{"id":37695,"date":"2023-10-20T14:51:47","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:51:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/this-melbourne-startup-wants-to-get-a-slice-of-the-750-million-self-storage-industry-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T14:51:47","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:51:47","slug":"this-melbourne-startup-wants-to-get-a-slice-of-the-750-million-self-storage-industry-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/this-melbourne-startup-wants-to-get-a-slice-of-the-750-million-self-storage-industry-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"This Melbourne startup wants to get a slice of the $750 million self-storage industry – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The on-demand storage space is heating up in Australia with the official launch of Melbourne startup Boxly.<\/p>\n

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The company works by delivering and picking up heavy-duty boxes to customers and then storing people\u2019s items in them for a small monthly fee.<\/p>\n

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The business model is similar to SpaceWays, a storage solution which launched in Sydney in February this year after graduating from the Berlin-based Rocket Internet program.<\/p>\n

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Startups in Australia aren\u2019t shy when it comes to chasing similar business ideas, with Perth startup YourButler launching soon after on-demand platform Magic raised more than $12 million in funding.<\/p>\n

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According IBIS World, the self-storage industry in Australia is worth more than $750 million.<\/p>\n

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Speaking to StartupSmart <\/i>this morning, Boxly co-founder Misha Saul said he was aware of the competition his company would face but that it was not a copycat business.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019re definitely aware of SpaceWays but from our perspective we\u2019re focused on making our service as good for the customers as we can \u2013 we\u2019ve found that\u2019s key,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe think it\u2019s a matter of really proving to customers that they can trust their things with us. It\u2019s going to take time and that\u2019s fine \u2013 we\u2019re here for the long run.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Saul says he and his co-founder Ronan Fenton came up with the idea after finding it difficult to store their belongings while travelling or in shared housing.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhen you go travelling you get a lot of things stuck in between,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cYou don\u2019t have a lot of big items, but you have a bunch of small things that are a real hassle to take care of and you have to go to a storage facility somewhere and put it in a big expensive box or room and go pick it up. That was a real pain-point for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The on-demand self-storage space is one to watch, according to Saul, in the same way that on-demand technology has affected grocery shopping and takeaway deliveries.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI think it generally fits into the idea that property prices are rising in major capital cities, living quarters are getting smaller \u2013 businesses have less space \u2013 and smaller apartments are getting built,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIf you go skiing or camping once or twice a year, that\u2019s really bulky stuff and it\u2019s taking up half your wardrobe space or just sitting in a corner. You wouldn\u2019t think about putting it in storage but now you\u2019re able to have them outside of your home but always having it at your fingertips. We\u2019re about making that experience a lot more affordable and also in a very hassle-free way.\u201d<\/p>\n

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As for how Boxly can get an upper hand on its competitors as well as more traditional businesses, Saul says the trick will be talking to customers and figuring out how to improve the service and customer experience.<\/p>\n

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\u201cFor example, when you\u2019re speaking to mums or people like that it\u2019s really interesting to learn of all the other applications it has \u2013 like putting kids\u2019 clothes or toys in storage,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThey don\u2019t want to throw them away because they\u2019re waiting for new kids, but that would never have occurred to me. And how many people store things with their parents? The feedback we\u2019ve had from parents is we\u2019d love to get rid of this stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Do you know more on this story or have a tip of your own? Raising capital or launching a startup? <\/i>Let us know<\/i><\/a>. Follow StartupSmart on <\/i>Facebook<\/i><\/a>, <\/i>Twitter<\/i><\/a>, and <\/i>LinkedIn<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The on-demand storage space is heating up in Australia with the official launch of Melbourne startup Boxly. \u00a0 The company<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61849,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37695"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37695\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}