownership aligned without constant back-and-forth. Advanced CRM capabilities and saved views give every role a tailored view of what matters to them. AI woven into inventory and sales motions helps large teams move faster without adding headcount. Multi-brand support means businesses running more than one operation can manage everything without the chaos of juggling separate systems.

What's the timeline for these Goodshuffle Pro updates?

What’s covered here is just a slice of what’s coming in the first half of 2026. Advanced CRM capabilities, project list rebuild, and saved views are launching in Q1. Dispatch improvements — including AI and SMS — roll out throughout H1. We follow agile development, so features ship and then get refined based on real customer feedback. You’ll see continuous improvements, not one massive release. Stay tuned for more announcements as we get closer to launch.