Small Businesses Ideas 043

Store To Door

Store to Door is a neat concept that is just waiting for someone in the UK to pick it up and run with it.

Here's a superb example of an ingenious idea being turned into a billion dollar business. A concept that entrepreneurs in Britain and elsewhere can copy!

The Store to Door Concept

This is how it works. Imagine Fred Smith wants to make his attic into a playroom for his grandchildren. The problem is, his attic is full of things like china, clothing, suitcases, fishing tackle, books and other assorted oddments.

Fred does not really use these possessions very often but he doesn't want to part with them. So instead he phones a specialist storage company, who arrange delivery of a container the size of a small garden shed to his home. Fred packs up the container himself. The firm returns and carries away the container to be stored in a warehouse until Fred wants his property back.

Fred pays a fee of about £40 a month for use of the storage container. If he ever wishes to check on his possessions, or wants to remove items from time to time, he pays a fee of say £10 per visit.

That's exactly how the concept works in the United States, where the self storage market is worth upwards of £9 billion dollars per annum. It shouldn't be difficult to tailor the idea to the UK market and achieve similar success.

Remember, this is a self storage business with a difference. What makes it unusual is that instead of the customer taking their items to the storage warehouse, the warehouse (or rather a container) comes to the customer. The container is dropped off at the client's address, filled by the client, and then picked up and deposited at the warehouse.

The convenience advantages are obvious.

Who Would Use The Service?

• The property market fluctuates dramatically. Many people have to sell their own home before they take possession of a new one. While relatives can often put them up, there is no room for the furniture.
• Students accumulate possessions they can't always take with them when they move or go away for the summer.
• We live on a crowded island. As a direct consequence of this houses are becoming smaller. There are few people who have the luxury of roomy attics or cellars. Given the option, many people would prefer to store their little used items rather than get rid of them.
• New firms move into premises that seem to be large enough at the time, but as the business expands, space becomes tight. It's cheaper to store unused items than it is to move into new premises.
• Any estate agent will tell you that a house which is free of clutter will sell more easily. It's not just that the house appears tidier, it also looks much larger. So anyone with a property to sell would be well advised to pack up any superfluous possessions until they move into their new home. Not only will their house sell more quickly, it will also make moving house less traumatic. Once the dust is settled, they can reclaim their possessions at their leisure.

Marketing The Enterprise

As mentioned earlier, the storage business in this country is largely untapped. What makes this one unique is that it gives clients the convenience of pick up and delivery. It doesn't matter how much convenience you can offer if no-one knows about you.

Here are a few promotional ideas.

• Get in touch with the Students Union and offer preferential rates to their members.
• Approach local estate agents. Explain to them how your business will increase their profits. You could draw up an agreement whereby an advertising leaflet is included with the valuation report which is forwarded to the vendor. Alternatively, post letters to anyone advertising their house in the property guides.
• Mailshot local businesses to let them know of your existence. Follow this up with a telephone call and arrange an appointment.
• Be alert to opportunities. Where does that cafe owner store his patio tables and chairs in the winter?

Though we've named just a few to get you started, the possibilities for promotion are endless.

To set this venture up from scratch would involve a hefty injection of capital and would carry a moderate risk I therefore would not recommend this business to anyone without experience of the transport or storage industry, unless they were to team up with someone with the necessary background.

That said, it is only a question of time before the idea of Store to Door storage takes off in this country in a big way. It is a genuine get rich opportunity, albeit not one for the dabbler. Marketed properly the business has the potential to take off in the UK as it has in the USA. I confidently predict that someone with a little vision will reap massive financial rewards.

In the UK, self-storage facilities such as Shurgard and Lock 'n' Store have been buying up and converting industrial units just as fast as they can - this is truly a massive growth area.

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