The self-storage industry in the United Kingdom has become an integral part of the everyday life of most UK residents and international students. Places like London are especially saturated with many self-storage operators because space in the city is scarce and comes at a premium, arousing the need for cheap rented space for belongings and furniture.

However, there have been tumultuous trends in the self-storage industry over the past five years, showing mainly progress but also showing slight dips in the most recent year, 2020. Trends suggest that the industry has a lot of untapped potential. While it has used some of its potential and shown an upward trajectory since 2016, there is still a long way to go.

With the help of industry reports and experts Daniel Axsater and Peter Gentzel, co-founders of STORED, we will summaries some of the main trends seen in the self-storage sector.

Over the past five years, overall awareness regarding self-storage has increased as more people require the services of a self-storage provider. About 47.74% of people have good awareness regarding self-storage while this number was slightly higher in 2019 at 48.02% but lower in 2016, where good awareness stood at about 41.11%.

Obviously, the low awareness percentage has also decreased over the past five years, though it rose a little from 2019 to 2020 from 51.97% to 52.26% respectively. It was at 58.89% in 2016, suggesting that the industry has gained some momentum over the past five years and now there are plenty of more people who are aware of self-storage.

According to the Self Storage Association Dashboard, another 38.99% people said that they have heard about self-storage but know nothing about the service that is offered, in 2020. This number was at a significant 48.45% in 2016 suggesting that while awareness is increasing regarding the self-storage industry, the sector is still in its early years.

A massive 38.99% of people are still unaware of what services the self-storage sector can provide which shows that there is still a communication gap between self-storage providers and customers. In other words, there is a lot of potential business out there that self-storage providers are not properly targeting.

STORED, a London-based self storage provider, has been in the industry since 2013 and can proudly say that awareness regarding self-storage has exponentially increased over the years providing steady business. However, their model is a more “serviced storage” model that eliminates the downsides of self-storage and provides a more convenient approach.

STORED provides free transportation with a moving van and a team to collect the customer’s belongings from their doorstep rather than the customer having to arrange for these things separately. It is their unique business model that has helped them gain business and make a mark in this industry compared to their self-storage counterparts.

Peter Gentzel, co-founder of STORED agrees that the self-storage industry is still in its baby years and while it has grown immensely over the past five years, there is still a lot of room for growth. He says that it is important for all companies to use relevant mediums to educate customers regarding the benefits that self-storage or perhaps “serviced storage” can bring to them.

He says that since 2013, while he has seen a trend in likely customer profiles, he has also witnessed versatility in customer types, ranging from students to people around the ages of 45-70 using self-storage to handle their extra possessions or during an important event in life.

Accordingly, he says, marketing campaigns must be diverse and must target the pain points of different customer segments, clearly showing them how the service can make their lives easier.

Peter and Daniel Axsater envisioned saving people time, energy, and money, while helping them make room for their extra possessions or handle difficult times such as moving house, a divorce/separation, a natural disaster, etc and are currently working hard to let customers know just how easy it is to use their service.

They both agree that there is a dire need for further information about the industry and perhaps a more targeted use of social media to be “where their customers are.”

It has been noted, that over 40% of people using self-storage are repeat customers, who have previously used the service. This is excellent as it shows that self-storage is quickly becoming an important need as customers frequently use the service.

According to the Self Storage Annual Dashboard, in 2020, 48.9% of people considered multiple self-storage providers before making a choice when it came to the company they wanted to use while this percentage was at 50.23% in 2019. However, this percentage was at 54% in 2017.

Why are less people doing their research when it comes to choosing a self-storage provider?

This slight dip in 2020 may be due to COVID-19 and the concerns related to it, making people opt for different options such as a free alternative, like a friend’s garage or space in their parents’ homes to keep away from using public transport. It would also be because during the pandemic, most customers opted for tried and tested storage providers rather than considering multiple options, as storage was a pressing need.

This is emphasized with the fact that in 2020, customers also relied more on Trustpilot reviews and other customer reviews to make their decision regarding which storage provider to use compared to previous years. In 2018 & 2019, this reliance was at 3.19% or 3.59% respectively and grew to a massive 8.90% in 2020.

The trend suggests that it is imperative for self-storage companies to develop a good reputation and maintain commendable reviews online in order to gain business- as reviews and ratings are now a primary source of information for self-storage customers.

Peter Gentzel and Daniel Axsater have affirmed the claim that Trustpilot and other review boards play a major part in helping customers make decisions. “STORED has recently been ranked excellent on Trustpilot and we are very happy with this achievement because we think review boards play a massive role in customer decision making. Additionally, it is always good to know that our customers think highly of us and are satisfied. That’s why we are in the business and we will continue to aim for an excellent reputation with those who use our service.” says Peter.

Daniel adds that maintaining a good reputation was even more crucial during the pandemic because people who hadn’t used self-storage before, now needed the service and were only relying on word of mouth to know who to trust with their belongings.

STORED’s business model or “serviced storage” offering particularly helped during the pandemic as people needed help transporting their belongings from their doorstep to a secure storage unit. They couldn’t use public transport and were not too keen on going out themselves, so STORED saved the day in this regard.

An interesting trend that STORED co-founder, Daniel Axsater has noticed is that customers are now using storage for a longer period of time as compared to the past five years. He says that the churn rate has decreased over the years and he attributes this change to several factors including more trust in self-storage providers, better long-term rates provided by storage companies, and the growing need for long-term space among students, tourists, and businesses (usually those with either less than 10 employees or those with more than 50 employees).

This is obviously good news for the self-storage industry as higher churn rates generally mean less profitability. The net rental rate has also increased over the years and with a lower churn rate, this does very well mean higher profitability for self-storage companies and companies such as STORED.

Peter Gentzel says that while storage businesses are doing well, they are doing everything they can to provide the cheapest rates possible. He says that in the case of STORED, they always try to give back to customers whenever the business is performing well in the form of reduced prices. He adds that this is essential to make storage a cheaper choice and more affordable for everyone- one of the prime aims of STORED.

Overall, the self-storage sector has been performing well but the last year has been a testing time for all including businesses in the self-storage industry. As the situation returns to normal, hopefully self-storage companies will do more to educate and inform the masses regarding the many benefits that storage services can provide.